|
Tasting the Sweetness
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Thy truth is concealed in falsehood,
like the taste of butter in buttermilk.
Thy falsehood is this perishable body,
thy truth is the lordly spirit.
During many years the buttermilk remains in view,
while the butter has vanished as though it were naught,
Till God send a Messenger, a chosen Servant,
to shake the buttermilk in the churn ~
To shake it with method and skill, and teach me that
my true self was hidden.
The buttermilk is old: keep it, do not let it go
till you extract the butter from it.
Turn it deftly to and fro, that it
may give up its secret.
The mortal body is proof of the immortal spirit:
the maundering of the drunken reveler proves
the existence of the cupbearer.
*"The Churning." In Rumi. A Rumi Anthology. Trans. Reynold A. Nicholson.
Note: "Thy falsehood" means the physical body is an illusion in the sense of being relative, being impermanent. The body appears to be bounded, yet it is not. Unlike "spirit," the body constantly changes, so there is no body moment-to-moment. There is body, but not the same body. So, the Buddhist aphorism is, "You can't step in the same river twice." Hindus speak of the body as "Lila," Brahman [God's] dance - all relative rests upon the Source, the absolute. Rumi is not denigrating the body. Cf. the Christian Scripture, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God" (I Corinthians 6.19, GNT).
* * *
We learn from others throughout life, while the Qualities are inherent, part of incarnation into this world and with the body. The body of every living creature is the means for the Qualities. Spirit, clothed with the body, needs others to stimulate these Qualities to fruition.
Each Quality is like a seed. Take speech. The capacity for speech is inborn and flowers with words, structure, meanings ... through interaction with others. Without others, we could make sounds - babies do - but not intelligible speech.
Without learning, the Quality would remain, as observes Rumi, a "secret." Speech spoken is the secret manifest, remaining witness to the unmanifest potential, the secret. Trace anything back to its Source, and you find the unmanifest in the Potential.
Thus, the Christian spiritual theologian Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) wrote, "Oh, how great is our God, who is the actuality of all potency!" (Nicholas of Cusa. Nicholas of Cusa-Selected Spiritual Writings. Trans. H. Lawrence Bond. In "The Classics of Western Spirituality"). "God" refers to that in which all potential inheres in seed form. Hence, creation is not a past but an ongoing action. Manifestation is present tense or creation would cease. When you breathe, you breathe in and out a fresh creation. No breath is like any prior or any after.
* * *
Rumi reminds us the spirit enfolds "spiritual" Qualities that, while different from conventional functioning in society, need maturation through stimulation to unfold as much as things like speech do.
Imagine trying to function in society without the maturing of capacities that make possible efficient daily interaction and activity. What would it be like trying to add numbers, if you knew nothing about numbers? Writing a letter to someone, if you did not know how to spell or know about syntax? Were you not taught how to use a fork and spoon and drink from a glass?
Now, imagine a society that does not teach people how to interact and act in alignment with spiritual realities. Imagine, for example, churches that do not lead beyond the basics, leaving their people in spiritual kindergarten, even if that. Religions need to be hothouses for growing spiritual beings, not just places of rite, ritual, doing good and acting decent, and indoctrination.
Sadly, many people have been trained to be believers - a head affair. Their spiritual potentials remain hidden, not called forth, waiting to manifest. My experience as a Christian pastor taught me most Christians in churches seem unable even to articulate that deep longing for union with Spirit that Jesus spoke of. This is so partly for the failure of much religious leadership to be spiritual leaders. To make believers and obedient children, even decent people, is not the same as encouraging persons to discover and live the Sacredness within themselves as of foremost truth.
Yet, the image and spirit of Jesus - as, for example, that of Buddha and other beings - can be experienced as a Teacher and inspiration in bringing forth the Qualities. Regardless of the right or wrong of religious teaching over the centuries, many deeply spiritual beings have touched the Grace inside and outside their faith traditions. Likewise, much of the teaching is not incorrect, it falls short, as being taught how to turn on the oven does not mean one is ready to bake cookies.
