A donkey was tied to a tree. The Devil came and untied it. The donkey ran into the fields and started destroying the crop.
The farmer’s wife saw this and shot the donkey dead. The donkey’s owner was upset, so shot the farmer’s wife. The farmer came back to see his wife dead. He went and shot the donkey’s owner.
The wife of the owner of the donkey asked her sons to go and burn the house of the farmer. The boys went late evening and carried out their mother’s orders, happily assuming that the farmer too would have been burnt with the house.
Sadly for them it wasn’t that, so the farmer came back and shot the wife and the two sons of the owner of the donkey.
Remorseful, the farmer asked the Devil why did all this have to happen? The Devil said, “I did nothing. I only released the donkey but all of you overacted and released the Inner devil.”
The devil doesn’t have power to do much, but one simple thing he does triggers the evil intents of men’s hearts to harm one another.
So the next time before replying, responding, reporting, rebunking, reacting or avenging a revenge Pause and think.
Be careful. Many a time what the Devil does is that it just releases the donkey in us.
Swirling thoughts and other distractions often impact our decision making. So let’s stop getting bothered about the donkey’s mess.
And let’s adapt some Mindfulness techniques. It would protect our mind from releasing the devil inside!
Do write us about which is your favorite mindfulness techniques. We love to hear from you.
Whether in cave paintings or the latest uses of the Internet, human beings have always told their histories and truths through parable and fable. We are inveterate storytellers.
Beeban Kidron
