Verse 27

27.

A good traveller has no fixed plans

and is not intent upon arriving.

A good speaker is well rehearsed

and speaks without causing harm.

A good artist lets his intuition

lead him wherever it wants.

A good intellect has freed itself of

concepts and remains open to what is.

A good knot needs no rope

and cannot be undone.

Thus the Master is available to all people

and doesn’t reject anyone.

She is there to help all of creation,

and doesn’t abandon even the smallest creature.

She is ready to use all situations

and doesn’t waste anything.

This is called embodying the light.

What is a good person but a bad person’s teacher?

What is a bad person but a good person’s job?

If you don’t understand this, confusion will arise

however clever you are.

This is the secret of prime importance.

Most of us live our lives and relate to the world exclusively through our ‘schemas’, which are internal maps or representations of reality. These schemas can come between us and a direct experience of reality as it is, stranding us on the level of merely how we think it is.

A lesser mind is bound by concepts, ideas and expectations and tends to find only what it’s expecting or wanting to find. A bad artist loses the spontaneity of the creative process when his mind tries to direct what ought to be a product of intuition and inspiration. And the traveller whose journey is solely a means to an end is more focused on the destination than the unfolding journey and is thus blinded to the beauty around him.

The key here is to let go of our need to control and our need to know, plan or be right. If we let go and allow life to unfold around us, without the need to judge, control or manipulate reality according to the filters of our mind, then the result can only be more wonder and greater joy.

Impartiality is a key message in this verse. It’s all too easy to judge, label, categorise and so negate others. When we do this, we no longer see other people, we see only our mental judgements: good, bad, worthy, unworthy, kind, unkind, and so on.

The Master, however, is impartial and open to all life and is available to all people and all situations. No one is rejected and no situation is wasted.

The wisdom to see beyond the narrow judgements of mind and the ability to step out of duality to realise the oneness of all life is the hallmark of the Master and is referred to here as embracing or ‘embodying the light’.