I heard this short story recently that really resonated, and I was going to share it. But then I thought no, I don’t really know anything about it – who told it, where it’s from, etc, and I’m not really qualified to tell that story. So I didn’t.
But THEN I thought, isn’t that ‘knowing I don’t know much’ what consistently keeps me from doing anything at all? There is always more to know. Like they (they?) say, you don’t need to be the guru at the top of the mountain to guide people up the mountain. You just need to be further up the mountain than the people you are trying to guide. I’m not an expert, and the more I learn the more I realise I have yet to learn, but to let that stop me from sharing what I *have* learned is not helpful to anyone at all. In fact, it’s plain disservice to keep things to myself. So this year I’m going to share all the gems I gather. And if you know something already, then great! But if you don’t, then I hope it can help you too. That is all.
So anyway, here is what I heard:
Once there was a wise man, sitting under a gnarled tree at the edge of a village. One day a villager ran up to him, quite excited, saying ‘You have to give me the treasure! I had a dream and it told me that I would meet a wise man at the edge of a village, and he possessed a treasure that would give me joy and prosperity to the end of my days. That has to be you, you must have that treasure!’
And the wise man said ‘Oh, I suppose you must mean this’ and pulled out of his bag a dazzling diamond as big as a coconut. ‘Here, take it’
The villager shouted with joy, thanked the wise man, and ran back home with his enormous diamond. He paced and puzzled over it all night, and the next day he went back to the wise man, who was still sitting under the tree. He handed him the diamond and said, ‘Please will you teach me the wisdom that meant you were able to give away this jewel so easily?’
That was it, that was the story. I don’t know its origin, and I’m not going to pick it apart to extract a neat lesson for you. But that’s the kind of treasure I want to seek out.
Of course, as is the nature of all stories, what it meant to me may not be anything like what it meant to you. I would honestly love to hear what you took from all this, so please do share in the comments.
