Where to look

A Sufi story and comments within
Living Loving and Learning by Leo Buscaglia :

There's one story that's very poignant. It tells of the day Mullah was out in the street on his hands and knees, looking for something and a friend came up and said,
"Mullah, what are you looking for?"
And Mullah said, "I lost my key."
"Oh, Mullah, that's terrible, I'll help you find it." So he was on his hands and knees, then said, "Mullah, about where did you lose it?"
Mullah said, "I lost it in my house."
"Then what are you looking out here for?"
He said, "Because there's more light here."

Dr. Buscaglia goes on to say:

You know, that's hilarious, but that's what we do with our lives! We believe that everything there is to find is out there in the light where it's easy to find, when the only answers for you are in you! Go ahead and look and look and look, but you're not going to find them out there! Nobody has your answers--only you have your answers. And if you think you can pack up your bag and escape you, you're in for a mighty big surprise. Run to a mountaintop in Neapl, and when you get over the wonder of being in Nepal, who are you faced with in the mirror? You! With all your hangups, with all your fears, with all your confusion, with all your lonliness, with all the things that you are. So it's time to begin looking where it makes sense to look. What is essential is not out there. What is essential is indeed in you. But it's frightening inside and dark, and it's not easy to search in the dark. And nobody teaches us how.

This strikes me as amusing on many levels, including that I think I've been searching books all my life for the whys and hows and some clue about which are the essential answers...


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