Once upon a time, a woman moved to a cave in the mountains to study with a guru. She wanted, she said, to learn everything there was to know. The guru supplied her with stacks of books and left her alone so that she could study. Every morning, the Guru returned to the cave to monitor her progress. In his hand, he carried heavy wooden stick. Each morning he asked her the same question. Have you learned everything there is to know yet? Each morning, her answer was the same. No, she said “I haven’t”. The Guru would then strike her over the head with a cane. This scenario repeated itself for months.
One day, when the guru went to the cave, he asked the same question. He received the same answer, and raised his came to hit her in the same way, but the woman grabbed the cane from his hand, stopping the attack. Relieved that the daily battering had been prevented, but fearing reprisal, the woman looked up at the guru. To her surprise, he smiled and gave his congratulations. He said “you have graduated. You now know everything you need to know”. “What do you mean?” said the woman. “You have learned that you never learn everything there is to know… but you have learned how to stop the pain”.
From Codependency No More by Melody Beattie.
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