One day Tidbit, our precious cat, discovered the front door open and as cats are known to be curious, he went outside to explore; but there was terrible noises of saws and lawn mowers that scared him so he ran for protection through lattice work under the porch.
As luck would have it, night fell and Tidbit was unable to sound his predicament. In the morning we heard his pitiful meows and discovered him under the wood porch.
We tried to call him out; but he was steeped in fear perhaps even unable to find where he entered. We made a hole in the lattice work so he could see how to get out; but our effort was to no avail. Next we tried food and water outside the hole; but all we got was more plaintiff cries.
We sat on the porch in different areas and always the meows were directly beneath us. He wanted to be with us, but didn’t know how to free himself.
Again we went to the hole and after a time, he poked his head out and even came out completely; but we couldn’t pick him up because he can’t stand being held so now he was really in an impossible situation. He hated the leaves and dirt on his paws and who knows what else; but he also couldn’t be saved because he couldn’t stand being carried!
My teacher suggested somewhere in the 48 tapes that we write parables so that we could understand other stories and allegories that have been passed down through the ages like fairy tales and Aesop’s fables. So I realized that Tidbit’s dilemma was a beautiful demonstration of how we wrap ourselves in a self-made prison.
If we work the teaching ideas, it is possible that we may find ourselves trapped in our minds with assumptions, opinions, conclusions and misinformation that we are unable to question and challenge!