The Job

Enter first applicant.
"You understand that this is a simple test we are giving you before we offer you the job you have applied for?"
"Yes."
"Well, what is two plus two?"
"Four."

Enter second applicant.
"Are you ready for the test?"
"Yes."
"Well, what is two plus two?"
"Whatever the boss says it is."

The second applicant got the job.

Which comes first, orthodoxy or the truth?

Don't Change

I was a neurotic for years. I was anxious and depressed and selfish. Everyone kept telling me to change.
I resented them, and I agreed with them, and I wanted to change, but simply couldn't, no matter how hard I tried.
What hurt the most was that, like the others, my best friend kept insisting that I change. So I felt powerless and trapped.
Then, one day, he said to me, "Don't change. I love you just as you are."
Those words were music to my ears: "Don't change. Don't change. Don't change . . . I love you as you are."
I relaxed. I came alive. And suddenly I changed!
Now I know that I couldn't really change until I found someone who would love me whether I changed or not.
Is this how you love me, God?

Prayer can be Dangerous

Here is a story that was a favorite of the Sufi master Sa'di of Shiraz:

A certain friend of mine was delighted that his wife was pregnant. He ardently desired a male child. He prayed to God ceaselessly and made vows with this in mind.
It so happened that his wife did give birth to a boy. My friend rejoiced and invited the whole village to a thanksgiving party.
Years later, on my return from Mecca, I passed through my friend's village. I was told that he was in jail.
"Why? What has he done?" I asked.
His neighbors said, "His son got drunk, killed a man, and ran away. So his father has been arrested and put in prison."

The Contented Fisherman

The rich industrialist from the North was horrified to find the Southern fisherman lying lazily beside his boat, smoking a pipe.
"Why aren't you out fishing?" said the industrialist.
"Because I have caught enough fish for the day," said the fisherman.
"Why don't you catch some more?"
"What would I do with it?"
"You could earn more money" was the reply. "With that you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish.
"Then you would make enough to buy nylon nets. These would bring you more fish and more money. Soon you would have enough money to own two boats . . . maybe even a fleet of boats. The you would be a rich man like me."
"What would I do then?"
"The you could really enjoy life."
"What do you think I am doing right now?"
Which would you rather have: a fortune or a capacity for enjoyment?

Religion follows the law?

Like Jesus centuries before him, the Master warned people about religion. Left to itself, religion sanctified blind observance of the law.
This is how he put it:
A commanding officer asked some recruits why walnut was used for the butt of a rifle.
"Because it has more resistance," said one.
"Wrong!"
"Because it has more elasticity," said another.
"Wrong again!"
"Perhaps because it has a better shine than other woods," said the third people.
"Don't be a fool," said the officer. "Walnut is used because it is required in the regulations."

The Hindu sage Narada

The Hindu sage Narada started out on a pilgrimage to the temple of the Lord Vishnu. One night he stopped at a village and was given hospitality in the hut of a childless couple. Before he set out the next morning the man said to Narada, "You are going to worship Vishnu. Ask him to give me and my wife a child."
When Narada reached the temple, he said to the Lord, "That man and his wife were very kind to me. Be merciful to them and give them a child." The Lord replied,with an air of finality. "It is not in the destiny of that man to have children." So Narada performed his devotions and went back home.
Five years later he set out on the same pilgrimage and stopped at the same village and was given hospitality once again by the same couple. This time there were two little children playing at the entrance of the hut.
"Whose children are these?" asked Narada. "Mine," said the man. Narada was intrigued. The man went on, "Soon after you left us, five years ago, a sannyasi came to our village. We put him
up for the night. The next morning, before departing, he blessed my wife and me . . . and these are the fruits of his blessing."
When Narada heard this, he could not wait to get to the temple of Vishnu again. When he got there he shouted right from the entrance of the temple, "Did you not tell me that it was not in
the destiny of that man to have children? He has two!"
When the Lord heard this, he laughed aloud and said, "That must be the doing of a saint. Saints have the power to change destiny!"

As they discovered at a wedding feast when the mother of Jesus got up to work a miracle before his destiny allowed it.

The Boy's Love

The family was gathered at dinner. The oldest boy announced he was going to marry the girl across the street.
"But her family didn't leave her a penny," objected his father.
"And she hasn't saved a cent," added Mother.
"She doesn't know a thing about football," said Junior.
"I've never seen a girl with such funny hair," said Sister.
"And she does is read novels," said Uncle.
"But she isn't sparing of the powder and the paint," said Grandma.
"True," said the boy. "But she has one supreme advantage over all of us."
"What's that?" everyone wanted to know.
"She has no family."

The Truth

When it was time to name their firstborn, a husband and wife began to quarrel. She wanted to name him after her father; he wanted to name him after his. They finally had recourse to
the Rabbi to settle their dispute.
"What is the name of your father?" the Rabbi asked the husband.
"Abijah."
"And what was your father's name?" he asked the wife.
"Abijah."
"The what's the problem?" said the confused Rabbi.
"You see, Rabbi," said the woman, "my father was a scholar and his father was a horse thief. How can I allow my son to be named after a man like that?"
The Rabbi gave this very serious thought for the problem was indeed a delicate one. He did not want one party to feel it had won and the other that it had lost. So he finally said, "This is what I suggest you do. Call the boy Abijah. Then wait and see if he becomes a scholar or a horse thief, and you will know after whom he was named."

Love

Seven crazy men were invited to festivities in a neighboring village. More than mildly intoxicated, they were staggering home toward their own village at night when it began to rain.
So they settled down for the night under a large banyan tree.
When they woke up the following morning, they rent the air with mourning and wailing. "What's the matter?" asked a passerby.
"Last night we huddled together under this tree and fell asleep, sir," said one of the crazy men. "On waking up this morning, we find our limbs all intertwined and we cannot distinguish the owners."
"Easily solved," said the traveler. "Give me a pin." He jabbed the pin sharply into the first leg he saw. "Ouch!" said one of the men. "There," said the traveler to the man, "that leg is yours." Then he pricked an arm. "Ouch!" said another, identifying himself as the owner of the arm. And so on, till the limbs were all disentangled and the crazy men went merrily
back to their village none the worse for their experience.

When your heart responds instinctively to other people's joys and sorrows, you will know you have lost your self and attained the experience of your "one-body-ness" with the human race - and love has finally arrived.