Once upon a time, there was an old sage, people went to him with their problems in their hearts and came back with solutions in their heads. This monk was known across the lands and seas.
A man once came up to him and spoke, ‘Master, I am never confident… I seem to be afraid of everything. I’m afraid to start anything because I don’t know if I can handle all the tasks involved.’
The monk was looking at the waterfall at a distance. With a few passing moments, a smile appeared on his face and he asked the man to look at the waterfall. They both stared into almost nothingness as the water seemed to carelessly jump out of the river and plunge towards the earth. So much confidence!
The monk broke the silence, ‘So mighty a force; the flowing water. Cuts through rocks and shapes the earth. The river unstoppable; marks its own course. The streams bring more force as they join and make the river even more powerful.’
He then pointed to a small puddle of water from which a few goats were drinking water…
‘What use is a puddle? Join up the puddles and make a lake… thrust out a stream and form a river.’
The man started connecting the dots…
* Puddles = my potential skills
* Lake = my personality, my being, a unification of all that I can do and be.
* Stream = channelize my skills
* River = unify my skills with those of others and be a driving force in this life.
He smiled back at the monk, thanked him and started the journey back home.
(Originally written on October 18, 2008)
