The Christ encouraged us many times to glean spiritual truth from nature. He spoke of fig trees, vines, lilies, sparrows, the wind, seeds and crops, urging us to find the parallels of wisdom within our own lives.
He spoke too of the Pearl of Great Price; let us examine the origin of a pearl. Everyone knows that pearls come from oysters, but what is the actual mechanism?
In order to live, the oyster opens its protective shell by a few millimetres to admit the life-giving sea water, which brings oxygen and microscopic food. However, during rough weather, undesirable particles of grit may also be carried in the current, and the sendentary oyster has no way of avoiding them. When a jagged, gritty particle lodges in the soft folds of the oyster's flesh, the oyster, having no means of removing it, sets to work to transform it. The irritation is lessened by adding smooth layers of nacre to the unwanted particle. Little by little over a period of many months, the sharpness is reduced, and the irritating particle becomes a beautiful pearl.
We too need to open ourselves to the experiences of life, but sadly mankind's irritations tend to make him more irritable. Surely as creators in miniature, we too could find it in ourselves to transform these irritations into pearls of heightened consciousness? Love is the powerful agent which completes every experience to the greatest good of all concerned. Can we not employ this power to round out the irritations caused by our enemies? It is not only ourselves who benefit from the exercise. As with the oyster, the product of transformed irritation becomes in itself an awareness that can bring joy and upliftment to others.
We see now that the Christ's injunctions: 'Do good to those who harm you', 'love your enemies', constitute the techniques of transforming bad things into good. His words are indeed pearls of wisdom. The Master knew and proved that LOVE can never be a one-sided affair, just as there is no such thing as a one-sided pearl.
The ultimate pearl, that is the completed love-consciousness, is attained by 'selling all that you have' in order to purchase it. Those who are advancing on the Path are beginning to sense that 'all that you have' materially is but an irritation by comparison with spiritual awareness.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking godly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
(Matt 13:45, 46)
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Lessons from the Pearl
© The School of Truth
Source p. 268, Nov / Dec 2009 - The Path of Truth
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