You know, I feel inclined to actually share the story I read out loud to my wife, here. It is an interesting story on its own, but I had missed a key insight which Matt brought out once I watched his You Tube video. The Zohar Master always catches more than the student I learned.
There was a man who lived in the mountains. He knew nothing about those who lived in the city. He sowed wheat and ate the kernels raw. One day he entered the city. They offered him good bread. The man asked "What's this for?"
They replied "It's bread, to eat!"
He ate, and it tasted very good. He asked, "What's it made of?"
They answered, "Wheat."
Later they offered him thick loaves kneaded with oil. He tasted them and asked, "And what are these made of?"
They answered "Wheat."
Later they offered him royal pastry kneaded with honey and oil. He asked, "And what are these made of?"
They answered "Wheat."
He said, "Surely I am the master of all of these, since I eat the essence of all of there: wheat!"
Because of that view, he knew nothing of the delights of the world, which were lost on him. So it is with one who grasps the principle but is unaware of all those delectable delights deriving, diverging from that principle.
Matt's note says "The wheat and its products (kernels, bread, cake, and pastry) may symbolize four levels of meaning in Torah: simple, homiletical, allegorical,, and mystical."
What Matt noted in his comments in his You Tube video was really interesting and it caused me to go back and re-read the story! The first bread, it says he ate it, then commented. The second time, he only tasted the stuff, and then commented. The third, and very best, most delightful, he did not eat nor taste, he simple commented that he then, because of his already acquired knowledge had no need to eat, he already knew what it would be like! He lost out on the most delightful part by thinking he already knew. We can apply this specificity of a wheat example to a wide general range of our own experiences, or even our own knowledge. It's a nifty little lesson for us in our own lives with our own assumptions of which we can correct if we are so inclined to do, or not. We might actually be missing something. It never hurts to reassess ourselves. What are we actually missing because we assume we already know all there is about something? It's a great lesson on the need for self introspection.
The Zohar is chuck full of fascinating things like this, which is one of my favorite reasons for working through it. There is wisdom here in such a small thing as "wheat."
