The five pearls

Mitevma of Sher-Ander

ENON I

Do not chase the day that has passed; you and it are each going your separate ways, and your paths will cross only once: at the moment of dawn. How many days have you tried to catch up, wearying the horses that pull your chariot? You cannot reach what you cannot reach, you cannot regain your strength that has been wasted, just as you cannot eat fruit that has already rotted in the ground. Remember what was once yours; take hold of what belongs to you now; reach out for what can become yours – but do not waste aspirations on what is beyond your reach. The one who desires the impossible will lose himself, for he was not born to pour the moisture of life on the rocks. Look beneath your feet and think of the destination – this is the only way to reach your aim. Desire to go where you were going, not where you will be better. Do not follow the one who shouts while walking, but the one who walks in silence. Walk your path without turning back; but lest you seek it long, live so that all paths are yours; and let the aim be one, but let it be the aim of all paths. Tomorrow will be seen by the one who walks to the night.

ENON II

Do not look for complexity where there is none. Everything in the world is simple – and simple to understand. He who seeks complexity, who does not see simplicity in his surroundings, will himself create complexity, but only for himself and only an illusional one, because everything is simple, and no one has the power to create otherwise. Everything is simple because everything is natural. What seems unnatural is natural, but it is not created for glorification, but for overcoming. Without the worst there is also no better, it is natural and simple; there is no more natural work for you than overcoming natural obstacles to reach natural heights. Whoever says that the world is complicated lies without knowing it, for he is in natural ignorance. What is the mind for, if not for the natural overcoming of ignorance? When it would be natural to have complete omniscience in a single moment – there would be no reason, for then what is the cognisor for? When it would be naturally impossible to have complete omniscience through cognition – there would be no reason, for what then is the incapable one of cognition for? It is simple: there are eyes and there is the world before them – look!

ENON III

At everything that is happening around you, look with joy and love, – for everything, that is happening, is your life. Remember everything that was with you: nothing can be undone, – neither good nor bad. Throw away a moment from your life and you will be deprived; you are no longer there, for that moment contained you. Your memory is your judge, for in your memory all is weighed, evaluated, and preserved. In a certain hour, you will stand before yourself and judge yourself. Fear nothing when you are clean; but when you are defiled, fear yourself, for you will be judged by yourself without mercy. You are your judge, ruthless and incorruptible. You may forgive others who have done wrong to you, but you cannot forgive yourself. If men could forgive themselves, there would be no sinners, and everyone would walk the way to perfection in one lifetime. Reason would be unnecessary and there would be no feeling in the world other than evil desires and repentance. Therefore, beware of defilement, be afraid of yourself.

ENON IV

When you go to the aim, do not look back. When you look back for the sake of seeing what you have already seen once, you will not see the way before you. Why should your eyes see the dead time? Memory is the treasury of things seen with the eyes, things seen with the mind, and things seen with the soul. The dust in which your horse’s hoof once sank is dead to you, leave it to others. You have killed many of your days, and you will kill many more, but remember the dead binds the living. Remember, not to leave behind unnecessary deaths. It has been revealed to you that death needed by the world comes of its own accord; death unnecessary to the world, you carry with you. Let the time which you have killed remain on your deathbed; woe to you if it became your garment! Let the last sights of dead men abide with you; woe to you, if their blood abides in your cup! Who can kill you? Only you alone can do it. Ignorance is a mire; knowledge is a thunderbolt: what will you take of yourself? Let fire devour water: the rider’s lot is hard ground.

ENON V

Your body has all that it needs in this world: be content with it, but remember that there are invisible worlds. In the invisible worlds, you are strong too, and they are your home. If you want to live in more than one world, you must first learn to live in one world, for you cannot enter three doors at once. What do you need for that? Just live; but live with your whole being, not rejecting the necessary and not collecting the superfluous. Look at yourself with eyes that are free of the veil of an unfree world and you will see yourself as you are. Then you will experience the free world and you will know what you must be. Live not by fighting, but by conquering. You find what you need as if you were restoring what you have lost; to others, you give what you need as if you were restoring what they have lost. Always find and never lose. Be happy with what you have and always strive for more, remembering that there are invisible worlds.

Translated by Amradkhari