We Need the Grief So Our Civilization Can Survive
My Buddhist friend told me about an acolyte named Peter who visited a famous guru in India.
Peter expected this world-renowned teacher to impart pearls of wisdom to him so he could instantly live a blissful life.
However, that didn’t happen. Instead, the brilliant teacher gave his acolyte nothing but stupidly onerous tasks to do all day long, every single day.
Sweep the room with a toothbrush and then scrub the toilet with it. Rinse and repeat.
Finally, out of frustration and rage, Peter screamed, “Why the fuck don’t you drop pearls of wisdom upon me, so I might enjoy eternal bliss instead of giving me all this bullshit crap work any retarded six-year-old shithead could do?”
Sayerh the guru, “Because you need the grief.”
“I need the what?”
Why did the guru make Peter do mindless busy work rather than cast upon him the pearls of wisdom he had scrubbed the toilets at McDonald’s and crossed the vast oceans to obtain?
A hint lies in the way Peter spoke to the guru. Honestly, do you think a person who talks that way to anyone, much less an eminent teacher, could understand and use the guru’s wisdom?
