From: bahram@somewhere.in.heaven.edu
Subject: Pieces-XXVI (The Parable of the Three Domains)
Organization: Mars People International.
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 15:48:30 GMT



		TIT FOR TAT

	   Nasrudin went into a shop to buy a pair of trousers. Then he changed
	his mind and chose a cloak instead, at the same price.
	   Picking up the cloak he left the shop.
	   `You have not paid,' shouted the merchant.
	   `I left you the trousers, which were of the same value as the cloak.'
	   `But you did not pay for the trousers either.'
	   `Of *course* not,' said the Mulla--`why should I pay for something 
	that I did not want to buy?'

					Idries Shah
			****************

		BEYOND

	The infinite universe lies beyond this world.

					Jalaludin Rumi
			****************

		GOAT

	If you have no troubles -- buy a goat.

					Proverb
			****************
										
		THE PARABLE OF THE THREE DOMAINS

	HUMAN life, and the life of communities, is not what it seems. In fact,
	it follows a pattern evident to some and concealed to others. Again,
	more than one pattern is moving at a time. Yet men take one part of one
	pattern and try to weld it with another. They invariably find what they
	expect, not what is really there.
	   Let us consider, for example, three things: the wheat in the field,
	the water in the stream, and the salt in the mine. This is the condition
	of natural man; he is a being which is both complete in some senses and
	has further uses and capacities in further senses.
	   Each of the three items is representative here of substances in a 
	state of potentiality. They may remain as they are, or circumstances 
	(and in the case of man, effort) may transform them.
	   This is the condition of the First Domain, or state of man.
	   In the Second Domain, however, we have a stage in which something 
	further can be done. The wheat, by effort and knowledge, is collected 
	and ground into flour. The water is taken from the stream and stored
	for a further use. The salt is extracted and refined. This is a Domain
	of a different activity than the first, which was merely growing. In 
	this Domain, stored knowledge is brought into play.
	   The Third Domain can come into being only after the three
	ingredients, in correct quantity and proportion, have been assembled
	in a certain place, at a certain time. The salt, water and flour are
	mixed and kneaded to become dough. When the yeast is brought, a living
	element is added; and the oven is made ready for the baking of the 
	loaf. This making depends as much upon `touch' as upon stored knowledge.
	   Everything will behave in accordance with its situation: and its
	situation is the Domain in which it is cast.
	   If the objective is bread, why talk of salt-making?
		
	%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
	
	This story, originating with the Sarmoun Sufis, echoes the teaching of
	Ghasali that `the ignorant man has no real idea of the learning of the
	scholastic. Equally, the scholastic has no adequate conception of the
	knowledge of the Enlightened Man.'
	   It also underlines the dervish belief that traditionalist religious,
	metaphysical or philosophical schools are continuing to `grind flour'
	and cannot progress further, lacking the presence of men of insight, 
	who appear only rarely.

 					Idries Shah (Tales Of the Dervishes)	
			****************

		WHOSE SERVANT AM I?

	   Mulla Nasrudin had become a favourite at Court. He used his position
	to show up the methods of courtiers.
	   One day the King was exceptionally hungry. Some aubergines had been 
	so deliciously cooked that he told the palace chef to serve them every 
	day.
	   `Are they not the best vegetable in the world, Mulla?' he asked 
	Nasrudin.
	   `The very best, Majesty.'
	   Five days later, when the aubergines had been served for the tenth
	meal in succession, the King roared: `Take these things away! I HATE
	them!'
	   `They are the worst vegetables in the world, Majesty,' agreed 
	Nasrudin.
	   `But Mulla, less than a week ago you said that they were the very
	best.'
	   `I did. But I am the servant of the King, not of the vegetable.'

					Idries Shah
			****************

		OBJECTORS

	PEOPLE used to accuse Rumi of having strayed from the Right Path in 
	allowing and encouraging plays, songs and music and other unusual 
	activities.
	   He never answered these objections, according to *Munaqib el-Arifin*.
	   But other sources report him as saying:
	   `The accounts are always made up at the end of the day. Let us see,
	when a sufficient space of time has passed, whether it is our *work* 
	which is remembered or the names of our critics.
	   `Everyone knows that there are lions and jackals. Although in 
	modern times many jackals have induced people to believe that they are
	lions, the ancient rules always operate over the run of time.
	   `You have heard many stories which say, "There was once a lion..." 
	How many do you hear which begin, "There was once a jackal...?'

					Idries Shah (Thinkers of the East)
			****************

		THE REASON

	The Mulla went to see a rich man.
	   `Give me some money.'
	   `Why?'
	   `I want to buy...an elephant.'
	   `If you have no money, you can't afford to keep an elephant.'
	   `I came here', said Nasrudin, `to get money, not advice.'
	 
