Celebrate America’s 250th birthday with The Parable Of The Five Ants! Five instrumental tracks bring a Zen parable to life!
What is The Parable Of The Five Ants?
The Parable of the Five Ants
In a quiet valley,
beneath a stone warmed by the sun,
lived five ants.
Each ant believed it understood the world.
The first ant said
The world is grain
I have carried it, tasted it, stored it
All things are food or not food
The second ant said
The world is scent
I follow trails unseen, and they lead me to truth
What cannot be smelled cannot be known
The third ant said
The world is struggle
I have fought beetles, climbed walls, survived rain
Existence is effort, nothing more
The fourth ant said
The world is order
We build, we organize, we serve the colony
Meaning lies in structure
The fifth ant said nothing
One day, a great shadow passed over them
—a human foot descending.
The first ant cried,
“Food falls from the sky!”
and ran toward it.
The second said,
“It has no scent—I do not believe it,”
and stayed still.
The third shouted,
“At last, a worthy enemy!”
and charged.
The fourth commanded,
“Form lines! Maintain order!”
and tried to organize the others.
The fifth ant stepped aside.
The foot came down.
When it lifted,
the valley was quiet again.
Only the fifth ant remained.
It did not speak of what had happened.
It did not form a new belief.
It simply continued
—carrying, sensing, struggling, building—
yet clinging to none of these as the whole.
And when the next shadow came, it stepped aside again.
To mistake a part for the wholeis to stand in the path
of what you do not understand.
