Mushkil Gusha: The Journey
It’s Thursday and the day of Mushkil Gusha again.
Today the story is from Idries Shah’s Learning How To Learn
Shah retells the following story in response to a question as to how tales and stories such as Mushkil Gusha could lead to enlightenment and contain hidden wisdom apart from the explicit moral or narrative.
The story is called “The Journey” and Shah states that is one of a very few that can help in the understanding of how the inner developmental content of such stories work.
A man was on a journey with a Sufi teacher when night fell, and both were tired and hungry. The master asked at a humble house for food and the tenant, a poor man, gave them everything he had.
In the morning, the Sufi said ‘Blessings upon you and your house’ and the tow travellers started on their way.
After they had gone a few steps, the disciple said: ‘We have surely not recompensed this man for his generosity. Could you not give him more than a mere blessing?’
‘He has had enough. More would not be better’ said the master. But the soft-hearted disciple hung his head and with as much politeness as he could exercise, he insisted that ‘all are bound to do all they can for others....’‘Very well,’ said the Sufi, ‘I shall let you see what happens.’ He went back and called their host, saying to him: ‘A treasure is buried in your garden. It is under that apple tree. Dig it up and flourish.’
The two set off again and wandered for a year. It so happened that they were passing the same way again, hungry and tired, when they saw that the house was no longer there. It had been replaced by a palace. The formerly kindly tenant was now a great lord, and everyone around was suffering from his tyranny. ‘What do you say now?’ asked the teacher. ‘I understand what has happened,’ said his disciple. ‘But if you knew that this would happen, why did you do as I asked: in fact causing this man to become an oppressor?’
The master waved his hand; and the disciple saw that they were back in the conditions of a year before. No trace of the tyrant remained: they were looking at the smiling face of the humble cottager, waving them goodbye. It was at that moment that the disciple realised that the Sufi teacher had vanished.
He has not found him since and that was many years ago.
