Baal Schem Tow And His Glasses

A Hassidic mystic meets intellectuals

"It is said about a great Hassidic mystic, the Baal Shem, that ordinarily he would not use specs, but whenever he talked to a philosopher, a logician, he would immediately put his specs on his eyes. It was strange; people were watching it.

A disciple one day asked, "What is the matter? Ordinarily you never put specs on. We disciples go on discussing with you a thousand and one things, but whenever a logician comes, you always put specs on your eyes."

Specs to become blind!

He laughed. What he said is very significant. He said, "To you I need not look as separate. To you I can remain in my state; I need not descend from there. My eyes have lost all distinctions. You and the tree and the rock are all one. When I am talking to a disciple, there is no need to make any distinction. I am talking to the disciple and to the tree and to the rock, and to the stars and to the sky... all is one. Because I talk from the standpoint of love. I flood you with my love, and I become flooded with your love. But when a logician comes, I have to descend. I have to put specs on my eyes so I become blind, so I lose that enormous vision. My eyes become narrowed, because the logician insists on distinctions; things should be debarked and defined. Love knows no definition, no demarcation."

Meeting of hearts without glasses

Baal Shem is right. Talking to a meditator, being with a meditator, is a totally different phenomenon. But talking to somebody who has come with great knowledge in his mind, who is ready to fight, to argue, who is hankering for some opportunity and excuse to collide, is a totally different experience. It is ugly. There is no communion. There is no meeting of the hearts."

Osho, excerpted from The Perfect Master Vol.2 #5

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In this Osho story a Sufi master is quoted by Osho: Baal Schem Tow. As masters are, he behaves a little uncommon by putting on glasses when talking to intellectuals. With his disciples he does not need to narrow his mind, no glasses are needed. There he just talks from the heart.