A man is driving down the road and his car breaks down near a
monastery.
He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My
car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The Monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, even fix
his car.
As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. A
sound not like anything he's ever heard before.
The Sirens that nearly seduced Odysseus into crashing his
ship comes to his mind.
He doesn't sleep that night. He tosses and turns trying to
figure out what could possibly be making such a seductive
sound.
The next morning, he asks the Monks what the sound was, but
they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a Monk."
Distraught, the man is forced to leave.
Years later, after never being able to forget that sound, the
man goes back to the monastery and pleads for the answer
again.
The Monks reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a Monk."
The man says, "If the only way I can find out what is making
that beautiful sound is to become a Monk, then please, make
me a Monk."
The Monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how
many blades of grass there are and the exact number of grains
of sand. When you find these answers, you will have become a
Monk."
The man sets about his task.
After years of searching he returns as a gray-haired old man
and knocks on the door of the monastery. A Monk answers. He
is taken before a gathering of all the Monks.
"In my quest to find what makes that beautiful sound, I
traveled the earth and have found what you asked for:
By design, the world is in a state of perpetual change. Only
God knows what you ask. All a man can know is himself, and
only then if he is honest and reflective and willing to strip
away self deception."
The Monks reply, "Congratulations. You have become a Monk. We
shall now show you the way to the mystery of the sacred
sound."
The Monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk
says, "The sound is beyond that door."
The Monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone.
The man is given the key to the stone door and he opens it,
only to find a door made of ruby.
And so it went that he needed keys to doors of emerald, pearl
and diamond.
Finally, they come to a door made of solid gold. The sound
has become very clear and definite. The Monks say, "This is
the last key to the last door."
The man is apprehensive to no end. His life's wish is behind
that door!
With trembling hands, he unlocks the door, turns the knob,
and slowly pushes the door open. Falling to his knees, he is
utterly amazed to discover the source of that haunting and
seductive sound......
But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a Monk.
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