TELLING THE STORY

Once upon a time, there was a man who had a wife and ten children. He was a happy man. Every year this man used to take his wife and children far away into the forest. And on getting there he would sit them down together, and would begin to teach them to beat the drum, to dance the dance, to sing the song and to tell the story. And they would go back home happy, for the story linked them with their beginning.  Soon, the man died. And his children came together and said: 'we do not know the way to the forest, but let us stay at home and beat the drum, dance the dance, sing the song and tell the story'. So they did, and the were happy. Soon, these children died. And their children came together and said: ''We do not know the way to the forest, neither do we know how to beat the drum, but let us stay at home and dance the dance, sing the song and tell the story''. So they did, and they were fulfilled, for they found meaning in the story. Soon, these children died, and the generation after them came together and said: "We do not know the way to the forest, nether could we beat the drum nor dance the dance, but lets stay at home and sing the song and tell the story. So they did, and they were healed, for the story made them feel at one with the cosmos. Soon, this generation died, and those after them came together and said:

"We are the most unfortunate of all. We do not know the way to the forest, neither could we beat the drum, nor dance the dance, nor sing. All we have left is the story. Let us then tell the story, so that we can be made whole. So they did, and were transformed".

We, the people of today, we have lost everything. All we have left is the story. The day we lose the story, then it is all over for us. The day we forget our story, that day is the end for us. We need the prophets, the visionaries, and the mystics to keep reminding us, to keep retelling the story, to keep on singing the song. Modern men and women need to keep on retelling their story, so that they may live.

 

WHO ARE YOU?

 So tell me, mortal man, who are you? You are nothing. Do you know that? you are nothing. A mere shadow passing by. Look at your life. What does it consist of? You are born. You grow up. You go to school. You become a lawyer, or a doctor, or a politician. You marry a wife or two. You buy a car. You build a house. You fall sick and spend your hard-earned money in getting yourself cured. Yet, you die all the same. And you are buried. Is that not all? Tell me, o mortal woman, who are you?

How proud we human beings are! We make ourselves the center of the universe. We separate ourselves from the universe, thinking that everything is under our control. We exploit the cosmos and treat it as we like, thinking that we really understand the mysteries of the world. Just because we manufacture airplanes and cars, just because we make rockets that fly in the sky, just because we manufacture atomic and chemical weapons, which can destroy our children and us, we think we are gods! Whether you accept it or not, this is the truth: You are nothing:

Sheer futility, Qoheleth says. Sheer futility: Everything is futile! What profit can we show for all our toil, toiling under the sun? A generation goes, a generation comes, yet the earth stands firm for ever...

I thought to myself, 'very well, I will try pleasure and see what enjoyment has to offer'. And this was futile too.... I resolved to embrace folly, to discover the best way for people to spend their days under the sun. I worked on a grand scale: built myself palaces, planted vineyards, made myself gardens and orchards, I amassed silver and gold, the treasures of kings and provinces; acquired singers, men and women, and every human luxury, chest upon chest of it... I then reflected on all that my hands had achieved and all the effort i had put into it's achieving. What futility it all was, what chasing after the wind! (Eccl. 1: 1-4; 2:1& 4; 8:11)