THEY WILL, NOT MINE

I desire not to desire, for my will is without value, since I am ignorant in any case. Therefore choose Thou for me what Thou knowest to be best and do not put my perdition in what my autonomy and free choice prefer. -- Bayazid al-Bistami

That is a quote in my Easwaran reader this morning. I marked it as important to me in 2006. Today it says to me: Thy will, not mine, be done. On realizing that, I admit my first thought was borderline smart-alecky, but Bayazid al-Bistami's words asked me to think on them.

Thy will is self-explanatory, but, for me at any rate, the quote lends itself to rote...meaning, no thought, just roll 'em off my tongue, then do what I wanted to do to begin with.

The words of Bayazid al-Bistami all but demand that we stop and realize that this is a prayer...and then to ask our self, do we really mean it?

Thank you.