One crying in the desert, you can probably fill an oasis in that same desert by now. The most famous example is of course that of John the Baptist, a prophet. The Bible pertains to the statement: "I am the voice of one who calls in the desert: Make the way of the Lord straight, as Isaiah the prophet has spoken." Isaiah (40:3) says it as follows: "A voice of crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord: make straight in the wilderness a job for our God!" Like there's a road in the desert, I guess. Or is it? It seems as if every hero of faith first spent in the wilderness, or the desert. Other well-known prophets and spiritual leaders were in this limited context for example Jesus and Moses.
A crying in the desert is someone who is not listened to by the people or to whom they will not listen. The path in the desert is then the spiritual development that so much preparation has to go before he can let others follow his path. Jesus and Moses have grown very big in that. But also Buddha and Lao Tze are no strangers in this place. Moses has led and raised a whole people in the desert, the ideas of Jesus have become a world religion of great magnitude with a big finger in the porridge in the western world. Whether this was ever the intention of that artisan's son is highly doubtful.
Every person who is enlightened knows about it, good followers are hard to find. It is clear that someone who is enlightened wants to shine in small or larger circles and does so by summing up his knowledge in words and perhaps a doctrine. That's where it goes wrong. Words are words, they have a lot of power but they remain spoken ideas. Being enlightened also has to do with feeling, feeling that something is, that something is right, an assumption of an enlightened idea to the idea itself, which completely crystallizes into you. It can sometimes be experienced as a real light in the person or around it. But turn that over. Most people don't understand or don't want to understand, which is the same thing already wanting to hear.
Ideas about a road often provoke resistance. There are all kinds of unimaginable consequences and there are all kinds of responsibilities, whether difficult or not. Also, sacred houses often fall down, or they even get blown over. Besides, I just wrote it: words are words. Words can be totally misunderstood or explained. This can be due to lack of knowledge or insight, because something is completely outside your perception or experience. Another possibility is that this happens with bad intentions to gain power, money or other benefits, such as satisfying sexual desires. In essence, every religion, cult, school or cult is a broth of an essentially profound experience of the ultimate truth.
Enlightened people see that truth but often remain crying in the desert. Making the right path has a lot of meaning to them and much clear or less clear consequences and hopefully gives them a better life, but whether that also applies to the people around them who need to hear their words remains a great question.
