From head to heart, a journey

 

I told you about the journey I made in the prison, from my head to my heart. It was quite a long way, and a very revealing one, too.

 

While I was working in the carpentry shop I often watched the carpenter drawing houses. I watched him beginning with the foundation stones, going on to the colums and walls, and finishing with the roofs. It was strange to me. I would begin with the roofs, and expected anybody to do so.

 

I realized from this experience how much distance there is between what we learn at school through books and the realities. Those who build houses have a different way of drawing them from those who just look at them.

 

If you have 'tolerance' in mind, you would say; "You may begin with the foundation stones. I will begin with the roof. Let us keep to our respective ways, in peace." That would be still another way of keeping other people out of your world.

 

Greater value of diversity will be attained by embracing it with gratitude than by stopping at mere coexistence. It is the spirit of nomadism, of escaping from your self.