The Prankster
Translated
by Aryeh Kaplan from Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom
Sichos
HaRan, 8
The
Evil Urge is like a prankster running through a crowd showing his tightly
closed hand. No one knows what he is holding. He goes up to each one and asks,
"What do you suppose I have in my hand?"
Each
one imagines that the closed hand contains just what he desires most. They all
hurry and run after the prankster. Then, when he has tricked them all into
following him, he opens his hand. It is completely empty.
The
same is true of the Evil One. He fools the world, tricking it into following
him. All men think that his hand contains what they desire. But in the end, he
opens his hand. There is nothing in it, and no desire is ever fulfilled.
Worldly
pleasures are like sunbeams in a dark room. They may actually seem solid, but
one who tries to grasp a sunbeam finds nothing in his hand. The same is true of
all worldly desires.
©
1973 The Breslov Research Institute