					Idries Shah
			****************
					
		KINDNESS

	Whoever has no kindness has no faith.

					The Prophet Mohammed
			****************

		"RIPENESS IS ALL"

	SINCE thou canst not bear the unveiled Light, drink the Word of Wisdon,
	   for its light is veiled,
	To the end that thou mayst become able to receive the Light, and behold
	   without veils that which now is hidden,
	And traverse the sky like a star; nay, journey unconditioned, without a
	   sky.
	'Twas thus thou camest into being from non-existence.
	   How didst thou come? Thou camest insensibly.
	The ways of thy coming thou rememberest not, but I will give thee an
	   indication.
	Let thy mind go, then be mindful! Close thine ear, then listen!
	Nay, I will not tell, for thou art still unripe: thou art in thy 
	   springtime, thou hast not seen the summer.
	This world is as the tree: we are like the half-ripened fruit upon it.
	The unripe fruits cling fast to the bough, because they are not fit for
	    the palace;
	But when they have ripened and become sweet and delicious---after that,
	   they lose hold of the bough.
	Even so does the kingdom of the world lose its savour for him whose 
	   mouth has been sweetened by the great felicity.
	Something remains untold, but the Holy Spirit will tell thee without me
	   as the medium.
	Nay, thou wilt tell it to thine own ear---neither I nor another, O thou
	   who art one with me---
	Just as, when thou fallest asleep, thou goest from the presence of 
	   thyself into the presence of thyself
	And hearest from thyself that which thou thinkest is told thee secretly
	   by some one in the dream.
	O good friend, thou art not a single "thou": thou art the sky and the
	   deep sea.
	Thy mighty infinite "Thou" is the ocean wherein myriads of "thou's" are
	   sunken.
	Do not speak, so that thou mayest hear from the Speakers what cannot be
	   uttered or described.
	Do not speak, so that the Spirit may speak for thee: in the ark of Noah
	leave off swimming!

					Jalaludin Rumi
			****************
			
		SOVEREIGN TRUTH

	O PEOPLES of the earth! Verily the true God calleth saying: He Who is
	the Remembrance is indeed the sovereign Truth from God, and naught 
	remaineth beyond truth but error, and naught is there beyond error save
	fire, irrevocably ordained...

					Bab
			****************

		KING OF BERLIN

	   Say: O King of Berlin! Give ear unto the Voice calling from this
	manifest Temple: Verily, there is none other God but Me, the 
	Everlasting, the Peerless, the Ancient of Days. Take heed lest pride
	debar thee from recognizing the Dayspring of Divine Revelation, lest 
	earthly desires shut thee out, as by a veil, from the Lord of the Throne
	above and of the earth below. Thus counselleth thee the Pen of the Most-
	High. He, verily, is the Most Gracious, the All-Bountiful. Do thou
	remember the one [Napoleon] whose power transcended thy power, and 
	whose station excelled thy station. Where is he? Whither are gone the 
	things he possessed? Take warning, and be not of them that are fast 
	asleep. He it was who cast the Tablet of God behind him, when We made
	known unto him what the hosts of tyranny had caused Us to suffer. 
	Wherefore, disgrace assailed him from all sides, and he went down to
	dust in great loss. Think deeply, O King, concerning him, and concerning
	them who, like unto thee, have conquered cities and ruled over men. The
	All-Merciful brought them down from their palaces to their graves. Be
	warned, be of them who reflect.
			****************
	   O banks of the Rhine! We have seen you covered with gore, inasmuch 
	as the swords of retribution were drawn against you; and you shall have
	another turn. And We hear the lamentations of Berlin, though she be
	today in conspicuous glory.

					Baha'u'llah
			****************

		UNIVERSAL PEACE

	   TODAY there is no greater glory for man than that of service in the 
	cause of the "Most Great Peace". Peace is light whereas war is darkness.
	Peace is life; war is death. Peace is guidance; war is error. Peace is
	the foundation of God; war is satanic institution. Peace is the 
	illumination of the world of humanity; war is the destroyer of human 
	foundations. When we consider outcomes in the world of existence we 
	find that peace and fellowship are factors of upbuilding and betterment
	whereas war and strife are the causes of destruction and disintegration.
	All created things are expressions of the affinity and cohesion of 
	elementary substances, and non-existence is the absence of their
	attraction and agreement. Various elements unite harmoniously in 
	composition but when these elements become discordant, repelling each
	other, decomposition and non-existence result. Everything partakes of 
	this nature and is subject to this principle, for the creative 
	foundation in all its degrees and kingdoms is an expression or outcome
	of love.

					`Abdu'l-Baha
			*****************
		
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