Backstage at the Theater of Wisdom

The Lenten season can bring forth a deep sense of sacrifice, deprivation, and austerity. Rather than fostering the aspiration of letting go and self-emptying, our efforts can add yet another layer on top of our conditioned selves. As a result, we become less authentic and even less human. A wonderful metaphor serving as an antidote for this type of self-obsessed activity comes from Ramakrishna, the 19th century Indian mystic. Theater of Wisdom is the term he uses to describe how our relative existence is the stage upon which Mother Wisdom directs Her endless scenes and scenarios. Our task is to play the role we are assigned but realize our true identity lies backstage with Divine Unity, the real Director, Playwright, and Producer.

With the steamroom so hot it hurts,
we get no relief until we leave.

If you put on shoes that are too tight
and walk out across an empty plain,
you will not feel the freedom of the place
unless you take off your shoes.

People at a distance see you walking there
and wish they were out in the open like you,
but as the saying goes, They are not in your shoes.

Your shoe-constriction has you confined.
At night before sleeping, you take off
the tight shoes, and your soul releases
into a space it knows. Dream and glide deeper. Rumi