The Teacup
There was a couple who used to go to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
"You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay." My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "let me alone", but he only smiled, "Not yet."
"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy!" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet."
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, "Not yet."
Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. "There, that's better," I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Stop it, stop it!" I cried. He only nodded, "Not yet."
Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, "Not yet."
Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself." And I did. I said, "That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful."
"I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you."
God knows what He's doing (for all of us).He is the Potter, and we are His clay.He will mold us and make us, So that we may be made into a flawless piece of work To fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
~~~
'Insipirational' bullshit like this makes my blood boil. I just got this in my mail. Either God is a despot or a retard. I mean if he couldn't produce what he intended to to begin with, he isn't God as we define him anyway. Besides we're not clay to be moulded and we do feel pain. If he does intend to mould us "to fulfuill his good, pleasing and perfect will" then he might as well not give us individual brains or nerve endings to percieve emotions and sensations.
When you go thru shit and come out smelling of it, they tell you that is wrong because all that pain was supposed to make you stronger, not obnoxious. But how does one suffer and not get a tad disillusioned and bitter? I guess that calls for another round of inspirational bullshit about how pain and pleasure are the same thing as percieved by yogis. Dammit, if we were all yogis and perfectly comfortable with what we're given, how do we evolve? Progress is about gettting better. If things seem perfect to all of us what will we aspire for, work towards, look forward to?
And what exactly is wrong with clay? It is perfect in that it is in its natural state. We're meant to be clay, not tea cups. We're moulded by other human beings into what we think is in tandem with HIS 'good , pleasing will" and from that stems all disease. Do you see what a multilayered word that is? - DIS-EASE?. We spend our lives conforming to labels prepared by other human beings. Why we even define God the way we want Him to be.
And so it goes on. ..this endless finger pointing. Either you have changed and are not the person you used to be, which is tragic...or you haven't changed at all and are hopeless and stagnating. Either way the world thinks you need help! If being a teacup pleases you, lie back and enjoy the patting and spinning and preheating and reheating! If you want to be clay, be prepared to be trampled upon. Either way you have a hanging judge!!
11 comments:
I had read only the story earlier and was left to draw my own conclusions/inspirations. The thing is, in life, we are going to be pots, no matter what we do. Life is going to beat us, rumble us and bake us. Whether we want to use it to mold ourself by blending with surroundings, is upto us.
If some people want to desperately believe in a potter above, and if it indeed helps them, whats the harm?
It is not healthy to be deliberately delusional. We're not being moulded by the unknown. It is what we know that moulds us. Do we know God?
Noone is deliberately delusional. Fact is, noone knows for sure whats out there, hence, until someone can claim a thing for sure, one has the right to believe what he/she thinks is right, what satisfies their intellect and what helps them keep their sanity in troubled times.
You can say it is 'nature' which moulds us. In case of animals, it is called 'adaptation', in case of humans, it has become changing the social structure to make the existence of maximum people bearable. Do we know 'nature'? We know its forces, but do we know what provides the 'willpower' behind the rising of sun, or rotation of earth or the Big bang? Until we know that for sure, any theory which satisfies a person's intellect, however high or low it might be, is acceptable. That scenario, that description of nature is 'God' for most.
As long as one doesnt force his/her 'god' on another, it should be acceptable.
To quote a friend:
"Idea is not to worship the good or the bad guy, but to elevate oneself above both, not to worhip Satan or God, but to make both irrelevant. "
If we are moulded naturally, there would be no discomfort. Discomfort comes when we go against our grain and that discomfort is almost always followed by disease.
There is nothing wrong in the story.It depends on how we perceive the relationship between God & potter given in the story.
According to me,the experiences we gain from our society either volountarily or involountarily definitely moulds us..The impact may be positive or negative..but definitely it has an effect on us.
We should also not forget that we should learn from our experiences as well as from others' experiences and "We are the authors of our Destiny".There is choice everywhere..Choosing the right one is the art we have to master.
What more did u expect? Free Thinking is a sin Now A days!
Now this has been exceptionally well written, and although the thesis of this particular blog is against my scruples, I will more or less have to agree with SOME of the things penned down...to start of with I totally agree, such mails do "make my blood boil" and if the sender thinks that reading such unwanted crap is going to make me a believer if I'm already not or increase my faith exponentially if I'm already am then he is sorely mistaken.
