Sculpting our nature

Once a sculptor was working on a marble statue. He would start chiseling on the stone early in the morning at sunrise and work until midnight, never stopping to eat or rest. When someone asked him why he would not rest, the sculptor replied, "Rest is not for a creative person. Only dead people rest."

We must have this kind of attitude with ourselves in order to change ourselves. We must constantly chisel our nature, working as hard as we can to save ourselves. We must work so hard that the Great Ones notice us and say, "He is working so hard to pass through transfiguration; let Us help him."

How do They help us? They create more troubles for us, give us more duties and responsibilities, and put us in conditions where we become embarrassed with ourselves; unless we see how ugly and ignorant we are, the door of transformation will not open for us.

You must go to the bottom of the ladder and see where you are, then step by step climb the ladder of perfection. Whenever you see something in your nature that needs chiseling, you must be merciless. Unless you are merciless, you cannot perfect your statue.

-Torkom Saraydarian

Education as Transformation vol.1