Pabloji,
I am very happy to see your post, as you are my brother, and your opinion is of huge value to me.
Your post has once again, as it always does, given me much food for thought, I think you are correct, there is always a huge temptation to stop thinking and rely solely on literal translations or interpretations to study, when in fact We should be engaging our brains and trusting in our inner moral compass, which is already tuned into a wonderful source of wisdom and information.
So why do I study, why do I translate, why do I bother, you call it a need to be validated, you wonder why I need an external medium, be it sangat, forum, or Creator, to say there there, do this. The answer I think lies in sorting out the pure from the base, especially in thinking, We are all different, my dear wife has only the purest of intentions, She feels the pain in others, and also feels the joy in others, I am not sure whether this is a curse or a blessing, but that is what drives her, be it a snail, or a human. I am not made in the same way, as you know, I have lived selfishly, for my own needs, and now, I have reached boredom with self, I help people because it is the right thing to do, not because I feel pain or joy, although I feel pity at times, there just has to be more to life than self pleasure in the most basest of acts, you already know this, you already find pleasure in simple things, I am learning to do this, and that is why I study, and I translate, because what you already know, and what Sian already knows, I do not, and to that end, I find it helpful in achieving the balance that you and Sian already enjoy and were born with. I leave you with a quote from Jiham Karr, the persian poet who advocated not the third eye, but the naked eye
Come inside into the naked eye
Only Mirrors Lie
Through the needles eye
Come into the naked eye
