• In :
• July 2020 LP

Teaching story
ALL PATHS ARE RIGHT

Five wise men got lost in the forest. The first one said, “I will take the left; my intuition tells me that.” The second one said, “I will take the right because ‘right’ comes from the word ‘rightness.’ The third one said, “I will go back. We came from there, which means I will exit the forest.” The fourth one said, “I will go straight. We should move forward. The forest will end, and we will come upon something new.” The fifth one said, “You are all wrong. There is a better solution. Wait for me.”

He found the tallest tree and climbed onto it. While he was climbing, everyone else went ahead with their plan. From above, he saw the shortest way out. He understood the problem and found the best solution! He knew that he was right, and the others were wrong. They were stubborn, and they didn’t listen to him. He was the real Wise Man!

But he was wrong. Everyone was right. The one who went to the left found himself in the thicket. He had to starve and fight with wild animals. But he learned how to survive in the forest. He became a part of the forest and could teach others the same. The one who went to the right met thieves. They took everything from him and made him steal too. But after some time, he had woken up something in those thieves that they had forgotten—humanity and compassion. The remorse was so strong in some of them that, after his death, they also became the wise men. The one who went back made a pathway through the forest, which soon became a road for those who wanted to walk in the forest without being afraid of getting lost. The one who went straight became a pioneer. He visited places where no one else had gone and opened wonderful new possibilities for people, of amazing healing plants and magnificent animals. The one who climbed into the tree became a specialist in finding the shortest way. People turned to him when they wanted to find the fastest way to deal with their problems, even if it didn’t lead to any development.

This is how the five wise men reached their destiny.

ONE-MINUTE WISDOM
TWO NEIGHBOURS

A wise and successful man bought a beautiful house with a huge orchard. An envious man lived in an old house next to him. He constantly tried to make his neighbour’s life as miserable as possible. He threw garbage under his gate and did other nasty things.

One fine day, the wise man went out onto his porch and noticed buckets of garbage thrown there. The man took a bucket and cleaned it. Then he carried a bucket and went to his envious neighbour’s door. 

The neighbour heard the knock at his door and gleefully thought, “I have finally got him!” He answered his door, ready to quarrel with him. However, the wise man gave him a bucket of freshly picked apples saying, “The one who is rich in something, shares it with others.”

THIS, I KNOW
PAULO COELHO

• When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
• The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.
• We can never judge the lives of others because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. 
• There are moments when troubles enter our lives, and we can do nothing to avoid them. Only when we have overcome them, will we understand why they were there.
• The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.
• People never learn anything by being told; they have to find out for themselves.
• We are travellers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling, and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. 

INSPIRATION
I WILL NOT DIE AN UNLIVED LIFE

I will not die an unlived life
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

—Dawna Markova

JUST FOR LAUGHS
A JOB FOR JESUS

Jesus was bored so he went to God his father and asked him, “Dad, give me something to do. I am bored!”
“Take a file and smooth the top of the Himalayas,” said God.
After 7,000 years, Jesus came back again. "And now what can I do?” he asked God again.
God gave him a spoon and told him to empty the Indian Ocean.
After 7,000 years, he was back again. “It's done. And now?” he asked God.
Tired, God looked at him and said, “Listen, Jesus, go down to Earth and convince the men down there to love each other. That will keep you busy for eternity!”

QUOTE
Knock, and He'll open the door
Vanish, and He'll make you shine like the sun
Fall, and He'll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, and He'll turn you into everything.

—Jalal ad-Din Rumi