TEACHING

Then said a teacher, speak to us of Teaching
And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already
lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple,
among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom,
but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind......
And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge,
so much each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God
and in his understanding of the earth.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

CHILDREN

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot
Visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

CAN YOU SWIM

In the old times there were only rowboats to cross the straits of Bosporus in Turkey, not the large boats of today. If you wanted to go from one side to the other, you hired a boat with five or ten other people and paid the boatman to take you across.
One day, a professor of geography stepped into one of these boats to cross the straits. Just as the boat set out, the wind started to kick up, and the boat began to sway from side to side.
As they made their way across the straits, the professor asked the boatman, "Do you know geography?"
The boatman replied that he did not. The professor said, "You've wasted one third of your life. A third of your life is gone."
A few moments later, the professor asked, "Do you know math?" and the boatman replied that he did not. Again the professor said, "A third of your life is gone; you've wasted all of this time."
Then he asked him, "Do you know history? No? A third of your life is gone; you have wasted so much time." and continued berating the boatman like this.
Mean while, the wind had become quite ferocious and the boat to rock back and forth wildly.
The boatman asked the professor "Do you know how to swim?"
The professor replied that he did not. The boatman said to him, "Then all of your life is gone."

REFERENCE: WHAT ABOUT MY WOOD BY ES- SEYYID ES-SHAYKH

WOULD YOU LIKE THAT WELL DONE

Khidr was teaching Moses (peace be upon them both) as they traveled together. One day, when they both became very hungry they each prayed for food. Allah answered Moses prayer and he started a fire so he could cook the food he had received. he noticed that Khidr was eating something. You need to work on your belief ,'' Khidr told Moses why don't you pray for a nicely cooked meal, as I do?


Khidr: The immoral prophet , also known as the Green Man


Reference: What about my wood by Es-Sayyid Es-Sheikh Taner Anasari

THE CHESS PLAYER

There was once a king who used to play chess with his court jester.
The jester was a Good player, and he won the game. This so annoyed
the king he punished him.
Then the monarch insisted on playing another time. The jester was
reluctant, but he had to continue.
When he was again on the point of winning, and the time had come
to call 'checkmate' the jester jumped up and ran into a corner. there he
covered himself with rugs, to avoid being beaten by the king.
The king asked him what he was doing. 'checkmate!' called out the jester;
'I am hiding here because nobody can dare to checkmate you unless he is
hidden, covered up-----'

RUMI

REFERENCE: THE COMMANDING SELF BY IDRIES SHAH

EYE BROWS

A man look at his wife's face and said: 'When did one of your eyebrows become thinner than the other?'
she answered: ' It was first noticed when you started to look my exterior, and become less appreciative of the inner Me.'

REFERENCE: THE COMMANDING SELF BY IDRIES SHAH