Short Insight Story: The Man Trying To Empty The Ocean With A Tablespoon

The world has seen many great intellects that have advanced civilisation beyond anyones imagination. But is there something that the masters of logic miss? Is there something even they can learn from the great spiritual masters of world of which there have been so few. This story sheds light on these questions.

Transcript

One day,

Aristotle was walking on the beach,

And a glorious sunset was happening.

But being Aristotle,

He had no time for such petty daily events.

He was too busy thinking seriously about some great problem of existence,

Because for Aristotle,

Existence itself is a problem,

And he believes he's going to solve it.

Thinking seriously,

He was walking up and down the beach.

Actually,

He was thinking so seriously that he was pacing up and down the beach.

There was another man at the beach though,

Who was doing something very intensely,

So intensely that even Aristotle couldn't ignore him.

You know people who think too much about their own nonsense end up ignoring life around them.

They are people who don't smile at anybody,

Or even look at anybody in the world.

They have no eyes to look at,

A flower,

A sunset,

A child,

Or a smiling face.

Or if it is an unsmiling face,

They have no inclination to make it smile.

They have no such small duties or small cares in the world whatsoever.

They ignore all the life around them because they are too busy solving problems of existence.

This is a description of Aristotle.

But even Aristotle could not ignore this man.

This man was going to the ocean,

Coming back,

Going to the ocean,

Coming back,

With a great amount of intensity.

Aristotle went up to him and stopped and asked him,

Hey,

What are you doing?

The man said very seriously,

Don't disturb me,

I'm doing something very important,

And he just carried on with what he was doing.

Aristotle became even more curious and asked,

What are you doing?

The man said,

Don't disturb me,

It's something very important.

Once again,

Aristotle asked,

What is this important thing?

The man showed a little hole he had dug in the sand,

And he said,

I'm emptying the ocean into this hole.

He had a tablespoon in his hand.

Aristotle looked at this and burst out laughing.

Now Aristotle is the kind of person who can spend a year without a single moment of laughter because he is a hardcore intellect.

It takes heart to laugh,

Intellect cannot laugh,

It can only dissect.

Again,

Another great description of Aristotle.

But even the great Aristotle laughed at this and said,

This is ridiculous,

You must be insane.

Do you know how vast this ocean is?

How can you ever empty this ocean into this little hole?

Especially with a tablespoon.

At least if you have a bucket,

You might have a tiny little bit of a chance.

Please give this up,

This is madness I'm telling you,

Said Aristotle.

The man looked at Aristotle,

Threw the spoon down and said,

My job is already done.

Aristotle said,

What do you mean?

Forget about the ocean being empty,

Even the hole is not full,

How can you say your job is done?

The other man,

Who was Heraclius,

Stood up and said,

I'm trying to empty the ocean into this hole with a tablespoon.

You are telling me it's ridiculous,

It's madness,

And that I should give it up.

What are you trying to do,

Heraclius asked Aristotle.

Do you know how vast this existence is?

It can contain a billion oceans like this and more,

And you are trying to empty it into the small hole of your head with tablespoons called thoughts.

Please give it up,

It is utterly ridiculous.

This is a very interesting story,

And a very important story in many ways for spirituality.

Many great masters said,

Don't become a slave to your logic or to your intellect.

For there are so many aspects of life that will never be understood by the human mind,

And can be only understood by feeling and experiencing.

Reviews

Ooooooh wow, what a story! Amazing....brilliant and TRUE. I will hear this over and over again for me and use in my work to help others. So grateful, thank you.

Didn’t get the point but still so funny 😆😂😄

Edit: I now understand the point after listening to it while I am not half asleep😆 Nameste🙏🏻

This is profound. And simple enough I will revisit it often and may be able to relay to others at some point later in life.

Editing to add after reading the *interesting* comment about anti-intellectualism below. I saw myself in Aristotle and how I sometimes want to “figure it all out” when in reality, my human brain is much too small to comprehend the reality of life and the world (and other worlds upon worlds upon worlds) and the infinite everything. Trying to do so will only distract from recognizing the manifestation of universal spirit that resides everywhere in my daily life. I am Aristotle and we are Aristotle. It’s human nature.

Thank you for sharing this!

Such a wonderful story and description of intellectuals !

Awesome story🌸thank you

Great story! Reminds me of a talk from Sadhguru. Thank you! ❤

Oh thankfully I listened to this today 🙏🏻🌍🌎🌏 a world of good

Awesome parable that is a good one to listen to now and then as a reminder that there is much we may never understand and that’s okay. Faith is the answer.