Now we come to the tricky part, since I've been born and brought up in a very "Hindu" environment, I definitely believe in God(s) and to a certain extent what could be perceived as the "invisible hand of God". Although the Gita states that one must be a follower/devotee of Lord Krishna and take him to be the Supreme and one true God in order to achieve salvation, I don't necessarily agree with that...I know I know I'm being a bad Hindu but my point is anything that one believes in or has faith in can be taken as the truth for that particular person. We have conflicting religions, neither of which have exactly the same ideologies. Jainism is an atheist religion at heart, but Mahavir is said to have achieved moksh without believing in a God which is contradictory to the Gita. I assume there are many paths to reaching the same destination, but the most crucial thing is to just be a good person. Having a clear conscience in many ways is akin to Nirvana. Serve others, have noble thoughts and do no wrong, that could very take us there.....I guess
Since I believe in God I will try explaining why he puts us through such trials and tribulations. Contrary to popular belief, not all men are equal, life does have a purpose and it requires us to make an effort, strive to better ourselves at every passing moment and at every given opportunity. You say clay is perfect in its natural state, it very well might be, but there should also be a reason why it is bestowed with properties that will enable us to mould and shape it. Think about it, if God did not show us what it meant to be in pain or to suffer and we were given everything our hearts desired, there would there be any incentive or even a reason to improve? (Read : Evolution). We would take life, what it has to offer(including our worldly resources), and even ourselves for granted. We would lie in this realm, stagnating, withering. Without a sense of direction, unknowingly watching this society decay.
You said,
"Dammit, if we were all yogis and perfectly comfortable with what we're given, how do we evolve? Progress is about gettting better. If things seem perfect to all of us what will we aspire for, work towards, look forward to?"
To be perfectly honest, I have no answer, I'm completely confounded. I presume the Gita explains it, I pray I hope it does! But this is exactly why I love your blog so much, you ask such hard hitting questions, you make me view life so skeptically and make my thoughts wander in blasphemous spin alleys which are totally against my belief. There can only be three explanations to this; 1)either what you wrote is makes complete and perfect sense in a very unconventional that I can't possibly fathom without a lot of thought or
2) My morals, ethical principles and convictions about all that I believe(d) in aren't that concrete after all
3)We are yet to find the answer(provided there really IS an answer)
unfortunately since I'm far from omniscient, I won't even attempt to answer this question, at least not till I'm old and grey (and hopefully wise)
I wrote a hell of a lot more than I hoped to and before my badly constructed analysis/paraphrase worsens, I must move on now to a little bit of economic theory. I don't intend on getting termed as a psycho who posts comments which are analysis' of an opinionated subject on a social networking portal hence I shall take leave with one final say; you write beautifully, and I look forward to more of your thoughts with the utmost delight...keep bloggin and stay cool as ever
I shall come back to this if my mind permits!!
Here's a solemn goodbye from the bombastic bombalicious boastful bombay brat, to the lady who's 40 going on 20.
Stay cool as ever,
Prashant
Oh and one final thing, delve deeper...you just might strike gold :)
Prashant,
I am Hindu too - by birth I'm told.. though these days I'm struggling to understand what that term really means. If I deny that God is blue skinned and dances on heads of mutant snakes to prove he's God am I committing blasphemy? Or would I be damned if I don't believe Ganga landed on Shiva's head from heaven or if I believe accept that Sita actually killed herself because her husband turned out to be a regular North Indian MCP and she didn't just 'samao in dharti-maata's godh'??
I don't know. To me my conscience is the voice of God. It guides me, warns me, taunts me. It creates heaven and hell for me right here in my mind. I see God in nature...I can't see Him in temples and Mosques and Churches...yet I do bow my head and say a silent prayer when I pass a place of worship. Its a habit which doesn't hurt my belief system because I treat these places as reminders of God, not as his homes.
Anyway...I'm glad this blog made u think...like I say in my orkut profile a good read is one that takes longer to get over than to read...u don't have to agree..its reward enough that u read it and gave it so much of your precious time.
Thank you. :)
After much thought and an array of questions I asked fellow Hindus(which didn't suffice in the least), I am still halfway between the gutter and the stars. I agree with you in accordance to what you said about blue skinned Gods or the Ganga flowing earthward from Lord Shiva's head. I feel these elements have been highly exaggerated and the characters in these stories that we know as "Gods" might very well be exceptional human beings who have been bestowed with Godlike qualities in order to serve as carriers for the beautiful messages that our religion has to convey. Perhaps messages conveyed by describing these Gods as normal humans wouldn't have the same impact on our society. I'm just making gross assumptions and looking for alternate explanations. I'm undoubtedly still a believer.
and I completely agree about temples not being God's only dwelling place. In essence God is omniscient, omnipotent and in this case also omnipresent, though I too bow my head down in respect whenever passing these places as I have nothing to lose either.
Anita ji,
This is Prashant. I once commented on your blog a long time ago from the 'prashmeister' profile. It has been five years, and I have learnt many new things- as I'm sure you have as well. I would like to discuss what you said further, and am only awaiting your confirmation before I post a reply just to be sure you are still active here.
Regards,
Prashant
Hi Prashant...flattered that you revisited after 5 years. Look forward to your comment. Anita
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