The book of Mirdad is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I will be posting some excerpts from the book that I really liked. Here is the first one.
IS IT LAWFUL TO KILL TO EAT?
Micayon: Is it not lawful, Master, to kill to eat?
MIRDAD: Tree of Life feed on Death is to become food for Death. To live by other’s pain is
to become a prey for pain. So has decreed the Omniwill. Know that and choose your course,
Micayon.
Micayon: If I had my choice, I would choose to live, like a phoenix, on the aroma of things,
not on their flesh.
MIRDAD: An excellent choice, indeed. Believe, Micayon that the day is coming in which
men shall live by the aroma of things, which is their spirit, and not by their flesh and blood.
And that day is not far off for the yearners.
For the yearners know that the life of flesh is but the bridge to the fleshless Life
And the yearners know that the course and inadequate senses are but the peepholes into the
world of the infinitely fine and adequate sense.
And the yearners know that every flesh they tear they must inevitably repair, soon or late, with
their own flesh; and every bone they crush they must rebuild with their own bone; and every
drop of blood they spill they must replenish with their own blood. For that is the law of flesh.
And the yearners would be free of bondage to this law. Therefore do they reduce their bodily
wants to the lowest minimum, reducing thereby their debt to the flesh which is , in truth, a debt
to Pain and Death.
The yearner is inhibited by his own will and yearning; while the non-yearner waits on others to
prohibit him. A multitude of things, which are, to the non-yearner, lawful, the yearner makes
unlawful for himself.
While the non-yearner grasps for more and yet more things to put in his pocket or belly, the
yearner walks his way without a pocket, and with a belly clean of any creature’s blood and
convulsions.
What the non-yearner gains – or thinks he gains – in bulk the yearner gains in lightness of spirit
and sweetness of understanding.
Of two men, looking at a green field on estimates its yield in bushels and calculates the price of
the bushels in silver and in gold. The other drinks the greenness of the field with his eye, and
kisses every blade with his though, and fraternizes in his soul with every rootlet and pebble, and
every clod of earth.
I say to you, the latter is the rightful owner of that field, although the other owns it in fee
simple.
Of the two men sitting in a house one is the owner , the other, but a guest. The owner
expatiates on the cost of building and maintenance, and on the values of draperies and tapestries
and other trappings and furnishings. While the guest blesses in his heart the hands that
quarried, dressed and built the stone; and the hands that wove the tapestries and the draperies;
and the hands that invaded the forest and turned it into windows and doors and into chairs and
tables. And he is exalted in spirit in exalting the Creative Hand on his back but dwelling not
therein.
Of the two men sharing with the calf the milk of that calf’s mother one eyes the calf with the
thought that his tender flesh would provide good meat for him and his friends to feast upon at
his approaching birthday. The other thinks of the calf as his brother of the teat and is filed
with affection for the young beast and his mother.
I say to you, the latter is truly nourished by that calf’s meat; while the first is poisoned thereby.
Aye, many things are put in the belly that should be put in the heart.
Many things are shut in the pocket and the larder that should be shut in the eye and the nose.
Many things are crushed with the teeth that should be crushed with the mind.
Very little does the body need to sustain it. The less you give it, the more it gives you in return.
The more you give it, the less it gives you in return.
Verily, things outside your larder and belly sustain you more than when in the larder and the
belly.
But since you are unable yet to live by the fragrance alone of things, take unafraid your need –
but no more than your need – of the generous heart of the Earth. For the Earth is so hospitable
and loving that her heart is every spread before her children.
How else can the Earth be, and where could she go outside of herself to feed herself? The Earth
must feed the Earth, and the Earth is not a miserly hostel, but her board is ever spread and full
for all.
In the same manner as the Earth invites you to her board, withholding nothing from your reach,
in that same manner must you invite the Earth to your board and say to her in utmost love and
sincerity:
‘O mother inexpressible! As you have laid your heart before me to take of it my need, so do I
lay my heart before you to take of it your need.’
If that be your guiding spirit in eating of the heart of the Earth, than little does it matter what
you eat.
But if that be , indeed, your guiding spirit, than should you have the wisdom and the love not to
bereave the Earth of any of her children, especially those which have come to feel the pleasure
of living and the pain of dying – those that have arrived at the segment of Duality. For they,
too, have their road to wend, slowly and laboriously, towards Unity. And their road is longer
than yours. Delay them in their march, and they shall delay you in your march.
Abimar: Since all living things are doomed to die, through one cause or another, why should
I have any scruples if I be the cause of any animal’s except it find him fit as an instrument for
killing.
MIRDAD: While it is true that all the living are condemned to die, yet woe to him who is the
cause of death of any living thing.
As you would not commission me to kill Naronda , knowing that I love him much and that no
blood lust is in my heart , likewise the Omniwill would commission no man to kill a fellowman,
or an animal , except it find him fit as an instrument for killing.
So long as men are what they are, so long shall there be thefts and robberies among them , and
lies and wars and murders and every kind of dark and evil passions.
But woe to the thief and the robber; and woe to the liar and the warlord, and to the murderer,
and every man who harbors dark and evil passions in his heart. For they, being full of woe, are
used by the Omniwill as messengers of woe.
But you, my Companions, must cleanse your hearts of every dark and evil passion that the
Omniwill may find you fit to carry to the suffering world the joyful message of relief from
suffering; the message of overcoming; the message of Freedom through Love and
Understanding.
So taught I Noah.
So I teach you.
