Subject: Re: the Sufi parable (fwd)

From: Victor Guest <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 11:16:35 WST

From: "Douglas B. Johnson" <[email-masked]>

Prompted by Dick Richardson and my own affection for the parable, allow me:

Source: (reprinted without permission, educational purposes only)
Humberto R. Maturana, Ph.D. & Francisco J. Varela, Ph.D.. 1992. "The Tree
of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding." Revised Edition
(original issued in 1987). Boston: Shambhala

Beginning mid-page 249:
"We have reached the end (of the book). This book has invited you, the
reader, to make a reflection. Such reflection will lead you to know your
own knowledge. It is up to you to make this knowledge the pith and
substance of your action.

A story is told of an island somewhere and its inhabitants. (16) The people
longed to move to another land where they could have a healthier and better
life. The problem was that the practical arts of swimming and sailing had
never been developed -- or may have been lost long before. For that reason,
there were some people who simply refused to think of alternatives to life
on the island, whereas others intended to seek a solution to the problems
locally, without any thought of crossing the waters. From time to time,
some islanders reinvented the arts of swimming and sailing. Also from time
to time a student would come up to them, and the following exchange would
take place:

	"I want to swim to another land."
 	"For that you have to learn how to swim. Are you ready to learn?"
	"Yes, but I want to take with me my ton of cabbages."
	" What cabbages?"
	"The food I'll need on the other side or wherever it is."
	"But what if there's food on the other side?"
	I don't know what you mean. I'm not sure. I have to bring my
cabbages with me."
	"But you won't be able to swim with a ton of cabbages. It's too
much weight."
	"Then I can't learn how to swim. You call my cabbages weight. I
call them my basic food."
	"Suppose this were an allegory and, instead of talking about
cabbages we talked about fixed ideas, presuppositions, or certainties?"
	"Humm . . . I'm going to bring my cabbages to someone who
understands my needs."

End of quote.
(16) I. Shaw. 1971. "The Sufis." New York: Anchor Books.

Best Wishes,

Douglas B. Johnson