A parable is a short story that has some deep philosophical meaning. It makes you think about something important, vital. The most common among the people parables about the meaning of human life, since this is a topic that has been worrying all people from time immemorial. 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. This is because no matter when the described situation occurred, the main thing is the meaning.
Stories do not have to be long, some parables about the meaning of life are short, like a match, and you can have time to read them before it even burns out. However, this does not prevent them from carrying a certain message, which will help one to decide what we live for, while others will simply provide food for thought. Some well-known and interesting parables about the meaning of life are provided below as examples.
Example: Donkey and Well
The donkey fell into the well and began invitingly screaming, attracting the attention of the owner. He really came running, but was in no hurry to get the pet. A “brilliant” idea came into his head: “The well has dried up, it was high time it was 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’ll do 2 useful things right away. ”
No sooner said than done, the man invited the neighbors, and they began tossed together the well and the donkey inside the earth, not paying attention to the cries of the poor animal, who had guessed what was what.
Soon, the donkey fell silent. It became curious to people why he was quiet, they looked into the well and saw such a picture: each lump of land that fell down from above on its back, the donkey was dumped from itself, and then crushed with its hooves. As a result, when the men continued, the animal finally got to the top and got out.
Life sends people many troubles, comparable to clods of the earth. You can whine and scream about how bad and
unjust life is, or you can try to shake the ground and take it to rise. The main thing is not to sit back and do something.
What do the parables teach
Each parable teaches something of its own. For example, the above makes it clear that you should never give up, even in cases where the situation seems hopeless, and also that in order to achieve a positive result, you just need to think carefully and try to find a way out. Most often it is precisely such a meaning that those who are capable of doing are investing in these small philosophical stories. Some parables came to people directly from the sages, some were simply invented by ordinary people, but in any case there is an underlying connotation in any parable, and therefore it is sometimes extremely useful to read them.
In addition, of course, parables help to deal with good and evil, love and sympathy, faith in God, religion in general, the meaning of life and other interesting problems.
Example: Life and Coffee
Once, the graduates of a prestigious college visited their wise professor, who had once taught a lot of them. Gradually, the conversation turned to life's difficulties, and then the teacher offered the children coffee. After consent, the man left, and soon returned with a coffee pot and a tray laden with various cups. Some were beautiful and expensive, made of crystal or porcelain, others were simple and plain, plastic, cheap.
“Look at what you have chosen,” the professor began, when each of his students took a cup. - You all took only the most beautiful and attractive cups, leaving the cheapest 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 is outside, but what is inside. The taste of coffee does not depend on the beauty of the cup, namely it is your main goal. Think about it: coffee is our life, and money, society, work are just cups. We strive for the most beautiful cup, forgetting to fill it with contents. But after all, it serves only as a means to help support life. The main thing is coffee and its taste.
Why 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 try to make a lot of money, strive to live in luxurious homes, dress beautifully and expensively, seek life partners not by love, but by other qualities like wealth and a big name, etc. With all this, a person does not understand that happiness is not at all in a beautiful cup (as well as in candy wrappers, when compared with sweets), but in the content. Surely many have heard that rich people are most often unhappy. They have everything, so they just don’t know what else they need. But poor people living in modest huts can be so happy with their lives that they are simply amazed.
By the way, in parables and similar philosophical stories they like comparisons very much. Even in both of the above examples of life, they are compared with something / someone. This is for a better perception of meaning by man.
At what age is it best to start learning parables
There is no concrete 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 for him to understand.
Nevertheless, some parables are so easy to perceive (most often due to the notorious comparison, which was mentioned earlier) that absolutely anyone can recognize them, even the most distant from philosophy.
Most often, parables begin to interest along with the question of the meaning of life. Someone may be 15 years old, someone 30, but the fact remains: it is parables that help to find answers to life's questions of interest. And absolutely any, since they relate to almost all directions.
East is a delicate matter
Most often, people are not interested in ordinary, but in Eastern parables about the meaning of life. This happens because it is in the East that a greater number of wise men and masters, unlike other peoples, which means that it is from there that full-fledged stories come from, created by true masters of their craft. Of course, this is not always true, since any author can call the parable “eastern”, whether he is from London or Russia, but still people often believe that they are reading the eastern parable, which is why they automatically trust it more than other versions of such stories.
Example: Butterflies and Answers
Once, three beautiful butterflies flew up to a burning candle, admired the fire for some time and began to talk about its nature and meaning. The first one decided to fly a little closer, and soon she returned.
“The fire is shining,” she informed.
Another butterfly decided to keep up with the first, so she also decided to fly up to the candle. As she approached the fire, she was closer than the first friend, in order to better understand what was happening, and therefore the wing slightly burned.
- The fire is burning! She exclaimed, returning to the "girls" waiting for her.
The third butterfly also went to the candle, though, being the boldest of all, she flew straight into the fire. She has not returned, but she fulfilled her dream - to know what the strength and nature of fire is. Unfortunately, she could not tell the truth to the remaining butterflies.
Parables 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. Most often, those who do not know anything speak, and those who know the truth for sure are silent. The dead, for example, know the meaning of life, but they cannot tell it to earthly people, no matter how much they themselves want it.
All parables in one way or another affect the meaning of existence, but they are unlikely to give an exact answer to the curious. Only hints, clues that everyone will perceive in their own way and develop into a full-fledged idea, thought. Not everyone will succeed, however, some will consider that all parables are complete nonsense, but perhaps someday they will still think about this issue.