A Sufi story
Once lived a man who was an intellectual. One night he started running through the city streets.
“Thief, Thief!” he cried.
People surrounded him, and when he was a little calmer, asked: “Where is the thief?”
“In my house.” The man replied.
“Did you see him?” People asked again.
“No.” Came the man’s reply.
“Was anything missing?” asked the surprised people.
“No.” The man replied again.
People then asked with much curiosity, “In that case, how do you know there was a thief?”
The man replied promptly: “I was lying in bed when I remembered that thieves break into houses without a sound, and move very quietly. I could hear nothing lying on the bed. So I knew that there was a thief in the house. It is that simple. How foolish of you people to ask such questions!”
This story is a humorous and subtle commentary on the uselessness of an uncontrolled mind. If the mind is not trained then thoughts run free and can go to an absurd extent. If thoughts take full control of one’s mind, then it can keep a man perpetually in a state of imagined fear or excitement, snapping away all “awareness” of reality.