Sayed Jafar, grand master of the four paths, was asked by an
enquirer: "Which of the paths is the test of paths, and why is it
that there are so many bodies of earnest people aurrounding
institutions teaching enlightement?"
He answered: "Once upon a time there was a forest, which
sprouted from seedlings, which grew into trees. These trees lived
until their appointed time, giving fruit, shelter and a livelihood to
many creatures. Then, for good reason, their task completed, the
trees died, and the forest became lifeless. Lifeless, that is,
except for a number of bees, which were looking for a home, and
looking for a place to build up corporate life. They found that many
of the dead trees were hollow, and in them they built their hives.
"The trees served well enough for many generations of bees.
Then, one by one, in the normal course of decay, the trunks began to
fall. Those bees who were still in solid enough trees pointed to
their less fortunate fellows saying: 'Look at how wicked they are!
This is a punishment for them.'
"Others said, about them and others: 'Let us bring them to our
hives for they are destitute and should be helped. This might have
happened to us, after all.'
"Yet others said: 'How useless were their hives, that they
collapsed like that. Let us take care that ours do not follow.'
"The bees thought about things in an obvious way. Many of them
did not realise that the hives were deliberately made just for
shelter and providing honey. Many did not realise that they should
have taken advantage of the trees and hastened their work before they
collapsed. This last difficulty was because the bees did not trouble
to set aside a part of their time and effort to study the nature of
their environment."
as collected by Idries Shah
No comments:
Post a Comment