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A Wisdom Story
According to social rules in Turkey existing in Mulla Nasruddin's lifetime, brides did not show themselves to their future husbands before the marriage.
On Mulla's wedding day, his bride took off her veil. She asked him, "Tell me, Mulla, which of your relatives can I see without covering my face?" Mulla replied, "Show your face to anyone you want; just make sure you keep it covered in my presence!"
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The crazy wisdom tale above tells us, in a humorous way, that life is full of surprises. Some surprises please us, some displease us. Some among us may opine we have had our share and plus of displeasing surprises.
Due to the unpredictability of life, we know we are going to go through surprises pleasing and displeasing until our leaving this earth.
Our one sane choice in such an uncertain existence is to ground our lives in Something certain. We can call that God~but let us not trivialize that Mystery, please. Grounding in that Reality we call God is termed faith.
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Meditation teaches this faith. Through passive, loving openness to God~Within, a purposeful bending of the will to face Christ, the Inner Light, we are acting faithfully. This faith act, as noted by the French contemplative theologian Francois de Fénelon (1651-1715), is a slow martyrdom to the false self that refuses to see God as fully in the travails Providence allows as the consolations It sends:
This momentary dependence,~this darkness and this peace of soul, under the utter uncertainty of the future,~is a true martyrdom, which takes place silently and without stir. It is death by slow fire. And the end comes so imperceptibly and internally, that it is often almost as much hidden from the sufferer, as from those who are unacquainted with that person's state.
Therefore, you contemplatives, do not push in your prayer for feelings of sweet sensation. Do not treat God like God owes you a constant diet of bliss in your devotion. Do not make the frequent mistake of assuming you are being spiritually blessed just because you have sweet feelings during devotion. Likewise, be careful of assuming some absence of Divine blessing simply because your devotion is not overflowing with consolation.
See next page for rest of writing...
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