10/05/2022
This morning I woke up asking myself a question. But before I tell you what that question was, a story.
The Library of Alexandria in ancient Egypt is one of the greatest mysteries in history. It is said to be the greatest accumulation of human knowledge in history, so large it spanned an entire city block. Legend says it was founded in the third century BCE by Alexander himself. The library held over half a million historical records and spiritual texts from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, and India. But what’s mysterious about the library is not its existence– but its disappearance.
We don’t know for certain how it disappeared, not because we don’t have sources, but because we have too many. Some say it was burned accidentally by Julius Caesar in 48 BCE in his reckless pursuit of Pompey. Others claim it was burned by a group of Christian Zealots in the fourth century AD. One account tells the story of a man standing in the rubble of the burnt-down library who stumbled upon a mysterious papyrus scroll. He snuck the scroll back to his home study where he discovered it was something highly unusual; a detailed set of instructions to find the fountain of youth; eternal life.
The scrolls directed him through a series of spiritual practices to prepare him for the journey. The scrolls also included a map to a hidden cove on the east end of Africa. “Somewhere on this beach, there is a stone always warm to the touch. Find this warm stone and you will obtain eternal life.”
So the man left Egypt. He trekked thousands of miles to the hidden cove. On his arrival, he found a beach littered with millions of smooth pebbles roughly the size of his hand. So he developed a daily ritual which began every morning at dawn, working north to south, picking up each stone individually, holding it in his hand to see if it was warm.
That’s it, the end of the story. No lessons, no wisdom. Just a normal ass guy throwing rocks.
If your still reading this, you’ve either given me too much of your time, or my mom (hi mom!)
Oh, and that question I was asking myself? How long is Instagram's caption limit? Is it unlimited? As it turns out, it’s 2,200 characters 😎
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