The Golden Touch

This is the story of a very greedy rich man who chanced upon meeting a fairy. The fairy’s hair was caught in a few tree branches. Realising he had an opportunity to make even more money, he asked for a wish in return for helping the fairy. He said, ’All that I touch should turn to gold’, and his wish was granted by the grateful fairy.

The greedy man rushed home to tell his wife and daughter about his new boon, all the while touching stones and pebbles and converting them into gold. Once he got home, his daughter rushed to greet him. As soon as he bent down to scoop her up in his arms, she turned into a gold statue. He realized his folly and spent the rest of his days searching for the fairy to take away his wish.

Moral of The Story
Greediness will always lead to a downfall.

From this week’s story let’s focus on Buddha’s first fold Right Paradigm. The rich person was focus on his mind and personnel desire.
In shifting one’s awareness away from the mind and “ego” to the self-awareness, will be shifting to Right Paradigm.

Self-Awareness
Awareness begins with the recognition of our inner state and emotions. As low-level unhappiness can be an identification with ego, rather than true self-awareness.
From birth each of us has been part of the loop, dependent upon it for all the good things in our lives, doing our best not to bring in bad things. But most people don’t pursue self-awareness. They equate it with feeling bad about themselves, turning over stones that are best untouched, and exposing the darker hiding places where anxiety, depression, and anger lurk. None of this is true. Self-awareness is value-free. It isn’t scary. It doesn’t imply that you will subject yourself to needless pain.