Good Intentions
A few years ago an acquaintance of mine was visited
by an encyclopedia salesman. I think these people don't exist anymore – the
Internet has killed them off - but at one time it was the traditional fallback
of the ‘loser’. There were, undoubtedly, some very good salesmen but many people
with no selling ability would try this for some time as it paid on commission
and could, conceivably, bring in a good income. The acquaintance feigned interest
and teed up a time for the salesman to return to do his presentation.
Why, I asked him, was he agreeing to a further meeting when he presumably had
no interest in buying an encyclopedia? He replied that he felt sorry for the
bloke and wanted to give him some encouragement.
There are two points here worth mentioning in this context. The first is a point
that I've made previously, that is that feeling sorry and other such superficial
emotions are usually motivated by guilt rather than a real emotional empathy.
In fact they are often a compensation for real emotional feeling. The second
is this: If the salesman is in the wrong job by selling encyclopedias than encouraging
him is doing him a great disservice. The better course would be to actually
say something to put him off. Even to annoy him.
This is a good example of how good intentions, without understanding the broad picture, cause disharmony in the world. Great mystics who see the big picture often appear to act irrationally; to repay good with evil or visa verca.
Many times people report how, in retrospect, what appeared to be a great calamity
turned out to be advantageous. People say things such as ‘it got me out of my
rut’, or ‘I realised that this wasn't what I really wanted to do with my life’.
In the Koran is the story of Moses and Khidr. Khidr is the hidden teacher, the Green One, equated with the Green Man in English tradition. This is from The Koran chapter 18 (
The Cave):
65. So they found one of Our servants, on whom We had bestowed Mercy from Ourselves and whom We had taught knowledge from Our own Presence.[Khidr]
66. Moses said to him: "May I follow thee, on the footing that thou teach me something of the (Higher) Truth which thou hast been taught?"
67. (The other) said: "Verily thou wilt not be able to have patience with me!"
68. "And how canst thou have patience about things which are beyond your knowledge?"
69. Moses said: "Thou wilt find me, if Allah so will, (truly) patient: nor shall I disobey thee in aught."
70. The other said: "If then thou wouldst follow me, ask me no questions about anything until I myself speak to thee concerning it."
71. So they both proceeded: until, when they were in the boat, he scuttled it. Said Moses: "Hast thou scuttled it in order to drown those in it? Truly a strange thing hast thou done!"
72. He answered: "Did I not tell thee that thou canst have no patience with me?"
73. Moses said: "Rebuke me not for forgetting, nor grieve me by raising difficulties in my case."
74. Then they proceeded: until, when they met a young boy, he slew him. Moses said: "Hast thou slain an innocent person who had slain none? Truly a foul (unheard of) thing hast thou done!"
75. He answered: "Did I not tell thee that thou canst have no patience with me?"
76. (Moses) said: "If ever I ask thee about anything after this, keep me not in thy company: then wouldst thou have received (full) excuse from my side."
77. Then they proceeded: until, when they came to the inhabitants of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused them hospitality. They found there a wall on the point of falling down, but he set it up straight. (Moses) said: "If thou hadst wished, surely thou couldst have exacted some recompense for it!"
78. He answered: "This is the parting between me and thee: now will I tell thee the interpretation of (those things) over which thou wast unable to hold patience.
79. "As for the boat, it belonged to certain men in dire want: they plied on the water: I but wished to render it unserviceable, for there was after them a certain king who seized on every boat by force.
80. "As for the youth, his parents were people of faith, and we feared that he would grieve them by obstinate rebellion and ingratitude (to Allah).
81. "So we desired that their Lord would give them in exchange (a son) better in purity (of conduct) and closer in affection.
82. "As for the wall, it belonged to two youths, orphans, in the Town; there was, beneath it, a buried treasure, to which they were entitled: their father had been a righteous man: So thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of full strength and get out their treasure - a mercy (and favour) from thy Lord. I did it not of my own accord. Such is the interpretation of (those things) over which thou wast unable to hold patience."
Moses here represents the person at the ordinary level of understanding. Khidr sees the big picture.
This same story is narrated in the Bruce Lee film ‘The Silent Flute’.
