Three Marks of Understanding

“Abbot Joseph of Thebes said: There are three kinds of people who find honor in the sight of God: First, those who, when they are ill and tempted, accept all these things with thanksgiving. The second, those who do all their works clean in the sight of God, in no way merely seeking to please others. The third, those who sit in subjection to the command of a spiritual [director] and renounce all their own desires.”
—Wisdom of the Desert

It is interesting that Abbot Joseph did not put any of these spiritual paths in rank order. Gratitude, good works (compassion), and renunciation (wisdom) are all presented as equal means to living an enlightened life. Perhaps these three gifts are all separate manifestations of the same experience? All three reveal the fundamental interconnectedness of reality.

We are not separate entities, though our existential loneliness and fear reinforce the illusion that we are (they are actually a by-product of this illusory thinking—the lack of “right views” and “right understanding,” as the Buddhists would say). From the contemplative perspective, all reality interpenetrates every particular phenomenon. This is the “true self” in contemplative terms. When the false self is abandoned and the true self is revealed, the resulting experience is marked by vast gratitude, compassion and wisdom. These three marks are the signs of real understanding.