Friday, January 30, 2009

Looked at yourself in the mirror lately?

Following story has been taken from Paulo's short stories collection - previously posted on an old blog of mine here:

The Window and the Mirror

A very rich young man went to see a Rabbi in order to ask his advice about what he should do with his life. The Rabbi led him over to the window and asked him:

'What can you see through the glass?'

'I can see men coming and going and a blind man begging for alms in the street.'
Then the Rabbi showed him a large mirror and said to him:

'Look in this mirror and tell me what you see.'

'I can see myself.'

'And you can't see the others. Notice that the window and the mirror are both made of the same basic material, glass; but in the mirror, because the glass is coated with a fine layer of silver, all you can see is yourself. You should compare yourself to these two kinds of glass. Poor, you saw other people and felt compassion for them. Rich - covered in silver - you see yourself. You will only be worth anything when you have the courage to tear away the coating of silver covering your eyes in order to be able to see again and love your fellow man.'

6 comments:

Sana said...

I loved this compilation of Paulo's short stories ;)

Anonymous said...

hmm...

Unknown said...

@Nikki
Me too. Lots of good stuff in there.

Anonymous said...

profound

Anonymous said...

Fabulous! :)

What's the name of the book?

Unknown said...

@batty
yup

@ayesha
Its a compilation of short stories by Paulo Coelho. I guess thats what is called, not sure though.

Post a Comment