Retold Arabian Nights tale: Ali Baba And 40 Thieves - 20
The Captain's pain morphed into anger.
Anger became blind hate. Hate gave him the purpose of his life.
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"The Captain of the thieves," Rosh continued retelling the Arabian Nights tale, "had somehow found his way back into his den in the night."
"His senses had been fogged by shock and confusion, and he had lain in his lair hungry and mentally shattered."
"As the day progressed, the fog surrounding his brain slowly cleared. It was replaced by pain."
"Expressions of sympathy only encourage pain. Otherwise pain withers in the heart and dies after a few tears."
"Since there was no shoulder left for him to cry on, his pain too, withered."
"But it did not vanish like an ascending smoke. It morphed into anger. Anger smoldered deep inside his heart and became blind hate."
"Hate gave his life purpose, and he regained control of his senses. It filled him with a sense of direction. It gave him a reason to live. It consumed him thoroughly. As thoroughly as a termite consumes wood."
"What are you teaching your kids through these stories?" Isha objected. "About drugs, death and hate? That they are ok?"
"It is better that I teach them about drugs," he answered, "than them learning about it themselves from the peddler on the street, or from their own experience. At least, I'll give them a more balanced education."
"Death is inevitable. It is not a matter of if, but of when. For all of us. So it is important to know."
No man is an Island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main. ... Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
"You want me not to teach them about hate. But they will never know love fully, if they never discover hate. Love and hate are the same energy, like the two sides of the same coin."
"Then why is there so much hate in the world," she retorted, "and not enough love?"
"Osho says," he answered calmly, "that Hate has maintained its integrity, because no one teaches us hate. It has remained unadulterated. Authentic. And hence, there remains so much of it."
No one is taught how to hate, he says, or who to hate. Because hate has been left untouched by parents, teachers and priests, it has a purity. A sincerity.
When a man hates you, you can trust that he hates you. But when he loves you, you can never be sure.
When you hate someone, it has a tremendous force. But when you love someone, that force is not there. Most love is skin deep. Scratch it a little bit, and it is gone. But when you hate, you hate from your guts. Hate is not skin deep.
You remember your enemies, more than your friends. You forget your friends, but never your enemies.
It is surprising how much purity hate has. Authenticity. Naturalness. Spontaneity.
"And that is why, like Osho, I see in it a certain beauty, which is no longer there in love. And I wish to talk about it."
"Isn't it counter intuitive then," she argued back, "to teach kids about hate, if teaching may adulterate it? Ironical, isn't it, that your own teaching will defeat the purpose of your teaching?"
"The purpose of education is to enlighten," he replied simply. "To replace an empty mind with an open one. Most educators fail to achieve this. Should we stop educating then? Or should we strive to become better educators?"
"The problem lies in what we are teaching, and in how we are teaching it. The solution lies in changing that mix, not in stopping education itself. That would be like killing the patient, to eliminate their pain."
"Knowledge empowers us. It frees us. From ignorance, from bondage, from dependence. I want my loved ones to have this freedom. Even though I know, it'll cost me their obedience. Freedom doesn't come for free, you see."
"It comes at a price. If I want you to have free will, I must be prepared that you may do what I may not want you to do. That is the price I must pay to give you your freedom. I am prepared to pay that price. Because I want you all to be free."
"Knowledge sets you free. Gives you options. Helps you make informed decisions. Although, having the ability to make informed choices doesn't guarantee that the choices made will always be right. Or ethical."
"Morality should be a by-product of education, but it is not a guaranteed outcome. Does learning about morals guarantee that the learner will become moral? If not, should we stop teaching about morals altogether?"
"I am not teaching my children to hate. I am teaching them about hate. Telling them, that it is a very powerful life force. And it can be very useful. But to be able to direct something, channelize it, harness it, one must first understand it well."
"We preach love. We seek love. But we don't love. Most of us live our lives without it, even though we are capable of it. No one teaches us to hate. We don't want to hate. Yet we hate. Our lives are transformed by it. Why shouldn't we channelize this power?"
"Become, and not just be! Hate is the same energy that love is. They just work in different directions. Understand one, and you begin to understand the other. Harness one, and you begin to learn to harness the other."
"Becoming is not guaranteed to be better than being," said Isha. "And the opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference."
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