Karma, Regrets and the Third Eye

8. Third Eye

If He created the illusion,

Verily, He created the Third Eye

To pierce all illusions.

If He created the maze,

Verily, He also created the Stars

To guide you home.

And if He created Sin,

Verily, He also created the pangs of conscience

To bring you back,

However far you have roamed.

We all feel a little awful sometimes. I mean, for myself, I have done some pretty dumb things. Things I am not proud off as well as not doing stuff that I should have. But those Sufis sometimes tell me, “Oh, you cannot regret anything, for all that you have been through led you to where you are now. And are you not happy with what God has bestowed?” Caught in a corner like that, of course I would have to agree. Had I not broken up with my first partnership my journey would not have intersected with many, many new friends with whom I have shared almost a decade of my life. Certainly, almost ten years ago, heartbroken I thought I would never practice law again. But here I am, into my 8th year with my firm. So yes, no regrets, in the greater scheme of things.

But in the smaller details, in the finite smallness of our daily lives, I do believe that it is our pangs of conscience which keeps bad karma at bay. And it is often our regrets that remind us, hollering, “Hoy! What are you doing there?!”, and for us to furtively and embarrassed, make our way back to our conscience.

There may be many technical definitions out there for ‘the Third Eye’, but for this simple sinner it is really just our conscience. I am much more interested in your conscience before I look at the colour of your skin or the tone of your faith. Because if you got this conscience business well and truly sorted, whatever cloth that you wear will not hide the fact that you are a decent, conscionable human being. And isn’t that the most important thing of them all?

Thank God it’s Friday, sunshine. And thank you for hosting my thoughts in the cathedral of your conscience.

Pax Taufiqa.