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Main Index
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| | | Book Name: Sufis - The People of the Path, Vol 2 | Previous Next | |
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he is; he is trying to go beyond, always trying to go beyond. Whatsoever he is doing, all his effort is basically how to become something more, something higher, something better.
Man is a progress, a wayfarer, a pilgrim -- and his life is a pilgrimage, a non-ending pilgrimage, that goes on and on. A dog is born, a tree is born.... The tree is born with all its tree-ness and the dog is born with all its dog-ness. Man is not a given fact; man is born only with a possibility, with a potential. Man is born as a blank, as a nothingness; nothing is written.
All other beings have a certain essence, a certain soul. In man it is just the reverse. His existence comes first and then he starts seeking for his essence. In other animals essence comes first, then existence. They already bring a built-in programme; they never grow, they remain the same. That's why they look so innocent, so unworried, so non-tense. Look into the eyes of a cow -- how peaceful, calm, tranquil she is. There is no anxiety no anguish, no clouds. Look into the eyes of a man. They are always cloudy. They always have anguish, there is always trembling: the trembling of. 'Whether I am going to make it or not?' -- the trembling of, 'Whether I will be able to find myself or not?' -- the trembling of, 'Whether I will be fulfilled or remain unfulfilled?'
The animals are at ease, relaxed; man is a tension. This is his glory and this is his anguish too. This is his dignity and this is his problem too. It is his glory because he is capable of creating himself -- he is a god. And it is his anguish because the possibility is always there that he may fail, he may not be able to create himself. Who knows? It is glory because of freedom -- he has not been programmed. He is the only animal who remains without a programme. He has not been given a map, he has not been ordered.
Man is the only being who is uncommanded. with no orders. He comes into existence empty and then he starts groping for his being. Then he starts groping and creating and searching. Man is an adventure.
But with the adventure is uncertainty, insecurity, failure, fear. One can always go wrong. There is more possibility
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