Idries Shah

A donkey and a camel were walking along together. The camel moved with long strides and the donkey moves impatiently, stumbling every now and then. At last the donkey said to his companion. “How is it that I am always in trouble, falling and grazing my legs, in spite of the fact that I look carefully downwards as I walk; when you, who never seems to be aware of what surrounds you, with your eyes fixed upon the horizon, keep going so fast and yet seemingly at such leisure?”
The camel answered: ” Your problem is that your steps are too short and by the time you have seen something it is too late to correct your movements. You look all around and do not assess what you see. You think that seeing near is the same as seeing far.
You guess that I look at the horizon. In fact, I am merely gazing ahead so as to work out what to do when the far becomes near. I also remember what has gone before, and do not need to look back at it and stumble once again. In this way what seems to you baffling or difficult becomes clear and easy.’
Similarly donkey-minded people are those who believe that they can learn enough to improve themselves or their lot by short sighted means. This means not looking towards the future or even into it. It includes demanding a certain pace without realizing whether it is counterproductive or not. The ass is the ordinary person, the camel is the sufi.

~The Commanding Self, Idries Shah