A Parable

Suppose a man is pointing.

What’s he pointing at?

You follow an imaginary line reaching out from his fingertip to…

A tree.

What’s so special about that tree? Perhaps you investigate the tree, but you find nothing extraordinary about it.

Back to the man. He is still pointing.

You get closer to him now. From this short distance you can trace that imaginary line more effectively. You see now that it reaches from his finger to… a cloud, just above the horizon.

But that cloud, too, is nothing special to you.

Now, some will walk away for good.

“Have you seen that nut out there,” they say, laughing among one another, “standing and pointing all day at nothing?”

Others will examine even further. Yearning to understand, they carefully examine the silently pointing man’s finger: the bend of each joint, every crease of the skin, every fold of it bunched up around knuckles. After a very long time they become expert in the object of their study, able to describe in extraordinary detail the pointing finger, but never that to which it points.

Still others, desiring to know what the man is really pointing at, need to see the pointing finger from the man’s own perspective. Although no one can climb within his body and stand directly in the spot he occupies, seeing through his very eyes, these people get as close as they can.

Ducking beneath his outstretched arm, these seekers get uncomfortably close. They move in right up next to the man and press their backs against his body, position their feet between his. Sometimes crouching or lifting onto tiptoes, they align their eyes perfectly with the man’s. They sight along his arm, down to the pointing finger, and look out into the distance.

Here, they see something. Something important; something far more meaningful to them than the pointing or even the man himself ever was.

And so they move.

Sometimes they thank the man, sometimes kissing the outstretched hand and often forevermore crediting him for inspiring their search. But the man remains in his place, and the curious seekers are off on their own journey.

Behind them, the man smiles.

Soon, along comes another.

Hey, whats he pointing at?

A parable whose meaning is left entirely up to the reader. I hope you enjoyed it. Recommendations and comments are very welcome. Thank you for reading.