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A Winding Road... Deerfield, MA
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Mulla Nasrudin listened to a man telling a joke in the coffee house. The man spoke unclearly; Nasrudin could not understand him. After the muffled punchline, he laughed heartily. An acquaintance later asked Nasrudin, "That joke was not funny at all. Why did you laugh?" "I always laugh at jokes," Nasruddin answered. "If we don't laugh, there is always a possibility of their telling it again."
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Nasrudin faked it. Laughter is a good action. But his laughter was not sincere. The story informs us Nasrudin did a good thing wrongly. To do the good thing rightly would be laughter within, laughter without.
Our actions are to be virgin. Virgin means innocent, pure. Pure is not principally moral. Pure is unpretentious. We can err in wholesome action when we lack agreement between ourselves and our behavior. With harmony, we can do the good thing with harmony.
Actions proceed through the Three Doors of body, mind, and speech. Sincere is purity in these three. We can ask, "Are my actions in accord with the truth?" or, "Am I saying what I mean?" or, "Is what I am thinking true to the situation?"
The Gospel of Matthew 5.37 reads, addressing oath-taking, "Let your yes be yes, your no be no." Keeping it simple is a way to protect sincerity. The more we add, the more complexity, the more likely our actions, thoughts, or words will lose authenticity. As we see in Proverbs 10.19, "You will err in speech when talking too much - be sensible and choose your words wisely."
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2023
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
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