The Prophet said, “There are some who see Me
by the same
Light in which I am seeing them.
Our natures are ONE.
Without reference
to any strands
of lineage, without reference to texts or traditions,
we
drink the Life-Water together.”
Here's a story
about that hidden
mystery:
The Chinese and the Greeks
were arguing as to who were the better
artists.
The King said,
“We'll settle this matter with a debate.”
The
Chinese began talking,
but the Greeks wouldn't say anything.
They
left.
The Chinese suggested then
that they each be given a room to work
on
with their artistry, two rooms facing each other
and divided by a
curtain.
The Chinese asked the King
for a hundred colors, all the
variations,
and each morning they came to where
the dyes were kept and
took them all.
The Greeks took no colors.
“They're not part of our
work,”
They went to their room
and began cleaning and polishing the walls.
All day
every day they made those walls as pure and clear
as an open
sky.
There is a way that leads from all-colors
to colorlessness. Know
that the magnificent variety
of the clouds and the weather comes from
the
total simplicity of the sun and the moon.
The Chinese finished, and they were so happy.
They beat the
drums in the joy of completion.
The King entered their room,
astonished by the gorgeous
color and detail.
The Greeks then pulled the curtain dividing the rooms.
The
Chinese figures and images shimmeringly reflected
on the clear Greek walls.
They lived there,
even more beautifully, and always
changing in the
light.
The Greek art is the Sufi way.
They don't study books of
philosophical thought.
They make their loving clearer and clearer.
No wantings, no
anger. In that purity
they receive and reflect the images of every moment,
from here, from the stars, from the void.
They take them in
as though they were seeing
with the
Lighted Clarity
that sees them.
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Modern Languages / Anthropology 3043: Folklore &
Myth. |
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