"In short, the worldly and spiritual aspirations in the human heart are like water poured into a cup full of vinegar; as water goes in, and equal volume of vinegar inevitably goes out and the two can never combine."
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship
al-Ghazali finishes his reflections on the difficulty of praying without having your prayer corrupted by the concerns of this world with a fitting analogy. Confucius was famous for using the example of a bucket held in space by ropes and that you could actually fill it with water if you did so slowly and carefully; too fast or too clumsily would to the bucket tipping over and all the water being lost. It's an analogy for the logical and measured pace and intentionality of education, and how we our students can lose everything if they're not "filled" correctly. al-Ghazali is taking this a step further and proposing that some things cannot be carried out successfully no matter how carefully and slowly they're approached. However, couldn't the vinegar and the water coexist in the bowl if they are both added slowly and intentionally? And isn't there a purpose for both water and vinegar? To me this brings it all back to my previous comments about balance.
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship
al-Ghazali finishes his reflections on the difficulty of praying without having your prayer corrupted by the concerns of this world with a fitting analogy. Confucius was famous for using the example of a bucket held in space by ropes and that you could actually fill it with water if you did so slowly and carefully; too fast or too clumsily would to the bucket tipping over and all the water being lost. It's an analogy for the logical and measured pace and intentionality of education, and how we our students can lose everything if they're not "filled" correctly. al-Ghazali is taking this a step further and proposing that some things cannot be carried out successfully no matter how carefully and slowly they're approached. However, couldn't the vinegar and the water coexist in the bowl if they are both added slowly and intentionally? And isn't there a purpose for both water and vinegar? To me this brings it all back to my previous comments about balance.
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