The 3 Doors To Wisdom

 A King had, as only son, a young Prince, brave, skillful 
  and intelligent. To perfect his knowledge of  Life, he sent 
  him by the side of an Old Wise Man.
  
    "Bring Light to my Path of Life", the Prince asked.
  
    "My words will faint away like the prints of your steps in 
  the sand”, the Wise Man answered. However, I want  to give you 
  some indications. On your Path, you will find 3 doors. Read 
  the rules written on each of them. 
  
    An irresistible need will urge you to follow them. 
  Don't try and get away from them, because you would be 
  condemned to live again, ceaselessly, what you have avoided. 
  I may tell you no more. 
  
    You have to feel all this deep in your heart and in your flesh. 
  Go, now. Follow  this path, right in front of you. "
  
    The Old Wise Man disappeared and the Prince entered  
  the Path of Life.
  
    He was soon in front of a big door, on  which one could read:
  
    "CHANGE THE WORLD".
  
    "It was my intention indeed”, the Prince thought, “because 
  if some things please me in this world, others greatly displease  
  me." 
  
    And he began his first fight. His ideal, his ardour and his 
  power urged him to confront himself to the world, to undertake, 
  to conquer, to model reality according to his desires. 
  
    He found there the pleasure and the dizzyness of the conqueror, 
  but no peace in his heart. He managed to change some things but 
  many others resisted to him. Many years passed.
  
    One day, he met the Old Wise Man who asked him: 
  
    "What have you learnt on your path?" 
  
    "I have learnt," the Prince answered, “ how to discern what 
  is within my power and what is without, what depends on me and 
  what does not depend on me".
  
    "That's good!”, the Old Man said. “Use your strength to act 
  on what is within your power. Forget what's beyond your power." 
  And he disappeared.
  
    A bit later, the Prince was in front of a second door. 
  He could read on it :
  
    "CHANGE THE OTHERS".
  
    "It was my intention indeed”, he thought. “The others are 
  a source of pleasure, enjoyment and  satisfaction, but also, 
  of pain, bitterness and  frustration." 
  
    And he rebelled against everything that could disturb him 
  or displease him in his fellow men. He tried to bend their 
  characters and to extirpate their defects. 
  
    It was there his second fight. 
  
    Many years passed.
  
    One day, as he was meditating on the utility of the attempts 
  to change the others, he met the Old Wise Man who asked him: 
  
    "What have you learnt on your path?" 
  
    "I have learnt”, the Prince answered, “that the others are not 
  the cause or the source of my joys and my punishments, my 
  satisfactions and  my setbacks. They are  only opportunities 
  for all of them to be revealed. 
  
    It is in myself that all these things have their roots." 
  
    "You are right,” the Wise Man said. “According to what they 
  wake up in you, the others reveal you to yourself. Be grateful 
  to those who make your enjoyment and pleasure vibrate. 
  
    But be also grateful to those who create in you suffering or 
  frustration, because, through them, life teaches you what  
  is left in you to learn and the path that you  still have 
  to walk." 
  
    And the Old Man disappeared.
  
    A bit further, the Prince arrived in front of a door, on 
  which these words were written:
  
    "CHANGE YOURSELF".
  
    "If I am myself the cause of my problems, it is indeed what's 
  left in me to work on", he said to himself. 
  
    And he began his 3rd fight. He tried to bend his character, 
  to fight  his  imperfections, to abolish his defects, to change 
  everything that did not please him in himself, everything that 
  did not correspond to his ideal. 
  
    After many years of this fight, in which he met some success, 
  but also, some failures and some resistances, the Prince met the 
  Wise Man who asked him: 
  
  
    “What have you learnt on your path?" 
  
    "I have learnt”, the Prince answered, ”that there are things 
  that we can improve, others that resist to us and that we can't 
  manage to break." 
  
    "That's good!" the Wise Man said. 
  
    "Yes”, the Prince went on, ”but I am beginning to be tired 
  of fighting against everything, against everybody, against 
  myself. Won't there be an end to it one day? When shall I 
  find a rest? I want to stop fighting, to give up, to 
  abandon everything, I want to let go !" 
  
    "It is precisely your next lesson“, the Old Wise Man said. 
  “But before going any further, turn round and behold the path 
  covered." 
  
    And he disappeared.
  
    On looking back, the Prince saw in the distance the 3rd door, 
  and noticed that it was carrying a text on its back, saying :
  
    "ACCEPT YOURSELF."
  
    The Prince was surprised not to have seen this writing when 
  he went through the door, the other way.  
  
    "When one fights, one becomes blind”, he said to himself.  
  He also saw, lying on the ground, scattered around him, 
  everything he had thrown away and fought against in him: 
  his defects, his shadows, his fears, his limits, all his 
  old worries. He had learnt then how to recognize them, to 
  accept them, to love them. He had learnt how to love himself  
  without comparing himself to the others any more, without 
  judging himself, without reprimanding himself. 
  
    He met the Old Wise Man who asked him: 
  
    "What have you learnt on your path?" 
  
    "I have learnt”, the Prince answered,” that hating or refusing 
  a part of myself, it is to condemn myself never to be in 
  agreement with myself. I learnt how to accept myself, totally, 
  unconditionally." 
  
    "That's good!”, the Old Man said, it is the first rule in
  Wisdom. Now you can go back through the 3rd door."
  
    He had no sooner reached the other side, that the Prince 
  perceived far away the back side of the second door, on which 
  he could read: 
  
    "ACCEPT THE OTHERS".
  
    All around him, he could recognize the persons he had been 
  with all his life through; those he had loved as well as those 
  he had hated. Those he had supported and those he had fought. 
  
