Short wise parables that will remind you of the most important things

Parables about good and evil

The ability to distinguish between good and evil distinguishes a person from an animal. It is not surprising that the folklore of all nations contains many parables on this topic. They tried to give their own definitions of good and evil, explore their interaction and explain the nature of human dualism in the Ancient East, and in Africa, and in Europe, and in both Americas. A large corpus of parables on this topic shows that, despite all the differences in cultures and traditions, different peoples have a common understanding of these fundamental concepts .

Two wolves

Once upon a time, an old Indian revealed to his grandson one vital truth: “There is a struggle in every person, very similar to the struggle of two wolves.” One wolf represents evil - envy, jealousy, regret, selfishness, ambition, lies... The other wolf represents good - peace, love, hope, truth, kindness, loyalty... The little Indian, touched to the depths of his soul by the words of his grandfather, thought for a few moments, and then he asked: “Which wolf wins in the end?” The old Indian smiled barely and answered: “The wolf you feed always wins.”

Know it and don't do it

The young man came to the sage with a request to accept him as a student. – Can you lie? - asked the sage. - Of course not! - What about stealing? - No. - What about killing? “No...” “Then go and find out all this,” exclaimed the sage, “but once you know it, don’t do it!”

Black dot

One day the sage gathered his students and showed them an ordinary piece of paper on which he drew a small black dot. He asked them: “What do you see?” Everyone answered in unison that it was a black dot. The answer was not correct. The sage said: “Don’t you see this white sheet of paper - it’s so huge, bigger than this black dot!” This is how it is in life - the first thing we see in people is something bad, although there is much more good. And only a few see the “white sheet of paper” right away.

Love. Forgiveness. Patience.

Once upon a time there lived a family. Not an ordinary family. There were more than 100 people in it. Are there many such families? Yes, quite a lot. But this family was special. No quarrels, no swearing, no fights, no strife. Rumors about this family reached the bishop himself. And he decided to check whether people were telling the truth. He arrived in the village, and his soul rejoiced: cleanliness and order, beauty and peace. Good for children, calm for old people. The bishop was surprised and decided to find out how the family achieved all this. He came to the elder. “Tell me,” he says. The elder wrote something on paper for a long time. And when he wrote it, he handed it to the bishop. Only 3 words were written on paper: “Love. Forgiveness. Patience". And at the end of the sheet: “A HUNDRED TIMES LOVE, A HUNDRED TIMES FORGIVENESS, A HUNDRED TIMES PATIENCE.” - That's all? “Yes,” answered the old man, “this is the basis of the life of any good family.” - And after thinking, he added: “And peace too.”

Parables about happiness

Wherever a person is born, whoever he is, whatever he does, in essence, he does one thing - seeks happiness. This inner search continues from birth to death, even if it is not always realized. And on this path a person faces a lot of questions. What is happiness? Is it possible to be happy without having anything? Is it possible to get happiness ready-made or do you need to create it yourself? The idea of ​​happiness is as individual as DNA or fingerprints. For some people and the whole world is not enough to feel at least satisfied. For others, a little is enough - a ray of sunshine, a friendly smile. It seems that there can be no agreement between people regarding this ethical category. And yet, in different parables about happiness, common ground is found.

A piece of clay

God molded man from clay. He sculpted an earth, a house, animals and birds for man. And he was left with an unused piece of clay. - What else should you make? - God asked. “Make me happy,” the man asked. God did not answer, thought for a moment and put the remaining piece of clay in the man’s palm.

Money can not buy happiness

The student asked the Master: “How true are the words that money does not bring happiness?” The master replied that they were completely correct. - It's easy to prove. For money can buy a bed, but not sleep; food - but not appetite; medicines - but not health; servants - but not friends; women - but not love; home - but not home; entertainment - but not joy; teachers - but not the mind. And what is named does not exhaust the list.

Khoja Nasreddin and the traveler

One day Nasreddin met a gloomy man wandering along the road to the city. - What happened to you? – Khoja Nasreddin asked the traveler. The man showed him a tattered travel bag and said plaintively: “Oh, I’m miserable!” Everything I own in the infinitely vast world will barely fill this pitiful, worthless bag! “Your affairs are bad,” Nasreddin sympathized, snatched the bag from the traveler’s hands and ran away. And the traveler continued on his way, shedding tears. Meanwhile, Nasreddin ran ahead and placed the bag right in the middle of the road. The traveler saw his bag lying on the way, laughed with joy and cried out: “Oh, what happiness!” And I thought I had lost everything! “It’s easy to make a person happy by teaching him to appreciate what he has,” thought Khoja Nasreddin, watching the traveler from the bushes.

