The camel and the eye of the needle

Perhaps, you, like me, have been puzzled by many of the parables (teaching stories) of Jesus. One such parable is a single sentence statement:

"It is more difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven than a camel to pass through the eye of the needle."

This makes no sense if taken literally for surely some rich people could be enlightened (enter the kingdom of heaven) and yet it is impossible for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle.

Many years ago I had heard the explanation that the eye of the needle was a small gate in Jerusalem and it was very difficult for a camel to pass through this gate (but not impossible). I was reading a book by Neville called Your Faith Is Your Fortune and it starts from this point but has a much better explanation.

Neville writes that in order for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle all the baggage had to be removed first. In the same way I was thinking that in order to learn something new, in order to be enlightened you have to empty yourself of all your preconceptions and as Jesus said be like a child.

I wrote about this need to rid yourself of prejudice (prejudgments and preconceptions) in my teaching story blog: Nasrudin Stories – it is calledA Zen tea ceremony.

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