Untitled by Dave Dembinski
Once there was a man who considered himself very wise. He was constantly reading, researching, and talking with the most esteemed minds in the world to gain more knowledge. One day, he heard of an old monk who was reputed to be even wiser than he, so he decided right then that he would find this monk and talk to him, and perhaps become as wise as he. So, he went and found the monk, who was sitting watching a squirrel gather nuts and drinking tea (the monk, not the squirrel. The squirrel preferred coffee). The man went to the monk and started talking to him, but whenever the monk would say anything, the man would nod his head and say "Yes. Yes. I've heard that from so-and-so." or "Yes, but so-and-so says this. . ." Eventually, the monk became irritated and set a cup full to the brim of water in front of the man. He then began to pour tea into the cup, but the man stopped him and said "My cup's already full! You can't pour tea into a full cup." The monk stopped and agreed with the man. "Indeed. If you would accept my gift of tea, you must first empty your cup."
I didn't come up with that story, but I've found it to be prominent in my mind these past few weeks, so I wanted to share it in the hope that it could help someone else.
Take care of yourselves,
_dave
