Once, a sage saw a scorpion that was struggling to escape from a river.
The scorpion was about to drown, when the sage reached over and saved it.
The scorpion immediately stung the sage. In shock, the sage dropped the scorpion back into the waters, where it began struggling again to keep from drowning.
The sage again reached over and picked up the scorpion to save it from drowning. The scorpion stung the sage once again. This happened three more times, before the sage was finally able to toss the scorpion to safety in the wooded land around the river.
A man who had been watching this whole incident walked over to the sage, and asked him, “Are you crazy?”
The sage replied, “It is the scorpion’s nature to sting, and it is my nature to be helpful to all beings. If the scorpion keeps its nature even in the face of death, why should I give up my compassionate nature in the face of his sting?”
Love, Compassion, and Peace are the attributes of our true nature.
Problems arise when we start identifying with the body (physical appearance) and the mind (thoughts) and forget our true selves.
To quote Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
