The Wise man and the Villagers
- cazocompass
- Nov 17, 2025
- 2 min read
There was a wise man in a village. The villagers really enjoyed having the wise man there. He provided a patient ear and insight. The villagers leveraged having him in their community by asking him for support. Every day they would go to him. The villagers asked him for answers to complex problems. He would provide some thoughts to them and even work through ideas to help resolve the problems.
After some time, he began to notice a pattern. They would share the same stories. Regardless as to how much time he would spend with them problem solving, they would not resolve their problems, instead, they would return with the same problems every single day. He would raise this with the villagers. They heard him, however, they would still return with the same stories.
One day he told a joke to the villagers gathered. All of the villagers laughed. As he had their attention, he told the same joke again. He paused and waited for their reaction: some laughed; others looked confused. He smiled and told the same joke a third time. He paused with a smile and waited for their reaction - no one laughed. He looked at the villagers and he said you can’t laugh at a joke, three times in a row, but you can come here and share your misery of the same thing every single day. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is an option.
We can “drag ourselves across the coals” as we look back at our decisions and regret actions we have taken. These experiences are not meant to punish us. They are an opening for us to learn and grow. Even the hardest life experiences are really opportunities for us to learn and flow with the change. If we try to stop the flow, pressure builds and creates anxiety. As we go with the flow and the change, we travel with the current of change and decrease suffering.
(See video below)
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