Are you curious to learn how frogs try to reach Illumination? Then read my parable … enjoy!

It is silent in the frog pool, nothing happens there. Frogs live in murky muddy pools with standing water. But when there is no flow, the plants start to rot and the air begins to stink! The problem with this particular pool is: there is no light there! Thus the frogs organize a board meeting and decide to send an explorer into the wide world to look for a solution bring life into the pool.

The top frog – let’s call him Toad – volunteers to leave the pool. He crosses the reed fields to search for light and flow. Bravely he crosses the meadows and hops to the city, carefully avoiding dogs and cats. The city is but a desert of stone, full of stressed people. Dark clouds gather together when poor Toad desperately jumps further and further from home, in search for light.

Suddenly he sees a very sunny and bright place. He decides to knock at the temple doors where the Mages work. His tiny little brain starts to work like a little engine: “What if I steal some of their light!” The idea is so appealing that it sends shivers through his green slithery body. He decides to buy their course in Magic of the Light, in the hope this will enable him to take some light home to the frog pool.

Poor, poor Toad, he got really disappointed, because everyone knows it is not possible to steal light!!! True illumination does not come from reading books. True illumination comes from the inside out! It is the result of a good heart, compassion and hard work. On top of that, Toad finds out to his horror, that he cannot not bear the light! His eyes hurt, his stomach cramps together; he lived too long in a murky pool… On top of that his groins hurt from hopping for sooo long and traveling so far… He realizes that he has no option but to return to his pool as quickly as possible, without having achieved his mission.

Jumping back through the reed fields, the consequences of his failure painfully dawn on him. He realizes that, returning to the pool without any results whatsoever, would mean a big Mark of Infamy on his ego. His eyebrows rise, his heart shrinks. The next realization makes him shriek: “This can backfire on me; it can cost my position in the pool!!!”

So hopping home, Toad broods over a plan. He is exhausted, his skin is full of blasters, he almost got roasted by the light. His ego is severely wounded. Then, again, a flash of insight makes his day. “If I cannot steal their light, then let’s bring them down to our level!” Hopping home he broods out an evil plan for his escape…

At his return at the pool all the frogs joyfully greet him. Hopeful; will Toad have found a solution for their suffering? As a hero they receive him. They throw a party where Toad can shine and reveal his new found wisdom, that will redeem them all. Severely hindered by his wounded groin, Toad tries to stride in, but lame he climbs the stage they have prepared for him. He takes out the course book he bought at the mages’ from his rucksack. He coughs to call for a silence, to make his great announcement:

“Dear Fraterfrogs and Sororfrogs, I have conquered the elements, I have visited the Mages of Light. Let me reveal to you; the Light does not exist. I have found proof.” Toad opens the course book: “Look here, I found typos in their course book! Since we have no course books of our own, and thus no typos, We Are Better! Let’s battle those bastards and bring them down!!!”