Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Rumi--the True Definition
Suppose you know the definitions of all substances
and their derivatives,
what good is this to you?
Know the true definition of yourself.
That is indispensable.
Then, when you know your own definition, flee from it,
that you may attain to the One who cannot be defined,
O sifter of the dust.
- Rumi, version by Camille and Kabir Helminski, from Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
NOTE: A well known Zen saying is that it is impossible to define God, because every definition you think of will be incorrect: "not that, not that". God is what is left when all the "definitions" have been abandoned--God has no real form or name, and cannot be defined. The "seeker" who seeks such definitions is as lost as someone who "sifts dust" looking for meaning.
We must "flee" our own definition (sense of self, ego) in order to achieve mystic annihilation into the one true source. This is final surrender.
