The wife of the Mayor
Parables and Illustrations for Values Education |
Tony de Mello tells the story (which sent it is Paco Percaz) of a woman who, while he was dying, had the impression that was carried to heaven and filed with the Court.
-Who are you?-asked a voice.
-I am woman mayor - she replied proudly.
-I asked who you are, not with who you married.
-I am a mother of four children.
-I asked who you are, not how many children you have.
-I am a school teacher.
-I asked who you are, not what is your profession. -I am a good Christian.
-I asked who you are, not what is your religion.
-I am a person who prayed every day and helped the poor and needy.
-I asked who you are, not what you did.
And so on. You said what you said, never responded satisfactorily the question who you are. It obviously did not pass, because she was sent back to Earth. When he recovered from his illness, he became determined to find out who was. And everything was different.
The most important question of all, based on a full life is who am I? Generally, a question that make us who are you?, we respond with our profession: I am master, doctor, merchant, engineer and artist... Most of people dedicates life to grab objects, to amass wealth and power, to be a better professional, without considering never get to know, delve into the depths of their intimacy, build in fullness, be better person.
Each day we move more and more into a culture of depersonalization and vacuum, with their backs to the reflection, silence, interiority, solidarity and love. Modern culture is filled with mechanisms to make us live in permanent flight of ourselves, to convince us that life is a continuous hustle, an already preset walking thing to go blindly, without ever asking us to where we are leading. Everything is mounted to prevent meet itself which could initiate the process of change towards authenticity. This is why, for many the silent is intolerable: if they are alone in the House, have to have the radio or on TV because you have terror to silence that it would enable them meet with themselves. Live is equivalent to miss in a monotonous work routine and soulless, repeat the slogans that tell us, buy and use things that are fashionable and afiebradamente pursue the footsteps of a pleasure rutinizado. In this way, men and women live unable to discover our fundamental human desires, our yearning for transcendence and unity, the ultimate meaning of existence.
Consequently, the majority of people live their lives without understanding it or understand others, alone in the crowd, carrying within it a stranger.
Not we must never forget that the main knowledge that we must teach is knowledge itself. It's what Socrates repeated: "Know yourself". Knowledge itself is the basis of true wisdom.