The amount of pain in your life remains the same, exactly the same.

[Perknose]

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water, and then to drink it.

"How does it taste?" the master asked.

"Bitter," spit the apprentice.

The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the master asked, "How does it taste?"

"Fresh," remarked the apprentice.

"Do you taste the salt?" asked the master.

"No," said the young man.

At this, the master sat beside this serious young man who so reminded him of himself and took his hands, offering, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things... Stop being a glass. Become a lake."

Since this is the Discussion Club, discuss! Pay no attention to my club.

 

[RearAdmiral]

This is a nice thought one's perspective makes all the difference regardless of circumstance. I went to Africa on a mission trip and the only powerful thing I took away was how much happier the people seemed to be than they are here. They had piles of salt in oceans, we have pinches in test tubes.

Perspective is one of the active things I've been trying to work on the past few years. There is really no reason for me to be sad, bitter or angry.

Thanks for the post.

 

[jaqie]

Some of the people here know my situation and such (especially those that have read my big post in health & fitness) and keep saying things like you're very brave and such... I think this original post shows why I do not think I am... I just dilute what I have more than they do, it seems.

The OP's quote is entirely true.

 

[kia75]

That reminds me of one of the child soldiers in Africa. As he was being beaten up and kidnapped to become a child soldier, he thought to himself, "at least we're not destroying the planet".

 

[cwjerome]

Perspective means so much. I feel sad for people who are very narrow and have little thought outside their very small world (some religious nuts and urban libs come to mind). In these times when consumerism, narcissism, and other ego driven attitudes prevail, it takes some effort to be humble, modest, and understanding. Exploring the world, trying new experiences, and a solid, non-judgmental understanding of history are good ways to broaden perspective.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

It's an excellent attitude. It's not always possible for all things at all times, but that's not the point. It's being willing.

 

[SMOGZINN]

But, if you put that same amount of salt in the ocean it would be bitter.
This tells us that life is pain, we might be sheltered for now, but we are fooling ourselves when we think otherwise.

 

[Moonbeam]

WHEN we consider life deeply, we can divide it into two parts and call one the lighter side of life and the other the deeper. The importance of both these sides may at times seem equally great. When a person is thinking of the lighter side of life, at that moment that side is more important, while the other side, of which the person is not conscious, seems to have no great importance. But then there are other moments, which come in life, perhaps after suffering, or after a loss or some other experience, when a person suddenly awakens to a different realization of life. And when one is awakened to that the deeper side of life seems to have more importance than the lighter side. No one, neither clergyman nor mystic nor any authority, can say which side is more important. It depends upon how we look at it. If we raise its value, though it may be a small thing, yet we shall attach a greater value to it. There is nothing in this world which has a permanent value attached to it. If there seems to be such a thing, it does not stay in the same position always. If something like money is subject to change, then what is there in this world which does not change in importance?

Part of a lecture given at sea by Hazrat Inayat Kahn in 1925

 

[Jaskalas]

The amount of pain in your life remains the same, exactly the same.

A very beautiful tale in the OP, but when one thinks about it....

A burn victim will not agree that the amount of pain in his or her life is the same as it was before. From there the whole illusion is shattered. :|

 

[Bitek]

I got 99 problems and salt ain't one.

Otherwise its a fine sentiment, good reminder to keep perspective, but rather useless babble.

If the doc comes back with test results saying your kids going to die of leukemia, saying go drink from a lake is little comfort.

 

[cwjerome]

I got 99 problems and salt ain't one.

Otherwise its a fine sentiment, good reminder to keep perspective, but rather useless babble.

If the doc comes back with test results saying your kids going to die of leukemia, saying go drink from a lake is little comfort.

You mention "perspective" but apparently you do not understand what it means. Having a kid dying of cancer is quite different from the everyday trivialities that consume people.

 

[Perknose]

A very beautiful tale in the OP, but when one thinks about it....

A burn victim will not agree that the amount of pain in his or her life is the same as it was before. From there the whole illusion is shattered. :|

You miss the point, my friend. There is no comparison, implicit or explicit, between anyone's pain before or after anything -- none. Big whoosh there.

