Knowing

‘You contradict yourself’: People who pay attention to what you say may claim ‘you contradict yourself’. This is a good sign for any parties in dialogue. Talk is generally good; it brings you out of your shell and makes you realize things that by reading volumes of book you won’t be able to find them. This means talk is having an effect, because your party has found a point that need more talk. Rumi’s words like most other great thinkers have things to say that when you read them first think he is contradictory. He indeed talks about the double nature of our world and the duality we all must have to be able to judge better where we are, what we do, and what for. Indeed Sufism is all about paradoxes; one can solve them – as long as they are not fallacy. Most philosophers words are also seem contradictory, but that is the whole point of any thought. The point of thought is to be able to know more and realize things we did not know before. However, you need to be careful here. Some thoughts are so interesting that if you do not stop thinking about them, they will actually cause headaches. The best to cure that kind of headaches is to exercise, drink water, have a wonderful sweet fruit, or anything else that you enjoy. Sufis do a little twirling dance often and then emotions take them away. But they may then cry! You may wonder how? Is he happy or sad? You see things in nature all like that; there are two sides to every point - them usually opposite of one another, depending on how you look at it. You think ‘sadness is NOT happiness’. But if you think of it, it really depends on YOUR definitions. Colours are always like this. There are so many colours that goes into one colour. Colours have philosophy of itself. You may think it is all confusing and perhaps misleading, but that is the true nature of our world, only very few realise. This is how one can easily get misguided without guidance. Imagine a child in a wrong hand. We all know how abuse happens, the wrong words and wrong meaning does it very easily. This is why the value of common sense cannot be underestimated here. Common sense is the very foundation of our world and how we truly learn for good. My granddaughter Mya is beginning to know there are things that do not make sense. She stays quiet and listens to me even more. This morning, I gave her 17 pence in the car while we were waiting for nany do her shopping in Tesco. I counted before giving it to her. She is getting the hang of adding bigger numbers than one. She said she will keep the money for me. I agreed. We then said good bye at the school gate. She then said ‘you have your money in your pocket’. I said they are in your pocket. No, she would not have it. Which is fine, because we will have a subject to talk about? – Not that I want my 17p back, though she may think that way, and the reason she did what she did. But that is the point, if you can’t bring out what you learn on the table, then there is NOTHING to talk about; everything is understood, boring, and full stop. However, our world is all about colours, though we like see in black and white. It is easier that way. The black and white are those obvious, like our numbers, logic, etc. That’s we have to learn those black and white first. Without them, we will not be able to understand colours at all. In Farsi, we call it ‘zed o negheez’, or ‘opposite or contradictory’ and is a beautiful subject in the meaning of ‘meaning’. Rumi often used to talk of ‘root of the root’. He wanted to say there is always an underlying issue under any issue and we have to understand those too to see more. Love you, Ali XX, 20/1/2014.