by Pedro Vallejo a.k.a. “Page” April 29, 2022
Here we are, another year, another month, another day, another hour, another minute hand to push us down the line. The last 2 years have been very taxing on everyone mentally or emotionally - one way or the other perhaps both.
I welcome 2022 with great optimism and hope. As for my New Year’s Resolution,
I’d like to share a story that brings to mind the message of “lead us not into temptation.”
The Story itself is not mine, but rather it’s a re-telling of a story I know.
This story hopefully persuades others to consider and apply my New Year Resolution.
In the story there is demon, a devil, a donkey and a couple of farming families.
The Natural Law of “Cause and Effect” or “Karma” sets in motion all the actions throughout the whole story. The story goes something like this…
A donkey was tied to a tree. A demon came and untied it.
The donkey ran into the fields and was destroying the crop.
The farmer's wife saw this and shot the donkey dead.
The donkey's owner was upset so he shot the farmer's wife.
The farmer came back to see his wife dead, he went and shot the donkey's owner.
The wife of the owner of the donkey asked her sons to go and burn the house of the farmer.
The boys went late evening and carried out their mother's orders happily,
assuming that the farmer too would have been burnt with the house.
Sadly for them it wasn't that,
So the farmer came back and shot the wife & the two sons of the owner of the donkey.
Remorseful, the farmer asked the demon - ”Why did all this have to happen?”
The demon said, "I did nothing, I only released the donkey, but, all of you reacted, overacted and released the inner devil."
Did you get it?
The devil doesn't do anything, but wake you up by triggering the ego and expectations in you. These in turn leads to targeting and reacting towards others, the others here (In the story) are our children.
So the next time before replying, responding, reacting, spanking, and shouting - just stop and think. - Be careful. Many a times, what the devil does is that it just releases the donkey in us. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” is a good way of battling the inner devil. I will keep an eye out for demons and most of all, my inner devil and venture forth and strive to not lose my patience and keep my New Year’s Resolution.