Life | Wisdom | Spirituality | Awakening
The Mystic & The Philosopher Allegory
Important Teaching for Anyone Who Wants to Awaken!
It is said that, one day, Aristotle was walking up and down a beach near the sea very troubled, very serious and thoughtful. He was trying to solve questions about Existence, our place within Creation, and nothing could distract him. Even divine creations like the Sun, the Sky, the Sea were indifferent to him. Suddenly, while he was searching for answers, he saw an old man, dressed in white, doing something very strange. The old man brought water from the sea with a small spoon and poured it into a small hole he had dug on the shore. At first, Aristotle did not pay attention and continued to ponder about the Universe and Creation thinking “What is all this? How did it begin? Did it always exist? Who created it? Was it created by someone? Why does it all exist? Does it all have a beginning and an end? What is our relation to it?”. While walking and thinking, he returned even more troubled, roaming up and down. Every time he walked the beach from end to end, he saw the old man with strong dedication repeating the same process…bringing water from the sea with a small spoon and pouring it into a small hole he had dug on the shore. He did not dwell much on it, until it caused him so much disturbance and interest that even a man like Aristotle could not ignore it. “But what is the old man doing? Is what he is doing that serious? Why so much dedication? Has the old man gone mad?”, he thought. The old man’s process was so intense that he managed to get Aristotle out of his thoughts! Aristotle approached and watched the old man for a while. But the man was so absorbed that Aristotle began to wonder: “What is he doing?” The old man could not contain himself, he was completely absorbed. He would go to the sea, fill his spoon, bring water, put it in the hole and go back again.
Finally, Aristotle said, “Wait! I don’t want to bother you, but what are you doing? You’ve got me very curious.”
The old man replied, “Don’t bother me, I’m too focused on what I’m doing. Don’t distract me.”
Aristotle replied: “I see you are busy…but what are you doing?”
The old man replied, “What I am doing is of the utmost importance and you will not be able to understand…as I said, don’t bother me.”
Aristotle replied: “Not only are you terribly busy, but you also think this is of utmost importance, don’t you? Old man, have you gone mad?’
The old man replied, “I will fill this hole with the whole ocean.”
Aristotle laughed and said, “You’re a fool! This is never going to happen. You’re just crazy and you’re wasting your life! Please look at the vastness of the ocean and the size of the hole you dug in the sand. You think you can empty the ocean into that hole with a teaspoon? You’re just crazy! Please stop. Go home and rest old man.”
The old man laughed even louder than Aristotle, threw the spoon on the sand and said: “Yes, I’m going home because my work here is done.”
Aristotle said: “What do you mean? You have failed at filling the hole, let alone emptying the whole ocean into it.
The old man replied, “I’ve been doing exactly what you’ve been doing all this time, walking up and down the beach, and what you’re doing is even more stupid. Look at your head, it’s smaller than the hole I’ve dug. Look at the divine, the Existence. It’s larger than all the oceans in Existence and the Universe. Look at your thoughts, are they bigger than my spoon? Will you ever be able to grasp the All in thought?” The old man left laughing loudly, when suddenly he is said to have disappeared from Aristotle’s sight. Aristotle was greatly shocked, but the allegory does not tell us what he did next, since the most important thing was the old man’s lesson to Aristotle.
This Elder is said to have been Heraclitus!!!
The question arises whether Heraclitus and Aristotle could have met and talked since Heraclitus lived in a different era than Aristotle.
Many argue that it was the Spirit of Heraclitus who appeared to teach Aristotle.
Others argue that it is simply an Allegory between two completely different people. An Allegory with the Mystic Heraclitus and the Philosopher Aristotle. The purpose of this Allegory is a very big message from Heraclitus regarding the Teaching that had to be said and recorded so that future generations would know how to approach and touch the Divine. It is of no importance whether historically the meeting between Heraclitus and Aristotle actually took place.
Heraclitus essentially revealed to us that if you want to discover the Divine, to find the answers for your existence and for Existence itself, do not use thought. You cannot, with a limited tool, understand the unlimited. On the contrary, look around you, see the Sun, the Sky, the Earth, the Sea, and all Creation. Feel and Experience!
Can you answer such questions through thought? Are the conjectures of thought sufficient, or is thought in itself evidence to certify the one and only principle? How can you explain it all? Why do you think of it as something that is outside of you? You are part of it and it is part of you. Let go, feel, experience.
Take the thought out of this process and then look Everything around you! When you use thought, you are limited. When you observe without thinking, you are limitless. Narrowness of thinking limits you. Look at everything in nature without thinking, without criticism, without evaluation. Don’t make theories, live and experience. It’s all around you, it’s everywhere. As soon as you perceive the existence of the flower, the sea, the people and everything in the creation, you will perceive the galaxies as well as the Divine because: A small thing is part of the Great. The Great one is made up of many small ones.
If you theorize that there is God, you are wrong.
If you theorize that there is no God, you are wrong again.
Do you know if God exists or not? If so, how do you know? If not, how did you find it?
Thought does not prove anything, it just continuously considers, thinks, believes; all without knowing.
Everyone communicates theories but no one knows, and even those who have experienced it cannot convey it in words…because for others it will just be a theory for discussion, it will not be an experience.
Everyone must figure it out themselves and SEE their connection to the Divine…and then all inner answers are either answered, or go away.
The term Divine refers to that which exceeds human limits, not only in body and power, but also in thought.