obsessive thinking and pre-occupying worry

An old Sufi story tells of a man who found a bottle with a genie inside of it. He pulled the stopper out of the bottle and with a huge puff of smoke, the giant genie was freed and would grant the man anything he wished for.

“But”, the genie told him, “I haven’t had anything to do for a thousand years and am starved for work. So, you must keep me busy or I’ll eat you.”

The man thought that he had been granted a wonderful gift and was sure that he could keep the genie busy with no trouble and would finally get his fondest wish granted. The man immediately told the genie that he had always wanted to have a wonderful castle and no sooner had he voiced it than the wish was granted and a spectacular castle appeared before him. It was the grandest castle in the world. He thanked the genie and promptly wished for some food. In a flash, the worlds best chefs appeared before him with their most famous dishes prepared and ready to be eaten.

The man sat down and started to eat when the genie bellowed, “The only thing that’s going to be eaten is you – if you don’t give me some work to do.” The man trembled in fear and quickly said, “Bring me the most beautiful women in the world to amuse me.” Once again, he was amazed to find that his wish was instantly granted and the room was filled with women of all sizes, colours, nationalities, and all spectacularly beautiful. He had just started to introduce himself when he became aware that the genie was licking his lips and looking hungry.

It was then that he realised that he was in real trouble and didn’t know what to do. He then made his first wise wish – “Genie, take me to the wisest man in the world.” In a flash, he found himself on a mountaintop seated in front of a little old man in a robe. He said, “I know you are the wisest man in the world because that’s who I wished to see and all my wishes come true, but now I don’t know what else to wish for and if I can’t keep the genie busy, he will eat me. Please sir, help me.”

The wise man told him, “All your wishes were selfish. What you must do is promise to share your wealth with everyone everywhere and I will help you.” The man quickly agreed as he became aware that the genie was sharpening up his knife and fork while putting a bib on.

The wise man pulled a hair out of his curly beard and told the man to give it to the genie and command the genie to straighten the hair and keep it straight. The man gave the genie the hair and the command to keep it straight. The genie held each end of the hair in his hands and pulled it straight. With a hungry look, he let go of one end and reached for the man so as to devour him. But, the hair then sprang back to its curly state. The genie then pulled it straight again, leered, and started to grab at the man. Once again, the hair curled up and once again the genie stopped his attack and pulled it straight. The man saw that he had finally given the genie a task it would never finish completing until he wished him to.

He thanked the wise man profusely and kept his vow for the rest of his days. And the man lived happily ever after.

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If you happen to be in Cape Town this evening, Kev at Labyrinth is exploring century old spiritual tools to cope with obsessive thinking and pre-occupying worry. In his words "forward the invite to your friends - they get lost inside too!"