The point is, no matter how that burn victim, or any one of us, views whatever pain we have experienced, that amount of pain remains the same, exactly the same.

Given that, the point is this:

Perspective means so much.

And this:

It's an excellent attitude. It's not always possible for all things at all times, but that's not the point. It's being willing.

 

[Moonbeam]

So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things... Stop being a glass. Become a lake."

Imagine the peace of those who have faith in God and love Him, who feel that everything that happens happens exactly as it must as his will and surrender. All that is or will be is His perfect will.

 

[Ketchup]

I think this is a great example of maturity, not just how "tough" you are. Example, my 2-year-old would hurt a finger playing with her brothers, and screams like they is no tomorrow. My 10-year-old would get a little upset about what happened, but wouldn't shed a tear. My wife wouldn't even notice said injury until I saw it later and ask her what happened.

 

[Murloc]

So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things... Stop being a glass. Become a lake."

Imagine the peace of those who have faith in God and love Him, who feel that everything that happens happens exactly as it must as his will and surrender. All that is or will be is His perfect will.

That's cool but even religious people aren't like this. Most religious people just believe and follow moral standards because someone told them to, but can still be as unhappy as the atheists in their life and be unhappy about petty things.
I think you center the point of religion but many religious people don't. Only a personally developed spirituality would allow for this, the societal religions inherited from your parents are useless.
I just don't believe so I make do.

 

[Moonbeam]

Murloc: That's cool but even religious people aren't like this. Most religious people just believe and follow moral standards because someone told them to, but can still be as unhappy as the atheists in their life and be unhappy about petty things.
I think you center the point of religion but many religious people don't.

Mo: Well my answer to that is that what you describe as religious people aren't in fact actually religious but only imagine that they are. But this is not so for all of them and who would not envy them because life can be no other way than as it is. The moving finger writes and having done so moves on and we can't erase a single jot of it. Is it not wise then to understand that existential pain is the result of attachment to the will of the ego over against surrender to ones immutable fate?

Mu: Only a personally developed spirituality would allow for this, the societal religions inherited from your parents are useless.

Mo: But the foundations for this understanding are all there in religion front and center. It is the ego that obscures them and it is surely the ego that is the enemy of religion.

Mu: I just don't believe so I make do.

Mo: I know. Me too. But if you think about it maybe you will agree that what Christ did was to illustrate the path to personal redemption. He suffered and died on the cross and rose from the dead to show you the way, that for everything about God's will that you reject and will not accept, you have been forgiven. What Christ said, in my opinion, is that if you but suffer and die you will not suffer for it is the real and total expression and feeling of grief that heals us completely. To surrender is to feel what you really do feel. This is what I think the Buddha did under the bo tree.

To be open to pain, to feel all of it to the fullest is to end fear, to become the moving finger, to be the ink. To be in the now is to end internal division.

The ego can't ever will itself to be. There is nothing one can become that one hasn't always been. There is nothing we can do but let go of everything.

Our pain is the impotency of our rage, the delusion of duality, the hate of the self against the self, our delusional feelings of guilt and sin made possible by language, the belief in put downs, abstract ideas like good and evil that do not exist. Only via words would we have ever turned against ourselves with the thought that we are worthless.

You may find many a neurotic animal that has been around people, but you will never find one who feels itself to be worthless, one who tortures itself by thinking.

All those thoughts have their origin in feelings we are afraid to feel but when felt to their roots, end there. To open ones heart to ones own grief is to heal, to return to the source of joy and being. This is what I believe. But more than believing, I know just a bit of this personally. I used to have such big good hands, but I was defeated by the Nothing. But to my utter and complete amazement, when I surrendered, it did too.

 

[Binarycow]

I always play this game mentally every time I have been to a cemetery. I would walk past a grave and would start guessing about the person who lies 6 ft under my feet. I would try my darnest to speculate whether he/she had a happy life (or not), how many good/bad things every done by him/her, how good or bad of all the things this person did in life, what kind of character flaws did he/she have, whether he/she was a believer (or not), etc.

Sadly, most of time the only sure conclusion I walk away with is that he/she is a dead person.