“Existence comes before essence.” Who said that?
“Likely, an exisentialist.”
A simple seeker was aware that her spirit teacher didn’t seem to approve of assigning names as credits . He kept reminding her that ideas come to us. We don’t go to them, nor do we create them from nothing. But then, what we do with them is our choice.
His position on this and some other matters, she thought, might be as a gentle put-down of her tendency to hero-worship.
“We don’t call our parents by their personal names.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Calling your parents Mother or Father, or more casually, Mom and Dad, is a cultural tradition, and perhaps a step toward learning to respect authority, and those who have earned it, one way or another. The Kabbalah has much in common with your own cultural tradition, in this respect.
The Tree of Life represents needed structure in our lives. We develop from the bottom up. The Tree helps us to focus on our form before our essence.”
“Why?”
“The letter of the law must be accepted and respected before attempting to understand the spirit of whatever law.”
“Even if whatever law seems to make no sense at all?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Laws represent order and, even if it’s time to change a law, one must attempt to understand what purpose it might have served at some earlier time.”
“Then, it should be accepted without necessarily approving of it?”
“Yes. Law, as form, is both structure and a foundation, while essence has potential to expand and deepen, after the form is acknowledged, and then, perhaps, adapted to meet changing circumstances.”
“I really am blessed to have you share your wisdom with me. But I’ve been developing some insights of my own; a deeper awareness of …”
“Humility?”
…..
A simple seeker’s note to herself
Perhaps, sometimes I do get too sure of the truth of my own ideas, and I may need to learn to accept that there may be many more ways than one to see and/or understand any situation and/or idea. But, how to learn to see from other perspectives?
“You might try listening with intent to understand.”
“The problem with that advice is that I might decide that the other position has at least as much validity as my own.”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you might then be able to reach a compromise, or synthesis, with differing opinions and/or ideas.”
“Yes. Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For helping me to understaand that differences are negotiable, or they might be.”
“Yes.”
…..
Simple Seekers 