...

6 views

THE STONE CUTTER
Once upon a time there lived a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with his life. One day, on his way to work, he passes by a beautiful mansion. It belonged to a rich merchant. He paused in mere amusement simply glaring at the beauty of human creation.

From where he stood, he saw fine possessions, renowned guests, and plenty of workers and servants all set to work. He became envious and deeply worshiped to have everything the wealthy and powerful merchant did.



Suddenly, the stone cutter swept into the merchant taking over his mind and body. He was aware of the merchant’s innermost feelings, thoughts and memories. He felt the joy of owning all the luxuries in the world money could buy. He knew the pleasure of holding such a respectable position in the society. Many honored him while many more envied him.

After a few days of enjoying the merchant’s life, he saw a Sultan being carried in a sedan chair accompanied by attendants, soldiers and servants. Everyone, despite of their power and wealth, was obliged to bow before this figure that was worshiped as God.

After seeing this, he knew he had been mistaken about the merchant’s power and status. In a split second, he moved into the body of the Sultan; mighty and feared. The he knew what it felt like to be exalted and glorified by the entire kingdom, to hold the power pardon or take a man’s life; what it was like to be respected by sultans and kings from other lands. And with all this power came exclusive luxury as a bonus, anyone could ever dream of.

One day, on a hot summer noon, he was at extreme unease. His overweight body made the heat even more intolerable. He looked up at the sun and thought about how it was absolutely unaffected by his presence. He then swiftly became the sun, blazing with glory; the source of life and strength of every living creature on the planet.



He continued to radiate until a massive storm gathered below him hindering the strength of his rays. The storm then burst into pouring rain. Seeing this, he became the cloud. He felt the incredible power of its existence as it swept along the sky flooding everything it wished to. There was nothing that could beat the storm.

Not too late did he realize that the entire root of his power was yet another force- wind; the strength of the rain was negligible without the wind. And so he became it; blowing off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees and everything else that came in its way.

There was yet another force that strangled its ego- a huge towering rock. The wind would low against it with a velocity and force of the ultimate magnitude. The rock would stand still, unmoved and indispensable.

He then became it; a solid, dense, immortal and powerful existential factor on earth. After a while, he heard a familiar sound; the sound that is heard when a rock it stricken by a set of tools.

“…chink, chink, chink…”

“…chink, chink, chink…”

He then felt himself being chiseled– cut into, re-formed. He looked down at the artist, the figure of a stone cutter!