A youth was gifted a wild ass on his birthday. Aiming to befriend the beast, he mounted it. Unbridled, the ass sped through town at breakneck speed with the terrified youth clinging on. “Where are you going?” his friends cried. “Don’t ask me; ask the ass!” replied he.
Life is a wild ass that we mount at birth. If not wise and discerning, we will be reinless riders who can neither direct our life nor dismount from the destruction it can drag us to. Hence, let’s ask: Am I going where I really ought to go? Or, am I being driven by desires and passions towards where I shouldn’t be heading?
Discernment is an act of wisdom providing productive insights into ourselves, as well as into the events we experience and the persons we encounter. Discernment draws seekers into a “beyond” that is not immediately seen but intuitively imagined. A discerning person weighs choices, balances pros against cons, and then chooses the greater good.
Literature tells us to be “as wise as owls” that supposedly see things even in darkness. The Indian philosophical tradition depicts the individual spirit or soul as a swan (hamsa) with neerksheer viveka: wisdom to separate milk from water when mixed. Each of us could cultivate this viveka to choose virtue over vice, and lasting good over fleeting pleasure.
The Biblical prototype of wisdom is King Solomon. Faced with God’s carte blanche offer: “Ask what you wish me to give you!” he chooses neither wealth nor health, but wisdom. Thus, besides granting him legendary wisdom, God also blesses Solomon with untold wealth. Of him it’s said: “All the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart.”
We can seek the help of others for our discernment like King Akbar consulting his wise courtier, Birbal. But, God’s spirit is the wisest counsellor: “I will send you the spirit,” promises Jesus, “and, God’s spirit will teach you everything, causing you to remember my words.”
Discernment can be done daily during spells of silence. First, list all the persons, works and events your day will probably bring. Second, listen to the voices and pulls that these encounters are likely to engender. Third, use that “inner eye” to garner spiritual strength to take decisions and perform actions that will benefit the most number of people. Such decisions will definitely be fruitful for you and for others.
Solomon’s story ends in doom. Wasting God-given gifts, he later chooses temporal luxury over eternal inheritance. May we never be driven by carnal drives but drawn towards fuller life by discernment. We will then see like owls, and like swans wisely separate milk from water.
