The Parable of Faith and Knowledge

One day, a student asked the Teacher:

— Teacher, what is more important for a person: faith or knowledge?

The Teacher looked at him but didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stood up, took his staff, and walked toward the forest. The student silently followed.

They walked for a long time. In silence. Listening to the whisper of the wind through the grass, the brief exchanges of birds, the dance of light filtering through the branches.

At last, they stopped by a large tree, its bark etched by time, its roots winding into the earth like living veins.

The Teacher sat down beneath it and said:

— Look. This tree doesn’t believe it is alive. It knows.
It doesn’t ask whether it should reach for the sun — it simply does.
It doesn’t pray for rain — it feels the moisture in the air and opens its leaves.

— But a person isn’t a tree, — the student said quietly.

— True, — the Teacher nodded. — A human being can doubt. That’s why they can believe. But if faith doesn’t lead to knowledge, it becomes a blind path, one many walk — not knowing where it leads. They follow the loudest voice, not the quiet truth.

— Then how can one find knowledge?

The Teacher pointed to a bird perched on a branch.

— The bird doesn’t tell you which fruits to eat. But you can watch.
The animal doesn’t explain how to heal itself. But you can see how it chooses herbs.
Knowledge lives in nature — and within yourself.
It asks for no books, no altars.
It asks only one thing — attention.

— And faith? — the student asked again.

The Teacher was silent.
The wind stirred the treetops.

— Faith, — he said at last, — is like a path through the fog. It helps you take the first steps.
But if you keep walking in the fog and never open your eyes, you won’t see where you’re going.

— So faith is the beginning?

— Sometimes. But not always. For some, it becomes a doorway.
For others — a windowless prison.
The difference lies in whether you walk toward knowledge — or fear stepping beyond the familiar.

The Teacher stood. Silence again.

— Look. Listen.
Knowledge is in the world.
Knowledge is in the body.
Knowledge is within you.

And faith...
Let it be like a fire on a cold night.
Warm yourself — and keep walking.