Before Enlightenment Chop Wood and Carry Water. After Enlightenment...

Esoteric teachings are woven through cultures in unimaginable ways.

The Greek derivative eso translates to "within," and over the eons these "hidden, inner- teachings" have found their expression amidst parables, sayings, colloquialisms, and metaphors. In irony, and in a "Taoist" approach, these teachings find a landing place within the disciple that cannot be named, spoken, or pointed at.

A teacher to convey a message can point at the moon; it's up to the student to discern the essence of the teaching instead of mistaking the finger pointing at the moon for the moon. This concept in Hindu culture is spoken as "neti neti" or not this, not that.

To drive this teaching home, spiritual teacher Don Zanghi reminds us that if we go to the store to buy only the inside of a cup we've embarked on a fool's errand. We don't buy the inside of the cup only. We go to the store to "just buy the cup!"

To imply one is to imply many. "Not two," another teaching that imbues harmony through the yin yang symbol, fortifies the lesson about the aforementioned cup: there is no "within"! Any separation from Source is the creation of duality, and in the esoteric wisdom teachings we learn to live them as a way of life in wholeness.