Guiding Light

In ancient times, when there were still no World Wide Web networks and various engines, people went sailing on simple ships. Then one risky team went on a long journey full of dangers.

A few days later, their ship was caught in a storm and sank, and only a couple of experienced sailors managed to escape. They woke up on a distant unfamiliar island, gradually losing their minds in fear and hunger.

One particularly sunny day, an alien ship docked there. This brought immense joy to the rescued, and they decided to build a tall and durable lighthouse. Despite the persuasion, they remained on this island until the end of their days, only rejoicing in their destiny. Guiding people became a great happiness and honor for each of them.

Wise parables about morality

The words “morality” and “morality” in Russian have different connotations. Morality is rather a social attitude. Morality is internal, personal. However, the basic principles of morality and ethics are largely the same. Wise parables easily, but not superficially, touch on these basic principles: the attitude of man to man, dignity and baseness, attitude towards the Motherland. Issues of the relationship between man and society are often embodied in parable form.

Bucket of apples

A man bought himself a new house - large, beautiful - and a garden with fruit trees near the house. And nearby, in an old house, there lived an envious neighbor who constantly tried to ruin his mood: either he would throw garbage under the gate, or he would do some other nasty things. One day a man woke up in a good mood, went out onto the porch, and there was a bucket of slop. The man took a bucket, poured out the slop, cleaned the bucket until it shined, collected the largest, ripest and most delicious apples into it and went to his neighbor. The neighbor opens the door in the hope of a scandal, and the man handed him a bucket of apples and said: “He who is rich in what, shares it!”

Low and worthy

One padishah sent the sage three identical bronze figurines and ordered him to say: “Let him decide which of the three people whose statues we are sending is worthy, who is so-so and who is low.” No one could find any difference between the three figurines. But the sage noticed holes in his ears. He took a thin flexible stick and stuck it into the ear of the first figurine. The stick came out through the mouth. The second figurine's wand came out through the other ear. The third figurine has a wand stuck somewhere inside. “A person who divulges everything he hears is certainly low,” the sage reasoned. - Anyone whose secret goes in one ear and comes out through the other is a so-so person. The truly noble one is the one who keeps all secrets within himself. This is what the sage decided and made corresponding inscriptions on all the figurines.

Change your voice

The dove saw an owl in the grove and asked: “Where are you from, owl?” – I lived in the east, and now I’m flying to the west. So the owl answered and began to hoot and laugh angrily. The dove asked again: “Why did you leave your home and fly to foreign lands?” - Because in the east they don’t like me because I have a nasty voice. “It was in vain that you left your native land,” said the dove. “You don’t need to change the land, but your voice.” In the West, just like in the East, they do not tolerate evil hooting.

The impossible is possible!

“THE 3rd FLOOR VILLA, POOL AND GARDEN ON THE SEA SHORE FOR SALE. COST 1 DOLLAR"

“Nonsense!” thought the homeless man and threw away the newspaper. Walking through the courtyards in search of food, he saw a large notice on the wall:

“THE 3rd FLOOR VILLA, POOL AND GARDEN ON THE SEA SHORE FOR SALE. COST 1 DOLLAR"

“Is it a typo?” thought the homeless man and went on grumbling. Going out onto the wide street, he noticed a huge banner that read:

“THE 3rd FLOOR VILLA, POOL AND GARDEN ON THE SEA SHORE FOR SALE. COST 1 DOLLAR"

The homeless man thought about it. And he became curious about what kind of madman could write such a thing and decided to check it out. He had nothing to lose except the last dollar in his pocket. Arriving at the address, he saw the same villa. He called timidly. A beautiful woman opened the door for him.

- Sorry! I'm following an ad. What does it say is a joke? - Yes Yes! Everything is correct. - I'm talking about the cost. 1 dollar? This is true? - Yes. 1 dollar. If you are interested, you can take a look around the house.

