Rumi's Chickpea to Cook

by Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot
where it's being boiled.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

The cook knocks him down with the ladle.

"Don't you try to jump out.
You think I'm torturing you.
I'm giving you flavor,
so you can mix with spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being.

"Remember when you drank rain in the garden.
That was for this."

Grace first. Sexual pleasure,
then a boiling new life begins,
and the Friend has something good to eat.

Eventually the chickpea
will say to the cook,
"Boil me some more.
Hit me with the skimming spoon.
I can't do this by myself.

"I'm like an elephant that dreams of gardens
back in Hindustan and doesn't pay attention
to his driver. You're my cook, my driver,
my way into existence. I love your cooking."

The cook says,
"I was once like you,
fresh from the ground. Then I boiled in time,
and boiled in the body, two fierce boilings.

"My animal soul grew powerful.
I controlled it with practices,
and boiled some more, and boiled
once beyond that,
and became your teacher."

Learning by Doing is Learning from Failures Quotes

Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.
Chinese Proverb

Or a different version:

I read – I forget
I see – I remember
I do – I understand


The only way to learn to do anything: Just do it = Childlike learning (speaking, walking, etc).

Also: Many arts and special skills like dancing, singing, swimming and martial arts are all learnt by going to an expert or a teacher who makes us learn by doing rather than by listening to lectures or reading books.

Because, by doing, we are given an opportunity to fail.

While doing we tend to fail and failures are very important in the learning process.

Nobody likes to fail.

Once we fail we start wondering what went wrong. Thus at that point of failure a profound learning takes place.

Failures are the stepping stones to success.

One thousand days to learn; ten thousand days to refine.
Japanese Proverb