Once upon a time an unhappy young man travelled for days seeking the wisdom of an old master in hopes that he might be counseled on how to dispel his pervasive unhappiness. After finally locating the sage, the young man told him about his very sad life and begged for a solution.
The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.
“How does it taste?” – the Master asked.
“Terrible.” – replied the apprentice as he spat out the briny solution. “I have sought out your wisdom as solace from my misery but, alas, you have not detracted from it, but only added to it. Master, is there some point I am missing here?”
The Master chuckled and replied, “Searcher, while wisdom does offer the needed antidote to the poison of unhappiness, impatience in acquiring such wisdom is not sympathetic to such need. We will continue your lesson now.”
He then told the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the nearby lake. The two walked in silence to the lake whereupon the apprentice then swirled his handful of salt into the calm water.
The Master then 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?” – asked the Master.
“No.” – answered the young man.
The Master then sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands into his own, and 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 that we taste the ‘pain’ depends on the container we put it into. So when you are confronted with the pain of unhappiness, your only remedy is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake!”
All of us are in the manufacturing industry – manufacturing either our own happiness or unhappiness. – Ogwo David Emenike
Become a lake and have an AWE-fully Happy Weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacqué