November 29, 2014 - The Old Wise Man

Back in the days when people still sought knowledge, there lived a wise old man on a cliff near the sea.  He wasn’t always wise or old, but eventually he became that way out of habit.  It began with simply helping people and giving friendly advice.  People called him smart when he was younger, and more and more people came to see him.  Then they called him knowledgeable and even cunning, and still more people came to consult him.  Finally, at some point, he just became known as the wise man who lives by the sea.

That’s where our story begins, when he was very old and very wise and still living on a cliff near the sea.  As he grew older and older, it began to worry him more and more that so many people came to see him.  What if he really wasn’t wise?  What if the people were better off not coming to see him?  What if his whole life had been lived fulfilling a label that someone else had given him?  These are the kinds of thoughts that bothered him as he aged, but usually he was so busy helping others that he didn’t have time to dwell overmuch on such thoughts.

On one particularly long and exhausting day when he felt he could go on no further and was heading into his little hut, he saw one last pilgrim coming up the cliff.  He almost told the pilgrim to come back at another time, but in his mind he heard a voice say, “There’s no better time than the present.”  So he sighed and invited the man into his very humble hut and offered him some tea.

The cliff by the sea.

The pilgrim accepted the tea and looked about the ramshackle hut with open disdain.  He complained of how difficult the climb up the cliff had been.  He spoke of several business deals in the making and property he owned and women he knew.  At last as they were finishing their tea, the wise asked the pilgrim why he had come.

“Well, I’m not really certain anymore.  I just thought you would be different.  You should be different, you know.  You should have more at your age.  Don’t you ever want to retire?”

The wise man just stared at the pilgrim for a while because deep inside some of what the man said had gone through his own mind now and then.  Finally, he said, “Well, things are what they are.  So you do not need my help anymore?”

“I don’t know.  I do, I guess.  The thing is, I just want to know why we do it all!  Why do we bother to work hard?  Why do we strive to make money and buy things?  Why do we try to impress people?  Why do we constantly want the next thing?  Or for people like you, why do you help other people?  Why do you give advice?  Why do you live by the sea?  In short, I guess, I just want to know why we do anything.  We’re all going to die at some point anyhow.  What’s the purpose to it all?  What’s the gift at the end?”

During his speech, the old wise man was feeling very peculiar.  Some of these questions had gone through his own mind at times.  As he looked at the man, his vision kept blurring and then righting itself and then blurring again.  At last he spoke, not knowing what he was going to say until he said it.

“You must come back tomorrow,” he said.

“What?  Tomorrow?  I just climbed this cliff and you want me to climb it again?”

“Yes, you must come back tomorrow.”

“But why?” the pilgrim asked.  “Why can’t you talk now?”
“Because tomorrow I will have your answer.”

That’s all the old wise man would say, and he would offer no more.  Finally, the pilgrim got up and left rather rudely, mumbling about how ridiculous and eccentric the old man was.  He headed quickly down the cliff as the daylight was fading and just made it to the bottom before it turned dark.  He was angry and tired and told himself that was the last time he would ever consult a supposed wise man.  He would go home to his life, frustrating and empty though it was.

But morning found him climbing the cliff again.  He just had to know.  He figured he was already there, he might as well try one more time before heading home.  Besides, what if the old man really did have the answer today?  He was determined to find out one way or another.

At last he reached the hut and knocked on the door.  When there was no answer he went in and found the old man in his bed.  He was about to rouse him and chastise him for being lazy when he realized that the old man was dead.  He was quite taken aback with the sight and sat down at the table for a while, just staring at the old man.  He didn’t know what to do.  The thought occurred to him that now he would never have his answer, but he felt a little guilty for thinking that way since the old man hadn’t intended on dying before telling him.  Not for the first or last time in his life, he found himself uttering the words, “Why do we even bother?”

He got up from the table and brought the old man’s body outside.  Then he dug a grave with a rusty old shovel he found out back of the hut.  He buried the old man and placed a few wild flowers on his grave.  The task had taken him most of the day, and he was very tired, hungry, and thirsty.  He looked at the grave and wondered what the gift at the end had been for the old man.  He doubted it was anything at all, but he was so very tired, he didn’t think too long on it and just went back in the hut.  He made some tea and found some scraps of food in cupboards here and there, and then he ate and went to sleep.

In the morning, two pilgrims arrived and began to ask him about whether they should marry or not.  The man tried to explain to them that he was not the wise old man, but they said they didn’t care about that.  They just wanted to know what he thought.  So he told them that since they both made such a long trip together, he thought they should get married because they were cooperative and honest with one another.  The two pilgrims left happy with this advice.

In an hour, another pilgrim came, a woman who said she wanted to know if she should have another child.  Again the man tried to explain to her that he was not the wise old man, but she just kept talking and asked him what he thought of it all.  He told her that if she had to ask, then she probably shouldn’t have another child because the commitment wasn’t there.  She left happy with this advice.

And so it went all day and the next day and the day after that.  Pilgrim after pilgrim came, asking all sorts of questions.  After a while, the man stopped explaining that he wasn’t the wise old man and just started answering the questions.  Some of the questions seemed very simple to him, but some were quite complex.  He did his best to answer with honesty, and most of the people left happy, and if they weren’t happy, at least he’d given them cause to think.

Now he had cause to think, too.  Why was he doing this?  Why did people trust him?  Shouldn’t he go back to his life, to his business, to his money?  What was the point of all of this?  After all, eventually he would die just like the old man, probably in poverty just like the old man.  Why bother?  What was the gift at the end?

He thought about this for a very long time, and finally he decided that perhaps there was no gift at the end.  Perhaps there was no ultimate reason why people did anything at all.  Maybe the gift, if there were any gift at all, was just simply to live and handle only what the present day brings.  Maybe the reward was just authenticity.  But then many more pilgrims came, and there wasn’t time to think about such things anymore.