Monday, January 17, 2011

Do not react.

"A Master received a visit one day from a young man who wanted to
become his disciple. So the teaching began, and the first lesson
was as follows. The Master said to the disciple, ‘Go for a walk
in the cemetery and insult the dead; pay attention to what they
say in reply, and then come back and report to me.’ The young man
went obediently to the cemetery and began walking among the
graves uttering terrible things: never had the dead in a cemetery
heard anything like it! Soon, running out of inspiration, he
stopped to listen for a reply: nothing. On his return to the
Master, he had to admit that his insults had had no effect; the
dead hadn’t reacted. ‘Ah,’ said the Master, ‘perhaps they didn’t
think your insults were worthy of reply. Go back to the cemetery,
but this time sing their praises. If you do that, they are bound
to respond.’ The young man returned to the cemetery, and in a
different tone of voice said the most flattering things to the
dead. But again – nothing, silence…
Really disappointed, and feeling guilty that he hadn’t been
eloquent enough, the young man went back to his Master. ‘They
didn’t react then either,’ he said. The Master smiled at him and
replied, ‘Well, learn that you must be like them: whether you
receive blame or praise, you must not be affected; do not react.’
  "

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

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