The key to success - Being who you really are

byAntuk

100 followers

Updated 9 years ago

“Who are you?” whispered the old man, his voice hushed as he sat down next to Tom.

The young man didn’t even look up to see who was disturbing him from his important task. He had been in library day after day for weeks searching through book after book trying to find an answer to this very question. In fact if he was honest, self help books had become an obsession in recent years as he sought answers to life’s deepest questions.

“ Shsssh !” he replied in a hissing tone, putting a finger to his lips, not even looking up to see who his inquisitor might be.

“Who are you?” repeated the old man softly, not seeming to take any notice of the young man’s indifference to his question.

Tom, engrossed in the chapter Find Who You Really Are and Achieve Success waved his hand in the direction of the old man’s voice in an effort to thwart his questioning. He had no time for the olds mans polite conversation that seemed insistent on disturbing him.

“Who are you?” repeated the old man, his voice strangely calm, not responding to the obvious disinterest of the young man.

The young man exhaled deeply into the txt of the open book. “ My name is Tom “ his words hissing from his mouth, almost bouncing on the text he was studying before reverberating around the Quiet Study room, causing a number eyes to raise from their books and cast a disapproving stare in his direction.

The old man moved closer to Tom, looking knowingly into his face. “ Who are you?” he repeated in exactly the same soft tone, pressing his face ever closer to Toms.

“I just told you my name is Tom, now please leave me alone, can’t you see I am very busy” replied Tom, his voice betraying the frustration that he clearly felt.

“Who are you”? He heard the old man’s voice yet again.

“What was his problem”? Tom thought, if he was lonely why he doesn’t find someone else to talk to or go to the old people’s shelter, there will be plenty of his kind there. Either way he wished he would just go away.

Tom focussed on the words in his book in an effort to thwart the attentions of the old man hoping he would simply give up and go and harangue someone else. He read the lines of the second paragraph starting with the words “You are not your name. Your name is simply a label”.

“Very Interesting” Tom thought to himself, losing himself once again in his studies.

“Who are you?” That bloody old man was still there, insistent on annoying him. He reminded him of his elderly father, always on the phone seeking attention, disturbing him at important times.

“I am a Human Being “Tom replied under his breath, secretly pleased with his insightful answer, hoping it would appease his inquisitor so he would go and annoy someone else.

“Then tell me Tom, tell me what are you Being?” asked the old man in a tone that caused Tom to look up instantly as the great truth was revealed.

The old man was gone.

Tom lowered his eyes in shame, he had his answer. He was a Human Being Unloving. The full force of the revelation shook him to the core. He stood slowly and leaving the book open at the table, he made his way outside; numb with the impact that he had created his own destiny.

He stumbled out of the library, into the sunlight of the mid-day sun and onto the busy street. His eyes half closed, partly to defend against the sun and partly to block out the world he had chosen to experience.

He didn’t notice lady struggling to pick up shopping from her burst bag until he fell amongst it on the pavement. Extricating himself from her shopping while picking himself up from the pavement, he was too numb to curse as he would surely have done only a few hours ago. He accepted the lady’s profuse apologies and began to help pick the shopping up and place in the replacement bag. After all, he needed every distraction to prevent him reminding himself of who he was.

Then it happened. Slowly at first but it happened. So slowly that he hardly noticed it at first. It was only as he placed the third item into the outstretched bag that he noticed he started to feel less numb. With each item he placed in the bag he felt less and less numb, as if a weight was steadily being lifted from his shoulders. As he accompanied the lady to the bus stop carrying her newly filled bag he felt good, he felt very good. He felt more alive than he had done for years, a different person in fact.

As he walked away from the bus stop, waving to the lady as he went, he heard the old man whisper the words “Now you are a Human Being Loving. Because of this you experience yourself as you really are.”

Unable to contain his curiosity amid his very obvious transformation, Tom asked “But how can this be?”

Tom didn’t even look around as he heard the words “Because my forgiveness is instant, now go and show others as I have shown you”. He knew where they had come from.

Elated beyond his wildest dreams, he allowed himself to be guided by the old man’s invisible hand.

Turning around, he walked back up the street and into the library, sat down at one of the public computer terminals and began to type.

After an hour typing at the keyboard Tom reclined in his seat and read his words silently back.

“Who are you?” whispered the old man, his voice hushed as he sat down next to Tom. The young man didn’t even look up to see who was disturbing him from his important task. He had been in library day after day for weeks searching through book after book................ “Then tell me Tom, tell me what are you Being?” asked the old man in a tone that caused Tom to look up instantly as the great truth was revealed.

Now all he had to do was publish the completed article but he was sure the old man would guide him.