April 17, 2008

It is the surface of the sea that makes waves and roaring breakers; the depth is silent.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The bubbles are to be found on the surface of the sea. The depth of the sea is free from bubbles. The commotion is to be seen on the surface, the depth of the sea is still. The mind is the commotion of that something that is within us, that something which we call heart. The happiness, knowledge, pleasure and love that is stored in our innermost being is in our profound depth. Changing emotions and passions, dreams, ever-rising thoughts and imaginations, all belong to the surface, as the bubbles belong to the surface of the sea.

from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/II/II_41.htm


It is an effective visualization of mine when things are stormy and tumultuous to imagine myself as a pearl in an oyster at the bottom of a very deep ocean.

When I allow the shell of the oyster to open and I look up with pearly eyes, I see activity over me...fish swimming, sometimes eating each other, reflections of waves crashing against themselves over me, and far, far above the ocean itself, the moon looking back with the same pearly, opaque eyes as mine...I am a beautiful part of all that I see, but I am not the activity itself. I simply sit and sit in my gooey, ishqy oyster throne and be...

All Love,

Always!!!

Hakima