SUFI TALE ABOUT TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE

A stream is wondering across the country, experiencing little difficulty in finding new places to go around rocks and through mountains. Then it comes to a desert. The stream tried to cross this barrier in much the same way as it had other barriers, but it did not work. When it ran into the sand, its water just disappeared and the stream had no identity. It tried many times but all attempts failed. The stream asked, could this be the end? Is there no way for me to continue?

Then a voice comes from the wind, “If you stay the way you are, you can not cross the sands. You will remain a quagmire. To go further you must lose yourself to find yourself again.”

“But if I lose myself, the stream anguished, “I will never know what I’m supposed to be.”

“On the contrary,” said the voice. “If you lose yourself you will become more than you ever dreamed you could be.”

So the stream decided to surrender to the sun and it evaporated into the heavens to form clouds, a sort of death. The clouds were carried many miles across the great desert. Then the stream poured from the clouds as cleansing rain upon the earth and formed a new stream that continued on its journey.