A Sufi story
Once an Independent Chief of an indigenous clan was invited by a king of an Empire. The officials of the Empire intended to illustrate the warlike capacities they had so that the Independent Chief realizes the power of the Empire.
So a great many arms and armies were organized in an arena and one by one each weapon was used to demonstrate its capacity. The officers of the Empire who were accompanying the Independent Chief shouted enthusiastically in order to draw the Chief’s attention every time the shells hit their targets, or the soldiers marched or a bomb was blasted.
After the show was over, the Independent Chief went back to his land. After some time, he invited the officers of the Empire who had accompanied him during the weaponry tour.
Once the officers had rested and eaten, the Independent Chief took the officers on a tour of his stables. He pointed out some horses.
One of the horses was being fed. “Look, how he eats!” roared the Independent Chief.
Another was being exercised. “See he can actually walk and run!” said the Independent Chief while clapping his hands in excitement.
The visiting officers thought that their host must be mad.
They were unable to fathom his extraordinary behaviour until he had to say, as they were leaving: “You have seen, gentlemen, if you have guns which do exactly what they were designed to do – hitting the target – I, too, am surrounded by things which also appear to be fulfilling their function quite adequately. What I have learned from you is to get excited about it.”
This is a sarcastic commentary on man’s tendency to flaunt and get over excited about new innovations of science. While such innovations do have their own usefulness, our mind makes them much more important and special than they really are. Consequently our mind gets attached and captivated by its own constructed sense of pride.