Once upon a time, in an otherwise prosperous and contented village, there lived an unhappy young man. His fortunes and misfortunes were not so different from the other young men who lived and worked nearby, but while his contemporaries always seemed to quickly put their setbacks behind them and replace them with joy and mirth, this young man felt endlessly mired in his discontentment.
Frustrated with his inability to either grasp or retain happiness, in desperation the young man sought out the village’s old, respected, and wise Master. He confided the plight of his very sad life and begged the Master for a solution.
After listening to the youth’s troubled plea, the old Master smiled and paused for a moment, apparently in deep thought. Then he led the unhappy young man into his kitchen and instructed him to put a handful of salt into a glass of water and then to drink it quickly down. The young man complied.
The Master then asked, “How did it taste?”
“Terrible!” the young man replied.
The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to grab another handful of salt and follow him outside to the bank of the nearby lake. The two walked there in silence and when they arrived, the Master instructed the young man to swirl his handful of salt into the calm waters of the shimmering lagoon.
Then the Master said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the Master asked, “How does it taste?”
“Good!” remarked the apprentice.
“Do you taste the salt?” the Master asked.
“No.” replied the young man.
Then the Master sat down on the bank beside the troubled young man. He took the youth’s hands into his own and, leaning close to him, softly said:
“My son, the pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less.
The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same.
But the amount we taste of the ‘pain’ depends on the container we put it into.
So, when you are confronted with pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things.
Stop being a glass.
Become a lake.”
The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances. –Martha Washington
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William “Bill” Bacque