{"id":452,"date":"2022-05-09T07:00:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qsconsultants.in\/blog\/?p=452"},"modified":"2022-05-09T07:00:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T07:00:51","slug":"the-palace-of-the-man-in-blue-the-dermis-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qsconsultants.in\/blog\/the-palace-of-the-man-in-blue-the-dermis-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Palace of the Man in Blue – The Dermis Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), as we begin today \u2018let us remember this about \u2018Attention\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. We feed the hunger blindly. 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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week I bring to your attention a tale titled \u2018The Palace of the Man in Blue\u2019 from the book titled \u2018The Dermis Probe\u2019 compiled by Idries Shah.  The Dermis Probe<\/em><\/strong> is a collection of extracts from the written and oral tradition of Eastern thinkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This compilation presents a serious yet entertaining look at the impediments in current thought which prevent certain forms of understanding between people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Palace of the Man in Blue<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day a group of people who had been travelling together through a certain country came upon a magnificent palace by the roadside. They stopped to admire it, and a steward came out and said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018My master, the owner of this palace, invites you to pass a little time here. There are refreshments and diversions, if you would care to consider yourselves our guests.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The travellers delightedly followed the man into the courtyard. Just within was a crowd of people, all watching a man in blue robes. One by one he touched the people, all of whom seemed to be ill. One by one they changed: the lame walked, the pale looked healthy again, the bent straightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the visitors said to his fellows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018But this is the strangest thing that I have ever seen! This man is a healer, and yet, in my own town, I have seen him going from one doctor to another, seeking a cure for various ailments of his own.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a few minutes the man had finished treating his patients. He dismissed them, and led the guests to a banqueting-hall where every kind of delicious food was waiting for them. As soon as they had sat down to eat, one of the company said to his neighbours:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018This is the strangest thing that I have ever seen! This man gives banquets, and yet, in my own town, I have seen him begging scraps of bread from door to door.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the meal was finished, the host took them to see his gardens, which covered an immense extent of land. There, amid every conceivable variety of fruit and flowers, an army of gardeners were at work, swarming like ants through the grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the man in blue was out of earshot, yet another of his guests said to the others:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the strangest thing that I have ever seen! Here is a man who must employ more than five hundred gardeners. And yet, in my own locality, I have seen him desperately seeking work for himself, and often unable to find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minute by minute the wonderment of the visitors increased. It was not diminished when yet another of them said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis man is well known in my own area. There, he is a beggar, piteously stretching out his hand for the smallest coin. Yet here, he must be spending more money in a day than a king does in a year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, strange though it may seem, each and every one of those people had seen the man in blue, at some time or another, in circumstances of want and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they had spent several hours in mingled enjoyment and perplexity, their host said to his steward:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I shall retire now to rest. Please escort our friends back to the highway, and satisfy any curiosity that they might have; there may be some detail about which we have neglected to inform them. It would be against the laws of hospitality, to allow them to leave us without fulfilling their desires.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steward took the people to the gate of the palace and they crowded around, all talking at once. One was asking about the healing, another about the food, a third about the poverty, a fourth about the expenditure of their strange host. The steward said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I have one thing to say which will answer all your questions: for your questions are really all one single question, though they seem to you to be different ones. Here is your answer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018My master, through his own self, has in the past given each and every one of you an opportunity to help him. But when a needy man asks for help and you help him, you help yourself. Thus is the way for man to do good kept open all the time, among all communities, in every possible manner.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steward turned and walked into the palace. As he did so, like a mirage, every vestige of it melted away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘The Dermis Probe’ by Idries Shah<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book; you can buy your copy from the following link:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Dermis Probe by Idries Shah<\/a><\/blockquote>