An Interview with Susan Shumsky:

Award-winning author and spiritual leader explains how to hear the Voice of God

by Brent Raynes

Susan Shumsky is an award-winning author and world recognized spiritual leader. Her new book, How to Hear the Voice of God, is said to lay out a clear, open pathway to the divine presence. A pioneer in the field of personal development and spirituality, Shumsky speaks and teaches internationally.

A New Thought minister and Doctor of Divinity, Susan Shumsky spent 22 years living and studying with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation. Living in his ashrams around the world, she was on his personal staff for seven years. She has enthralled audiences around the world, and has taught yoga, meditation, prayer, and intuition to thousands. She has been featured in hundreds of media appearances, including in Woman’s World, Cosmopolitan, CQ, and on national TV and radio.

Editor: In our predominantly Christian society and Western culture it is acceptable to pray to a Creator, but on the other hand it is perceived as very wrong and unhealthy to actually expect a direct answer. Why is this so?

Susan Shumsky: We have been brainwashed to believe that when we talk to God, it's called "prayer," but when God talks to us, it's called "schizophrenia." Our culture laughs at people who have mystical experiences, or else dismisses them as crazy. Why? Because we often read about murderers (even mothers who slaughter their own babies) who claim that voices in their heads told them to commit murder. We hear of cult leaders who believe that God demands that their followers commit suicide. And many people in mental health institutions claim that God is talking to them. No wonder the widespread belief is that people who claim to hear God's voice are insane.

We are conditioned to believe that the only people allowed to have authentic conversations with God are great prophets, saints, holy men (I emphasize the word "men"), and other holy beings that lived at least two thousand years ago in some faraway land. Since that long-ago, faraway time and place, apparently God has gone mute and has not spoken to anyone since.

Right? Wrong. I believe these holy men have not signed an exclusive contract with God. They have no special combination to a padlocked, hallowed safe with elite access. Some religious institutions promote the idea that they own the secret passkey and, without their sanction, no one can walk through the doorway to heaven. The widespread belief is that God's blessing and grace are inaccessible without a middleman, such as a pastor, minister, priest, cleric, rabbi, guru, master, shaman, psychic, channeler, counselor, or priestess.

However, it is my experience, and the experience of tens of thousands of people who have used the methods taught in my books or classes, that anyone can hear the voice of God directly.

Editor: You've written a book entitled "How to Hear the Voice of God," to try and educate people on this matter. How did you come to embark on such a quest yourself?

Susan Shumsky: As a child I often wondered about the universe and where I belonged in it. I questioned whether God existed, and if so, who God was and where God lived. My concept of God was a wise old man with a long white beard who lived far away in the sky. After praying to God a few times and getting no response, I concluded that He did not hear my requests or that I was unworthy to receive a reply.

As long as I can remember, I had a deep desire to communicate with God directly. I admired the prophets like Abraham and Elijah, who could hear God's voice. I often tried to ask God questions myself, expecting to hear a booming voice answer from a cloud. No voice came. Yet this idea of hearing God's voice never left me.

In 1966, while I attended art college, I began reading Buddhist scriptures and other spiritual books. Soon I found myself in an ashram in Rishikesh, India. Then I spent 20 years working and studying in residence with world-famous Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation, guru of the Beatles and Deepak Chopra. My guru observed silence at the beginning of every year. He would enter his room and not appear until seven days later. Those of us on his personal staff also went into deep meditation and took silence with him. When Maharishi emerged from silence, he often mentioned something like, "I just spoke with Mother Divine, and she said, and Maharishi would then describe what the Goddess had told him.

Now you have to understand that, as a disciple of Maharishi, I worshipped him as God. I believed he was on the highest level of consciousness and had all the answers. So when he said that Mother Divine spoke to him, I thought, "Oh, Maharishi is so great and so high. I could never hear the Goddess speaking to me."

Like the vast majority of people, I did not believe ordinary people could ever hear God's voice. I assumed that only people like Maharishi, Moses, or Jesus could talk with God. God was certainly too busy and important to speak to common people like me. But I was wrong. My vision was very limited. Now I know better, because I have experienced the voice of God firsthand. And so can everyone else.

