WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 61

Cheers to Youthreach for the pic....

That's Not My Problem

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap!

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, "There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house." The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house." "I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, "Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, Duh?" So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer's mouse trap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK18

The Snake’s Lesson
A snake living in the forest in India was fed up with his life. “I see a person, I bite a person, and people hate me and scream and run away when they see me coming.” He said to himself. “There must be a better way of being in the world.”

At that moment, a wise Indian spiritual teacher was passing. The snake approached him. “Please help me,” implored the snake. “I want to change. People are afraid of me and I don’t want to hurt people any more.”

The old man took pity on the snake and agreed to be his teacher. He taught him not to bite and to centre in love, sending out loving thoughts and blessings to the people in the nearby village. The snake was a willing student and after a few months the teacher thought he was ready and left to continue his travels.

A year later, the Guru was again travelling in the forest where the snake lived and thought he would look in on his friend. He found the snake in a terrible state, all battered and bruised. “What happened to you?” he asked him. “Teacher, it was awful.” The snake replied through tears. Over the months the little boys realised that I wasn’t attacking, they became more and more brave, coming closer and closer, eventually they would run up and give me a kick and now I am constantly being beaten.”

“Poor little snake” the master said with great compassion, “I didn’t tell you not to hiss.”

WISDOM OF THE WORLD WEEK 8 - THE ILLUSION OF FEAR

One evening, a man in India walked into a small darkly lit room and saw a snake coiled in the corner. He was instantly frozen to the spot with fear. If he moved the snake would bite him. It looked like a big snake, a poisonous snake, and one whose bite would be fatal. What could he do? He stood there, not daring to move, images of his wife becoming a widow and his children fatherless. Full of regrets for all that he did not do and desperate plots and plans to either kill the snake or get away filled his mind. For hours he stood there, praying for help.

As the sun rose and the room became filled with it’s rays, he saw that the snake was in fact, just a rope.

How often does our perception play tricks on us and we see what is not the truth but an illusion. Our fears are often not based in reality, but we act as if they are and these can affect our relationships, our thoughts and our actions. Can we wake up to what is real and see our illusions for what they are?