There was a mayor of a town who wanted to promote his town (and himself), so he came up with an idea - he arranged a competition for young adults to write about their glorious town (and hopefully the town's glorious mayor). It was to be held on a Saturday at the local School. Each applicant would have up to two hours to finish their essay and the best one (the mayor made it clear that his name in the essay would make it more prone to winning) would be announced the next day at the local Church. The prize was a free lunch with the mayor and all-expense paid trip to a nearby city.
Most of the young adults in the town applied for the competition. On the day of the competition, the mayor personally monitored the competition.
About 400 people showed up and most were done in 15 minutes. Others took about an hour. But one girl just went on and on. It was two hours before the mayor approached the girl to ask her to stop, but to his delight he saw his name mentioned a few times when he looked over her shoulder, so he decided the rules were there to serve them, not the other way around.
She had written about 35 pages already. With her permission, he took a look at her first few pages and he was overwhelmed with her writing - it had so much detail about the room she was sitting in that he looked at the room with fresh eyes. She had described the roof, the cobwebs in the corner with such intricacy and poetic skill that he looked at them like a child would see something for the first time.
Yes, she had mentioned his name too, but it was mentioned as a footnote rather than a main feature. She had described him as casually as she had described the desk she was sitting on - they both were just there, part of the whole room, not dominating in any way.
For a few minutes, he forgot about his position and his name and he went into a minor rapture. He realized with somewhat of a shock that he and his life were just part of this amazing, vast life that was bursting with activity and creativity. With relief, he realized he wasn't that important after all - he had carried the weight of importance of himself for all his life, but now he knew he could let it go and he would be free.
After a good while, he shook himself and brought the girl some tea and biscuits and told her that she could go on as long as she wanted. When evening approached, the girl got up and said, "I'm done with writing about the school, with your permission I would like to write about the marketplace tomorrow!"
How can I possibly discuss your creativity, God? All I can hope for is to sacrifice myself completely to you.
----- Guru Nanak, Jap Ji, 16th pauri
Most of the young adults in the town applied for the competition. On the day of the competition, the mayor personally monitored the competition.
About 400 people showed up and most were done in 15 minutes. Others took about an hour. But one girl just went on and on. It was two hours before the mayor approached the girl to ask her to stop, but to his delight he saw his name mentioned a few times when he looked over her shoulder, so he decided the rules were there to serve them, not the other way around.
She had written about 35 pages already. With her permission, he took a look at her first few pages and he was overwhelmed with her writing - it had so much detail about the room she was sitting in that he looked at the room with fresh eyes. She had described the roof, the cobwebs in the corner with such intricacy and poetic skill that he looked at them like a child would see something for the first time.
Yes, she had mentioned his name too, but it was mentioned as a footnote rather than a main feature. She had described him as casually as she had described the desk she was sitting on - they both were just there, part of the whole room, not dominating in any way.
For a few minutes, he forgot about his position and his name and he went into a minor rapture. He realized with somewhat of a shock that he and his life were just part of this amazing, vast life that was bursting with activity and creativity. With relief, he realized he wasn't that important after all - he had carried the weight of importance of himself for all his life, but now he knew he could let it go and he would be free.
After a good while, he shook himself and brought the girl some tea and biscuits and told her that she could go on as long as she wanted. When evening approached, the girl got up and said, "I'm done with writing about the school, with your permission I would like to write about the marketplace tomorrow!"
How can I possibly discuss your creativity, God? All I can hope for is to sacrifice myself completely to you.
----- Guru Nanak, Jap Ji, 16th pauri
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