Once there was a man who felt out of touch with himself and the universe. He so desparately wanted to try to regain some part of him that he lost, but with all that he had to do just to survive, he would never have the time to devote to it that he would like. He had to build his house, raise his food, make his clothes ...
One day, while on a walk he was considering these problems. If he could just find some way to have his every day tasks taken care of for him... As luck would have it, he stumbled upon a sorcerer asleep on a rock. Now, he knew by Universal Law that if he could catch the sorcerer, he would be granted a wish and be allowed to leave safely. So he fashioned a rope and snuck up behind the sorcerer and quickly bound him. After a brief struggle, the sorcerer was forced to admit he was captured fairly, and under Universal Law would give the man his wish.
Unfortunately, the man hadn't thought this through too clearly. He was only granted the one wish, but he had so much he needed taken care of so he could more intently focus on his own studies of himself and the universe. So he sat and contemplated for what must have been hours. The sorcerer was, of course, becoming more and more agitated at the wait.
Finally, the man snapped his fingers and said "Summon for me a demon who will always do my bidding, so I can have him do all the things that distract me from my studies."
The sorcerer smiled a mischevious smile and said, "It is done. Be warned, however, that if you do not constantly give the demon something to do, he will consume you." And with those words, the sorcerer vanished.
The man looked around, but there was no demon to be seen. He shrugged thinking the sorcerer must have found a loophole in the Universal Law and began his walk back to his meager home. Upon arriving there, a small gargoyle like figure was waiting on him.
"Your wish is my command, master. What would you have me do?", the demon asked meekly.
The man, after the intial shock, smiled. "Go and build me a grand house."
Thinking the demon would be occupied for a while building the house, the man decided to lay down for a sleep. Within moments of laying down, the man was awakened by the demon.
Sleepily, the man grumbled, "I told you to build me a grand house."
"Yes, my master, and it is complete. Give me something more to do."
The man noticed something of menace in the voice of the demon and quickly rose to his feet to notice the grandest of all houses sitting where his meager one used to be.
"Master, give me something more to do."
"Um, yes, that's a fine house. Now go and landscape it for me with the finest of flowers and rarest of plants."
The demon grew in size and responded simply, "It is done."
Sure enough, the man saw the yard was now landscaped exactly as he had requested. The demon was looming over him now, "Give me something more to do!"
"Create a feast so all my friends can come and celebrate with me."
Again, the demon grew, "It is DONE! GIVE ME SOMETHING MORE TO DO!"
The man was feeling extremely threatened now, and in a panic cried, "My mother is extremely ill. Heal he..." "IT IS DONE!" The demon was now well over 15 feet tall. "GIVE ME SOMETHING MORE TO DO!"
In a panic, the man fled the area hoping only that he could outrun the demon for a little while longer to get some peace.
During his flight, he stumbled across an old shaman walking down the road. Throwing himself at the feet of this wise man, he begged, "There is a demon who is constantly demanding I give him something to do. I fear if I don't, he will consume me!"
The old shaman smiled. He plucked a curly hear from his head and said, "Give this to the demon and tell him to straighten it."
"You don't understand. This demon can create houses in seconds. He can landscape gardens in a blink. He created a feast for my friends without moving from his spot. He healed my dying mother before I could finish the request!"
Again, the old shaman smiled. "Give him the hair. Have him straighten it." And with that, the shaman vanished.
The man, lost in despair, took the hair, and started back towards his new home. He knew he couldn't out run the demon forever, and only hoped that he could find something for the demon to do. Once he arrived at his home, the demon was waiting. "GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO!" he bellowed in a thousand voices all at once.
Sheepishly, the man held out the curly hair and said "Straighten this."
The demon scoffed, grabbed the hair from the man, pulled it straight, and bellowed "IT IS DO..." As the demon released the hair, it curled back up. The demon shrunk ever so slightly. Again, he grabbed the hair, pulled it straight, and let it go. It curled back up. After several repeats of this same attempt, the demon was back to normal size. The man took the hair from the demon.
"Your wish is my bidding, master. What would you have me do?", the demon meekly asked.
"Carry me to my bed."
After the demon set his master down in the bed, he grew, ever so slightly. "What would you have me do now master?", he asked in a louder voice than before.
"Straighten this hair."
This story was told to me, in a much similiar form, to illustrate what happens when you give your logical (physical) mind too much power. If you keep feeding it, it keeps getting more and more powerful and demanding more and more to do. I firmly believe that in the heart of us all, there is a connection to something else (call it the divine, the Spirit-that-moves-in-and-through-all-things, God, Goddess, Yaweh, Allah, the quantum, it doesn't matter) that we have buried with our logical selves. Something our mind, on the surface, just can't understand.
The hair in this story refers to all the rituals, practices, habits, etc that we do that allows our mind to quiet down, stay busy, and let our hearts guide us. The logical mind is not an evil thing, but given leave, it can consume us. It is a tool, much like a hammer or a screwdriver, and there are tasks that only it can accomplish, but I do not believe we were ever intended to live just solely in the logical mind. And the farther we move away from the heart, the more elaborate and detailed our "hairs" become.
The reason I told you this story, and gave the brief explanation that I did, is really so you can understand the following statement and not think me totally insane (a little insane is okay):
I can't seem to find my hair.
I'm having a real problem getting out of my logical, over-analyzing mind and it is driving me batty.
Disclaimer: This is, of course, all one man's opinion. Take from it what you will, use it as you see fit. Even if you don't believe in any of this, maybe at least I entertained you with a story.
