Do More Than Laugh At Fools — A Sufi Story

Once upon a time a man sent his foolish servant to buy flour and salt.
The fool took a dish to carry his purchases.

‘Make sure,’ said the master, ‘not to mix the two things —
I want them separate.’

The shopkeeper filled the dish with flour and was measuring out the salt.

Then the fool said: ‘Do not mix it with the flour; here, I will show you where to put it.’

And he inverted the dish; then, pointing at the small trough that is its upturned bottom, he said, “Here, you can lay the salt here.”

The flour, of course, fell to the floor.

But the salt was safe.

The shopkeeper thought it safe to keep quiet and did as he was told.

When the fool got back to his master, he said:

‘Sir, here is the salt.’

“Very well,’ said the master, “and where is the flour?’

‘The flour? Oh, it should be here,’ said the fool, and turned the dish over.

The moment he did that, the salt fell to the ground.

The flour, of course, was already gone.

This is the case with human beings.

We do one thing that we think is right; then we may do another that appears equally right but which undoes the first.

When this happens with thoughts instead of actions, man himself is lost, no matter how, upon reflection, he regards his thinking to have been logical.

You have laughed at the joke of the fool.

Now, will you do more and think about your own thoughts as if they were the salt and the flour?