The boy and the apple tree

In my last trip to Lebanon, a friend of mine gave me a book called “ZeNLP – The Power to Relax” by Murli Menon. I liked the book as it talks about the technique the other teachers and at the same time the book explores different traditions and techniques out there. What I will be sharing in this blog entry and the coming ones are stories that are found in this book. Enjoy the first story.

The boy and the apple tree

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday.

He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow…he loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.

Time went by…the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day.

One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad.  “Come and play with me” the tree asked the boy.

“I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” the boy replied.

“I want toys. I need money to buy them.”

“Sorry, but I do not have money… but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.”

The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited “Come and play with me” the tree said.

“I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?”

” Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.”

So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted. “Come and play with me!” the tree said.

“I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” said the man.

“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.”  So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years. “Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you …” the tree said.

“No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite” the man replied.

“No more trunk for you to climb on”

“I am too old for that now” the man said.

“I really cannot give you anything… the only thing left is my dying roots” the tree said with tears.

“I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years” the man replied.

“Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, Come, come sit down with me and rest.” The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears…

Moral: Some interpret the story of the apple tree and the boy, as our parents being the tree. They give us all they have as we grow up in life.

Murli in his book compares the tree to our body and mind, and how we exhaust ourselves down to the last resource our body and mind can provide before we crumble down.

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