“Eat like an emperor. That doesn’t depend upon the quality of the food, it depends on the eater, the way he celebrates it. Even with just bread, butter, and salt, you can be an emperor.”
Don’t be concerned about what you are doing – do it so wholeheartedly that the very doing becomes a bliss. And don’t think of great things, there is no such thing as great or small. Don’t think that you are to do great things, play great music, paint great paintings, that you are to become a Picasso or a Van Gogh, or something else – a great writer, a Shakespeare, or a Milton. There is nothing – no great things, no small things. There are great men and small men but things are not great and small. And a great man is one who brings his greatness to every small thing that he is doing: he eats in a great way, he walks in a great way, he sleeps in a great way. He brings the quality of greatness to everything. […]
Eat like an emperor. That doesn’t depend upon the quality of the food, it depends on the eater, the way he celebrates it. Even with just bread, butter, and salt, you can be an emperor.
It happened that Epicurus had a garden, just near Athens.…
He was also one of the rarest of men, just like Chuang Tzu. He didn’t believe in God, he didn’t believe in anything, because belief is nonsense. Only foolish people believe. A man of understanding has faith, not belief. Faith is different. Faith means trusting life, trusting it so absolutely that one is ready to go with it, anywhere.
…He had a small garden, and he lived there with his disciples. People thought that he was an atheist, immoral. He did not believe in God, he did not believe in scriptures, he did not believe in any temple; he was an atheist. But he lived in such a great way. His life was superb, magnificent even though he had nothing, even though they were very poor.
The king heard about them, and wanted to see how they lived, and how they could be happy without belief. If you cannot be happy even with a belief in God how could these people be happy without God?
So he came one evening to visit Epicurus’ garden.
He was really surprised, amazed – it was a miracle. They had nothing, almost nothing, but they lived like emperors. Like Gods they lived. Their whole life was a celebration. When they went to the stream to take their bath, it was not simply a bath; it was a dance with the river, it was getting in tune with the river. They sang, and they danced, and they swam, and they jumped, and they dived.
Their eating was a celebration, a feast, and they had nothing, just bread and salt, not even butter. But they felt so thankful that just to be was enough, nothing more was needed.
The emperor was very much impressed, and he asked Epicurus: Next time I come, I would like to bring some gifts for you. What would you like?
Epicurus said: Give us time to think, we never thought that anybody would give us gifts, and we have so many gifts from nature. But if you insist, then bring a little butter, nothing else. Just that will do.
Osho, When the Shoe Fits – Talks on the stories of Chuang Tzu, Ch 1
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
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