An Awkward Comparison, Indeed

An Awkward Comparison


(This translation is from Coleman Barks, the essential Rumi, new expanded version. Harper San Francisco.)


This physical world has no two things alike.
Every comparison is awkwardly rough.

You can put a lion next to a man,
but the placing is hazardous to both.

Say the body is like this lamp.
It has to have a wick and oil. Sleep and food.
If it doesn't get those, it will die,
and it's always burning those up, trying to die.

But where is the sun in comparison?
It rises, and the lamp's light
mixes with the day.

Oneness,
which is the reality, cannot be understood
with lamp and sun images. The blurring
of a plural into a unity is wrong.

No image can describe
what of our fathers and mothers,
our grandfathers and grandmothers, remains.

Language does not touch the one
who lives in each of us.



Abraham-Hicks often says, words do not teach, experiences teaches. In the past I have read words that matched up with my experiences that explained a lot of things and was an enormous AHA moment. Words bring understanding.

I was recently watching a YouTube by Joe Marshalla, Ph. D. He said a couple of things that caught my attention. One was that he couldn't teach anyone anything but they may hear and identify with something that was in alignment with what they already knew. The second thing he said that made me do a double take was that cause and effect BOTH are in the here and now. Interesting. I am living in the effect and running from the cause. But they exist simultaneously? Well, Yeah! Because I know danged well how I got into this mess. So, language; it helps us muddle along in this world and communicate.

Getting off subject (or maybe not!) over the past few weeks, months I have noticed something about myself. You know how we are great communicators, we communicate everything, hence we have facebook, twitter, and all those other ways of sharing our every thought. I share by texting. And I get into these long, drawn out text and lately I just delete them. Who cares? Even I quit caring before I get to the end of the text. I guess you could say I journal then delete. I am so happy I have evolved enough to spare my precious friends of my every hurting thought, of my anger and indignation. And to spare myself. Because that is what enlightenment is. I invite you to simply spare yourself and others by only giving words of wisdom. Who is to determine what is wise? The one who writes and the one who reads.

There are a whole bunch of proverbs on wisdom and understanding. The one that always stuck in my mind and rolls off my tongue is Get wisdom, but with all thy getting, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 (KJV) Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. When I first looked at Deepak Chopra's book, The Book of Secrets, I didn't understand a word. But after learning in other places, I came back to the book and discovered it to be awesome and my understanding grew. We all know people who Wisdom is wasted on. Sometimes our lives can be in so much turmoil we cannot absorb or comprehend anything but the pain of chaos. But out of that chaos is born wisdom and understanding.

Proverbs 16:16 How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
Proverbs 19:18 He that gets wisdom loves his own soul: he that keeps understanding shall find good.

Many people out there are imparting wisdom according to their own gifts and understanding. And once we have grasped this wisdom and understand it, we need to practice it. Two teachers that come to mind that are very different are Bradley Lenart and Matt Kahn. Totally different styles, totally different teachings, but both urging us toward wisdom, understanding and  above all, making it a practice; putting it into action.

For Matt Kahn, putting it into action generally means inner transformation. For Bradley Lenart it means both; bringing your ideals and goals to fruition. Both of these men are inspirers and motivators in their own way and style, and as human beings we need a multitude of teachers, I think. We get to pick and choose what and who propels us forward. These are currently my top two picks. They are like the sun and the lamps shining light on my darkness so that I can bring my own self to the light and shine in my own right.

So, how can you compare the sunlight to the lamp's light? The analogy is good. Analogies help us to understand. Light permeates and chases away the darkness. This analogy has practical as well as spiritual implications.

Oneness. God. Source. All that has come before us has created the vastness and Oneness that currently is. We cannot sum up in words what our forefathers have contributed to the expansion of the Universe and life as we know it. Painting a picture, any image, any analogy, any comparison cannot contain "the one who lives in each of us."

The one who lives in each of us longs for expression - through wisdom and understanding. And the one who longs to be a part of the expansion and creation seeks this wisdom and understanding. And we do language the greatest disservice when we define, label and judge each other. We do not celebrate the wonder of each other. Or bow to the greatness in each of us. This is unwise and shows a lack of understanding. This is where pain comes from. This is where confusion comes from. Some exact pain and confusion deliberately. Others just simply live ignorant of their own pain and confusion and the useless ways they try to fill the empty spaces. They pay homage to false gods who live outside themselves and try to find their way without ever looking at the one who lives in each of us.


Namaste