There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life. One day he passed a wealthy merchant’s house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. “How powerful that merchant must be!” thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the
procession. “How powerful that official is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a high official!”

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. “How powerful the sun is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the sun!”

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. “How powerful that storm cloud is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a cloud!”

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. “How powerful it is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the wind!”

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it – a huge, towering rock. “How powerful that rock is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a rock!”

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. “What could be more powerful than I, the rock?” he thought.

At that moment, he looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter.

Because most people lack insight into—and interest in—the biological, emotional, and psychological states of their existence, they construct a superficial version of “sense” and “happiness.” This pseudo-happiness is merely a defense mechanism rooted in self-righteousness.

Lacking the inclination to understand the science of the body and mind, humanity remains driven by raw instinct, creating a lifetime of ignorance regarding our vast potential. We use emotional indulgence to mask this ignorance, which inevitably manifests as personal violence.

We chase the myth of “the pursuit of happiness,” yet this pursuit ultimately yields deep sorrow, pain, and lifetimes of struggle. We desperately try to manufacture a “meaning” that satisfies a primitive mind haplessly ruled by biology. Thus, the human “lot in life” becomes an existence devoid of true Love—the plain and simple reality of Homo sapiens.

At the core of this self-destruction is a lack of true intelligence. Intelligence is the mindfulness required to see the “bigger picture”—the realization that we entered this lifetime as a sovereign Entity. Instead, most people adhere strictly to narrow viewpoints shaped by genetic bias. When presented with the opportunity to expand their consciousness, the average person willfully retreats into a predetermined mind built on rigid binaries of “right” and “wrong.” If an insight challenges this pedestrian mentality, it is immediately branded as “wrong” or even “evil.”

We spend our lives in a lull of habit and repetition. But we do not have to be dictated by instinct. Through meditation, we can discern the difference between our primitive impulses—the “pig”—and the state of Presence that lives within us as the Authentic. This Presence cannot be comprehended by the ego or the persona.

If we use our conditioned human identity to define reality, the Authentic will always elude us. Learning to discern the Authentic Presence over the human stain is the true measure of our spiritual progress.

This transformation is accomplished entirely through dialectic insight. This rare state of mind—the inquiry into metaphysical contradictions and their ultimate solutions—pierces beyond mere “thinking” to create space for insight via Impression. True thinking too easily degrades into the rationalizations of self-righteousness.

It is from this degraded state that the cynical premise arises: “Nothing good lasts long in this world.” And how could it? The mercy that would allow the goodness of Love to flow through us is constantly derailed by human ideals—philosophies that falsely urge us to treat our primitive emotionality as “logical” and definitive.

This endless pandering to thoughts and ideals creates a psychological synthesis that is ultimately detrimental to our own highest good. If we awaken, and if we genuinely seek something beyond the human stain of pride and ambition, we will be drawn to something far deeper.

We will realize that this outer world, with all its chaotic mischief, is not our true reality. We can access a realm entirely disconnected from the egoic “self,” replacing the noise of thinking with the receptive state of Impression.

Here, we recognize the “no-thought” of the “no-mind.” This is a mind that does not engage in the Buddha’s concept of endless argument over “right” and “wrong.” Ultimately, we must simply let the human animal be human, and recognize that the choice is ours.

If we live by emotional impulse rather than the state of Presence, we condemn ourselves to the battlegrounds of self-preservation. We succumb to a rigid, logical division fueled by hate and fear, obliterating the spiritual path to Love.

To transcend, we must be deeply motivated to realize the Truth that lies far beyond the didactic, egoic mind that constantly seeks to replenish its platform of fear through the cycle of emotional thinking.