The best parables about the meaning of life

The parable is a short story that has a profound philosophical meaning. It makes you think about something important, vital. The most common in the people of the parable of the meaning of human life, because this is the theme that worries all people from time immemorial. The old stories brought from the last century are valued as more wise, they feel the experience of previous generations. However, do not underestimate the modern parables about the meaning of life, they are no less in demand. All because, without a difference, when the described situation occurred, the main thing is the meaning.

The stories do not have to be long, some parables about the meaning of life are short, like a match, and you can read them before it burns out. However, this does not prevent them from carrying a message that alone will help determine what we are living for, and others will simply give food for thought. Below as examples are given some famous and interesting parables about the meaning of life.

Example: "A donkey and a well"

The donkey fell into the well and began screaming, attracting the attention of the host. He really ran, but did not hurry to get the pet. A "brilliant" idea came into his head: "The well is dry, it's time to bury it and create a new one. The donkey is also old, it's time to start a new one. I'll fall asleep right now! I will do 2 useful things at once. "

Said - done, invited the male neighbors, and they began to throw together the well and the inside of the donkey, ignoring the cries of the poor animal, who guessed what's what.

Soon the donkey fell silent. Curiously, people began to understand why he was quiet, they looked into the well and saw a picture: every clod of earth that fell on top of his back, the donkey threw off himself, and then hoofed. As a result, when the men continued, the animal finally reached the top and got out.

Life sends people a lot of trouble, comparable to lumps of earth. You can whine and scream about how bad and unfair life is, or you can try to shake off the ground and crush it to rise. The main thing is not to sit back and do something.

What Parables Are Teaching

Each parable teaches something of its own. For example, the above shows that you can never give up, even when the situation seems hopeless, and that to achieve a positive result, you just have to think hard and try to find a way out. Most often, it is this sense that those who are capable of doing this invest in these little philosophical stories. Some parables came to people straight from the sages, some are simply invented by ordinary people, but in any case the deep implication is in any parable, and therefore reading them is sometimes extremely useful.

In addition, of course, parables help to deal with good and evil, love and sympathy, faith in God, religion in general, with the meaning of life and with other issues of interest.

Example: "Life and coffee"

Once graduates of a prestigious college went to visit their wise professor, who had taught them a lot. Gradually, the conversation turned to life's difficulties, and then the teacher offered the guys coffee. After consent, the man left, and soon returned with a coffee pot and a variety of cups filled with a tray. Some were beautiful and expensive, made of crystal or porcelain, others - simple and unpretentious, plastic, cheap.

"Look what you chose," the professor began, as each of his students took a cup. - You all took only the most beautiful and attractive cups, leaving cheap on a tray. This is the source of your troubles - you strive to get all the best for yourself. But the main thing is not what's outside, but what's inside. The taste of coffee does not depend on the beauty of the cup, but it is your main goal. Think: coffee - this is our life, and money, society, work - it's just a cup. We are striving for the most beautiful cup, forgetting to fill it with contents. But in fact it serves only as a means to help support life. The main thing is coffee and its taste.

Why the parables are useful

From the example above, it is immediately clear that parables can carry a truly large-scale thought. Indeed, our lives are comparable to coffee. People are trying to earn a lot of money, they want to live in luxury houses, they dress nicely and expensively, they are looking for their companions for life not for love, but for other qualities like wealth and a loud name, etc. With all this, people do not understand that happiness is not in a beautiful cup (and also in a wrapper, if you compare it to candy), but in content. Surely many people have heard that rich people are often unhappy. They have everything, so they just do not know what else they need. But poor people living in humble huts can be so happy with their lives that you are simply amazed.

By the way, parables and similar philosophical stories are very fond of comparisons. Even in both of the examples above, life is compared with something / someone. This happens for a better sense of the person.

At what age is it better to start learning parables

There is no specific answer to this question, but the older the person, the wiser he is, and therefore the real meaning that the authors wanted to convey to the reader is easier to understand. Nevertheless, some of the parables are so easy to perceive (most often due to the notorious comparison, which was mentioned earlier) that absolutely any person, even the most remote from philosophy, can understand them.

Most often parables begin to interest with the question about the meaning of life that comes to mind. Someone may have it at 15, someone at 30, but the fact remains: it is the parables that help to find answers to life's questions of interest. And absolutely any, as they concern almost all directions.

East is a delicate matter

Most often people are interested not in ordinary, but in eastern parables about the meaning of life. This is because it is in the East that a greater number of wise men and masters, unlike other nations, and hence full-fledged stories, created by the true masters of their cause, flow from there. Not always, of course, this is true, because any author can be called a parable of the "east", whether he is from London or Russia, but still people often believe that they read the eastern parable, why they automatically trust her more than other versions of such stories.

Example: "Butterflies and Answers"

One day three beautiful butterflies flew to the burning candle, admired some time for the fire and began to discuss its nature and meaning. The first decided to fly a little closer, and soon she returned.

"The fire is shining," she said.

Another butterfly decided to keep up with the first, so she also decided to fly up to the candle. Only approached the fire, she is closer to her first friend, in order to better understand what's what, and that is why the wing has slightly inflamed.

"The fire is burning!" - she exclaimed, returning to the waiting for her "girls".

The third butterfly also went to the candle, however, being bolder than everyone, she flew straight into the fire. She has not returned, but her dream is to know what the strength and nature of the fire - she fulfilled. Unfortunately, she could not tell the truth to the remaining butterflies.

Proverbs and the meaning of life

Everyone is looking for the true value of human existence on Earth. However, as can be seen from the above example: knowledge is a powerful force. More often than not, those who do not know anything speak, and those who know the truth are silent. The dead, for example, know the meaning of life, but they can not tell it to earthly people, no matter how they want it.

All parables somehow affect the meaning of existence, but they are unlikely to give an exact answer curious. Only hints, tips, which everyone will perceive in their own way and develop into a full-fledged idea, a thought. Not everyone will get it, however, some will consider that all the parables are complete nonsense, but perhaps someday they will still think about this question.