Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), as we begin today ‘let us remember, ‘What we give our Attention to matters.’
Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices.
This week I bring to your attention a story from the book titled ‘Knowing How to Know’. It is a collection of Tales, stories, fables, aphorisms and statements that draw our attention to the basic factors that must be in place so that knowledge and understanding is acquired.
It reveals concealed pattern, normally invisible to our customary modes of thought.
The Peasant, Horse and the General
There was a peasant working in a field ploughing the ground with his horse, when a general in the army was going along the road beside the field. His horse got a stone in its shoe and became lame. The general, being accustomed to authority, shouted to the peasant:
‘Hey, you, come here, and give me that horse’, and the peasant came to him and said, ‘Why should I give you my horse?’ The general said, ‘My horse is lame, with a stone in his hoof.
The peasant replied, ‘Who are you that I should give you my horse? If I give you this horse, then I will be nothing, I will lose all my money, I won’t be able to do anything. I’m not going to give you my horse; my horse is my life.’ And the general said, ‘I am a general, don’t you understand? The peasant said: What is a general?'”A man in the army?”
Said the peasant: ‘Ah, now, I don’t know what a general is, but I know that when I was in the army, the sergeant was my chief, and if the sergeant told me to give him my horse I would give him the horse. But I don’t know who or what you are, because I never heard of your kind of people. If you want my horse, you go and get the sergeant, because I know whom to obey. I know that the man above me is the sergeant, but a general – God knows what a general is!’
Story from ‘Knowing How to Know’ by Idries Shah
I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book; you can buy your copy from the following link:
Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s and please pay attention to these words of a Storyteller.
My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.
Namaste!
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