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The Fable Of Kintsukuroi
Once upon a time, in the far, far east, east even of Eden,
lived a great emperor, in a great palace, gorgeously stocked
with the richest of goods. It was early spring, and the season
of royal visits, when kings and princes called on one another
and admired each others’ choicest possessions, gave wonderful
gifts and enjoyed bountiful banquets. And this year was special,
because the visitors would see the investiture of his beloved
son Kintsukuroi as Crown Prince of the empire.
The emperor was excited this year because he had a new and
beautiful bowl to show to his friends, specially made for him by
the finest of craftsmen from the finest of materials. Imagine
then his horror when on going to his cabinet he discovered that
it was broken apart, into a hundred pieces. How could it have
happened? No one knew. What could be done about it before the
first visitors arrived? No one could offer any idea, for the
time was too short to start again and make another one.
The emperor was dismayed, sad that he could not show off his
beautiful bowl, but even sadder that something so beautiful
should have broken. He retired into his private apartments with
only his beloved son to share his sorrow, and they talked long
into the night together.
Next morning the emperor woke to the sound of a great commotion.
His senior ministers demanded to see him urgently. The cabinet
of treasures had now been broken into, and this time the great
new golden diadem that has been made for his beloved son, ready
for the investiture, was quite simply gone—along with the broken
pieces of the broken bowl, but who cared about those now.
What is more, the thief had been seen, but not recognized, since
he was covered in dirt and scars, with nothing to distinguish
him from a thousand other down-and-outs who hung around the
palace, for the emperor—to the annoyance of his
ministers—refused to turn them out but shared his food with
them.
No one knew for sure where the thief had gone, but he had, they
thought, run off towards the princes apartments. There the doors
were most unusually now locked and there was no answer to their
knocking, though they could hear sounds inside. Would the
emperor give his permission for them to break down the door:
they dare not act without it.
The emperor was silent for many minutes. On his face his
ministers saw sadness but not anger, lament but also love. What
was going on? Eventually the emperor spoke. “Leave the prince
and his apartments alone. If he is ready to rule, he must be
allowed to act. His will and my will are as one.” The ministers
were not at all sure just what this meant, but the message was
clear. They were to do precisely nothing.
So the day passed. The emperor remained in his private
apartments. Those of the prince remained locked, though smoke
could be seen coming out of the chimney and a fire had obviously
been lit. And eventually the ministers tired of their waiting
and went to bed. The important guests were expected the very
next day.
Imagine now their surprise in the morning when they went to the
treasure cabinet to prepare its items for display and found the
precious bowl back in its place, whole again, but glistening
with veins of gold where the cracks had been. Its beauty seemed
all the greater. And by it the prince’s crown, a slim band now,
but speaking in its simplicity of a strength, an authority all
the more striking, because it had given itself away and given
glory to another, but was the greater itself for it. The
investiture could go ahead.
A smile of secret understanding passed between the emperor and
the son whose newly scarred hands had shown him worthy to come
into the kingdom.
Kintsukuroi means ‘to repair with gold’ in Japanese, and is the
art of repairing pottery with gold and understanding that the
piece is the more beautiful for having been broken.
Source: David Thompson
The Human Odyssey...
The earliest remains of the Homo
sapiens yet discovered dates back to 300,000 years.
We probably evolved in the
African region,
but then migrated to the rest of the world. Although our
physical appearance changed over time, our race didn't: we
remained human beings.
Remains of the world's
earliest religious worship site
have been discovered in Botswana, where our ancestors performed
advanced rituals, worshipping the python some 70,000 years ago.
So many religions have emerged and disappeared that no religion
can claim superiority over other religions. Religion is only one
of the
means to realize God, but
it is not an end to itself.
The central problem facing our planet is human overpopulation.
Today there are over
8 billion beings on Earth and the
population is still growing. There are too many people and
not enough resources for all of us. Yet,
we are not addressing this
problem responsibly. Do you really think your life will be
better if there are more people of your colour,
caste or creed on
Earth?
Initially used as fire for light, heat, cooking and for safety,
energy has been harnessed by humans for millennia. Today, fossil
fuels have become our main energy sources. This is leading to
climate change and global warming.
The Earth has entered a new era called
anthropocene, which marks
the beginning of the
sixth mass extinction. Many species have already disappeared
from the planet and our own days, as a species, are numbered.
Artificial intelligence has surpassed human intelligence. While
humans think they will be using
AI to win wars against other
nations, AI itself has outwitted human psychology to make us
lose each and every war. Warfare has never been a solution to
human problems...