One Minute Storytelling: The Self

I came across a woman crying under a tree one afternoon, shade from the tree was the only refuge from the high sun. Not wanting at first to interrupt I looked for somewhere else to rest but decided this tree was big enough for the both of us. She hadn’t notice me I thought as I sat down on the other side of the huge oak tree. “Are you not going to ask me why I’m crying?” she said. “Sorry, why are you crying?” I asked. “This world is a cruel place and nothing ever works out for me!” “Maybe this is true for everybody…” she whispered. I started to get up so that I could walk to the other side of the tree but I was ordered to stay where I was. “Let’s stay the way we are.” I told her she was right. “It’s like that for everybody but it doesn’t have to be. You see our dissatisfaction arises from the fact that we don’t see the world as it is but how we want. Death, pain, hunger, sickness happens because we are systems just like any other living organism.” She quickly responded “Ok that kind of makes sense but how can that help me enjoy my life?” I knew the answer but how could I explain it to another. So I said, “Telling someone how to enjoy life is like asking someone who hasn’t been here to draw this tree we are sitting under, no matter how much detail I gave them it wouldn’t be the same tree. Pointing this person in the direction of the tree is all I can do but there is no guarantee they will find it. The direction I will give you is this, “You have no soul. You are empty of a pure individual existence like everything else in this great universe. Use it to find your happiness. “A couple of moments had passed without a response so I asked if she understood, still no answer. I started to pick myself up using the trunk of the tree, when she finally said” Have you found it?” I said, “I’m lost but that tends to happen from time to time on a journey.” I walked over to the other side of the tree to find no one in sight. I couldn’t remember how I ended up here but it didn’t matter because that was in the past, a story.