Happiness

LIFE’S LESSONS:

 

“The Secret of Happiness”

 

 

A MERCHANT sent his son to learn the secret

of happiness from the wisest of men.

 

The YOUNG MAN wandered through the desert for

40 days until he reached a beautiful castle at the top of

mountain.

 

There lived the sage that the young man was looking for.

 

However, instead of finding a holy man, our hero entered a

room and saw a great deal of activity, merchants coming and going,

people chanting in the corners, a small orchestra playing sweet melodies,

and there was a table laden with the most delectable dishes of that part of the world.

 

The wise man talked to everybody, and the young man

 had to wait for two hours until it was time for his audience.

 

With considerable patience, the Sage listened attentively

 to the reason for the boy’s visit, told him that

at that moment he did not have the time to explain to him

the Secret of Happiness.

 

He suggested that the Youngman take a stroll around his palace

and come back into two hours’ time.

 

“However, I ask you a favour, “ he added,

handling the boy a teaspoon, in which he poured two drops of oil.

 

 “While you walk, carry this spoon and don’t let the oil spill.”

 

The young man began to climb up and down the palace staircases,

always keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon.

 

At the end of two hours he returned to the presence of the wise man.

 

“So,” asked the wise man, “did you see the Persian tapestries

 hanging in my dining room?

Did you see the garden that the Master of Gardens

 took ten years  to create?

 

Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?”

 

Embarrassed, the young man confessed that he had seen nothing.

 

His only concern was not to spill the drops of that the wise man had entrusted to him.

 

“So, go back and see the wonders of my world,” said the wise man.

 

“You can’t trust a man if you don’t know his house.”

 

Now at more ease,

the young man took the spoon and strolled again through the palace,

this time paying attention to all the works of the art that hung from

the ceiling and walls.

 

He saw the gardens, the mountains all around the palace,

 the delicacy of the flowers, the taste with which

each work of art was placed in its niche.

 

Returning to the sage, he reported in detail all that he had seen.

 

“But where are the two drops of oil that I entrusted to you,” asked the Sage.

 

Looking down at the spoon, the young man realized that he had spilled the oil.

 

“Well, that is the only advice I have to give you,” the Sage said.

 

“The Secret of Happiness lies in looking at all the wonders of the world and never forgetting the two drops of oil in the spoon.”

 

                                                            ----- The Alchemist by Paul Coetho.

 

Source: The Sunday Tribune, 27^th October, 2013.