Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Once upon a time, a traveller was walking through the woods when he came upon a large river. He did not see a bridge anywhere in sight and he did not have the tools to build a large bridge, so he walked down the river, hoping to find a safe passage across. After many hours of walking he came upon a cave, its entrance was dark and wet, yet it lead down, and seemed to lead under the river. The traveller decided there was no harm in entering the cave to see what was in it, so he entered. The cave went on for miles and he followed it all the way to the end, which opened up into a huge cavern. In the very center of the cavern sat a small pond. It glittered and glowed as though there were diamonds in it, and so the traveller went to investigate. As he got close to the pond, a large stone pillar rose out of the water and on it was an image carved into it of an apple. Below the image were three holes. The traveller looked into each of the holes, but he couldn't see anything. This intrigued the traveller and so he tried to reach in, and just as he was about to reach into the middle hole, a bright light shined down on him. He shielded his eyes from the blinding light and backed up till he was out of the light. When he was, he looked at the pillar again, but this time there stood a ghostly figure. A young women whose beauty was beyond belief. She stood before the pillar and gestured to it. "This is the tree of knowledge, in it there are three apples, each with its own ultimate knowledge. You may take only one apple, and partake in its power, try to take more and thou shalt be slain where you stand." The traveller looked at the lady and then nodded. "What be the price for the apples?" asked the traveller, being a cautious man. "You must give up the knowledge of the other two, even the knowledge you have now." she said, and then she moved aside, allowing the traveller through. He walked forward and looked at all three holes. "Tell me what each apple does" said the traveller. "The red one gives you knowledge of all things as they are, you will understand all in the present." she answered "The green apple gives you knowledge of all possible things, things that the mind of a human cannot comprehend. And the gold apple gives you the knowledge of creation, the ability to create nothing and something." The traveller simply nodded and faced the pillar again. He then reached into the hole and pulled out the apple. It was the green one. He smiled and looked at the lady. "I'll take this one." he said. Then he took a bite out of the apple, instantly he was shrouded in a green light as he ate. When the apple core was all that was left, he looked around and asked the lady where he was. She told him and he nodded. "Thank you." was all he said, and then he left. When he got back to the river, he remembered he was trying to cross it and so he figured he would just swim. Half way through, he was pulled under. He didn't understand what was happening to him. His knowledge of drowning and water was completely gone, and so the traveller was swept away, never to be seen again, for all the knowledge he had, it was useless to him for he had no knowledge of anything else.

The moral of this story is that without our wisdom, without our ability to understand things as they are, we would be lost. We must not be subjective in learning or when we acquire knowledge, we must look at a piece of information at every angle possible. We must try to understand every bit of it as though it were our favorite food or our favorite T.V. show. We must pursue this act with the diligence and patience of a saint. For if we allow ourselves to only understand one side of a subject, we would all perish.