Then a ploughman said, Speak to us of Work.
And he answered, saying:
You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession that marches in majesty and proud submission toward the infinite.
When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
Always you have been told that work is a curse and labor a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labor you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labor is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.
You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge.
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work.
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

In these words, Almustafa is giving the deepest experience of creativity. Life belongs to those who are creative because life is nothing but a long, eternal procession of creating more beauty, more truth, of creating higher states of consciousness, and finally of creating godliness in your own being.

There are people who think that without being creative they can be happy. It is impossible, because creativity is the only way to relate with the ecstasy of existence.

Hence, listen to his words not through your mind but through your heart – because they come from the heart, and can be understood only if you receive them in the heart. It is not a communication of words from one mind to another mind. It is a communion, the deepest calling to your depths which you have completely forgotten.

Then a ploughman said, Speak to us of Work.
And he answered, saying:
You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

Have you observed? – all around you, the whole existence is continuously creating. The biblical story is absurd, that God created everything in six days and then rested on the seventh day. And since then, nothing has been heard about it; he’s still resting. What kind of rest is this? He must have died! The very idea that God created existence and all that it contains in six days is sheer nonsense.

I used to travel all over the country, for almost twenty years continuously. I had an old tailor who prepared clothes for me. I told him, “I am in urgent need – this time, please don’t behave like a tailor! I need my robes prepared in six days because on the seventh day, I’m leaving the city.”

That old tailor looked at me and said, “I have no objection. They will be prepared. But just look at the world: God created it in six days, and what a mess it is in! The same will be the case with your robes; then don’t tell me about it.”

In six days, this whole existence? I say unto you that creativity is a continuity, the seventh day never comes. Have you seen trees on holiday, rivers on holiday? On Sunday, which is the day for the sun, he should not rise; it is a holiday. Even God rested, why should the poor sun rise and go on and on?