A wise guru once asked his disciples: "How can we determine the hour of dawn, when the night ends and the day begins?"
One of the disciples suggested: "When from a distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep?"
"No," was the answer of the guru.
"It is when one can distinguish between a mango tree and a banyan tree?" asked a second disciple.
"No," the guru said.
"Please tell us the answer then," said the disciples.
"You know the light has come," said the wise teacher, "when you can look into the face of another human being and you have enough light in you to recognize your brother or your sister. Until then it is night, and darkness is still with us."
- earliest known publication with a similar story: Finding My Way Home: Pathways to Life and the Spirit, