As I sipped sweet tea under the high ceiling of his old Art Deco style house I hinted at my work in measured tones of understated self indulgence.
"University of Cambridge" he mused, "very good" he said, before moving on to a parable originally attributed to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa:
A salt doll journeyed for thousands of miles and stopped at the edge of the sea. It was fascinated by this moving liquid mass, so full of life and mystery and promise, so unlike anything it had seen before.
"What are you?" asked the salt doll.
"Come in and see" replied the sea with a smile.
So the salt doll waded in, thinking to itself: "I will dive to the depths of this new, wonderful thing so that I can fathom its dark insides and tell all my friends when I go back home"
Before long, as it dissolved to nothing and yet became everything in the sea, with its last conscious thought the doll exclaimed in wonder:
"Now I know what I am!"
Slowly I realised that this gentle host of mine was teaching me the first lesson in research ...
Humility
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