A young lion was taken into captivity and thrown into a concentration camp where, to his amazement, he found other lions who had been there all their lives, for they had been born in captivity. No one could even remember a lion who had never been born there. The newcomer soon became acquainted with the social activities of the camp lions. They had banded themselves into groups. Some of these groups often argued and fought over the best way to escape the camp, who should lead them, and the best methods for organizing themselves and coordinating their efforts.
Other groups were of a more cultural bent, attempting to carefully preserve the traditions and history of the times when lions roamed free in the jungle and on the savannah. Some told ‘stories’ or myths about times long past. One story which had gained a lot of currency was about a legendary lion who would return some day to liberate them all. These groups created conflicting narratives and these narratives soon turned into religions with different sects forming and soon conflict arose among these sects.
One of the strongest sects told tales from a distant time when a certain lion named Aslan had sacrificed his own life and promised to come back and liberate all lions—with one caveat, you had to believe and worship him and follow stringent guidelines in order to be liberated. Others said that this story was not true.
A few groups were more proactive and could be called revolutionary. They met to plot against their captors or other revolutionary groups. Every now and then a revolution would break out, one particular group would be wiped out, or the guards would all be killed only to be replaced by a different set of guards.
The newcomer kept to himself, never speaking but seemed deep in thought: a loner who belonged to no group. There was something strange about him that commanded everyone’s begrudging respect but also a. degree of hostility, for his presence aroused fear and self-doubt. One day a brazen young lion approached him and asked the enigmatic lion why he always kept to himself.
He said to the brazen young lion: ‘I am not joining any group. These poor fools are busy with everything except what is essential!’
‘And what do you think is most essential?’, asked the young lion.
‘Studying the nature of the fence!’, he replied.
The end.
A short story about mindful awareness
“Why, when God’s earth is so wide, have you
Fallen asleep in a prison?”
— Rumi
We build fences for ourselves. So much of our time is wasted because we live with regret and sorrow from our past, and anxiety and fear for the future. So what would be the antidote to our afflictions? We study the nature of the fences which are holding us prisoner. We need to learn how to rest in the here and now by following our own breath while sitting, walking, or even lying down when we find it difficult to sleep.
We have to set aside some time in our busy lives to rest in silence. We can always come back to our breath when we find our minds and our bodies lost in the past or future. We have a habit of running, usually from ourselves. Thich Nhat Hanh calls this ‘habit energy’. We find it hard to rest because no one has taught us the healing power of mindfulness practice, of living in the present moment.
