The Best Consultant
I today received the following old and beautiful Sufi story in Spanish, which I got translated automatically and I “purified” it.
“There was a man who once lived in Turkey. One day he heard speaking of a great teacher that lived in Persia, and that he possessed the secret of wisdom.
Without thinking twice, the man sold his things, he said goodbye to the family, and he left in search of that secret. After years of traveling, he was able to arrive at the cabin where the great teacher lived. Full of fear and respect, he came closer and he waited for the sage to return from his morning walk.
“I come from Turkey”, he said as soon as the sage had appeared. “I have come here only to ask you a question.”
“Well. You can ask just one question.”
“I have to be very clear in what I will ask. Can I make it in Turk?”
“You can”, said the sage. “And I have already responded to your only question. Any other thing that you want to know, you ask to your heart. It is not necessary to travel so much to discover that that is the best consultant that exists.”
And he closed the door….”
Old caves in Turkey, photo of a friend
November 15th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I am calling to you from afar;
Calling to you since the very beginning of days.
Calling to you across millennia,
For aeons of time-
Calling-calling. Since always.
It is part of your being, my voice,
But it comes to you faintly and you only hear it
sometimes;
“I don’t know,” you may say.
But somewhere you know.
“I can’t hear,” you say, “what is it and where?”
But somewhere you hear, and deep down you know.
For I am that in you which has been always;
I am that in you which will never end.
Even if you say, “Who is calling?”
Even if you think, “Who is that?”
Where will you run? Just tell me.
Can you run away from yourself?
For I am the Only One for you;
There is no other,
Your Promise, your Reward am I alone-
Your Punishment, your longing
And your Goal.
(unpublished quotation by Irina Tweedie, from “Catching the Thread”)