“More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity” -Francois Gautier
Clarity is another act of grace. It is not at our beck and call, but rather an internal re-organizing and fresh perspective that comes through us when we are open and listening. Clarity is attracted to humility. It can fill us with an authentic and deep connection to our own truth when we give up the idea that we know. Clarity eases the anxious heart with it’s simplicity and focus. It has nothing to do with the situations out there, clarity is a gift that unfolds from the inside and marks our path distinctly and without doubt.
Rumi, the Persian poet who lived in the 12th century said, “Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more – more unseen forms become manifest to him.” Polishing the heart is an interesting metaphor for clarity, which is a personal practice that cultivates the ability to sense what is in our heart, to listen attentively to the quiet voice that is waiting to be acknowledged.
Today I was given the gift of clarity and a situation, which has held me tightly between a rock and a hard place, softened. Nothing changed in my outer world, I just suddenly was able to see the situation from a larger vantage point, where the field was leveled. I was able to see a whole range of options that were never before apparent to me. This is what clarity gives you, an open space to reorganize your thinking. What was complex in narrow mindedness becomes simple.
I knew I was onto something or rather something new was into me, because the fear and confusion that I had been wearing for days, dissipated like the intense cloud cover does after an afternoon storm. Joni Mitchell describes this process when she said, “You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it’s just complaining.”
