My words to you this month were inspired by the following quote, written in the fourteenth century by the great Persian poet and mystic, Hafez: “The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage, who has to duck her head when the moon is low, keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners.”
These...
Read moreOne can interpret the quote in various ways, general and specific. “Small man [who] builds cages” might speak to people who label everyone (or perhaps people who insist on labels, on ‘identities’, on meanings for everything); it might speak to the wealthy who insist upon controlling others or just people with control issues. More metaphysically put, anyone who works ‘in a box’, who cannot see the larger picture, who compartmentalizes, etc., might be a “small [wo]man [who] builds cages”, all in effort to escape blame, to rationalize (“I have to pay the rent!”), etc. I elaborate there, but that’s the bittersweet fun of looking at these statements or commentaries (koans, etc.).
But usually, as Ms Baker suggests, there is an underlying truth to these, and I agree with her interpretation, albeit perhaps more generally: the key is the ability to act, and the “rowdy prisoner” (it would be interesting to see other translations of whatever ‘rowdy’ denotes), indeed all of us, needs to be reminded by the sagacious individual(s) that there are always choices that are not palatable, that are difficult, that go against the grain, belief, ease, etc., but to not consider those choices is to actually lock oneself away in a cage, refusing to do what is best because it is just too difficult.
Of course, one ought not disregard that the Sage “has to duck her head”. I find that quite important to the specific meaning, because if the Sage must travel not only at night but when the moon is low (night at its darkest), then the Sage knows well that the “small man” does not want those cages opened, but as well, perhaps many of us act as “small m[e]n” when we refuse to open that cage door, when we refuse to consider other views, other actions.
The small men (and women - let’s be fair) want the majority locked up. Cake and circuses, or as I like to refer to it, social media and cheap goods. Well, I tried to not digress…