The waves of life rise and fall continually. We are lifted up toward the heavens and then we drop again into the depths. The moments when we fall, we feel regret : why could we not remain as we were, a little closer to the Sun, reflecting its radiance, warmed by its rays? And if we have heard something about the perfection of love, harmony and beauty we may ask, ‘Where is the perfection in this loss? Where is the beauty in this sorrow that has turned my light to darkness?’
Perfection means that nothing is lacking, but the more we think about perfection, the wider we must spread our gaze to perceive it. A jewel, for example, may be cut and polished and set most artistically, but it remains incomplete until there is a person to wear it and an admirer to appreciate how the jewel accents the beauty of the wearer. In the same way a piece of music may be perfectly composed, but if there is no singer to interpret it, and no audience to appreciate it, the perfection remains unfulfilled.
Therefore, perfection may not be easily recognisable in a limited view. In the life of an individual person, there may be many moments which might seem ‘imperfect.’ Only when we are able to take the whole life in at a single glance can we recognise the perfection it shows.
Beloved Murshid
Thank you for your post.
May our horizon streach and free us from our limited view of life.
As you mentioned jewels in your post this came to mind, a small verse from Tanas, in the Vadan, where H. Y. Khan mentions diamonds and coal.
Coal, what makes you so black?
I am the evil of the ages accumulated in the earth.
What is your penalty?
I must pass through a trial by fire.
What becomes of you in the end?
I turn into a diamond.
Dear Nawab,
Thank you for this reminder about perspective and perfection. Exactly what I needed to hear today. My small ego has such a limited focus, there is much to be distracted by – politics, worry, people being themselves, too much to do. Yet, when nearer to the Sun, the perfection of the One Life is more apparent – as well as the little lives encapsulated therein. Today I will travel to the beach to walk with a friend and her dog – the perfection of love, harmony, and beauty is so clear there and the wind blows away the rest.
In gratitude,
Sabura
As illustrated in the post, it I is not until we appreciate the music that is played by a musician that we can experience the perfection of a composition. Likewise, locked in a box, we can’t see the jewel’s perfection until someone wears it and an “admirer appreciates how it accentuates the beauty of the wearer.” Neither the jewel itself is perfect nor the unplayed music. An experience is required in each case so perfection is manifested.
Following the same analogy, how do we regard imperfection -as if it were a jewel- so we see the perfection it shows? What is the experience that turns imperfection into perfection? Or perhaps, how does my view need to expand in the case of imperfection to see no separation from perfection? How do we remove duality?
The jewel started its journey as a rough stone, and on the way it was cut with a hammer and chisel, and polished. The moment of ‘perfection,’ when it appears as an adornment to someone’s beauty, cannot really be separated from the blows and abrasives that shaped it – and what is more, it is probably the one who cuts the stone that can have the most keen enjoyment of its final appearance.
In the same way, we are struck and ground into some shape, for the satisfaction of the One who shapes us – but as Hazrat Inayat Khan points out, the jewel and the stone cutter are separate, whereas the One who is shaping us is shaping His own Being in us. And there lies the removal of duality.