The Way Is Always Present; We Just Need to See It

A long time ago in China, there was a moderately sized village that sat along a road that wound up a mist-shrouded mountain. The mountain was said to be a place of enlightenment, a place for answers, and it was heavily traveled. It brought traffic and life to the village.

One day, a cranky, old donkey wandered up the road and into the village. About mid-way through, it decided it was tired, and sat down in the center of the road. Well, traffic came to a halt. The villagers tried to approach the donkey to persuade it to move, but it brayed loudly. Then it bit at people as they approached, and it kicked when someone tried to grab its tail. The people tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge. Screams and yells did nothing to dissuade it. Rock and sticks just made the donkey more aggressive. The people were perplexed and soon ran in fear from the angry old donkey.

A crowd gathered at the low end of the village, and another gathered at the high end. Village councilmen discussed what to do next. The donkey sat in the sun, nibbling at some vegetables that had been dropped by fleeing merchants. As often happens in such situations, one of the elder councilmen took charge. He became their leader.

Morning gave way to afternoon and repeated attempts to move the donkey resulted in repeated failures. As the shadows grew longer, an old hermit made his way into town. He was following the road on a pilgrimage of enlightenment to the top of the mountain. Soon, he found himself in the midst of the crowd.

“Wise master!” cried the elder councilman come-leader. “Please, help us. Come see our problem, and share your wisdom with us.” The hermit shuffled forward at his invitation. “See that cantankerous old donkey in the middle of the road! He has cut our town in two and brought travel to a halt! We have tried to push the beast, to attack it, to move it out of the way, but nothing works. It nips at us, it brays, it kicks out with its hind legs! Wise master, what should we do?!?”

The hermit blinked at the councilman. He craned his neck to look around the man and up the road. He looked at the rather peaceful donkey, then back at the councilman. He blinked again. Then he shuffled around the crowd, up the next side street, past the place where the donkey sat, then made his way back onto the main road. He continued on his pilgrimage up the mountain, never once looking back.

The moral of the story: sometimes trying to move your ass for the sake of moving it won’t get you where you want to go.

The real moral: when you lose sight of where it is that you need to go, anything can bring your efforts to a halt. The way is always present; we just need to see it.