This week I spoke with Abdi Assadi, author of The Shadow on the Path about his book and his approach to healing. Let’s just say he’s not your baby boomer mother’s spiritual healer. In fact, our conversation was so passionate I can only share Part I here. Tune back in next week for the rest. (And promise: no terrible prequel, a la the one they are planning for Planet of the Apes!)
JD: In your book, Shadows on the Path, you make the case that words can often confuse us in our search for the truth. To illustrate your point you share a story from the Zen tradition about a stick pointing to the moon. Could you share the tale and elaborate on it here?
AA: Ah, the master wordsmith taking me to task on the function of words in our lives! Lao Tzu started the Taoist classic Tao Teh Ching by stating: “Those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak”. Chuang Tzu, the satirist Taoist philosopher that came after him is purported to have said “the old man starts by stating those who speak do not know and then writes a whole book”! What Lao Tzu was warning us about is the difficulty of conveying direct experience with words. Intellectual concepts and internal experience are not the same. But if no one attempted to share their experience, this would be a pretty boring place to pass time in. Any of us who has devoured a solid book knows that words can be liberating. A good writer can put the real experience using words out there but she still can not give us the direct experience.
That is the warning of the Zen story. It is about the danger of words and concepts when we are attempting to point out something real. In the analogy a person picks up a stick to point out the moon and we are warned not to confuse the stick with the moon. That is, not to stare at the stick instead of looking at the moon. I view it as a good intention to hold for any of us who are interested in communicating. Writer be aware.
JD: As you know I believe strongly in the practice of using one’s intuition to illuminate a clear strategy for solving life’s problems. In your book you talk about how people can often become more confused when they search for “the” answer whether through the escape of drugs or the seeming help of gurus. How can someone who is overloaded with confusion (and who isn't?) tune out the contradictory messages and tune in to inner truth? (And yes, I want “the” one true answer. Ha!)
AA: Of course I am the jackass who will try to give you “the” answer! Do remember “those who speak do not know and those who know do not speak”...
Such an important point you are putting out here. I would start by saying that truth has consequences and we are all aware of that. So, many times we really don’t want the answer because the answer can involve catastrophic changes for the ego. One thing I have learned from decades of being a healer is that many of us unconsciously are quite comfortable with our suffering. No matter how much we might deride that fact consciously. Secondly, intuition is not a switch we can throw on and off. Once we become conscious of its song, it will constantly hold us up to task of what needs to come or go. That takes tremendous courage since our inner being and our ego are rarely on the same page. What feeds the ego many times can suffocate our soul and vice versa. It takes deep inner work to get these two aspects of our selves on the same page. Many times the act of seeking the answer through the myriad of ways that we do is in fact a distraction of the highest order. The seeking has to be given up at some point. The truth is always right under our nose if we slow down enough to listen.
To your point, absolutely intuition can and must be used as a compass to steer our inner and outer life. But it is a relationship and as such must be fostered with utmost care. It is the deepening of this relationship that can help us when contradictory voices are at work. The inner truth is always screaming the loudest, we don’t need to tune in to it as much as work on not tuning it out. A regular grounding practice is the surest way I have found for learning to listen.
JD: Thanks so much Abdi. For more from Abdi, please check out www.shadowsonthepath.com.
For more on the practice of writing, please check out my book, Bang the Keys. And come back next week for part deux of my tete a tete with Abdi Assadi.
