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Ivy-Leaved Morning Glory
When you are completely in wholeness, it is beyond the mind. Think about it. It is not a specific gift for which you are waiting. The ultimate gift is the waiting itself. Being open. Perceiving.
*Jean Klein. Living Truth.
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The Sage asked a man who inquired about being his disciple, "What are you seeking?" The man said, "Truth." "Why seek that already seeking you?" replied the Sage. "I don't understand what that means," said the man. Said the Sage, "That's a good beginning, the best beginning. We can start from there."
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The Buddha was present to give a sermon. Everyone was waiting to hear him say something profound. He did not speak a word. After a time of silence, he held up a flower. Mahakashyapa and the Buddha smiled at each other. The Buddha had given a sermon, and Mahakashyapa received it. Mahakashyapa was prepared to receive it. He could in-see (i.e., have insight) via the flower, while others only saw a flower.
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The ineffable truth cannot be received by the intellect, for it is ineffable. Yet, the ineffable can be hinted at through a variety of means.
Buddha's flower bypassed the conceptual mind; Mahakashyapa was prepared to see what was being shown - he saw the flower and what the flower indicated. The flower was the sign.
* * *
An acquaintance, an evangelical Christian, spoke to me of how she would like her life to change. Her God, she said, had not shown her how it was possible. She had settled into a way of life she did not wish. She did not ask for advice, so I did not give any. Afterward, I reflected on the conversation. I saw myself asking, due to her living within an exclusive worldview, "Are you willing to listen outside of how you have already decided God can speak to you?"
Truth is all around us. Wisdom is self-communicating, is boundless. Understanding is always sharing itself with us. The whole world mirrors truth. Yet, we can put limits on truth by deciding the confines within which it will manifest and what it will say of itself. Hence, more truly, we are not limiting truth but our measure of receptivity.
We become more open to insight when we relax the limits of how it might show up in our lives. Truth may be speaking in a way we have not believed possible. We can open up, mind and heart, saying, "However you choose to appear, I'm here. Help me listen."
For me, I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian sect. Spiritual insight was narrowly defined, and most areas of listening were forbidden. When such truth started showing up in other religions, I decided to be attentive. Over time, I adjusted to listening as much outside as inside what I had been told was possible and allowable. To do this, I had to step outside my native tradition and appear heretical, a betrayer of the faith. This shift included the dissolution of the boundary between truth and spiritual truth, so to see all truth is truth and "spiritual" is a relative use.
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Last, we cannot receive what we cannot receive, no matter how much wisdom offers of itself. Mahakashyapa alone received the message in the Buddha's uplifted flower, for he alone was prepared to do so. Our spiritual path is a preparation to receive. Truth will give as much of itself as we can welcome of it. So, to grow in truth, we become a vessel that can welcome more insight into itself, becoming one with the truth we had sought before as other than us. When being and becoming wisdom, we see wisdom everywhere.
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*© Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*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. The book consists of poems based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
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