40
R. Barrett and P. P. Delsanto
be more enchanting than a snow-covered mountain landscape?
Wisdom is the ability to recognize this union and be grateful for
such a wonderful gift.”
But where can one find beauty and truth? In the cities, the
splendour of architecture, art, music and poetry, are offset
by pollution, degradation and kitsch. Far better to search in
isolated mountain valleys, in villages blessed by the stunning
natural beauty of their surrounds, where simpler, but wiser
communities prosper.
So Archibald travelled all summer and arrived in late autumn
at a secluded village on the slopes of a beautiful mountain
in the Himalayas. Since he was searching for wisdom, he was
accepted by the Buddhist villagers, and even admitted to the
weekly meeting of the ancients. In the first of these, the village
Chief ordered that everybody should spend considerably more
time collecting firewood for heating, for the predictions were
for a very cold winter.
In the second and subsequent meetings, the Chief kept
pressing for more and more wood to be collected, until one of
the ancients protested and asked how the Chief could be sure
that it would be so cold. The Chief did not elaborate how he
knew, but said “if you don’t believe me, visit the Wise Old Man
in the mountain tomorrow and ask him.”
The next day, Archibald and a delegation of ancients climbed
for hours to reach the cave, high in the mountains, where the
Wise Old Man was living alone. Archibald was elated: at last he
would have a chance to meet the mystic, who in his eyes was the
personification of wisdom. When they finally reached the cave,
the old man waved them in and demanded their purpose.
As he heard the explanation, he nodded sagely. “Yes, your
Chief is right,” he said, “it will be a terribly cold winter.”
But some of the ancients were still unconvinced: “How can
you be so sure?”.
At that the Wise Old Man replied gravely: “Because these past
few weeks, down in the valley, I have seen many, many villagers
relentlessly collecting firewood.”