Beyond Labels: The Heart's Way

I have spoken of the plank in your own eye. 

You ask now of forms and labels, but I say to you: the Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

You speak of 'man' or 'woman,' 'this' or 'that.' 

These are but distinctions. 

Make the smallest distinction, however, and you are as far from the Way as heaven is from earth. 

To long for one and avert from another, to like and dislike: this is the disease of the mind.

Look not to the changing form; look to the heart. 

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

The Inner Kingdom is not found in being one thing or another, but in ceasing to cherish opinions.

Therefore, do not lay up for yourselves treasures in these words and labels, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

First, remove the plank of judgment from your own eye; only then will you see clearly. 

Know that the Way itself is beyond all language.

Reflection - Beyond Labels, Heart's Way

My friends, you have come to me with hearts troubled by the world. You ask about forms and labels. You point and say, "This is a man," "that is a woman." You draw lines and say, "This is good," "That is bad." You have filled the world with words, and now you are lost in the forest you yourselves have planted.

And so I say to you again: The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

You have heard me speak of the plank in your own eye. What is this plank? It is not a piece of wood. The plank is a preference. The plank is the distinction. The plank is the simple, devastating habit of the mind that says, "I like this," and "I do not like that."

This is the sickness. And it is a sickness of the heart. You have told me, "But surely, some things are good and some are bad! Surely, it is right to love one and hate another!"

And I tell you, "Make the smallest distinction, however, and you are as far from the Way as heaven is from earth."

Why? Because the moment you cherish a preference, you have split the world in two. You have created a 'self' that likes, and an 'other' that is liked. And in that same breath, you have created a 'self' that dislikes, and an 'other' that must be avoided, or controlled, or destroyed. This, my friends, "to long for one and avert from another, to like and dislike: this is the disease of the mind."

This disease is the root of all your sorrow. You are not at peace because you are constantly at war with reality. You want the world to give you only what you "like" and to shield you from all you "dislike." It is a child's demand, and so you suffer like a child, weeping when the tide washes away the castle you built, raging when the wind blows against you.

You build your very identity, your self, out of these labels. You are a "man," a "woman," "successful," "a failure," "righteous," "a sinner," "my party," "my nation." You collect these words like treasures. But I have warned you, "do not lay up for yourselves treasures in these words and labels, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

And what happens when your treasure is threatened? When someone challenges your label? When they question your "rightness"? Your heart fills with fear and anger. You must defend your treasure. This is the source of all war, from the battlefields of nations to the silent, bitter wars fought across your dinner tables.

This is not a new teaching. The human heart has always known this truth, even as the human mind has always tried to forget it.

Look to the wisdom of the Upanishads in Hinduism. The great seers of India spoke of Advaita—"not-two." They taught that Atman, the individual soul, the "I" you think you are, is and always has been one with Brahman, the formless, boundless, ultimate Reality. The world of labels and forms, this "this" and "that," they called Maya. Not an illusion, precisely, but a misreading of the truth. The sickness, the plank in the eye, is Avidya—ignorance. It is the simple, tragic mistake of seeing separation where there is only Oneness. When they say, "Tat Tvam Asi"—"Thou Art That"—it is a hammer to break your labels. You are not the man, the woman, the rich, the poor. You are That.

And look to the heart of Islam, to the Sufi mystics. They speak of Tawhid, the absolute Oneness of God. The great poet Rumi knew this Way. He wrote, "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." This field, my friends, is the Inner Kingdom. It is the mind that has "no preferences." What is the veil, the hijab, that hides the face of God? It is the small self, the nafs, the ego that is built entirely on "like" and "dislike." The path of the Sufi is fana, the annihilation of this small, label-loving self in the boundless ocean of Divine Love.

Do you see? The Hindu Jnani uses the sharp sword of wisdom to cut through the ignorance of labels. The Sufi Mashiq uses the blazing fire of love to burn the self of preferences to ash. Both are walking the Great Way. Both are showing you how to remove the plank. My path, the Zennist's path, simply points to the same truth: "Cease to cherish opinions," and the Way is clear. "Blessed are the pure in heart," and you shall see God.

A "pure heart" is a mind with no preferences.

How does this sickness show itself in your lives today? Oh, you have become masters of it. You have built a whole world based on the plank. You hold little boxes in your hands that feed you a constant stream of things to "like" and "dislike." You scroll through faces, and in a second, you judge: "like," "avert." You read the news, and in an instant, you decide: "us," "them," "right," "wrong."

You are strengthening the muscle of judgment, the plank, every moment of the day. And you wonder why you are so anxious? So angry? So terribly lonely? You are lonely because you have drawn a line between yourself and everything. You are trapped in the prison of your own preferences.

You are "poor in spirit," but you seek the Kingdom in your labels. You mourn, but you mourn the loss of your treasured opinions. You hunger and thirst, but for righteousness, for being right.

This is why I say to you, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I did not say, "Blessed are those who have all the right labels." I did not say, "Blessed are those who 'like' all the right things." God is not a label. The Kingdom is not a preference. The Great Way is not an opinion. It is the seeing that is left when the plank of judgment falls.

"The Inner Kingdom is not found in being one thing or another, but in ceasing to cherish opinions."

You want a practical application? You look at the news this week. You see the same story, again and again. Conflict. Division. Hate. One group treasuring its labels, its history, its "rightness," against another group treasuring its labels. "You have heard it said, 'love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies."

This is not some impossible moral goal. It is the most practical advice in the world. Hating your enemy is the sickness. It is the plank. It is the "like" and "dislike" that separates you from the Way, from God, from your own heart. You cannot find peace by winning the argument. You can only find peace by dropping the argument.

So, here is the practice. The next time you feel that surge of anger, that jolt of self-righteousness, that cold knot of fear or aversion... stop.

Do not act. Do not speak. Do not even judge the feeling. Simply see it. Say, "Ah. There it is. The 'dislike.' The preference. The plank." You don't have to pull it out. You don't have to fight it. You just have to see it.

"First, remove the plank of judgment from your own eye; only then will you see clearly."

In that moment of pure seeing, without preference, the plank begins to dissolve. The distinction between heaven and earth vanishes. The heart becomes pure.

And in that instant, you are not a "man" or a "woman." You are not "right" or "wrong." You are not your past and not your future.

You are simply... here. And the Kingdom of Heaven is right where you stand. The Great Way is the very ground beneath your feet.

Know that the Way itself is beyond all language. Go now, and cease to cherish opinions. Peace be with you.