This is an ancient Sufi Parable called “The Story of Fire”, taken from a book by Idries Shah.
Once upon a time, a man named Nour was contem- plating the ways in which nature operates. Because of his focused concentration and consistent application, he eventually discovered how fire could be made.
Nour decided to travel from one community to another in order to share this unique discovery. In fact, during his travels Nour passed along the secret of creating fire to many groups of people.
Some people took advantage of the discovered knowledge. Others, before they had taken the time to understand just how valuable this discovery could be to them, suddenly thought that he was dangerous, and immediately decided to drive Nour away.
Eventually, a tribe before which he demonstrated the skill of creating fire became so panic stricken, that they thought he must be some kind of demon-so they suddenly attacked and killed him.
Many Centuries Passed..
The first tribe that had learned about creating fire reserved the secret only for their priests; who remained in affluence and power, while all of the other people of the tribe froze.
The second tribe forgot the method of creating fire, and instead worshiped the instruments used to create it.
The third tribe worshiped the likeness of Nour himself, because it was he who had taught them how to manifest this supernatural
skill.
The fourth tribe retained the story of making fire in their legends; and some people believed in the story, while others did not. • The fifth tribe retained the art of creating fire, and this practical skill enabled them to stay warm, cook their food, and to manufacture all kinds of useful articles such as pottery and various hunting and farming tools.
After many, many years, a wise sage and a small band of his close disciples were traveling through the lands of these various tribes. All of the disciples were truly amazed at the variety of customs and rituals they had encountered over the simple art of creating fire. One by one, all of the disciples approached their master and said, “All of these procedures are in fact simply related to the art of making fire, and nothing more. We should therefore try to re-educate and reform all of these people!”
The wise master looked at all of his disciples and said: “Very well. We shall restart our journey. And by the end of our travels, you will understand the true problems associated with this type of condition, and how to approach it.’
The Reaction of the First Tribe: When the wise sage and his small band of disciples reached the first tribe, they were hospitably received. And all of the priests invited the travelers to attend their special religious ceremony that centered around the making of fire. When the ceremony was over and the tribe was in a state of excitement at the event which they had just witnessed, the master looked at his disciples and asked: “Does anyone wish to speak?”
One of his disciples stood up and said: “In the cause of Truth, I feel myself constrained to say something to all of these people. At which the master said, “If you understand that you will do so at your own risk, then you may proceed.”
So the disciple stepped forward, and in the presence of the tribal chief and all of his high priests said the following:
“I can perform this same miracle, which all of you take to be a special manifestation of a deity. If I do so, will each of you accept the fact that you have been in error for so many years?”
Suddenly all of the high priests cried out: “Seize him!” and the disciple was immediately taken away, and was never seen or heard of again.
The Reaction of the Second Tribe: The small band of travelers then went to the next territory, where the second tribe was worshiping the instruments of fire making. Again another disciple volunteered to try to bring reason to the community. With the permission of his master, the disciple looked at the entire gathering and said:
“I beg permission to speak to you, as reasonable people. You are worshiping the means whereby something may be done, and not the thing itself. You are therefore completely missing the effective usefulness of these instruments. I know the reality and true manifestation that lies at the very foundation of this special ceremony.’ This tribe was composed of more reasonable people. However they all looked at the outspoken disciple and immediately said:
“You are welcome as a traveler and stranger in our midst. But as a stranger, foreign to our history and our special customs, you cannot understand what we are doing. Therefore your understand- ing is wrong, and perhaps you are even trying to take away or alter our religion. We therefore decline to listen to you, and suggest that you immediately leave.” And with that, the travelers moved on.
The Reaction of the Third Tribe: They then arrived in the land of the third tribe. Before every dwelling they found an idol rep- resenting Nour, the original fire maker. A third disciple stood up and addressed all of the chiefs and priests of that tribe, and said: “This idol represents a man, who represents a capacity that can be used.” Immediately the Nour-worshippers answered, “That may be so, but the true understanding of the real secret is only given to the few.”
Upon hearing this, the third disciple answered, “It is only for the few who are open to truly listen and choose to understand-and not for those who simply refuse to face certain facts.”
Immediately all of the tribe’s priests suddenly shouted, “This is rank heresy! From a man who does not even correctly speak our language, and is not a priest ordained in our faith!” And so the third disciple could make no headway.
The Reaction of the Fourth Tribe: The small band continued on their journey, and finally arrived in the land of the fourth tribe, who retained the story of fire making in their legends. A fourth dis- ciple stepped forward in the assembly of the people, and addressed the gathering, saying: “The story of fire making is indeed true, and I know how this special skill may exactly be done.”
Suddenly a great confusion broke out, which caused the people to split into various factions. Some of the people said: “This may be true, and if it is, we want to find out how to make fire.” However, when those individuals were further examined by the master and his followers, it was discovered that most of them only wanted to use fire making for their own personal advantage, and did not care at all that it was something that could help all humans to further evolve and progress. So deep had the distorted legends penetrated into the hearts and minds of these people, that even those individuals who thought that the story of making fire might indeed be true often were so emotionally unbalanced that they would not be able to make fire, even if they had been shown how.
There was also another faction of this community who said: “Of course the legends are not true. This man is simply trying to fool us, and is only trying to make a name for himself here in our tribe.”
And an additional faction of the community said: “We prefer the legends as they are, for they are the very mortar that binds our community together in unity. Therefore if we abandon them, and we find that this new interpretation is useless, what will then become of our community?”
And there were other points of view expressed by different members of this community.
The Reaction of the Fifth Tribe: So the small party traveled on until they reached the lands of the fifth tribe. Here fire making was a common place practice, and other things preoccupied the interests of the people.
At the end of the journey, the wise sage looked over all of his remaining disciples, and then quietly said to them the following:
“You have to learn how to teach; because people do not want to be taught. In order to accomplish this, you must teach people how to learn; And even before that, you must first teach them that there is still something more that needs to be learned. Although they imagine that they are now ready to learn, In all truth, they only want what they think must be learned, and not what it is
that they truly need to learn. Only when you have learned all of this, can you then devise the way
in which to teach them. For having knowledge without having the special capacity to teach others, is not the same as having both knowledge and ability.”
