Oriental Stories as Tools in Psychotherapy: The Merchant and the Parrot (1986)

By: N. Peseschkian

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Synopsis: If you give someone a fish, you feed him only once. If you teach him how to fish, he can feed himself forever. ---Oriental wisdom When a German or American comes home in the evening, he wants his peace and quiet. That, at least, is the general rule. He sits down in front of the television, drinks his hard-earned beer and reads his newspaper, as if to say, "Leave me in peace. After working so hard, I have a right to it." For him, this is relaxation. In the East, a man relaxes in a different way. By the time he comes home, his wife has already invited a few guests, relatives, or family and business friends. By chatting with his guests, he feels relaxed, as though freely translating the motto "Guests are a gift from God." Relaxation can thus mean many things. There is no set definition for everything that relaxation comprises. People relax in the way they have learned how, and the way they hav~earned is what is customary in their family or group, or in the social circle to which they belong.