1. Parable of a men in a swimming pool

Human suffering is an experience that is not meant to exist but is brought by how human mind relate to realities of life they cannot control. It can be compared to the story of two men who went swimming, the first man feared water, and kept asking himself, “what if I lose control, drawn and then die in here. So the moment he entered the pool, he tightened every muscle in his body, he fought water with desperation, he kicked violently, swung arms in panic and tried to force himself on the surface with every second. He was so desperate of his survival in water. The harder the struggle the exhausted he became, water entered his mouth, fear of dying got to his mind and the panic made him became heavier and sunk desperately in water and soon the pool felt like an enemy that was to consume him.

The second man entered the same pool same depth, but instead of fighting water, he allowed himself to trust it, because he had realized that water naturally carried somebodies weight when one stops resisting it, and trying too hard to gain control, so he moved calmly, breathing with rhythm instead of fear, the pool became so effortless and he enjoyed the swim.

The swim coach beside the pool standing from the side said to them, that the water is not trying to drawn anyone of them, one suffered because he believed that his survival in the pool depended on his control of the pool. And the other one founds peace because he accepted that despite the nature of water in the pool it was not happening to finish him, nor to carry him, how he respond to it determine the result he gets.

In the same way, many suffering in life is not brought by life itself, but from our own minds restless resistance to realities we cannot control or command in life. In life, we fight uncertainty, time, changes, loss, and death as though panic and seeking control can overpower reality and the harder we demand or seek for  control over things we cannot change, the heavier their existence feels in our heart, and through the denial we suffer more. Life is like water, often holds us better when we accept its nature, but we suffer more when we resist its nature

2. Parable of a foolish farmer

Journey of a Personal growth and self-actualization, is a personal journey and does not require unfair comparison to others, it can be compared to the story of a foolish farmer. Young inexperienced farmer planted his fast farm besides the older experienced farmers. They were in different seasons of their farming, since the experienced farmers begun their farm work early.

Every morning he woke up early, tilled the land, carried water under burning sun irrigating his seeds, and removed weeds one by one. After some months, his field still looked small and weak, with no appealing progress of growth, meanwhile the neighboring farmers were harvesting their golden harvest in bumper.

One evening he walked through village and saw other farmers celebrating their harvest while his own still were undergoing slow progress of growth, he became frustrated with his farm and returned home angry and said, “what is the point of all this hard work, I work harder than them yet I have almost nothing to show off, if moths of work cannot make them grow faster, then these seeds are slow”

The frustration of comparison made him give up on his farm, he abandoned it, and felt like farming was not working for him, so weeds accumulated and choked his young plants, their growth was stunted and they withered. He became even more frustrated after giving up and begun perceiving life differently, thinking that life is about luck and only works in favor for some and deliberately rejects others.

The foolish farmer was in the right track and was going through a normal proses in farming that every farmer goes through, what made him give up with his progress is comparing his planting season to other people’s harvesting season.

In life we often compare our small beginnings to other people’s harvesting seasons, and highlights of success that once started small from their planting season. Making us think and feel like we are in the wrong paths, hence we become frustrated with our progress, small beginning and seasons in life and we end up giving up in moments that only required our consistency, and could have turned to great success story.

3. Parable of a man in a dark room and a rope

Human suffering is not an experience meant to exist but it’s brought by how human perceive the reality of life. It can be compared to the parable of a man who walked into a dark room, and mistakenly stepped on a rope and thought that it was a snake.

He got anxious and due to anxiety and fear, he began crying and shouting for help running up and down in a dark room causing chaos in the room. The truth is that he thought he was in danger and his state of suffering was because of what he thought he was dealing with, but in real sense he was not in danger, his mind was caring him.

The same, is how human being sometimes perceive suffering, we suffer due to misperception of realities that happen to us, these realities are not harmful the way we perceive them, the fact that the man was anxious, worked up and chaotic trying to survive, does not change the reality that what he was actually dealing with was not a snake as he thought but  just a harmless rope. this does not mean that all sufferings comes from illusion of the mind

Sometimes we are not subjected to suffering itself but our minds creates an illusion of suffering in situations that needs us to calm down and gauge the reality of the moment, and In such situation we may consistently pray for God to help, but with no answers because in real sense we are not in trouble, but just suffering from our mind.

Seeing others succeed, post achievements, or appear happy can trigger a feeling of failure in us. The mind turns someone else’s highlight into our own insecurity, and we feel like we are stuck when in real sense we are not, we feel like we are failing, we are different, when in real sense we are not. We are only suffering from our minds.