Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi
I enjoyed this writing and found it moving with the metaphor of: “trying to cover the whole world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.” This is the perfect example how when faced with a difficult decision; it is usually the more painful decision, the one that is the hardest that would be the best. It is simple to run from problems (wear shoes) and walk away, as opposed to going deep and find the root of the problem (covering the earth) to make one’s path less difficult to travel.
The last two paragraphs of this writing was my favorite. Since silence is everlasting and appears every day over and over again until we interrupt that silence with our words. Silence is pure just as that energy running through the wire until it meets contact of another flow. The very last part of this writing; “someone standing neck-deep in water and yet crying for water” captured my attention to the old saying: people want what they already have! Yet they are standing inside the box and unable to see the very thing they long for. That is when God or a close friend can bring one’s attention, you have what you are longing for.
I did agree with this author especially the one sentence that stands alone on page 194: “Only mature minds can grasp the simple truth in all its nakedness.” Which brings me back to the beginning of this writing about avoiding walking on stones and thorns. Enduring pain and discomfort brings about maturity which gives us the tools to know when wear our shoes (the simple idea) or when to walk the uncomfortable paths of stones and thorns and become more mature to invest in others who might need a living example.