The Tale of the Sands » Change Begins From Within

I don’t usually believe or read horoscopes but while I’m browsing today’s broadsheet, I came across mine that says:

You could work yourself up into an anxious state as you compare your ideal fantasies with the actual day ahead. You really don't want to repeat the same old routines in the exact way you did them before. You’re dying for a change – not just on your physical realm but you feel it within. You're intrigued by doing things differently today, and anything that's unconventional is attractive to you now. However, just because you can dream it, doesn't mean that you should make it real.

This is exactly what I’m feeling today – and I find it surreal. I’m Libra by the way.

This prompt me to look for some related 5-minute-story to share on this gloomy and cold Wednesday and I got this one entitled The Tale of the Sands:
 

A stream, from its source in far-off mountains, passing through every kind of description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert. Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream expected to cross this one, but it found that as fast as it flowed into the desert, just as fast its waters disappeared into the sands.

It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way.

Before long, the stream heard a voice whispering from the desert itself, "The wind crosses the desert, so can the stream."

"Yes, but the wind can fly!" cried out the stream, as it kept dashing itself into the desert sands.

"You'll never get across that way," the desert whispered once again. "You'll have to let the wind carry you."

"But how?" cried out the stream.

"You have to let the wind absorb you."

This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It didn't want to lose its identity. So, it asked the desert,

“Once I give myself to the winds, how can I be sure of ever becoming a stream again?

'The wind,' said the desert, 'performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river.'

The desert told the stream that, if it wished, it could continue to flow into the sand, and that one day, after many, many years, it might even become a swamp on the desert's edge. But, it would never cross the desert as long as it remained a stream.

"Why can't I remain the same stream that I am?" asked the stream.

"You cannot remain as you are. Either you give yourself to the wind or you become a swamp." the desert said. "By giving yourself to the wind, your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one."

The stream could not believe it, but realised that the best that could be attained without attempting the suggestion would be to become a swamp. Either way the stream could not stay as it was.

The stream was silent for a long time, listening to certain echoes deep within itself, remembering parts of itself having been held in the arms of the wind before. And then slowly, the stream raised its vapors into the welcoming arms of the wind and was borne upward and over the desert in great white clouds.

As it passed beyond the mountains on the desert's far side, there it began to fall as a gentle rain.

At first it was hushed and quiet, trickling down the rocky slopes. But gradually it increased in strength, as rivulets ran over the rocks and around the bent and twisted trees that grew there. And soon it was flowing as swift currents of water into the beginning of a stream.

P.S.

I choose this story to share with you guys because, like the mountain stream, each of us is called upon to change continuously, in every arena of our existence, whether it is in our relationship with our family and friends, in our work or profession or in the world at large.

Change is the dominant force in these times. Like what is happening to me now – it is happening whether I like it or not, whether I am prepared for it or not.

The sad fact is – It seems until now, I'm not yet prepared.

How about you, is there any major changes happening to you now?

______________

Source:

» Shah Idries "The Tale of the Sands"

» Image Source: Bizarre and Dark Arts Pictures

.