Imagine this: four friends are on a boat in the vast, open ocean. The sun is shining, and the water is calm. Suddenly, without warning, a terrifying sea monster erupts from the depths, blocking their path. It speaks with a voice that rumbles like thunder, presenting them with a horrifying ultimatum.
The Monster’s Challenge
The creature declares,”Each of you must throw something you possess into the sea. If I can retrieve it, I will devour you. If I cannot, I will let you live.” The stakes are life and death, and their survival depends on a single choice: what object to sacrifice.
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The First Three Choices: A Lesson in Value
Let’s break down what happened to the first three individuals and why their choices failed.
- The First Man: He immediately throws his heavy, expensive gold chain into the water. He believes its weight will sink it quickly. The monster, powerful and swift, dives down and retrieves the chain with ease. The man is consumed.
- The Second Man: Terrified, he throws his solid gold ring, thinking its small size might make it harder to find. But the monster, with its keen senses, finds it without trouble. This man, too, is eaten.
- The Third Man: In a moment of desperate cunning, he plucks a single strand of his hair and throws it into the ocean. He thinks, “It’s so light and insignificant; the monster will never find it!” Yet, the monster retrieves even the tiny hair. His fate is sealed.
All three men believed they were offering something of value—first material value, then physical value. They failed because they underestimated the monster’s power and misunderstood the true nature of the challenge.
The Fourth Man’s Genius: Sacrificing the Ego
So,what did the fourth man throw that the monster could not retrieve? The answer is simple, yet profound: he threw a handful of seawater.
Think about it. How can a sea monster, a creature of the sea, retrieve the sea itself? The moment he threw the water, it simply became one with the ocean. There was nothing to “retrieve.” The monster was defeated not by strength or wealth, but by wisdom.
The Deeper Meaning of the Riddle
This story is not about a literal monster;it’s a powerful metaphor for the challenges and problems we face in our own lives.
- The Monster Represents Our Problems: The sea monster symbolizes any overwhelming challenge—debt, failure, anxiety, a toxic relationship, or a demanding job. It feels powerful, insurmountable, and capable of destroying us.
- The Objects Represent Our Attachments: The gold chain and ring are our material attachments and pride. We often try to solve problems by throwing money at them or relying on our status, but some problems cannot be solved this way. The hair represents our ego and our sense of self-importance. We think our cleverness or our personal struggles are unique, but the “monster” of a universal problem can still consume us.
- The Seawater Represents Surrender and Oneness: The fourth man’s action symbolizes letting go of the ego. He stopped fighting the monster on its own terms. By throwing seawater, he demonstrated a fundamental understanding: you cannot fight the ocean while you are in it. Instead, you must become one with its nature.
Applying the Lesson to Your Life
What is the”seawater” in your life? What do you need to let go of to overcome your challenges?
- Are you struggling with a need to always be right? Try surrendering the argument.
- Are you clinging to a grudge that is poisoning you? Let go of the resentment.
- Are you trying to control a situation that is beyond your control? Release the need for control and adapt to the flow of events.
- Are you defined by your job title or possessions? Remember that these are external; your true self is like the water, fluid and adaptable.
The ultimate wisdom is realizing that the problem and the solution are often part of the same whole. The monster’s strength was the ocean, and the wise man used that very strength to ensure his survival.
A Final Reflection
The greatest battles we fight are not with external monsters,but with the internal ones—our attachments, our pride, and our fear of letting go. True power lies not in what we possess, but in our courage to release what holds us back. When you stop fighting the current and learn to flow with it, you discover that you were never in the water; you are the water. And nothing can truly threaten the ocean.