Of course, the homeless man liked everything and, having given his last dollar, became the owner of a luxurious villa. But still I decided to find out why the price is so low? To which the woman, smiling, said: “Before my husband died, he indicated in his will that I would sell our villa and transfer the proceeds to the account of his mistress. That's what I did! The ad was posted for six months, and you were the only one who responded to it. All the best to you." And the woman left.

We are all given a chance! You just need to BELIEVE that the impossible is possible.

About parents

The attitude towards parents is a moral task that was solved long ago by humanity. Biblical legends about Ham, gospel commandments, numerous proverbs, and fairy tales fully reflect people’s ideas about the relationship between fathers and children. And yet, there are so many contradictions between parents and children that it is useful for a modern person to be reminded of this from time to time. The constant relevance of the topic “Parents and Children” gives rise to more and more new parables. Modern authors, following in the footsteps of their predecessors, find new words and metaphors to again touch on this issue.

Feeder

Once upon a time there lived an old man. His eyes were blinded, his hearing was dull, and his knees trembled. He could hardly hold a spoon in his hands, he would spill soup, and sometimes food would fall out of his mouth. The son and his wife looked at him with disgust and during meals began to sit the old man in a corner behind the stove, and the food was served to him in an old saucer. One day the old man's hands were shaking so much that he could not hold the saucer of food. It fell to the floor and broke. Then the young daughter-in-law began to scold the old man, and the son made a wooden feeder for his father. Now the old man had to eat from it. One day, when the parents were sitting at the table, their little son entered the room with a piece of wood in his hands. - What do you want to do? - asked the father. “A wooden feeder,” answered the baby. – When I grow up, dad and mom will eat from it.

Eagle and eaglet

An old eagle flew over the abyss. He carried his son on his back. The eaglet was still too small and could not make it this way. Flying over the abyss, the chick said: “Father!” Now you carry me across the abyss on your back, and when I become big and strong, I will carry you. “No, son,” the old eagle answered sadly. - When you grow up, you will carry your son.

Suspension bridge

On the way between two high-mountain villages there was a deep gorge. The residents of these villages built a suspension bridge over it. People walked on its wooden planks, and two cables served as railings. People were so used to walking across this bridge that they didn’t have to hold on to these railings, and even children fearlessly ran across the gorge on the planks. But one day the ropes and railings disappeared somewhere. Early in the morning people approached the bridge, but no one could take a single step on it. While there were cables, it was possible not to hold on to them, but without them the bridge turned out to be impregnable. This is what happens with our parents. While they are alive, it seems to us that we can do without them, but as soon as we lose them, life immediately begins to seem very difficult.

Don't shed your tears in vain

One day, an old but very wise lecturer, reading yet another scientific work, suddenly stopped. Taking a liberating pose, he heard from the back desks:

— Professor, share with us your resilience and wisdom. How do you restrain your emotions, because each of us knows how difficult it is for you.

Instead, the lecturer began to tell a long and colorful joke, and everyone sitting, without exception, laughed. When the audience fell silent, he told the same story again, but only a few smiled. The others had a question on their faces that hung in the air. Repeating itself for the third time, the silent scene dragged on for a long time. No one in the audience even smiled; on the contrary, everyone was in a suspended and incomprehensible state.

- Guys, why couldn’t you laugh at my joke three times? You are sad every day over the same problem.

The professor smiled, and everyone sitting in the audience thought about their lives.

Everyday parables

Everyday parables are a special category of texts. In a person’s life, every moment a situation of choice arises. What role can seemingly insignificant little things, unnoticed little meanness, stupid provocations, absurd doubts play in fate? Proverbs answer this question clearly: huge. For a parable, nothing is insignificant or unimportant. She firmly remembers that “the flutter of a butterfly’s wing echoes with thunder in distant worlds.” But the parable does not leave a person alone with the inexorable law of retribution. She always leaves the opportunity for the fallen to rise and continue on their way.

All in your hands

In a Chinese village there lived a sage. People came to him from everywhere with their problems and illnesses, and no one left without receiving help. For this they loved and respected him. Only one person said: “People! Who do you worship? After all, he is a charlatan and a fraudster!” One day he gathered a crowd around him and said: “Today I will prove to you that I was right.” Let's go to your sage, I will catch a butterfly, and when he comes out onto the porch of his house, I will ask: “Guess what I have in my hand?” He will say: “Butterfly,” because anyway, one of you will let it slip. And then I’ll ask: “Is she alive or dead?” If he says that he is alive, I will squeeze his hand, and if he is dead, then I will release the butterfly to freedom. In any case, your sage will be made a fool! When they came to the sage’s house, and he came out to meet them, the envious man asked his first question: “Butterfly,” answered the sage. - Is she alive or dead? The old man, smiling into his beard, said: “Everything is in your hands, man.”

