{"id":797,"date":"2026-01-30T17:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psychologytoinfinite.com\/?p=797"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:27:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:27:29","slug":"the-thief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychologytoinfinite.com\/?p=797","title":{"rendered":"The Thief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Sufi story<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Once lived a man who was an intellectual. One night he started running through the city streets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThief, Thief!\u201d<\/em> he cried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People surrounded him, and when he was a little calmer, asked: \u201cWhere is the thief?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my house.\u201d<\/em> The man replied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you see him?\u201d <\/em>People asked again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/em> Came the man\u2019s reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWas anything missing?\u201d<\/em> asked the surprised people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/em> The man replied again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People then asked with much curiosity, \u201cIn that case, how do you know there was a thief?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man replied promptly: \u201cI 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!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s mind, then it can keep a man perpetually in a state of imagined fear or excitement, snapping away all \u201cawareness\u201d of reality. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sufi story Once lived a man who was an intellectual. One night he started running through the city streets. \u201cThief, Thief!\u201d he cried. People surrounded him, and when he was a little calmer, asked: \u201cWhere is the thief?\u201d \u201cIn my house.\u201d The man replied.  \u201cDid you see him?\u201d People asked again.  \u201cNo.\u201d Came the… Continue reading The Thief<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,88],"tags":[24,46,95,11,172,47,25,114,33],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folklores","category-stories","tag-folktales","tag-greaterpsychology","tag-mindfulness","tag-psychology","tag-restless-mind","tag-stories","tag-sufi","tag-sufi-stories","tag-wisdom","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Thief - Psychology to Infinite<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/psychologytoinfinite.com\/?p=797\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Thief - Psychology to Infinite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Sufi story Once lived a man who was an intellectual. 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