Once I asked my Master, "What is the difference between you and me?" And he replied, “Hafiz, only this. If a herd of wild buffalo broke into our house and knocked over our empty begging bowls not a drop would spill from yours. But there is Something Invisible that the Divine has placed in mine. If that spilled from my bowl, it could drown this whole world." ~  Hafiz de Shiraz

The words of the masters have reverberated down through time. Yet the prattling of inferior teachers and the static of anxiety and anger tempts us with its superficial display.

When I was a young man I instinctively withdrew from adult society at parties and events and went off to play with the children, attracted by their spontaneity and high, bright energy. An old friend of mine used to say how she loved to walk through the squalor and degradation of Soho in London in the Seventies, because it was so full of energy and vibrancy. In Bombay, again in my youth, I looked at the meagre amount of rupees I held in my hand. I had two weeks left before my plane departed. My choice was a trip to the Taj Mahal and others sights or sitting quietly in the ashram—I chose the ashram.

The world of inner depth and meaning calls to some of us. While the world of outward experience and brief excitement calls to others. No right or wrong.

People complain that they feel anxious and insecure in their emotional, relational existence and when they turn to the spiritual there is even less or no security at all. They follow the route of compromise, the false-middle way, which cleaves to the worldly life, while retaining a nod in the spiritual direction. I can have both, they cry!

You cannot have both. I have written about, spoken about, lectured, and taught the way of Sacred Attention. In Sacred Attention we do not bargain, we do not compromise, we do not haggle or barter. We listen and we discern what is the truth and we accept the way in its incomprehensible, mysterious wisdom and unfolding.

Follow not just any way and certainly not the way of your or anyone else's choosing. Follow the true way. Follow the true way and you will give yourself, your fears, your anxiety, your need for security, fulfilment, or love into the hands of the Divine and it will be fulfilled to your heart's deep satisfaction.  Your bowl will be filled with Something Invisible that could drown this whole world.

BLOG entry #48