This story from the book “The Five Stages of the Soul” by Harry Moody and David Carroll illustrates the profound difference between intellectual ego, lack of faith, and the power of persistent, humble practice.
“Once upon a time, three men, in search of knowledge, set out with a caravan toward the middle of the desert. They had no idea about the art of gardening and therefore collected everything they found in the sand. But deep in their hearts, each of them hoped to become a good gardener and grow their own trees, flowers, and grasses.
One day, they learned that the Great Gardener would be arriving in their town with the next caravan.
The first man received the news with indifference. ‘Everything I need,’ he thought, ‘I can read in books or achieve through my own efforts.’
The other two were very excited about the opportunity to meet the Great Gardener and eagerly awaited his arrival.
When the caravan arrived in the city, the Great Gardener visited the house of the first man and realized he was determined to follow his own intentions. Therefore, the Great Gardener went to the house of the second man, who had asked to be initiated into the secrets of the art of gardening. The Great Gardener was a kind man and agreed, but on one condition: the student must strictly adhere to his instructions.
Then the Great Gardener asked to be left alone in the place where the future garden was to bloom. When he finished his mysterious work, he gave the second man strange and unexpected instructions. Instead of giving a lecture on the principles of gardening, the teacher pointed to a rod near the fence and told the student to turn it for a few minutes every day, believing in what he was doing. Then he left without further explanation.
It turned out that the second man did not possess the necessary faith and was disappointed by the strange instructions. He expected to learn the cosmic secrets of growth and fertility. Instead, he was asked to perform an action that seemed insignificant, even meaningless. Although he initially did as he promised, he soon stopped turning the rod and finally forgot about it altogether. Nothing ever grew on his dry patch of land. When people asked him about the gardening lessons, he told them he had been cheated by a charlatan.
The Great Gardener also went to the house of the third man. The third man was also disappointed by the instructions given to him. But he turned the rod full of faith, as the Great Gardener had told him. What the third man did not know was that the rod was connected to a cleverly hidden irrigation system that the Great Gardener had buried beneath his land.
One day, while looking at his still-empty garden, the man noticed that a few thin stalks had broken through the soil, nourished by the hidden irrigation system. He was joyful but confused, for he did not know what to do next. But after thinking for a while, he decided to continue following the instructions and turn the rod as he had been told.
And then one day, he made a discovery that entirely changed his life. Looking down at the growing stalks, he saw small letters written on the leaves of every new plant. Rubbing his eyes in amazement, the man looked down again and began to read. To his joy and wonder, the words contained a detailed description of what he should do from then on—how to care for every plant in his garden.
The man continued to work and learn, gradually mastering all the secrets of the rod, the plants, and all of gardening. Finally, his house was buried in fresh greenery and unprecedented fertility. ‘Everything happened so naturally,’ the third man told the people when they came to see his garden. ‘I tried to live without expecting anything at all; I was simply persistent.’“
