We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
~T.S. Eliot
A young man who lived in Istanbul, Turkey was quite poor. He lived in a small room with a small cot and couple of books on the wall. One day he was sleeping on his cot and dreamed. It was more like a vision. In this vision, he saw a very rich man in Cairo, Egypt with treasures surrounding him. There were gold and silver bars lining the wall behind him. The rich man sat surrounded by diamonds, emeralds and rubies piled up in shapes of pyramids. On the other side the room there were finest rugs and fine artifacts leaning against the wall. In this vision he knew the treasures were all his. He bolted up from his sleep and started walking to Cairo, Egypt.
After several months he finally arrived in Cairo. He recognized the houses along the road. He saw the house in his vision. So confident, he walked to the house and entered. He walked on the tiled floor to the door of the room where treasures were located. He opened the door, and there sat the old man. But there were no jewels, no silver or gold, no fine carpets and no artifacts.
Undeterred by the absence of treasures he assumed the old man hid them somewhere. He demanded the old man to tell him where he hid the treasures.
The old man looked at the young man, his eyes glistening. “Funny, I, too, had a vision of a young man in Instanbul who looked just look you.”
“Ok, go on,” said the young man.
The old man described the street where the young man lived, the little room he had and the couple of books on the shelf. He described his mother and father and his siblings, his friends. “In my vision, the greatest treasure, more precious than all the shiny rocks and shiny metals of the world, was there on the small cot in that room.”
The young man realized what the old man was saying. His existence, his very being was all the treasure he needed. He bowed in gratitude to the old wise man and went back to Instanbul where he lived out his quiet days.