Bat

A long time ago, a war broke out between animals and birds. The hardest thing was for the old Bat. After all, she was both an animal and a bird at the same time. Therefore, she could not decide for herself who would be more profitable for her to join. But then she decided to cheat. If the birds prevail over the animals, then she will support the birds. Otherwise, she will quickly go over to the animals. So she did. But when everyone noticed how she was behaving, they immediately suggested that she not run from one to the other, but choose one side once and for all. Then the old Bat said: “No!” I'll stay in the middle. - Fine! - said both sides. The battle began and the old Bat, caught in the middle of the battle, was crushed and died. This is why he who tries to sit between two stools will always find himself on the rotten part of the rope that hangs over the jaws of death.

A fall

One student asked his Sufi mentor: “Master, what would you say if you knew about my fall?” - Get up! - And next time? - Get up again! – And how long can this continue – keep falling and rising? - Fall and rise while you're alive! After all, those who fell and did not rise are dead.

Let's take advantage of the positives

An African king had a close friend with whom he grew up. This friend, when considering any situation that ever happened in his life, be it positive or negative, had a habit of saying: “That's good!” One day the king was hunting. A friend used to prepare and load guns for the king. Apparently he did something wrong while preparing one of the guns. When the king took the gun from his friend and fired it, his thumb was torn off. Investigating the situation, the friend, as usual, said: “This is good!” To this the king replied: “No, this is not good!” - and ordered his friend to be sent to prison. About a year passed, the king hunted in an area in which, in his opinion, he could be completely fearless. But the cannibals captured him and brought him to their village along with everyone else. They tied his hands, hauled a pile of wood, set up a post and tied the king to the post. As they came closer to light the fire, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb on his hand. Because of their superstition, they never ate anyone who had a defect in their body. Having untied the king, they released him. Returning home, he remembered the incident when he lost his finger, and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He immediately went to the prison to talk to him. “You were right,” he said, “it was good that I was left without a finger.” And he told everything that had just happened to him. “I really regret putting you in prison, it was bad of me.” “No,” said his friend, “that’s good!” - What are you saying? Is it good that I sent my friend to prison for a whole year? “If I weren’t in prison, I would be there with you.”

On the same topic.

“A peasant who had a horse was considered a rich man in his village. They envied him. But when his horse went into the forest and did not return, people stopped envying him, and some even pitied him. But when his horse returned and brought with him a nobody's horse from the forest, everyone again began to envy him, but when his son fell from this horse and broke his leg, some stopped envying him. But when the war began, and all the guys were taken into the army, but his son was not taken, everyone again began to envy him ... " .

A good exercise will help you, which helps to systematically change your thinking towards the positive Exercise: “Drawing out the positives”

Orthodox parables about life

Also Academician D.S. Likhachev noted that in Rus' the parable as a genre “grew” from the Bible. The Bible itself is littered with parables. It was this form of teaching the people that Solomon and Christ chose. Therefore, it is not surprising that with the advent of Christianity in Rus', the genre of parables took deep roots in our land. Popular faith has always been far from formalism and “bookish” complexity. Therefore, the best Orthodox preachers constantly turned to allegory, where they generally transformed the key ideas of Christianity into a fairy-tale form. Sometimes Orthodox parables about life could be concentrated into one phrase-aphorism. In other cases - into a short story.

Humility is a feat

Once a woman came to the Optina hieroschemamonk Anatoly (Zertsalov) and asked him for a blessing for a spiritual feat: to live alone and fast, pray and sleep on bare boards without interference. The elder said to her: “You know, the evil one does not eat, drink or sleep, but everything lives in the abyss, because he has no humility.” Submit in everything to the will of God - that’s your feat; humble yourself before everyone, reproach yourself for everything, bear illness and sorrow with gratitude - this is beyond any feats!

