Why is it so great a privilege to be man? There is a legend which explains this very clearly.
The angels once rebelled against God, saying, “Why should man be made higher than all the other creatures? Man has the animal attributes. Man needs to eat; we do not. Man needs to drink; we do not. Man needs to sleep; we do not.”
God said, “We will decide this question after a trial.” And God said to one of the angles, “Go upon earth and see what man’s life is.”
The angel flew down to earth. He saw a tree. He was so delighted with the tree that he climbed down upon it and began to eat its fruit. He was so enchanted that he thought, “This is the best place to live. I was a miserable creature when I did not have this.”
The he saw a young girl passing beneath the tree, selling fruit. He was charmed by her beauty and asked her to sell him the fruit. They became friends; they became lovers; they married and had children.
At first the angel was very, very happy; but when the freshness, the newness went, the charm and the happiness wore away. He began to find that those who had been his friends yesterday were not his friends today, that those who had been kind once were kind no longer. Life became very difficult. All the burdens and cares of life fell upon him. He felt oppressed, suffocated, and he grew very unhappy and complained of his life on earth.
Then God said to another angel, “Go and see what your brother is doing.” The angel went down to earth. He too was delighted with the earth, its trees and fruits. But when the other angel told him of his life and all its difficulties and troubles, he flew back, and so was saved from these experiences.
When the angels appeared again before God, God said, “When even the angels are tempted by the earth and forget Me, should I not be proud of man when he, having all the troubles and difficulties and burdens of life on earth, sometimes remembers Me, thinks of Me?”
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Tara Grace
