Chapter 6 my heart tells me

My heart taught me, it taught me to love what people hate, to be true to what people hate.It made it clear to me that love is not a virtue in the lover, but a virtue in the loved one.Before the heart told me, love to me was but a thin thread stretched between two adjacent columns, but now love has become a halo that begins and ends and ends and begins, encircling every existence. things that are going on; it slowly expands to include everything that comes up. My soul taught me, it taught me to see the beauty concealed by the appearance of form and color, to scrutinize what people think ugly until it becomes what I think is beautiful.Before my heart told me, beauty I saw was but a quivering fire among smoke.But now, the smoke is gone, and all I see is burning stuff.

My heart taught me, it taught me to listen to what is not the lips and throat.Before the heart told me, my hearing was dulled, and I heard only noise and shouting.But now I can hear the silence, and hear its chorus singing the carols of time and the hymns of space, proclaiming dark mysteries. My soul tells me, it teaches me to drink from what cannot be squeezed, cupped, handed, or lips touched.Before my heart told me, my thirst was a spark on the ashes I quenched with water from streams and cisterns.But now, my longing has become my cup, my thirst has become my drink, and my loneliness has become my drunkenness.I don't drink it, and I will never drink it again.But in this unquenchable burn there is an unquenchable joy.

My heart tells me that it teaches me to touch what is unformed and crystallized, to know that what is palpable is half-reasonable, that what we are capturing is part of what we want.Before my heart told me, I was content with heat when I was cold, cold when I was hot, and one or the other when I was mild.But now the sense of touch I have caught has dispersed, and has become a mist, passing through all manifest beings, to unite with shadowy beings. My heart taught me, it taught me to smell fragrances other than herbs and censers.Before my heart told me, whenever I wanted a scent, I had to turn to the gardener, the perfume bottle, or the censer.But now, what I smell is a fragrance that does not burn and does not evaporate, and what fills my chest is a fresh breath that has not passed through any garden in this world, nor has it been carried by any strand of air in this sky.

My soul warned me, it taught me to answer when the unknown and danger called: "I am coming!" Before the soul warned me, I only stood up when the familiar voice called, and only when I walked the familiar road walk.But now, the known has become my mount towards the unknown, and the easy has become the ladder for me to climb dangerous peaks. My heart tells me, it teaches me not to use my own words - "Yesterday was...". "Tomorrow will be..." - to measure time.Before my soul told me, I thought that the "past" was just a time that would never return, and the "future" was an era that I could never reach.But now, I understand that the moment in front of me has all the time, including everything that is expected, accomplished and proven in time.

My psyche taught me that it taught me not to use my language—"here," "there," "farther away"—to delimit space.Standing in one part of the earth, I thought I was far away from all other places, before my heart told me.But now I understand that the place where I land includes all places, and every journey I have taken is all journeys. My heart taught me, and it taught me to stay up when the people around me were sleeping soundly, and to sleep when they were awake.I shall not see their dreams in my bed, nor shall they find mine in their sleep, till my soul speaks to me.But now, I only fly in my dreams when they're looking at me, and they fly in their dreams only when I'm glad they're free.

My soul teaches me, it teaches me not to be elated by a praise, nor sad by a reproach.I doubted the value and grade of my labours, till my soul told me, Till the time sent them a praiser or a detractor.But now, I have understood that trees bloom in spring and bear fruit in summer and do not expect praise, and when their leaves fall in autumn and wither in winter, they are not afraid of criticism. My soul taught me, it taught me and confirmed to me: I am not higher than the rough and poor, nor lower than the mighty and mighty.Before my heart taught me, I used to think that people were divided into two classes: those who were weak, whom I pitied or despised, and those who were strong, whom I followed or rebelled against.But now I understand that I am an individual made up of the things that make up a collective of human beings, my components are their components, my implication is their implication, my hope is their hope, and my goal is theirs The goal.If they sin, I am a sinner; if they do something good.Then I am also proud of this good thing. If they stand up, then I will stand up together; if they sit down, then I will sit down together.

My heart tells me, it teaches me: the lamp I hold is not mine, nor the song I sing is composed of my material.If I walk with the light, then I am not the light; if I am a stringed lyre, then I am not the player. brother!My soul admonished me and educated me.Your heart has also warned you and educated you.Because you and I are like each other.There is no difference between us, except that I talk about me, and there is a little disputation in my words; you cover yourself, and there is a virtue in your concealment.