Hello there.
Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of another classical parable.
This one is a short Zen or Taoist story about anger,
Upset,
And maybe looking for a way to blame somebody when really often what is happening in our lives is just what's happening.
We don't have to maybe take things so personally and look for somebody to blame.
It is what it is.
So,
Before we get into the story here,
Let's just take a moment to have a nice,
Deep exhale.
Letting go of the day.
Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing along with us into this moment For right now,
There's nowhere else we have to go,
Nothing else we have to be doing.
So we can just relax,
Get ourselves comfortable and enjoy another classic old parable.
The empty boat.
A man was sitting quietly in his boat,
Floating down the river.
It was a beautiful,
Peaceful day.
And he was enjoying the silence.
Suddenly,
Another boat came drifting towards him.
It was heading straight for his own.
Hey!
He shouted.
There was no response.
The boat kept coming.
"'Watch where you're going!
' he shouted.
" Still nothing.
The boat collided with his.
The man became furious.
How dare you!
He screamed.
You smashed into me!
He stood up,
Ready to confront whoever was in the other boat.
And when he looked inside.
.
.
He discovered.
That there was no one there.
The boat.
Was empty.
It had simply broken loose and drifted down the river on its own.
And suddenly.
.
.
There was nobody to be angry with.
The man's anger disappeared,
He couldn't.
.
.
Blame the boat.
He couldn't argue with it.
Or demand that it behave differently.
It had simply drifted into his path.
And The man realised something.
If the boat had been occupied by another person.
He would have been.
Furious.
He would have blamed them.
He would have told himself a story about how careless or inconsiderate they were.
Because the boat was empty.
There was no one to blame.
And perhaps,
He thought,
Many of the things that make us angry in life Uhhh.
.
.
A bit like that.
Something happens.
Someone says something we don't like.
Plans,
Change,
Something goes wrong.
And immediately We're looking for someone or something.
To blame.
We become angry with someone.
We become angry with ourselves.
We become angry with life.
But what if,
Sometimes,
There is no one to blame?
What if things simply happen?
What if life is a little like a river,
Carrying boats wherever the current takes them?
So perhaps if something collides with us,
We might pause before we become angry and start looking for somebody to blame.
We might ask ourselves,
Is this really an occupied boat?
Or.
.
.
Is it simply an empty one drifting through my life?
Is it,
In fact,
Just what is happening right now?
Perhaps.
The moment we start taking everything quite so personally.
There's nothing left to fight with.
And there is a great deal more.
Peace.
