Using Both Pockets

A disciple remarked to Rabbi Bounam from Pssiskhe: “The material world seems to suffocate the spiritual world.”

“Your pants have two pockets,” said Bounam, “Jot down this sentence and put it in the right pocket: ‘The world was created only for me.’ Now write in the left pocket: ‘I am nothing but dust and ashes.’ Divide your money between the pockets. When you come upon misery and injustice, remember that the world exists only so that you can show your kindness, and use the money in the right pocket. When you are tempted to buy things that you haven’t the least need for, remember what is written in your left pocket and think twice before spending it. In that way the material world will never suffocate the spiritual world.”

Omnipresence

When Ketu turned twelve years old he was sent to a master, with whom he studied until he was twenty-four. Upon finishing his training, he came back home filled with pride.

His father asked him: “How can we know what we can’t see, God - the Almighty, is everywhere?”

The young man began to recite the sacred scriptures, but his father interrupted him: “That’s all too complicated. Isn’t there an easier way for us to learn about the existence of God?”

“Not that I know of, my father. Today I am a learned man and I need this knowledge to explain the mysteries of divine wisdom.”

“I have wasted my time and money sending my son to the monastery,” complained the father. And taking Ketu by the hand, he led him to the kitchen. There he filled a basin with water and poured in a little salt. Then they went for a stroll in the city.

When they came back home, the father told Ketu: “Bring the salt that I put in the basin.”

Ketu looked for the salt but did not find it because it had already dissolved in the water.

“So you can’t see the salt anymore?” asked the father.

“No, the salt’s invisible.”

“Then taste a little of the water that’s on the surface of the basin. How does it taste?”

“Salty.”

“Try a little of the water in the middle: how does it taste?”

“As salty as on the surface.”

“Now taste the water at the bottom of the basin and tell me what it tastes like.”

Ketu tried it and it had the same taste as he had felt before.

“You have studied for many years and can’t explain simply how Invisible God is in all parts,” said the father. “Using a basin of water, and calling God “salt”, I could make any peasant understand that. Please, dear son, forget the wisdom that moves us away from men and look again for the inspiration that draws us closer.”

By Paulo Coelho

The Mousetrap

Very worried, the mouse saw that the farmer had bought a mousetrap: the farmer was out to kill him!

He began to warn all the other animals: “Careful with the mousetrap! Careful with the mousetrap!”

The hen, hearing his shouts, asked him to be quiet: “My dear mouse, I know that this is a problem for you, but it’s not going to have the least effect on me. So stop making such a fuss!”

The mouse went to talk to the pig, which was annoyed because his nap had been interrupted.

“There is a mousetrap in the house!”

“I appreciate your concern and I sympathize with you,” answered the pig. “So rest assured you will be in my prayers tonight, but that’s the most I can do.”

Lonelier than ever, the mouse went to the cow for help.

“My dear mouse, what’s that got to do with me? Have you ever seen a cow killed in a mousetrap?”

Seeing that no-one was offering any solidarity, the mouse returned to the farmer’s house, hid in his hole and spent the whole night wide awake, afraid that some tragedy was about to happen. During the early hours he heard a noise: the mousetrap had caught something!

The farmer’s wife went downstairs to see if the mouse had been killed. In the dark she did not notice that the trap had only caught the tail of a poisonous snake. When she drew near, she was bitten.

The farmer, hearing his wife screaming, woke up and raced her to the hospital. She was given the proper treatment and then sent home. But she still had a fever. Knowing that there is no better remedy for the sick than a good broth, the farmer killed the hen.

His wife started to recover. As the couple was much loved in the region, all the neighbors came to visit them. Grateful for such a show of affection, the farmer killed the pig to serve his friends a hearty meal.

His wife finally recovered, but the treatment was very expensive, so the farmer sent the cow to the slaughterhouse and used the money from the meat to pay all the medical bills.

The mouse saw all this and thought to himself: “I warned them well. Wouldn’t it have been better if the hen, the pig and the cow had understood that one’s problem puts everyone else in danger?”