Asked the student, "Wise man, if the gods are so much more powerful than us, then what are we doing here?"
Answered the teacher, "The bear is much more powerful than the fly, yet they both coexist."
Replied the student, "But the bear didn't create the fly, nor does it lead its way. Isn't that different?"
Retorted the teacher, "The bear sometimes carries the fly along, isn't that alike?"
"But wise man, " cried the student, "you couldn't possibly compare a bear to the divine! A bear is a mere animal! The gods are... divine!"
Said the teacher, "Define 'divine'."
...
After some pondering, the student visited the teacher again:
"Wise man, 'divine' means 'better', 'without fault', 'more powerful': something to strive for. The fly doesn't strive to be like the bear."
Returned the teacher, "How do we know? It might be a fruitless effort for the fly, but can we honestly say it's true, that the fly doesn't strive to better itself?"
The student replied, "No, wise man, we can't. However, we can honestly say that us humans strive to better ourselves. Some of us at least. And the fly might not exist to strive for betterment. Maybe that's something only humans do?"
The teacher exasperated, "Aren't we animals too? How is it you attribute so much to gods you can't see, while you attribute so little to what obviously exists in our environment, and shares some of our genes?"
"But wise man," the student explained, "the gods created us and put us here. If we compare to the fly, it's merely because they too got created and put here. They share our environment, but if flies are so much like humans, why should we exist at all?"
Answered the teacher, "Thus you return to your original question. It might seem you wasted our time. However, this time you have more to ponder upon. Did you ever consider that the gods might need us? That we might be a tool to serve their purposes?"
Replied the student, "But the bear didn't create the fly, nor does it lead its way. Isn't that different?"
Retorted the teacher, "The bear sometimes carries the fly along, isn't that alike?"
"But wise man, " cried the student, "you couldn't possibly compare a bear to the divine! A bear is a mere animal! The gods are... divine!"
Said the teacher, "Define 'divine'."
...
After some pondering, the student visited the teacher again:
"Wise man, 'divine' means 'better', 'without fault', 'more powerful': something to strive for. The fly doesn't strive to be like the bear."
Returned the teacher, "How do we know? It might be a fruitless effort for the fly, but can we honestly say it's true, that the fly doesn't strive to better itself?"
The student replied, "No, wise man, we can't. However, we can honestly say that us humans strive to better ourselves. Some of us at least. And the fly might not exist to strive for betterment. Maybe that's something only humans do?"
The teacher exasperated, "Aren't we animals too? How is it you attribute so much to gods you can't see, while you attribute so little to what obviously exists in our environment, and shares some of our genes?"
"But wise man," the student explained, "the gods created us and put us here. If we compare to the fly, it's merely because they too got created and put here. They share our environment, but if flies are so much like humans, why should we exist at all?"
Answered the teacher, "Thus you return to your original question. It might seem you wasted our time. However, this time you have more to ponder upon. Did you ever consider that the gods might need us? That we might be a tool to serve their purposes?"