Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), as we begin today ‘let us remember this about ‘Attention’.
Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so 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 the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.
This week I bring to your attention a tale titled ‘Thirsty’ from the book titled ‘The Magic Monastery’.
The Magic Monastery is rich in thought-provoking material, and can be read and enjoyed at many levels. It is also designed as a course in non-linear thinking.
Thirsty
There once was a king who was thirsty. He did not quite know what the difficulty was, but he said: ‘my throat is dry.’
Lackeys at once ran swiftly to find something suitable to alleviate the condition. They came back with lubricating oil.
When the king drank it, his throat did not feel dry any more, but he knew that something was not right. The oil produced a curious sensation in his mouth. He croaked: ‘My tongue feels awful, there is a curious taste, and it is slippery…’
His doctor immediately prescribed pickles and vinegar – which the king ate.
Soon he had stomach-ache and watering eyes to add to his sorrows.
I think I must be thirsty, he mumbled, for his sufferings had made him do some thinking.
Thirst never made the eyes water, said the courtiers to one another. But kings are often capricious, and they ran to fetch rosewater, and scented, syrupy wines fit for a king.
The king drank it all, but still he felt no better – and his digestion was ruined.
A wise man who happened along in the middle of this crisis said:
‘His Majesty needs ordinary water?
“A king could never drink common water,’ shouted the court in unison.
‘Of course not?’ said the king, ‘and, in fact, I feel quite insulted – both as a king being offered plain water and also as a patient. After all, it must be impossible that such a dreadful and daily more complicated ailment as mine could have a simple remedy. Such a concept is contrary to logic, a disgrace to its originator, and an affront to the sick.
That is how the wise man came to be renamed ‘The Idiot.’
Tale from ‘The Magic Monastery’ 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.
Before concluding today’s episode 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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