One evening a belated traveler knocked on the sage's door. The sage invited him into the house, treated him to a simple dinner, and they started talking.
- Listen! - said the guest. – The fame of your wisdom has reached our lands. You know a lot. Can you explain to me why a person lives in this world, what is the meaning of life?
- What do you think about this? - asked the sage.
“I thought a lot about this, but I never found an answer.” Every day I do the same thing: work, eat, sleep, rest... Day gives way to night, after which the same day comes again. Weeks, months, years flash by. After winter, summer will come, then winter again. I find happiness and then lose it again. Everything revolves in some kind of meaningless circle. In my opinion, this makes no sense.
The sage, without saying anything, led the questioner to a large, steadily ticking clock, and opened the door of the mechanism. Inside there were many wheels that rotated - some faster, others slower - with their teeth engaging one another and setting the arrows in motion.
“Look,” the sage broke the silence, “at this wheel... or at this one.” They rotate in one place all the time. What do you think is the purpose of turning one wheel?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru