Directions

If there is any source from where one can get the direction on how to act in life, it is to be found in one's heart. The exercises of the Sufi help to get to the source where one can get the direction, the right direction, where there is a spark of the Spirit of Guidance. Those who care to be guided by the spirit, they are always guided, but those who know not whether such a spirit exists or does not exist, they wander through life as a wild horse in the woods, not knowing where it goes, why it runs, why it stands. It is a great pity to be thirsty and remain thirsty when the spring of fresh water is within one's reach. There can be no loss so great in life as having the spark glittering in one's heart and yet groping in the darkness through life. ~~~ "Sangatha II, Saluk: The Good Nature", by Hazrat Inayat Khan (unpublished)

nobody

The man in whom Tao acts without impediment harms no other being by his actions, yet he does not know himself to be "kind," to be "gentle."

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The man in whom Tao acts without impediment does not bother with his own interests and does not despise others who do.

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He does not struggle to make money and does not make a virtue of poverty.

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He gets his way without relying on others and does not pride himselfe on walking alone.

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While he does not follow the crow, he won't complain of those who do.

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Rank and reward make no appeal to him; disgrace and shame do not deter him.

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He is not always looking for right and wrong, always deciding "yes" or "no."

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The ancients said, therefore, "The Man of Tao remains unknown. Perfect virtue produces nothing. 'No-self is true self. And the greatest man is nobody."

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(from The Way of Chuang Tzu, by Thomas Merton)