A Sleepless Eye: Aphorisms from the Sahara

Sea

Sea 57 The Sea: water bereft of water. The Sea, fount of eternity. Land water, water of the world; Sea water, water of eternity. But for the bitterness of Sea water, it would not belong to the kingdom of eternity. The bitterness of Sea water is borrowed from the vessel of eternity. Sea water on the tongue of eternity is saliva beloved by the Sea. If Sea water were fresh, those who rode the Sea would not die of thirst. Sea water was not created to be drunk, but rather to sing. The Sea has become a haven for freedom because Sea water is not fit for drinking. We dread the Sea because what we dread about it is eternity. In the Sea’s inundation lies the cure for bodily disease. In its lost dimension lies the cure for spiritual disease. Eternity inhabits the lost dimension of the Sea. 59 It is the lost dimension of the Sea that both enchants and scares us. The song of the Sea: its threnody for its lost dimension. The Sea entices us with water in order to give us freedom instead of Water. It is not the Sea depths that scare us about the Sea; what scares us is the freedom that lurks there. The feud between Sea and wind, a fight between lover and beloved. The Sea only responds to the call of its beloved, the wind. Does the Sea sing to remind us of its existence or ours? The Sea’s song, the world’s elegy. The Sea elegizes the world, but the world does not hear. The Sea’s elegy, strangers’ gospel. The Sea only talks to strangers. The Sea is the close friend of strangers because it is a neighbor of eternity; and eternity is a homeland for strangers. Sloughs give us flowers; the Seas produce sweet water. 60 But for the lost hollow in the Sea, it could not sustain the waters of all rivers. If the Sea-floor were like other floors, it would be overflowing with river- and rain-water. Children throw stones and clods into the Sea because of all mankind they are most aware of its lost dimension. Do you want to know something about eternity? Then learn to listen to the song of the Sea. We will never find a Sea in the Sea unless we seek its lost dimension. The Sea is a sacred space that we befoul with trash. Then we have the nerve to resort to it for our food. The Sea is a Desert with floods for its stem and the unseen for its root. Like the Desert the Sea is eternity’s neighbor. Whoever loves the Sea will never be afraid of it. Whoever is not afraid of the Sea will never be possessed by it. The Creator is like the Sea: we only confide in Him when we love Him; He only confides in us when we do in Him. We resort to the Sea in yearning for freedom. We flee from the Sea in fear of freedom. 62 What secret is there in freedom that entices even the Sea? What secret in freedom that alarms even the Sea? The Sea protects those who seek protection; in that resides its nobility. The Sea only forsakes those who have doubts about it. We have to court the Sea for a long time till we eventually discover that freedom is the lost dimension in our beloved Sea. In spite of the Sea’s generosity, its wealth is in water; thereby proving that the world’s richest person is the ascetic. The Sea is never bothered by rain water or rivers because it is an ascetic whose law is to give away all it receives. The lover of the Sea has the freedom to land on an island, but an island lover does not have the freedom to set out to Sea; for islands are traps, whereas the Sea is freedom. The Sea kills its lovers in order to revive them; it preserves lovers of this world in order to kill them. The world promises us more than it gives; the Sea gives us more than it promises. Whoever...