When I lived in the ashram, I meditated from five to 20 hours per day. I sometimes cloistered myself in my room and did not appear for up to eight weeks at a time. The food was brought to my door. I often fasted for up to two months at a time. I observed silence and did not utter a sound for up to four months at a time. I observed total celibacy. I was an introvert, and that is definitely an understatement. But never once, in all the 20 years that I lived in the ashram, did I ever hear God speak to me.

Finally, I met a man who taught me how to hear that divine voice, and how to help others hear it, too. That was how I began teaching Divine Revelation. But a Transcendental Meditation teacher is not allowed to teach any practice that is not Transcendental Meditation. So I was banished from practicing TM with the group, and I was forced out of the ashram.

Editor: Obviously we don't have the space and time to devote to the detailed techniques outlined in your book, but in abbreviated form could you describe the main highlights or features of this process for our readers?

Susan Shumsky: That I can describe in one sentence: "Ask, and it shall be given you." The way to hear the voice of God is to ask. Just sit down in a chair, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, get quiet, still, centered, and balanced within yourself, and then simply ASK. That is the entire secret. Ask a question, ask for guidance, ask for inspiration or healing. Then take another deep breath and do what I call the "Do-Nothing Program." That means, do nothing, nothing, and less than nothing. Then the "still small voice" will speak to you in your heart.

So the key to hearing God's voice is to ASK. The trouble is that we forget to ask. Or we think we can't ask. Or we think God is too busy for us. Is God too busy for you? Could God be too busy for anyone? If you believe God is too busy to pay attention to you, then you have a very limited idea of what God is.

God could never be too busy. God is not bound by time, space, or circumstances. Therefore, God cannot get tired or overworked. God does not only pay attention to "important" people and things. Everyone and everything is important to God. God does not play favorites. God is not available to only a select few so-called "holy" people. God is everywhere present and always available to anyone who asks. The entire premise of Divine Revelation is one thing: "Ask, and it shall be given you."

Editor: What changes has this knowledge and insight brought into your own life and those you've taught it to?

Susan Shumsky: It is a rare gift to be called to hear the voice of God. This is indeed atypical. The fact that you even consider this possibility that two-way conversation with God is feasible places you in a unique category of uncommon individuals. For example, were you raised in a family, religion, or educational institution where you learned that God could speak to you directly? Few people reading these words can answer "yes."

Many people believe that God exists. Yet few believe that God hears their prayers or answers them. Fewer believe that God is accessible and can talk to them. Exceptional people are willing to allow God to speak to them directly. But only rare, extraordinary individuals act on what God guides them to do.

For those who are willing to take the leap of faith to trust and follow their inner guidance, their life takes on new meaning and tenor. They begin to realize and express who they really are, their genuine Self. By asking for guidance about practical problems and concerns, they begin to make wise and purposeful choices. They discover and follow their true divine plan and purpose. This brings great inner happiness and peace. They find self-reliance, because all the answers to their problems are within. They achieve great self-love and self-acceptance, as they dwell in divine comfort, love, and joy. They attain true freedom and empowerment. Their life is put on track and in order. And they discover the true meaning of life in spiritual enlightenment.

For me, this has been a miracle and a complete transformation of on every level. Since I began listening to and following my inner guidance, my life has completely changed. I now have much greater confidence, joy, love, and fulfillment. All my dreams have come true, and many more dreams are coming true every day. I feel that, since beginning this practice, I am no longer a seeker. I am found. I have realized my true Self, and I have realized God. I am never alone again, for God is with me always.

Editor: What do you hope to see your book accomplish? Do you have any specific hopes, dreams or goals in mind?

Susan Shumsky: Yes. I want to inspire as many people as possible to see, hear, and feel the divine voice clearly, to follow their inner divine guidance, and to attain God realization. If everyone on Earth were listening to that true voice of Spirit and expressing their true divine nature and their divine purpose, then Earth would be a paradise. We would live heaven on Earth.

Susan Shumsky, author of HOW TO HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD.

www.divinerevelation.org, 1-866-DIVINE-8.

P.O. Box 7185, New York, NY 10116