A science fiction story tells of a society whe
> almost everyone is born ready to perform a function: technicians, engineers or mechanics.  Only a few are born without any skills: these are sent to an insane asylum, since only crazy people are unable to make a contribution to society.

One of the insane rebels.  The asylum has a library, where he attempts to learn everything there is to know about the arts and sciences.  When he feels that he knows enough, he decides to escape, but he is captured and taken to a research center outside the city.

"Welcome," says one of the people in charge of the center.  "It is those who have been forced to make their own way that we admire most.  From now on, you may do as you please, since it is thanks to people like you that the world is able to progress."

Before leaving on a long trip, a businessman was saying good-bye to his wife.

"You have never brought me a present that was worthy of me," she said.

"You ungrateful woman, everything I have given you cost me years of work," the man answered.  "What else can I give you?"

"Something that is as beautiful as I am."

For two years, the woman awaited her present.  Finally, her husband returned.

"I was able to find something that is as beautiful as you," he said.  "I wept at your ingratitude, but I resolved that I would do as you asked.  I thought all this time that there couldn't be a present as beautiful as you, but I found one."

And he handed her a mirror.

The German philosopher, F. Nietzsche, once said: "It's not worthwhile to spend time discussing everything; it is a part of the human condition to err from time to time."

The master says:

"There are people who insist that they be right about even minor details.  They often do not permit themselves to make a mistake.

"What they accomplish with that attitude is a fear of moving ahead.

"Fear of making a mistake is the door that locks us into the castle of mediocrity.  If we are able to overcome that fear, we have taken an important step in the direction of our freedom."

A novice asked the Father Superior
>isteros at the monastery at Sceta: "What are the things I should do in order to please God?"

Father Nisteros answered: "Abraham accepted strangers, and God was happy.  Elijah did not like strangers, and God was happy.  David was proud of what he did, and God was happy.  The Roman publican, before the altar, was ashamed of what he did, and God was happy.  John the Baptist went into the desert, and God was happy.  Jonah went to the great city of Ninevah, and God was happy.

"Ask your soul what it wants to do.  When your soul is in agreement with your dreams, it makes God happy."

A Buddhist master was traveling on foot with his disciples, when he noted that they were discussing among themselves who was the best.

"I have practiced meditation for fifteen years," said one.

"I have been charitable ever since I left my parents' home," said another.

"I have always followed the precepts of Buddha," said a third.

At noon, they stopped under an apple tree to rest.  The branches of the tree were loaded down with fruit, to the point that its branches reached to the ground.

"When a tree is laden with fruit, its branches bend to touch the ground.  The truly wise is he who is humble.

"When a tree bears no fruit, its branches are arrogant and haughty.  The foolish man always believes that he is better than others."

Antonio Machado says:

"Blow by blow, step by step,

Pathfinder, there is no path,

The path is made to be walked.

By walking, the path is made,

And if you look back,

All you will see are the marks

Of footsteps that one day

Your feet will once again take.

Pathfinder, there is no path,

The path is made to be walked."

At the Last Supper, Jesus accused -- with the same gravity and using the same phrase -- two of his apostles.  Both had committed the crimes foreseen by Jesus.

Judas Iscariot recovered his senses and condemned himself.  Peter also recovered his senses, after denying three times everything he had believed in.

But at the decisive moment, Peter understood the true meaning of Jesus'
>message.  He asked forgiveness and went on, humiliated.

He could have chosen suicide, but instead he faced the other apostles and must have said: "Okay, speak of my error for as long as the human race exists.  But let me correct it."

Peter understood that Love forgives.  Judas understood nothing.

A famous writer was walking with a friend when a boy started to cross the street in front of an oncoming truck.  The writer, in a fraction of a second, threw himself in front of the truck and was able to save the boy.  But, before anyone  could praise him for his act of heroism, he slapped the boy across the face.

"Don't be fooled by appearances, my boy," he said.  "I saved you only so that you couldn't evade the problems you will have as an adult."

The master says:

"Sometimes we are afraid of doing good.  Our sense of guilt always tries to tell us that -- when we act with generosity -- we are merely trying to impress others.  It is difficult for us to accept that we are good by nature.  We mask our good acts with irony and indifference, as if live were synonymous with weakness."

Jesus looked at the table before him, wondering what would be the best symbol of his passage on Earth.  On the table were pomegranates from Galilee, spices from the deserts of the south, dried fruits from Syria and Egyptian dates.

He must have extended His hand to consecrate one of them, when suddenly he recalled the message that he brought was for all men everywhere.

And perhaps pomegranates and dates did not exist is some parts of the world.

He looked about him, and another thought occurred to him: in the pomegranates and the dates and the fruits, the miracle of Creation manifested itself without any interference by human beings.

So he picked up the bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: "Take and eat, all of you, for this is my Body."   Because bread was everywhere.  And bread, in contrast with the dates, the pomegranates and the fruits of Syria, was the best symbol of the path toward God.
>read was the fruit of the earth and of man's labors.

The juggler stops in the middle of the plaza, pulls out three oranges and begins to toss them.  People gather round and marvel at the grace and elegance of his movements.

"That's what life's like, more or less," someone standing there with the wanderer says.  "We always have an orange in each hand, and one in the air.  But that one in the air makes all the difference.  It was thrown with ability and experience, but it follows its own course.

"Like the juggler, we throw a dream out into the world, but we don't always have control over it.  At times like that, you have to know how to put yourself in God's hands -- and ask that, in due time, the dream follows its course correctly and falls, completed, back into your hand."