The grain of the action, without the paint of likes and dislikes, when it is planed and shaped and polished, shows its own beauty. There is an inner beauty. So we should avoid painting our actions with personal like and dislike, and if we have inadvertently allowed some of them to become painted we should sandpaper the paint off by meditation and detachment. Then as the cabinet begins to take shape, it begins to have a subdued glow as it is polished day after day, month after month, year after year. It shows a sort of lustre and gives a quiet radiance to the whole room where it stands.
Life can be like that.
If it has been put together without the different actions being coloured and painted with likes and dislikes or hopes and fears and if they have been carefully fitted together, then when it is polished by meditation it begins to shine with a sort of lustre. With furniture the old pieces are prized more and more and the older it gets, the more valuable it is. A good life which has been well lived, well put together and polished, the older it is, the more valuable it is to the world. Trevor Leggett Adhyatma-teachings goes further into these traditions.