tadpoles swimming in puddles of water on the shore
ha! ha! ha! hear us talking about the Ocean
*Brian K. Wilcox, "Talking about the Ocean."
* * *
I stepped down from the pulpit after morning worship. The mother and her pre-teen daughter walked up to me. The mother told me the daughter wanted to tell me something. I leaned over to listen, hearing a quote from the Gospel of Thomas:
Lift the stone, and you will find me; cleave the wood, and I am there.
I was quite impressed. I commended the little girl. Her seeing reminded me that children may often see what we adults cannot. Too many of us have forgotten how to see.
* * *
She complained, "I just can't understand what you teach. It just escapes me, no matter how I try! When will I ever understand it?" The Sage replied, "When you become young enough, you'll see."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
* * *
Jesus - Gospel of Matthew 11.25 -
Then, Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of Heavens and Earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and shown them to babes."
Some words on the Gospel verse ...
"Wise" and "intelligent" are used pejoratively, not disclaiming the value of wisdom and intelligence. Yet, the passage shows us that mental sophistication, intellectual arrogance, and over-reliance on the capacity to understand by mere reasoning can blind eyes to the obvious, to the subtle. These think, but they do not see.
"Babes" is a metaphor for those with an unsophisticated, unbiased mind. These "babes" remain open to see, even when it contradicts what they thought they saw. This is what Buddhists mean by "beginner's mind." Keep looking as though you do not know what you are looking at, and you will see. In the Gospel terms, we can say "baby mind." These think, and they see.
*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.
