THE VOICE WITHIN

Is the price of living a dream much higher than the price of living without daring to dream?” asked the disciple.

The master took him to a clothes store. There, he asked him to try on a suit in exactly his size. The disciple obeyed, and was amazed at the experience — the wonderful feeling, the superb quality of the clothes.

Then the master asked him to try on the same cut of suit — but this time a size much bigger than his own. The disciple did as he was asked.

“This one is of no use. It’s too big,” the disciple said.

“How much are these suits?” the master asked the shop attendant.

“They both cost the same price. It’s just the size that is different,” she replied.

When leaving the store, the master told his disciple, “Living your dream or giving it up also costs the same price, which is usually very high. But the first lets us share the miracle of life, and the second is of no use to us.”

Life’s most important lesson is never, ever, to give up. We only have to open our eyes to the relentless perseverance all around us in Nature.

The ant will find a way to carry its food to the anthill, come what may. The little gurgling brook up the mountain will push away, get under or around, or simply wear down all obstacles on its way to grow into a mighty river on the plain.

And about holding on to dreams, the poet Langston Hughes wrote:

“Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.”

It helps to remember the dreams of earlier years, and to examine those of today. Is there one that calls out louder than the rest? Who knows what doors it might open if pursued with true heart!

— the harbinger