    But the biggest surprise of all for him was that now, he was 
  absolutely unable to see their imperfections, their defects, 
  what formerly had embarrassed him so much, and against which 
  he had fought. 
  
    He met the Old Wise Man again.
  
    "What have you learnt on your path?" he asked him. 
  
    “I have learnt”, the Prince answered, “that by being in 
  agreement with myself, I had no more anything to blame in the 
  others, no more anything to be afraid of  in them. I have 
  learnt how to accept and to love the others, totally, 
  unconditionally." 
  
    "That's good!", the Old Wise Man said. “It is the second 
  rule in Wisdom. You can go back through the second door.” 
  
    On reaching the other side of the second door, the Prince 
  perceived in the distance the back side of the first door, 
  on which he could read: 
  
    "ACCEPT THE WORLD". 
  
    “Strangely enough”, he said to himself, “that I did not see 
  these words on the first time”. He looked all around him and 
  recognized this world  which he had tried to conquer, to 
  transform, to change. He was struck by the brightness and 
  the beauty of  every thing. By their perfection. 
  
    Nevertheless, it was the same world as before. Was it  
  the world which had changed or the glance he had on it?
  
    He met the Old Wise Man who asked him: 
  
    "What have you learnt on your path?" 
  
    "I have learnt”, the Prince said, that the world is a mirror 
  for my soul. That my soul can't  see the world, it sees itself 
  in the world. When my soul is cheerful, the world seems cheerful  
  to it. 
  
    When it is overcome, the world seems sad to it. The world 
  itself is neither sad nor cheerful. It IS there; it exists; it 
  is everything. It was  Not the world that disturbed me, but the 
  idea that I had of it. I have learnt to accept it without  
  judging it, to accept it totally, unconditionally. "
  
    “It is 3rd rule of Wisdom”, the Old Man said. 
  “You are here now in agreement with yourself, with the others 
  and with the World.”  
  
    A profound feeling of peace, serenity, plenitude, filled 
  the Prince. Silence was in him.
  
    "Now, you are ready to go past the last Threshold”, the 
  Old Wise Man said, “the one that goes from the silence of 
  Plenitude to the Plenitude of Silence ". 
  
    And the Old Man disappeared. 


Author unknown
Posted by Priya Deelchand

The Power of Encouragement

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the famous 19th-century poet and artist, was once approached by an elderly man. The old fellow had some sketches and drawings that he wanted Rossetti to look at and tell him if they were any good, or if they at least showed potential talent.

Rossetti looked them over carefully. After the first few, he knew that they were worthless, showing not the least sign of artistic talent. But Rossetti was a kind man, and he told the elderly man as gently as possible that the pictures were without much value and showed little talent. He was sorry, but he could not lie to the man. The visitor was disappointed, but seemed to expect Rossetti’s judgment.

He then apologized for taking up Rossetti’s time, but would he just look at a few more drawings – these done by a young art student? Rossetti looked over the second batch of sketches and immediately became enthusiastic over the talent they revealed. “These,” he said, “oh, these are good. This young student has great talent. He should be given every help and encouragement in his career as an artist. He has a great future if he will work hard and stick to it.”

Rossetti could see that the old fellow was deeply moved. “Who is this fine young artist?” he asked. “Your son?” “No,” said the old man sadly. “It is me – 40 years ago. If only I had heard your praise then! For you see, I got discouraged and gave up – too soon.”

Author unknown

Posted by Priya Deelchand

Live Fully

An army chaplain tells of the time he was asked to preach at a church
some 20 miles from the base. He took his family along, but had
ne glected to tell his six-year-old daughter where they were going.
After a few miles on the road, she asked, “Dad, when we get to where
we’re going, where will we be?” A good question! And one all of us
should try to answer for ourselves.

Think of your life’s journey. When you get to where you’re going,
where will you be? One year, five years, or even 20 years from now, if
you keep heading in the same direction you are head ing and keep doing
what you are doing, what will your life look like? Not only
vocationally and fi nancially, but what kind of person will you be? Do
you have a pretty clear picture of the way you would like things to
turn out, or will you be as surprised when it happens as everybody
else?

It has been my experience that most people do not spend much time with
these questions. But as Henry David Thoreau once said, “In the long
run, we only hit what we aim at.”

To live aimlessly is to waste this precious gift of life. But to live
with direction is to live fully.

Author unnknown
Shared by Priya Deelchand

Lesson in self-confidence

When Henry Ward Beecher was a young boy in school, he
learned a lesson in self-confidence, which he never forgot. He was
called upon to recite in front of the class. He had hardly begun when
the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, “No!” He started over and
again the teacher thundered, “No!” Humiliated, Henry sat down.

The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the
teacher shouted, “No!” This student, however, kept on with the
recitation until he completed it. As he sat down, the teacher
responded, “Very good!”

Henry was irritated. “I recited just as he did,” he
complained to the teacher.

But the instructor replied, “It is not enough to know your
lesson, you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant
that you were uncertain. If all the world says, `No!’ it is your
business to say, `Yes!’ and prove it.”

The world says, “No!” in a thousand ways:

“No! You can’t do that.”

“No! You are wrong.”

“No! You are too old.”

“No! You are too young.”

“No! You are too weak.”

“No! It will never work.”

“No! You don’t have the education.”

“No! You don’t have the background.”

“No! You don’t have the money.”

“No! It can’t be done.”

And each “No!” you hear has the potential to erode your
confidence bit by bit until you quit altogether. Though the world
says, “No!” to you today, will you determine to say, “Yes!” and prove
it?

Author unknown
Shared by Priya Deelchand