There is an ancient story in Egypt. Two women came to the court of the king with a small child. They contended -- both of them -- that, "The child belongs to me, he is my child." And each woman was persistent -- "The child is mine."
The king had to decide, and it was very difficult -- how to decide? The husbands of both women had died in war, in the service of the king.
Finally he asked his master, an old wise man. The master came and he said, "It is very simple. Bring the child."
The child was brought to the master, who asked the king to cut him in two, and give half to each woman. "What is the problem? They both say the child is theirs. There being no other evidence, no witness, justice demands that the child should be divided into two."
The king was shocked. He said, "What are you saying?" But before the king could say anything more, the master drew the king's sword out of its sheath. And one woman ran forward and said, "No! Give the child to the other; he is not mine."
The master gave the child to the woman who had run forward and said he was not hers. The king said, "What is happening? I don't understand. The woman is saying the child is not hers."
The master said, "Only the mother couldn't stand to see the child cut in two. The other woman is withstanding it perfectly well, without any difficulty -- if the child is cut in two, it is cut, there is no harm, it is not her child. She is ready to compromise, even if half a dead child is given to her. But the other woman is not ready to compromise -- either the whole child or no child."
When you have a truth, you are almost like a mother -- you have given birth to an experience. Either you would like to have it total, or you would not like to have it at all. But you cannot be ready to cut it in two, because any living experience cut in two becomes dead. All compromises are dead
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