Parable Pattern

Inspired by KoansMetaphorsAndParables

Some aspects of the parable form that might make a pattern...

• Are typically oral stories
• Are good stories that draw the hearer in
• invitational, not prescriptive - invites the listener to see things a they might not otherwise see, suggest more than they say, and invite a transformation of perception.
• "arresting crystallizations of insight that invite further insight"
• do not invoke external authority- are authoritative in themselves
• are about seeing for oneself, not about hearing what to believe
• Said singly, presented in a context appropriate to the insight.
• Said many times, not always the same way, but with differing emphasis and elaboration.
• Not presented as speeches, but in the context of a dialog with the hearer.
• Often appear as simple truisms, but the hearer is expected to see them in metaphor, and observe what lesson there might be beyond the surface meaning.

--StevenNewton

Parables on Wiki

• ParableOfTheIdiotFlowers
• ParableOfThePainter
• ParableOfTheRepairMan
• TheParableOfTheAutoMechanic
• TheParableOfTheGoldenHammerPolicy
• TreeParable
• WoodsmanParable

SharpenTheSaw probably counts as a parable.