Moral perfection is the impossible goal, but moving to it is the law of human life.
Some people say, "Man is selfish, greedy, and dissipated, and cannot be kind to other people." This is not true. We can be good. Feel in your heart the kind of person you should be; this feeling will give you power.
A woman accidentally dropped a precious pearl into the sea, and she started to scoop ocean water with a spade, one cup after another. A sea-sprite came to her and said, "When will you stop scooping up water?" The woman said, "When I have taken all the water from the sea, and retrieved my pearl from the bottom." Then the sea-sprite retrieved the pearl and returned it to her.
Outer consequences are not in our power to control; it is only possible to make an effort, and inner consequences always follow from our effort.
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A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World's Sacred Texts, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Peter Sekirin, Scribner, NY, 1997
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Comments: 15
I love those types of surprises, don't you?
Made me think this morning...Thanks, Alison. Good article.
Wilka
Pepsie, that's very kind of you to say that, thank you! (And back to you!)
Kori, I believe that too, and I admit, I do appreciate feedback once in a while!! :-))
I have a problem with the little parable of the woman dropping the pearl and emptying out the sea to get it back--does it seem to you that the sea-sprite is rewarding her materialism/obsession with keeping her pearl?
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