Self-mastery (true)
We acquire it in the midst of other people
May 23rd 2025
Once upon a time, there were two brothers. One was a cobbler in a little village, and the other lived alone in the mountains, where he had retired to pray, meditate and avoid the seductions of the world—and of women. He had become so pure, it was said, that he could continue to hold a snowball in his hand and it would not melt. The years went by, and one day the cobbler went to visit his brother in his mountain retreat. He marvelled at the silence and the clean air, then invited his brother to return with him and spend a few days in the village. The hermit agreed. A few days later, as the hermit was sitting in the shop, waiting for his brother who was busy with his customers, he noticed a pretty woman lifting the hem of her skirts to try on a shoe. The cobbler, helping her to put it on, calmly touched the lady’s foot, but the hermit, watching this, felt that his snowball was beginning to melt! He then understood that true purity is not acquired in the desert or in the solitude of a mountain, but in life.
Yes, it is in life, in the midst of other people, that we acquire true strength and true self-mastery. Nobody has ever developed their full potential by taking refuge in the peace and silence of the mountains.*
* Related reading:
Yes, it is in life, in the midst of other people, that we acquire true strength and true self-mastery. Nobody has ever developed their full potential by taking refuge in the peace and silence of the mountains.*
* Related reading:
