A beautiful saying in Jewish traditions is, “Men can meet, but mountains never.” It means if two people view themselves with humility, they will easily be able to move closer toward each other. If two people see themselves as mountains, however, they will each immovably never meet.
An arrogant man once heard this saying and replied, “Well, people can come to the mountain.” He saw himself as a mountain, and he believed others should travel to meet him where he was to adopt his perspective. You might think this man was a king to have such an ego, but he was no more than a common man with a very common view; namely, that others and the world “should” see the world as he did. Such was his foolishness, and such was his view contagious.
A woman heard this story and laughed at the foolish, arrogant man. In her haughty laughter, however, she unwittingly made herself a mountain. She declared that all those who didn’t see things as she did “stupid,” among many other things, and it was in her certainty that her perspective was definitive. In that way, she was immovable.
The wise hear this lesson and learn from it.
Sending everyone who sees this, and everyone who doesn’t, much peace.
