As with all Sufi teachings, this allegorical story is made to illustrate some aspect of our journey towards Oneness. It speaks to the trials and struggles we all face.
The Tale of the Sands
Life Experiences
GIVING LOVE
Being able to love freely and openly is a great concept, but unfortunately it’s not something we experience very often. And although people do try, the love we mostly see is a pretty watered down version of the real thing. We want to love unconditionally, but we just seem unable to do it. Yet our capacity to love is incredible, so what gets in the way?
UNDERSTANDING LIFE
After thousands of years of living experience and having exceptional teachers like Christ, Moses, Lau Tsu, Buddha, and the many gurus of India, we are still struggling to answer the question of exactly what we are doing here. We have made progress over the millennia, but we still have a ways to go.
Self-Criticism
Franz Kafka, the great patron-martyr of self-criticism, captured the situation perfectly when he wrote: “There’s only one thing certain. That is one’s own inadequacy.”
The Four Horsemen
Some people view our present spate of problems as the harbinger of The Four Horsemen predicted by St. John in Revelations. Whether or not that is true, each of these crises are serious. They have consequences that are already raising serious hell with the foundations of our culture and if we do not give them their due, the results will be catastrophic.