The champion among archers in the city of Salimia constantly complained to those around him that he had no worthy rivals. “These miserable people, the inhabitants of Salimia, are worthless archers, and therefore they cannot judge my perfection!” - he repeated again and again to everyone who did not refuse to listen to him. He convinced everyone of his misfortune.
One day a Sufi master passed through this town and stopped to drink tea. In the teahouse, people told him about the unfortunate archer.
“He may naively believe that he suffers from the lack of rivals,” said the sage, “but in fact the Almighty has been more than kind to this man. If there were many worthy archers around him, he would be in constant anxiety that one of them would surpass him today or tomorrow. And if he really needed serious and worthy opponents, then nothing would prevent him from finding them among his fellow citizens. Until people learn to hear the unspoken message and forget empty, meaningless words, their minds will remain in chains.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru