Bridging the Distance

Once upon a saint and his disciples were visiting the Ganges River. They found a group of family members on the banks shouting in anger at each other! Turning to his disciples, the saint smiled and asked, "Why do people in anger 'shout' at each other?’

His disciples thought for a while. One of them finally said, "Because when we lose our calm, we shout."

"But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you?" countered the saint, "you can just as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner." His disciples thought about it some more, but could not come up with a satisfactory answer.

Finally, the saint explained, "When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other, in order to cover that great distance."

"But what happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but instead talk very softly because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small. And when they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally, they even need not whisper, they only need to look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other." The saint continued. "So when you argue, do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return."

Bridging the Distance: The Wisdom of Emotional Intelligence

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