It is always a danger
To aspirants
On the
Path
When they begin
To believe and
Act
As if ten thousand idiots
Who so long ruled
And lived
Inside
Have all packed their bags
And skipped town
Or
Died.
Hafiz, Persian Poet from The Subject Tonight is Love, Interpreted by Daniel Ladinsky
We are all on our own personal path to spiritual enlightenment. That is what I believe. Some of us have done a lot of work…study and meditation and prayer, service to others and generosity in many forms. Sometimes we feel as if we finally ‘get it’. We have experienced many a-ha moments and have come to a greater understanding of God, or Spirit, or whatever you call the Greater Power in the Universe.
And then it happens. We seemingly backslide. We feel angry and hurt, we judge others and slam their opinions, we feel deep grief and sadness, we look out into the world and see pain and suffering…or we look in the mirror and see the same thing! What happened? Why have I even made the effort to evolve spiritually?
Hafiz is right. The ten thousand idiots…the beliefs and thoughts in our conscious and subconscious mind and the human condition itself….have not disappeared. The path from where you came is still the path. You did not magically appear on the ‘other side of your own life’!
We can own the ten thousand idiots because, well, they are ours. But we don’t have to be ruled by them. It is perfectly divine to experience suffering, to really experience where you happen to be when things don’t seem all that great. Those of us who are ‘aspirants on the Path’ can choose to experience suffering and at the same time be aware that there is always available to us a possibility ‘beyond suffering’.
That is real progress!
To my fellow travelers on the Path,
Much love
Paula