Your cross

One person thought that his life was very difficult. And one day he went to God, told about his misfortunes and asked Him: “Can I choose a different cross for myself?” God looked at the man with a smile, led him into a storage room where there were crosses, and said: “Choose.” The man walked around the storage room for a long time, looking for the smallest and lightest cross, and finally found a small, small, light, light cross, approached God and said: “Lord, can I take this one?” “It’s possible,” God answered. - This is your own.

How to become happy

About love with morals

Love moves worlds and human souls. It would be strange if the parables ignored the problems of relationships between men and women. And here the authors of the parables raise a great many questions. What is love? Is it possible to define it? Where does it come from and what destroys it? How to find it? Parables also touch on narrower aspects. Everyday relations between husband and wife - it would seem that what could be more banal? But here too the parable finds food for thought. After all, it’s only in fairy tales that things end with a wedding crown. And the parable knows: this is just the beginning. And keeping love is no less important than finding it.

All or nothing

One man came to the sage and asked: “What is love?” The sage said: “Nothing.” The man was very surprised and began to tell him that he had read many books that described how love can be different, sad and happy, eternal and fleeting. Then the sage replied: “That’s it.” The man again did not understand anything and asked: “How can I understand you? All or nothing?" The sage smiled and said: “You yourself just answered your own question: nothing or everything. There can be no middle ground!”

Mind and heart

One person argued that the mind is blind on the street of love, and that the main thing in love is the heart. As proof of this, he cited the story of a lover who swam many times across the Tigris River, bravely fighting the current, to see his beloved. But one day he suddenly noticed a spot on her face. After this, while swimming across the Tigris, he thought: “My beloved is imperfect.” And at that very moment the love that held him on the waves weakened, in the middle of the river his strength left him, and he drowned.

Repair, don't throw away

An elderly couple who had lived together for more than 50 years was asked: “Probably, you have never had a fight in half a century?” “We were arguing,” the husband and wife answered. – Maybe you never had any need, you had ideal relatives and a full house? - No, everything is like everyone else. – But you never wanted to separate? – There were such thoughts. – How did you manage to live together for so long? – Apparently, we were born and raised in a time when it was customary to fix broken things and not throw them away.

Don't demand

The teacher learned that one of his students was persistently seeking someone's love. “Don’t demand love, so you won’t get it,” said the teacher. - But why? - Tell me, what do you do when uninvited guests break into your door, when they knock, scream, demanding to open it, and tear out their hair from the fact that it is not opened for them? “I lock it tighter.” – Don’t break into the doors of other people’s hearts, as they will close even more tightly before you. Become a welcome guest and any heart will open to you. Take the example of a flower that does not chase bees, but by giving them nectar, attracts them to itself.

Criticism

One married couple moved to live in a new apartment. In the morning, as soon as she woke up, the wife looked out the window and saw a neighbor who was hanging out washed clothes to dry.

“Look at how dirty her laundry is,” she said to her husband. But he was reading the newspaper and did not pay any attention to it.

“She probably has bad soap, or she doesn’t know how to do laundry at all.” We should teach her.

So, every time the neighbor hung out the laundry, the wife was surprised at how dirty it was. One fine morning, looking out the window, she screamed:

- ABOUT! Today the laundry is clean! Probably learned how to do laundry!

“No,” said the husband, “I just got up early today and washed the window.”

In our lives, a lot depends on the window through which we look at what is happening. And before we criticize others, we need to make sure that our hearts and intentions are pure.

There is a good psychological exercise, Criticism using the formula + - +, master it and you will see how the world around you can change for the better!

Short parables about insult

The outside world is a harsh environment that constantly pits people against each other, striking sparks. A situation of conflict, humiliation, or insult can unsettle a person for a long time. The parable comes to the rescue here too, playing a psychotherapeutic role. How to react to an insult? Give vent to anger and respond to the insolent? What to choose – the Old Testament “an eye for an eye” or the Gospel “turn the other cheek”? It is curious that of the entire corpus of parables about insults, the Buddhist ones are the most popular today. The pre-Christian, but not Old Testament, approach seems most acceptable to our contemporaries.

Go your own way

One of the disciples asked Buddha: “If someone insults or hits me, what should I do?” – If a dry branch falls from a tree and hits you, what will you do? - he asked in response: - What will I do? “It’s a simple accident, a simple coincidence that I found myself under a tree when a branch fell from it,” said the student. Then Buddha remarked: “Then do the same.” Someone was mad, angry and hit you. It's like a branch falling from a tree on your head. Don’t let this bother you, go on your way as if nothing happened.

