The Semi-Overweight philosophy is that we are ALL trying to live life to the fullest. Hoping to spell this out for you, This is our Never Been a Skinny King story...
There was a king who was very disturbed and uneasy, and he thought of committing suicide. He got on his horse and rode towards the jungle. There he saw a young shepherd playing on his flute, and nearby his sheep were grazing. There was such magic in the tune of his flute that the king stopped his horse and told that young man, ”You are playing your flute with such joy and abandon that you seem to have been given a kingdom!” That young man replied, ”Kindly pray to God that whatever may be my sins he should never give me a kingdom!” The king said, ”You are mad! What is your fear of a kingdom?”
The young man said, ”A man is a king while he has no kingdom. No sooner does he acquire a kingdom then he becomes a slave.”
So far nobody has seen a king who is really a king, although many who had nothing have been seen by the world who were real kings, whose joy and bliss knew no bounds, and who created such music in themselves that that music can still be heard even after thousands of years. The world has not seen any music and bliss arising from within any king. His clothes are shining, but his soul is deeply rusted. His crown is shining, but there is no light in his head – there cannot be ever. What he chooses shows that there can be no inner light. If he had that inner light he would not have been madly wanting to decorate his head with gold.
One who has a golden head never cares for wearing a gold crown on his head. Who is mad enough to drag stones around?
But those who have no golden head have their head filled with a lot of rubbish, and a gold crown hides that rubbish. So that young man said, ”Pardon me, and please pray to God that he may not make me a king, ever.”
The king was puzzled. He said, ”I see that you are wearing torn clothes and your work is to graze your sheep. What is the secret of your joy?”
The young man said, ”The secret of happiness is not related to what you have, but in how you
are using what you have.” He further said, ”I have eyes – I see the beauty of nature and become delighted. I have sheep – I love them and my heart is full of joy. What is lacking for me? I have healthy hands and feet, I am earning my daily bread. Night and day I am near the moon and stars, the jungle and the hills. What is lacking? Yes, I am lacking in one thing: the anxiety of kings. I have a deep sleep at night.”
The king said, ”What you are saying is right. Go back to the town and tell the people that you met me and tell them that I have agreed with you on what you are saying about happiness, and that I had come to the forest to commit suicide. I pray to God he may never give you a kingdom.”
Nobody should ever think of having a kingdom. Whosoever gets the idea of running a kingdom becomes sick and diseased; his life is being destroyed. But still we are all running a race to have kingdoms. The American dream is 5 cars and a white picket fence leading to a wraparound deck with a hot-tub installed. It does not matter what you want to become: as long as you are running after becoming something, you are in the race to become a king. It may be just a small kingdom, but that makes no difference.
The fundamental thing is to recognize what you have within and rejoice in it, to tend the potentiality of it with love. If you can do that, your life can be full of joy. Everyone’s life can be full of joy; everything depends on how we use what we have – just as the shepherd said.
