ONCE IT HAPPENED……
Aesop, the greatest master of story-telling, was going out of Athens. He met a man who was coming from Argos. They talked. The man from Argos asked Aesop, "You are coming from Athens. Please tell me some thing about the people there: what manner of men they are, what they are like."
Aesop asked the man, "First you tell me what type of people are there in Argos."
The man said, "Very disgusting, nauseating, violent, quarrelsome." And all these qualities flashed on the face of the man.
Aesop said, "I am sorry. You will find the people of Athens just the same."
Later on, he met another man who was also from Argos, and he also asked the same question: "You are coming from Athens and you have lived your whole life there — what manner of men are they there? What are they like?"
And Aesop again asked, "First tell me what manner of men are there in Argos."
And the man became aflame with nostalgia… a very loving memory of the people of Argos. His face shone and he said, "Very pleasant, friendly, kind, and good neighbours."
Aesop said, "I am happy to tell you that you will find the people of Athens just the same."
The story is tremendously beautiful. It tells a very basic truth about man: wherever you go, you will always find yourself; wherever you look, you will always encounter yourself. The whole world is nothing but a mirror, and all relationships are mirrors. Again and again you encounter yourself — and again and again you misunderstand.
You never realize the point, that it is your own face that you have looked at, that it is your own mood that you have come across.
OSHO