Once upon a time there was a wise man who lived on a mountain. He was known to be the wisest of them all and held the truth about the meaning of life. Just like the wise monk who lived on the Himalayan mountain- he knew the telos of life. And in a faraway land there lived a Sheperd, who owned a large group of camels. He made a living out of this heard of camels by selling them to people. And he was proud of his job, and was good at it, and was well to do himself. However, he knew the life is not about making a living. So, he wanted to know the truth and took the long journey across the dessert to meet the wise old man. The journey took days. And he travelled with his herd of camels, as he would not trust anyone.
After days of travel, it was dark when he arrived, and did not wait until morning to meet the old man.
"Oh, dear wise master, I have come a long way for your advice. I have heard you holds the truth to the meaning of life. Please, be kind, share with me."
The old wise master, with a gentle smile, said to him. "Son, it is so wise that you started looking for answers, I have no doubt in your intentions. So, I will give you the truth. But it is too dark. This is not the hour for it, tomorrow, when the first sun rises, you can come and meet me here. I will show it to you- the meaning of life"
Story of Camels
And he continued. "I want you to do one Favour for me. I see all the camels you brought here; I see you have a hundred odd camels. Can you please make them all lie down for the night, before you sleep?"
The Sheperd agreed, and the wise old man, disappeared into the cave.
Sheperd was tired, he prepped his Dinner, and had a good shower, before he started to make the camels lie down. Oh boy! he tried. He tried and tried to put all the camels to sleep. Camels, they are good for nothing animals, worse than donkeys. Some did sit down when he commanded. And some did not! stubborn they were. Some did lie down even before he commands. And the ones he previously put to sleep, would rise up again. The stubborn ones would sit down, without any command. Utter chaos. And the moment he thought he is there; it started all over. And he was exhausted after few hours, and then only he asked the question, "what is the meaning of this?"
And he thought "What is the meaning of life?" It is just like making the camels sleep.
And he rode back next day before even the wise man woke up.
-story of camels-
Morals of the story.
Everyone should focus on the meaning of life from time to time, before getting too much involved in the problems. And ask the question, why? (otherwise, you might try to travel to mars, while answers are obviously not there)
Like the Sheperd who tried to sleep the camels, we are trying to solve our problems, from the day we were born till we die. How much trivial they are, everyone has one. It's your herd of camels.
And only the wise would understand by questioning their own actions and mind, that it is not under our control.
Like waves of the sea, ripples of the water, chaos in weather, life is interconnected with reasons beyond reasons. One has to look inside with mindfulness to understand this phenomenon- Carl Jung
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