MONDAY MUSE (21 January 2008)
POWERFUL?
A famous Zen story tells of the stonecutter who passed a wealthy merchant's
house and craved to be powerful like him. To his great surprise, he transformed
into one. Soon a high official passed by, and everyone, no matter how wealthy,
had to bow before him. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish
that I could be him!" Immediately his wish came true.
It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable. He looked up
at the sun and wished to be the sun. However, when he became the sun, a huge
black cloud obstructed him. He thought. "I wish that I could be powerful like
the cloud!" Then he became the cloud only to be pushed around by the powerful
wind. Immediately, he craved to be the wind! Then he became the wind.
After a while, he ran up against a huge, towering rock. He wished to be the
rock and that’s what he became! Soon he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a
chisel and changing his very form. "What could be more powerful than I" he
wondered. He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stonecutter!
So often, we rue our status and position. So often, we wish to be like someone
else who seems to be better off then we are. Therefore, often, we ruin our
peace of mind by cursing our state and status… all actually just a state of
mind! We crave to jump from one situation to the next, one desire to the next,
one point of view to the next, never resting content with how things really
are, never grasping the whole.
The grass may seem greener on the other side -- until you get there. It's a
matter of perspective. Satisfaction is a personal choice. Choose to green up
your own grass rather than hopping that fence. We have to learn to celebrate
who or what we are. When there is a way that we can better ourselves we must
work for it and not just wish and pine for it.
It isn’t a bad thing to crave to BE BETTER
But it is bad taste to just envy and be bitter!
Regards
Pravin
21 January 2008, Goa.
Since 2004, the Monday Muse series (based on the annual theme of JCI-India) is
penned by Pravin Sabnis - a life coach with a passion to connect people to
their potential. He employs his creative competencies in theatre and trekking
in his unlearning unlimited workshops conducted for leading corporate & other
groups.
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