So many people have golden opportunities to listen to God. Sick people, lying in bed, tuning in to television. Letting the moment slip away. Of course, it would help if we became aware of the choice. Prisons are like up-market monasteries.
Prisoners get three meals a day.
Orthodox Buddhists get one every twenty four hours. Prisoners sleep on beds, monks sleep on the floor. In a fairly crowded and busy monastery, one of the great joys is to finish one's chores and slip into the solitary peacefulness of your own small room and meditate. In prison this is called 'solitary confinement'. What an opportunity to shut-up and listen.