Covering the world in leather

Posted on Happy Minds!

What is keeping you from being happy? Not being able to find the right friends, partner, job, money, car or house? Is someone bugging you? Are your spouse and/or children or any other nasty human beings depriving you from happiness? Whatever it is, consider this story.



“A man was wandering through a vast, burning hot desert, full of sharp-edged stones. A couple of weeks before, he had decided to leave all his belongings behind, and seek his happiness. On leaving, all people in his village wished him good luck and all the best. He had felt elated and left in a sunny mood.
Now, his condition was quite the opposite. He felt horrible, the sun was beating down on his head and he was sweating profusely. But worst of all where his feet; the red-hot sand was blistering his soles and the razor-edged stones where cutting the skin. When looking down, he could see blood staining his robes. The sun was at its peak. He was close to bursting into tears, but envisioning his half empty canteen, he refrained from that.
All of a sudden, he noticed a small speck of shade behind a large boulder. Kneeling down, he found some respite from all torments. A sip of luke-warm water made him regain his senses and he started thinking about his quest for happiness again. He reasoned that his past, he could never change. Considering the possibility of unforeseen events, trying to control the future was a tedious task too. That left the now. Maybe he could do something to change his present situation! In order to find happiness - he had to do nothing more but indicate the obstacle keeping him from bliss right now, and get that obstacle out of the way! Sitting there, resting and considering his options, he noticed a cave nearby. Weary he got up, and stumbled to the aperture. Looking inside, to his surprise he found a large heap of leathery hides. Instantly, it all made sense! The greatest hindrance keeping him from happiness, was the torment of his feet. If he could just stop the burning sand and razor-sharp rocks cutting and blistering his soles, he would be happy! And the solution was right in front of him… All he had to do, was take this huge stack of leather sheets, and start covering the nasty terrain outside! Enthusiastically, he started to drag the leather sheets out of the crevice. He worked all day, and the next day, and many days after that. The stack seemed interminable, and his work progressed steadily. A small stream of fresh water in the cave kept him alive. But of course, one day, he ran out of hides. The cave he had found was completely empty. Looking outside, he pondered that considering the proportions of the desert, he had only covered a very small peace of land. At that moment, it started to rain. It rained for many days, and as he hid in his cave, he saw a large flood of water rise and wash all of the hides away. When finally the rain stopped, he looked outside, and nothing remained but one leather sheet. Having no other options to him, he cut the sheet in half, tied one peace to his left foot, and one peace to his right foot. Thinking that this would not be of much help, he found that from that day on, his feet where protected from harm! He was able travel indefinitely, without ever hurting his feet.”

Trying to find happiness by trying to create the ideal circumstances, is like trying to cover the world in leather. Happiness can be found in love, compassion and friendship, and those are qualities you can only find inside yourself. Do something about the hatred, jealousy, fear, pride, ignorance, arrogance, deceit, lust and craving you find in yourself, and circumstances will change according to your effort.