I get these occasional epiphanies. Here’s one for today, that the world is relative, our laws, our customs, almost everything – is reflected even in the economy, our purchases and sales1. It is said in many teachings that the way of the world is relative, the way of the Divine is absolute, heck, ‘The Absolute’ is yet another way of describing the Divine. Of all the Divine’s qualities, perhaps the one that brings us closest to It2, is the notion of unconditional love. I have to say, this is often the hardest to practice – unless I suppose when you’re a parent, then your love towards your children is generally unconditional, or the love in some rare friendships, or in some teacher-student relationships. The outward form does not matter.
Perhaps therein lies the need for most people to have a family, to experience such a relationship. Try that with an ordinary relationship3 say between a male and a female – once things end, everything usually goes wrong, there’s nothing to preserve, even if you offer some form of friendship, it just doesn’t work out, for the terms and conditions change, the outward nature of things are no longer the same. It hurts when nothing you give is acceptable anymore – interestingly it leads me to another epiphany, that we truly receive in giving. So perhaps I am starting to understand this whole unconditional love business, it hurts a little still, but it hurts less than before, perhaps one day only the joy and love will be left.
In case you’re wondering how today’s epiphany came about, I was reading Paulo Coelho’s4 The Witch of Portobello: A Novel. A very interesting read – it exemplifies that society still has some time to go before it can accept differences, that to many power and maintenance of the status quo is preferable to a disruptive change for the better; this is however changing I believe. But perhaps because what I am going through, the most striking thing about the book was its definition of love: “love simply is.” – no terms or conditions. I can understand today why there are people who leave the world to serve the world, for there’s an inherent conflict in the life of the world dweller – conditional vs. unconditional. A saint I read about said he did not have a family of his own, because he wished to belong to everyone. This is not to say I disagree with the idea of a family and children, etc. – I think in some ways it is a harder path, albeit a more suitable one for today – for in the noise you have to find the stillness.
On the topic of worldly activities, I read somewhere5 as well that the heart of a good CEO can be very saintlike – he looks after his clan, his company, perhaps it is not the world he serves, but it is more significant than looking after one’s immediate family. The uber-kewl founder of my Karate organisation has said several times that in his prayers, he first asks for prosperity of the organisation and their members, then he requests the same for his family – significant order methinks.
Enough pondering for the day… finished a book, wonder what to pick up next. Breaks are fun once you see that inactivity is activity – interestingly, the last epiphany – the The Witch of Portobello: A Novel speaks of this, that the blank spaces like the pauses within a musical composition are just as significant as the musical notes. Reminds me of an ancient Hindu teaching, between the 2 OMs (sound of the Universe6), lies enlightenment. (/me looks at you mystically, almost contented).
References:
1 Terms and Conditions Apply
2 I could use Him/Her but that duality of the sexes really doesn’t apply to the Divine I think, for the Divine has qualities of both and beyond, and our personal sides may choose to use Him/Her depending on the kind of assurance and strength we’re looking for – when we look for strength we use Father, and when we want love and caring and accomodation, we use Mother. All aspects of the One. I know I use both when praying.
3 Speaking superficially here, I know there’s nothing ordinary about it.
4 Of “The Alchemist” fame, another classic, definitely a must-read.
5 Truly I do not remember where, thankfully this is not an academic publication, so do forgive my tardiness.
6 One Ubuntu repository is called the multiverse – I wonder, perhaps it is a better term to start using, since there are parallel worlds and universes manifested from the Divine. Perhaps the rationale behind the use of Universe as an all-encompassing term was to simplify the idea of all is one and one is all… perhaps I shall be quiet.