Take it for yourself

One day, several people began to viciously insult Buddha. He listened silently, very calmly. And that's why they felt uneasy. One of these people turned to Buddha: “Don’t our words hurt you?!” “It’s up to you to decide whether to insult me ​​or not,” replied the Buddha. – And mine is to accept your insults or not. I refuse to accept them. You can take them for yourself.

Socrates and the insolent

When some impudent person kicked Socrates, he endured it without saying a word. And when someone expressed surprise at why Socrates ignored such a blatant insult, the philosopher remarked: “If a donkey kicked me, would I really bring him to justice?”

*****

You cannot be anyone else, but only who you are. Relax! Existence needs you this way.

One day the king came to the garden and saw withering and dying trees, bushes and flowers. The oak tree said that it was dying because it could not be as tall as the pine tree. Turning to the pine tree, the king found it falling because it could not produce grapes like a grapevine. And the vine died because it cannot bloom like a rose. Soon he found one plant that gladdened his heart, blooming and fresh.

After questioning, he received this answer:

“I take it for granted, because when you imprisoned me, you wanted to get joy.” If you wanted an oak, grapes or a rose, you would plant them. Therefore, I think that I cannot be anything other than what I am. And I try to develop my best qualities. You are here because existence needed you just the way you are! Otherwise someone else would be here. You are the embodiment of something special, significant, something very important. Why do you need to be a Buddha? If God wanted another Buddha, he would have produced as many Buddhas as he wanted. But he created only one Buddha, that is enough. Since then he has not created another Buddha or Christ. Instead, he created you. Think about how much attention the Universe paid to you! You are chosen - not Buddha, not Christ, not Krishna. Their work is done, they have contributed to existence. Now you are here to contribute. Look at yourself. You can only be yourself... it is impossible for you to become someone else. You can rejoice and bloom, or you can wither if you don't accept yourself.

Friends, read the very useful book by V.V. Ponomarenko - Practical characterology with elements of forecasting and behavior management (7 radicals) and then you will understand why and why nature created you this way and not others.

About the meaning of life

Reflections on the meaning and purpose of existence belong to the category of so-called “damned questions”, and no one has a definite answer. However, deep existential fear - “Why am I living if I’m going to die anyway?” - torments every person. And of course, the genre of parable also touches on this issue. Every nation has parables about the meaning of life. Most often it is defined as follows: the meaning of life is in life itself, in its endless reproduction and development through subsequent generations. The short-term existence of each individual person is considered philosophically. Perhaps the most allegorical and transparent parable in this category was invented by the American Indians.

Stone and bamboo

They say that one day a stone and a bamboo had a heated argument. Each of them wanted a person's life to be similar to his own. The stone said: “A person’s life should be the same as mine.” Then he will live forever. Bamboo answered: “No, no, a person’s life should be like mine.” I die, but am immediately born again. The stone objected: “No, it’s better to do it differently.” Let a better person be like me. I do not bow to the wind or the rain. Neither water, nor heat, nor cold can harm me. My life is endless. For me there is no pain, no care. This is how a person's life should be. Bamboo insisted: “No.” A person's life should be like mine. I die, it is true, but I am reborn in my sons. Isn't that right? Look around me - my sons are everywhere. And they too will have their own sons, and all will have smooth and white skin. The stone was unable to answer this. Bamboo won the argument. This is why human life is like the life of bamboo.

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The power of a word

A blind old man sat on the street with a sign, begging for alms from passers-by. There were only a few moments in his box, the summer sun falling on his long, thin legs. At this time, a charming young woman passed by, who, stopping for a moment, picked up a sign and wrote something herself. The old man only moved his head, but did not say anything after her.

An hour later the girl was walking back, he recognized her by her hasty and light steps. The box at that time was full of new shiny coins, which were added every minute by people passing by.

- Dear girl, were you the one who changed my sign? I'd like to know what it says. “It says nothing but the truth, I just corrected it slightly.” It reads: “It’s so beautiful now, but unfortunately I will never be able to see it.” After tossing a couple of coins, the girl gave the old man a smile and left.