Friday, November 1, 2013

Enjoy the water remember the river

I love the iPad (I swear there's more to it than meets the eye, it's like I can feel part of the future impact of this hand-held communications medium), and I've just ordered the new gen-5 "iPad Air" (smaller, lighter, yet faster). As I do traditionally (since early iPods), I had my email address (on gmail I'm eolake) engraved on it. And I had another line to fill.
It would be nice if it would inspire a finder to return it. But it should be a bit more than that.
I remembered an old saying, apparently Chinese: "When drinking the water, remember the river". I tried, but of course there was not space enough. So I shortened and shortened, and it turned out that I couldn't even have the comma, but there was just space for:

 Enjoy the water remember the river 

I actually really liked that. I think it has a poetic simplicity, but still says it.

It's also one of the wisest sayings I know. It can be employed on a practical level: if you enjoyed your meal, thank your cook. If you enjoyed having food and shelter when growing up, think of your parents. And so on.

But also on the metaphysical level:

Think of Source

I think it's one of the most basic takeaways from The Course and other teachings, is that Source is everything (literally), and the more we can have attention and desire for Source, instead of this apparent World and its details, the happier we will be.

No comments: