Primitive Man and the Cave

Thousands of years back, a group of nomadic men discovered a cave for the first time. The men had no idea what to make of it. It was bright daylight outside, and it was pitch dark inside the cave. The men were very scared to enter it. One of the elders suggested that there was a demon sitting inside the cave due to whom they were not able to see inside the cave, even though they could see very well outside the cave. The others readily agreed to this, and started making a plan to drive out the demon so they could occupy the cave. 

One of the men suggested that the demon would be afraid of loud noise. He brought in a set of drums, and played them loudly the whole day day. The “demon” did not budge. Tired, the men retired for the day. The next day, another man chanted mantras that commanded the demon of the cave to leave, but nothing happened. Finally, on the third day, one of the men who had just discovered fire, suggested that the demon might be afraid of fire. He set a torch ablaze and carried it to the mouth of the cave. To the surprise of everyone, the demon “ran for his life” as the man with the burning torch walked inside the cave. The men rejoiced and celebrated their victory over this “demon of darkness”.

We may laugh at the ignorance of these primitive men. We know very well that darkness will not go away by beating drums or chanting mantras. When we bring light to the darkness, the darkness that remained for thousands of years will go away in an instant. Yet, we fail to apply to principle when it comes to our own day to day life. 

All negative emotion such as fear, insecurity, anxiety, grief, anger, depression, doubt, worry, etc is simply a form of “mental darkness”. We spend so much effort in vein, trying to “fight” these “dark forces”. When we wrestle against the things we do not like, when we resist the “problem areas” of our life, we are no different from these ancient men who fought an imaginary demon. When we stop fighting these darknesses and instead bring in the light of love, knowledge, and more positive energy, the dark forces of negativity disappear by themselves. 

Moral: Just as darkness is only the temporary absence of light, negativity/evil is not a real thing, it is only a temporary absence of love.

Courtesy: Inspirations by Sudhir Krishnan