Sloppy and ignorant enlightenment
Posted and published by: Prof Ilchi Lee
The argument turns into fistfight, and during this fight the bowl of rice drops from the table and breaks into a thousand pieces, scattering the tiny, white pebbles of rice all over the floor. Now neither of them can eat, and they remain hungry. Why? Because they both lost sight of what’s really important—the bowl of rice itself. In trying to declare the superiority of their respective positions, they both wind up in inferior positions. In trying to win individually, they have lost collectively.
Ilchi Lee writes that is a very simple fable, but one that describes our present society quite accurately. For example, say that the first man represents capitalism and the second man socialism. What is the difference between these two great ideologies? Different ways to eat the same bowl of rice, It’s only a matter of a difference of opinion for the same thing. Neither one is good or evil. Neither one is correct or wrong. And neither one is what’s most important. The bowl of rice is. Yet, we inevitably get into an argument, which will eventually lead into a fight, breaking that bowl of rice. It would be comic if it weren’t so costly and tragic.