Short story: A Sufi master talks about what is, and if what is, is always what it is

Tweet

The Sufi master, Pirrat Khansat, was asked a question about the well-known saying: 'It is what it is.' 'How true is that saying?' he was asked, by one of his students. The master's reply had been like this: "Some might say that:" "It's not, 'It is what it is,' it's really, 'it's always more than what it is.'" "This might be because every situation has more in it than meets our eye, or our mind, and we can always see more in it, when we look harder." "Is this idea fully true, though?" "In regards to truth, love, peace, and God, it always is as it is, but in lesser things, it is right to always look for more, as otherwise, you will be contented with less than the whole truth." "The original meaning of, "It is what it is," was more about something that seemingly could not be changed, and which more had to be accepted, for what it was, in a sort of frustratingly, accepting way, where you have given up the fight, because the fight has been lost, for reasons you could not alter, and so the outcome, although not wanted, is what it is, for you, so you accept it, grudgingly, as being the destined destination for you here anyway, despite you wanting a different outcome." "It was not really a statement of the truth, as your question implied to me." "The idiom is often said tongue in cheek, then as a rejoinder, rather than as a serious philosophical statement. It is often you just whinging about you not being able to change something in the so-called rules of life, or in a sport, that you have been playing in too." "'It is what it is,'" "then, only means," "'it is, what it is,'" "when it isn't what it is, in the usual meaning of this expression." "but, in your idea of the saying," "'it is what it is,'" "is true only of God." Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The Sufi master said that only God knows for certain if it is what it is. The rest of us can never know for certain. In fact, we cannot know anything for certain.