Sunday, February 17, 2008

The Riddle of Temptation

“Oh, wise Teacher!” called the students. “Speak to us of Temptation!”

“What do you know of it already?” he asked.

“I know it’s like an avalanche,” said one of the students. “Starting with only a small snowflake and burying the person in cold death.”

“Some temptation,” said the Teacher. “But not all.”

“Then it’s a piece of driftwood caught in a current. And the driftwood doesn’t notice it’s moving at all until it has been carried far downstream,” said another student.

“Yes, that is true of some temptation. But only of some.”

“But what of all temptation?” they cried.

“All temptation looks as the rose, with promises sweet and fragrant, and they are beautiful to touch, but once plucked, the thorns on the stem wound the picker of the rose. Yet every day, the person returns to pick another rose, and is wounded once again by its thorns.”

“But why would the picker not stop picking roses?” asked the students.

“Because the rose remains beautiful, even through the pain,” said the Teacher.

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