From the Sufi's

[Guest guest]

A dervish went to a Sufi master and said: " Noble Guide, I wish to

learn from you whatever I can communicate to others. "

 

The Sufi told him to go into the garden and to feed birds and

animals until they came to him whenever he appeared. The dervish did

this for three years. At the end of this time he went back to the

Sufi and said: " The birds and animals come to me whenever I show

myself to them. "

 

The Sufi said: " Do you still want to learn in order to impart to

others? "

The dervish replied: " I have realized that I must learn whatever

I can learn, and not to try to learn for a purpose until I know the

value of the purpose. "

 

The Sufi said: " Now you can start to learn. Unless your

attention had been fixed upon the birds and animals, your real mind

would not have been able to solve this problem of understanding.

 

Attention demands an object, as an arrow demands a target. But to

have an arrow in a target all the time, or to have all targets full

of arrows, or to have every bowman shooting at once, or to have

people thinking that shooting is necessary when they have other

things which they can do and be, is evidence of stupidity and a sure

road to oblivion. "

 

as collected by Idries Shah