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In a brightly-lit house with spacious rooms, a
pleasant looking man is busy at the kitchen. He is preparing a meal
for his long awaited guest. While hovering over the pots and pans,
he reminds himself of the delicacies his guest is so fond of. His
joyous anticipation is very evident. With the moves of a dancer he
fills the table with five different courses. Next to the table there
are two cushioned chairs.
A nock on the door, enters the guest. The host’s face brightens up
at the site of the guest and he invites him to seat at the dining
table. The guest sits down and the host looks at him fondly. The
guest looks at the delicacies in front of him and sniffs them from a
courteous distance. It is apparent that the guest likes what he
sees, but expresses his admiration with a tactful restraint, not
letting out that he knows the food is meant for him.
Host: Do sit down, I’ve made these things especially for you because
I know how much you like these particular delights. We both know how
familiar I am with your taste and dining habits. I know you’re
hungry and I know how much you can eat, so I’ve prepared everything
exactly the way you like it, exactly to the amount that you can eat
it all without leaving a crumb.
Narrator: If there were any food left when the guest is satiated,
both Host and Guest would be unhappy. The host would be unhappy
because that would mean that he wants to give his guest more than
his guest wants to receive, the guest would be disappointed at not
being able to fulfill the host’s wish that he would consume the lot.
The guest would also regret it, if he were already full, while there
were still more delicacies left over, but no more room in his
stomach to enjoy it. It would mean that there weren’t a sufficient
amount of desire for pleasure.
Guest (solemnly): Indeed you have prepared exactly what I’d like to
see and eat at my dinner table. Even the amount is just right. This
is all I could ever want out of life, to enjoy this. If I were to
have all that than I would probably receive the ultimate divine
pleasure.
Host: Well then, have it all and enjoy it and thus delight me.
The guest begins to eat.
Guest (obviously enjoying and with his mouth full, yet looking
somewhat troubled): Why is it, that the more I eat the less I enjoy
the food? The pleasure I get puts out the hunger and I enjoy it less
and less. The nearer I get to be full the less I enjoy my meal. And
when I’ve received all the food, I’m left with nothing but the
memory of the pleasure, not the pleasure itself. The pleasure was
there only while I was hungry. When the hunger faded away, so did
the joy. I’ve received what I so wished for and here I am left with
neither pleasure nor joy. I don’t want anything anymore and have
nothing to bring me joy.
Host (a little resentful): I’ve done all I could for you to enjoy.
It isn’t my fault that the very receiving of pleasure distinguishes
the sensation of delight because the yearning is gone. In any case,
you’re now full of what I have prepared for you.
Guest (defending himself): By receiving all that you’ve prepared for
me I can’t even thank you, because I’ve stopped enjoying the
abundance you’ve given me. The main thing is that I feel you have
given me while I have given you nothing in return. So the outcome is
that you’ve caused me to feel shame, by thoughtlessly manifesting
that you are the giver and I’m the taker.
Host: I didn’t show you that you’re the receiver and I’m the giver.
But the very fact that you’ve received something from without caused
you to feel you were receiving from me, despite the fact that
kindness is my nature and I want nothing more than to have you
accept my food. I can’t change that. For example: I grow fish. They
don’t care who feeds and nourishes them... I also tend to Bob, my
cat, he too couldn’t care less whose was the hand that fed him. But
Rex, my dog does care and he will not take food from just anyone.
People are built in such a way that there are some who receive
without sensing that someone is giving them, and they just take.
Some even steal with no remorse! But if a person has a developed
sense of self, he feels the giver and it awakens in him the
awareness that he is the taker. That brings with it shame,
self-reproach and agony as a result.
Guest (somewhat appeased): But what can I do to receive the pleasure
on the one hand and on the other, not perceive myself as the taker?
How can I neutralize the feeling within me that you are the giver
and I’m the taker? If there’s a give and take situation and it
brings this shame in me, what can I do to avoid it? Or that perhaps
you will act in such a way that I will not feel as the receiver! But
then that’s possible only if I’m unaware of your existence (just
like fish) or if I sensed you but did not understand that you are
giving me (like the cat) or an underdeveloped human.
Host (narrowing his eyes in concentration and speaking
thoughtfully): I think there’s a solution after all. Perhaps you’ll
perform an act upon yourself that will neutralize the sensation of
reception within you?
Guest (His eyes light up): Oh, I’ve got it ! You’ve always wanted to
have me as your guest. So, tomorrow, I will come here and will
perform the reception in such a way that will make you feel not as
the giver, but as the receiver. I will still be the receiver, of
course, eating all that you’ve prepared, but I will perceive myself
as the giver.
To act two |
