Sunday 30 December 2007

God’s kingdom

It is hard to correct people who know for certain but there are ways to make them discover the wider truth; here is one of my ways of doing it: to challenge peoples' certitudes from inside grow them. Develop them. Usually, they burst into paradox. Then, help them rise and see themselves from above, at their real dimension, where what they do to other people is applied to them. This reminds me of a story:

One day Nasrudin found a dervish stealing figs in his orchard.

As he grabbed the fakir by the neck he shouted:

“What do you think you are doing here sheikh?”
“Nothing wrong, answered the Sufi with insolent confidence. I am Allah’s loving servant, feeding on the fruit of God’s tree in Allah’s garden.”

“Is that so!”, growled the Hodja and proceeded to beat him with no pity but with a solid wooden stick instead.

“Infidel! screamed the dervish, how do you dare rising your hand upon a saint? Don’t you see what you are doing?”

“Nothing wrong, replied the Hodja. Just hitting the servant of Allah, with the stick of Allah, under the tree of Allah, to preserve Allah’s garden.”

Hearing this, the dervish found enlightenment.

No comments: