a rock and a flower

A very simple idea with many implications that I came across today… felt it was so amazing… thought of sharing it with you… 🙂

“If you throw a rock at a flower nothing will happen to the rock, the flower will be gone. But still you cannot say that the rock is more powerful than the flower. The flower will be gone because the flower was alive. And the rock — nothing will happen to it because it is dead. The flower will be gone because the flower has no strength to destroy. The flower will simply disappear and give way to the rock. The rock has a power to destroy because the rock is dead. “

~ Osho

What does it mean… a friend asked. When taken literally of course it dosen’t take much to prove it dosen’t really mean anything. But if we read it as poetry, guess it could have various interpretations, here is one possibility… any other please share it here…

Usually for any conflict, violent solutions are considered better as they are seem to be a symbol of a man’s strength. Whereas solutions on the lines of peace and non-violence are considered as a sign of weakness.

Violent may not always mean bombs and terrorism, but even on a smaller scale in our day to day life, we may in some situations end up using violent words, or even entertain violent thoughts. Often I myself face this situation… which is correct?

Violence is mostly only a convenience – what seems to be the shortcut – and contrary to popular belief, it actually requires far greater courage to be non-violent than violent! Non-violence demands the most difficult thing – honesty with oneself in truly seeking a solution rather than just (mis)using any situation as an excuse to do something that one feels like doing!

The flower/rock analogy kind of highlights an important factor in the whole equation – the question we must not forget to ask ourselves – do you want to be strong like a rock, or alive like a flower?