The Parable of the Colors

       There once was a man, wearing a multi-colored outfit, who climbed a mountain that seemed to have no top, for it went on and on and he could not see to its peek. He climbed in search of a wise man. Upon find the plateau of the wise man, the climber asked "What is the secret of living a fulfilled life?" The wise man answered "To wear blue for the rest of your life." "I can do that," replied the mountain climber. "Is that all?" "Yes" said the wise man, "To wear blue is to avoid all colors that are not blue."
       The climber thought that this one requirement was very simple and that it would be amazingly easy to comply...until he began to analyze the requirement. He then asked the wise man "What shade of blue should I wear? Should it be dark blue, light blue, navy blue, aqua, pastel..." The wise man interrupted him with the single word "Blue". "What," said the climber "would you say to my wearing purple? After all," said he "it is made up of the color blue." To this the wise man sighed a long sigh and said simply..."blue."
       The climber and the wise man sat in silence for a very long time, as the climber stared off into the world of thoughts and the wise man stared at the climber. The wise man remembered all of the other climbers who had visited him, and wondered if today's climber would wear blue and continue his upward journey or, like so many before him, would stray and, wrapping himself in other colors, climb back down the mountain.
       "I will do it!" said the climber. "I will adopt blue as my very own! I will love blue!" With that proclamation, the climber rejected all but blue and resumed his journey. As he left, there was quite a remarkable change from what he had looked like when he had first arrived at the plateau of the wise man, and the wise man spoke these final words to him: "Be aware! There are those who would convince you to abandon the blue. All is not safe until you reach the summit."