bill..i believe it was kris our resident guru who pointed us to this quote... it is perfect ..merle
Merle, Good stuff indeed! I especially liked: "The one who is seeking the truth gets into a maze, and that maze interests him. He wants to go through it a thousand times more. It is just like children. Their whole interest is in running about; they do not want to see the door and go in until they are very tired. So it is with grown-up people. They all say that they are seeking truth, but they like the maze." This is koan study in a nutshell...Bill! --- In [email protected], Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote: > > good stuff.! > > merle > > > > > Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan: > > Man likes complexity. He does not want to take only one > step; it is more interesting to look forward to millions > of steps. The one who is seeking the truth gets into a > maze, and that maze interests him. He wants to go through > it a thousand times more. It is just like children. Their > whole interest is in running about; they do not want to > see the door and go in until they are very tired. So it is > with grown-up people. They all say that they are seeking > truth, but they like the maze. That is why the mystics > made the greatest truths a mystery, to be given only to > the few who were ready for them, letting the others play > because it was the time for them to play. > > For spiritual attainment we do not need to pay a tax, it > is ours, it is our self, it is discovering our self, > finding our self. Yet what one values is what one gets > with difficulty. Man loves complexity so much! He makes a > thing big and says, 'This is valuable'. If it is simple he > says, 'It has no value'. That is why the ancient people, > knowing human nature, told a person when he said he wanted > spiritual attainment, 'Very well; for ten years go around > the temple, walk around it a hundred times in the morning > and in the evening. Go to the Ganges, take pitchers full > of water during twenty or fifty years, then you will get > inspiration'. That is what must be done with people who > will not be satisfied with a simple explanation of the > truth, who want complexity. > > We read in the Vadan, 'Simplicity is the living beauty.' > Man today has made life so complex that whatever he seeks > after, he wants to find in complexity. All things in life > which have importance, beauty and value are simple; and > simplest of all things is the divine truth. ... The truth > is not a newly invented theory, not a dogma, not an idea; > it is reality itself. At the back of it is the self of > man; therefore it is simple. But it is not simplicity that > man seeks, he is longing for complexity. Anything which > will confuse he is glad to take interest in. If it is > simple, he says, 'I know it already.' > > Man loves complexity and calls it knowledge. A great many > societies and institutions in the world which call > themselves occult, esoteric and psychic, and by various > other names, knowing that everyone is interested in > complexity, cover the truth. Instead of covering the truth > with one cover, they cover it with a thousand covers to > make it more interesting. ... Therefore, a mystic very > often appears to be simple because sincerity makes him > feel inclined to express the truth in simple language and > in simple ideas. But because people value complexity, they > think that what he says is too simple and that it is > something which they have always known, that it is nothing > new. However, as Solomon said, 'There is nothing new under > the sun.' >
