Part 26

Another day a young scholar approached The Man Who Talked Backwards and asked him what books he should read, "For," the student said, "I realize that the more I read the more I will know."

"You will indeed learn something by reading," answered the philosopher, "but the more you read the less you will know. That is what makes reading of value."

"But how shall I know what beliefs I should hold in order to live the best life?" the young scholar asked.

"You think that your beliefs shape your actions," replied the philosopher, "but I tell you, it is your actions that shape your beliefs."

One day a woman came to the Man Who Talked Backwards for advice. "I know," she said, "that 'to live is to choose,' so I have come here to discover how I might fix my choices to live a fuller, more productive life."

"The better saying," said the philosopher, "is that 'to choose is to live.' But if you want to live life more fully, do less."

"Do less?" the woman asked with surprise. "But I'm an achiever. I thrive on accomplishment."

"Perhaps you have already diluted your life into meaninglessness," suggested the philosopher.

"But I'm easily bored," said the woman.

"I am truly sorry," said the philosopher. "Did you ever seek help for yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"For your infirmity of being bored."

"My infirmity?" asked the woman, again surprised.

"Ah," said the philosopher, "You attribute your boredom to others or to external circumstances."

"Well, of course," she said.

"In that case, I am sorry for your two infirmities."

"But I want to get as much out of life as I can," the woman protested. "You philosophers all say that one's life does not consist in material things because they disappear, but what then can I gain that I can keep?"

"The only thing that you can really keep--and keep forever--is what you give away," said the philosopher.

Late one afternoon a blunt young man came up to The Man Who Talked Backwards and asked him, "Now that you are old and about to drop dead, do you look forward to death or fear it--or perhaps I should ask, Did you live a good life or a bad one?"

"It is not one's life that determines his view of death," replied the philosopher, "but one's view of death that determines how he lives."

"So you are ready to end your life?" asked the blunt young man.

"Death is not an end to life, as you suppose," said the philosopher. "This world is but a mirror that reverses everything as it reflects it. Death therefore is merely the shattering of a mirror."

"Your mirror already has a large crack in it," said the blunt young man, with a laugh.

"Thank you," said the philosopher.

The Clue

In every civilization, someone has to put up the signs that guide us on our way. --Proverb

Sometimes they had to drill the post holes up on Rocky Bluff--and it was a tough dig, what with the rocks and the hardness of the soil. They came home plenty tired and dirty on those days. Other times they drilled the holes down in Sandy Meadow, where the augur slipped in smoothly, quickly, and easily. They all praised the meadow and said how great it was to get an assignment to put up some signs there. And yet, when they told the stories of their lives--the stories that animated their faces and brightened their eyes--they always seemed to be speaking of Rocky Bluff.

An Analogy