* * *
The Teacher can come in different, even apparently contradictory disguises and not always be another human or of this earth realm. I recall walking into a bookstore in a small town, looking at a book, and sensing as though it had my name on it, like "To Brian." I got it, read it, and then read several of the author's other books. The book was life-changing at a crossroads in my spiritual unfolding. That book was a Teacher. The man, through the book, became my Teacher.
I have had human Teachers that intersected with my life, ones I sensed were to churn the buttermilk, as Rumi would say, and likely you have. As noted above, these sources can sometimes contradict - or appear to. However, spending more time with these Teachers and their wisdom, one may find the contradictions are not as marked as one thought. One may even find contradictions that appeared only to be so.
I have long embraced Jesus' Gospel and Buddha Dharma and have been enriched in life and devotion from other founts of wisdom, including Sufism and Hinduism. In giving a final assessment of my chaplain training, my clinical supervisor assigned me as a "Baptist Buddhist," noting a unitive divergence. She was being more honest about me than I was about myself - except for identifying my then-Christianity with Baptist, the sect of my upbringing that I left many years previous. It would have been accurate to say Episcopal-Buddhist.
* * *
The Teacher, officially one or not, human or not, sees the butter in the buttermilk. The Teacher's role is to see and affirm the butter in us before we can see or affirm it. The Teacher sees as we cannot yet see, so sees for us. We think we are only buttermilk, the Teacher is not deceived by appearances.
* * *
I have read authors on spirituality claim that one cannot evolve spiritually without a recognized Teacher, like a guru, roshi, or something. That can mislead and exclude many persons who are ripe for truth. Still, going it alone is not wise. We need a Teacher(s) through varied avenues, though we might not know them face-to-face. At different times, for example, I have received inspiration and guidance from a Teacher, for a time, through readings or videos, or both. I had a Teacher who served me as a spiritual guide for five years. She is an Episcopal spiritual director. Meeting with someone to provide spiritual guidance, such as a spiritual director or spiritual companion, can serve as Teaching.
***
Last, the absolute, infallible Teacher is the Teacher-Within. This Source never confirms untruth, for it is the "Spirit of Truth" (Gospel of John 16.13).
Rumi refers to our "hidden self." The conventional self, or apparent self, has to be taught of this hidden being. The hiddenness is the sum, the pleroma, of the Qualities. That you are-we are is already the "All-Potency" - another term of Nicolas of Cusa.
The Spirit within confirms the truthfulness of Teaching and Teacher-Without. These Teachers and Teachings awaken the hidden self. Hindus speak of the Sat Guru as this Teacher. The Christian sects refer to the Holy Spirit. Buddhists refer to Buddha Nature or Big Mind. That this is pointed to in manifold ways.
Muslims practice Remembrance. One form of this rite is seeing the Qualities in nature about us. Each form speaks of the Formless, called by Muslims Allah. Nature outside you reflects your hiddenness-in-God. Look out to see yourself. Within and without are one Reality. Looking without, you see within; looking within, you see without. Therefore, the frequent emphasis in spirituality on looking within can be misleading and result in a navel-gazing resultant of thinking "within" and "without" are contraries. "Within" speaks of bringing consciousness near. At the same time, "without" means allowing consciousness to expand outward, two complementary, relative movements.
* * *
To conclude, two scriptures, one from the Hebrew Bible, one from the Christian Scriptures -
Jeremiah 31.34 (see Hebrews 8.11) -
No longer shall they teach or say to one another, "Intimately-know [yaday indicates unmediated, intimate relationship] the Lord [YaHWaY, lit. One who is, or causes to be] for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest, says the Lord, ...
Gospel of John 16.13 -
When the Spirit of truth comes, it will guide you into all truth, for it will not speak on its own but whatever it hears [receives], ...
* * *
*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2023. Permission given to use photographs and writings with credit given to copyright owner.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
|
