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Rock of Sages The student was instructed to sit on a rock and stay there, without food, drink or material amusement until he could think of something that was truly important. It was a good-sized rock, but a rock nonetheless. The first few minutes were novel and amusing. After an hour or so, the student decided that he’d best get busy trying to come up with something important. How hard could that be? He dragged up some old, tired cliché, went inside and recited it to his Master. “You have a good memory for trivia,” the master said, “but it is not important.” Back to the rock. Another thirty minutes…another hour… At last the student refreshed himself with the recollection of a platitude—something about soaring like an eagle. He beamed as he stood in front of the master and spouted the generic wisdom. “That might look nice on a poster in a bureaucrat’s office, but it is not important.” The sun sat on the student who sat on his rock. All night long the student thought and thought until he feared he would sprain his brain. And so it went for over 72 hours. More aphorisms, clichés, and platitudes were rejected. When the master had not been disturbed for over 12 hours, he began to wonder if this student would ever prove himself worthy. Perhaps in his haste he had made a mistake about this one. The student did not even come in this time; he just stuck his head in the window and said, “I’m sick of this shit.” “Eureka!” shouted the master, leaping to his feet, clapping his hands, and dancing in a circle. “You got it!” Before we can make any changes, we must become sufficiently sick and tired of the old ways.
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