Edit: I just realized I had misspelled sorcerer through the whole damn thing. How embarassing....
One day, while on a walk he was considering these problems. If he could just find some way to have his every day tasks taken care of for him... As luck would have it, he stumbled upon a sorcerer asleep on a rock. Now, he knew by Universal Law that if he could catch the sorcerer, he would be granted a wish and be allowed to leave safely. So he fashioned a rope and snuck up behind the sorcerer and quickly bound him. After a brief struggle, the sorcerer was forced to admit he was captured fairly, and under Universal Law would give the man his wish.
Unfortunately, the man hadn't thought this through too clearly. He was only granted the one wish, but he had so much he needed taken care of so he could more intently focus on his own studies of himself and the universe. So he sat and contemplated for what must have been hours. The sorcerer was, of course, becoming more and more agitated at the wait.
Finally, the man snapped his fingers and said "Summon for me a demon who will always do my bidding, so I can have him do all the things that distract me from my studies."
The sorcerer smiled a mischevious smile and said, "It is done. Be warned, however, that if you do not constantly give the demon something to do, he will consume you." And with those words, the sorcerer vanished.
The man looked around, but there was no demon to be seen. He shrugged thinking the sorcerer must have found a loophole in the Universal Law and began his walk back to his meager home. Upon arriving there, a small gargoyle like figure was waiting on him.
"Your wish is my command, master. What would you have me do?", the demon asked meekly.
The man, after the intial shock, smiled. "Go and build me a grand house."
Thinking the demon would be occupied for a while building the house, the man decided to lay down for a sleep. Within moments of laying down, the man was awakened by the demon.
Sleepily, the man grumbled, "I told you to build me a grand house."
"Yes, my master, and it is complete. Give me something more to do."
The man noticed something of menace in the voice of the demon and quickly rose to his feet to notice the grandest of all houses sitting where his meager one used to be.
"Master, give me something more to do."
"Um, yes, that's a fine house. Now go and landscape it for me with the finest of flowers and rarest of plants."
The demon grew in size and responded simply, "It is done."
Sure enough, the man saw the yard was now landscaped exactly as he had requested. The demon was looming over him now, "Give me something more to do!"
"Create a feast so all my friends can come and celebrate with me."
Again, the demon grew, "It is DONE! GIVE ME SOMETHING MORE TO DO!"
The man was feeling extremely threatened now, and in a panic cried, "My mother is extremely ill. Heal he..." "IT IS DONE!" The demon was now well over 15 feet tall. "GIVE ME SOMETHING MORE TO DO!"
In a panic, the man fled the area hoping only that he could outrun the demon for a little while longer to get some peace.
During his flight, he stumbled across an old shaman walking down the road. Throwing himself at the feet of this wise man, he begged, "There is a demon who is constantly demanding I give him something to do. I fear if I don't, he will consume me!"
The old shaman smiled. He plucked a curly hear from his head and said, "Give this to the demon and tell him to straighten it."
"You don't understand. This demon can create houses in seconds. He can landscape gardens in a blink. He created a feast for my friends without moving from his spot. He healed my dying mother before I could finish the request!"
Again, the old shaman smiled. "Give him the hair. Have him straighten it." And with that, the shaman vanished.
The man, lost in despair, took the hair, and started back towards his new home. He knew he couldn't out run the demon forever, and only hoped that he could find something for the demon to do. Once he arrived at his home, the demon was waiting. "GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO!" he bellowed in a thousand voices all at once.
Sheepishly, the man held out the curly hair and said "Straighten this."
The demon scoffed, grabbed the hair from the man, pulled it straight, and bellowed "IT IS DO..." As the demon released the hair, it curled back up. The demon shrunk ever so slightly. Again, he grabbed the hair, pulled it straight, and let it go. It curled back up. After several repeats of this same attempt, the demon was back to normal size. The man took the hair from the demon.
"Your wish is my bidding, master. What would you have me do?", the demon meekly asked.
"Carry me to my bed."
After the demon set his master down in the bed, he grew, ever so slightly. "What would you have me do now master?", he asked in a louder voice than before.
"Straighten this hair."
This story was told to me, in a much similiar form, to illustrate what happens when you give your logical (physical) mind too much power. If you keep feeding it, it keeps getting more and more powerful and demanding more and more to do. I firmly believe that in the heart of us all, there is a connection to something else (call it the divine, the Spirit-that-moves-in-and-through-all-things, God, Goddess, Yaweh, Allah, the quantum, it doesn't matter) that we have buried with our logical selves. Something our mind, on the surface, just can't understand.
The hair in this story refers to all the rituals, practices, habits, etc that we do that allows our mind to quiet down, stay busy, and let our hearts guide us. The logical mind is not an evil thing, but given leave, it can consume us. It is a tool, much like a hammer or a screwdriver, and there are tasks that only it can accomplish, but I do not believe we were ever intended to live just solely in the logical mind. And the farther we move away from the heart, the more elaborate and detailed our "hairs" become.
The reason I told you this story, and gave the brief explanation that I did, is really so you can understand the following statement and not think me totally insane (a little insane is okay):
I can't seem to find my hair.
I'm having a real problem getting out of my logical, over-analyzing mind and it is driving me batty.
Disclaimer: This is, of course, all one man's opinion. Take from it what you will, use it as you see fit. Even if you don't believe in any of this, maybe at least I entertained you with a story.
Edit: I just realized I had misspelled sorcerer through the whole damn thing. How embarassing....
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the beer ran through me like water through a strainer. maybe not eating yesterday contributed to this...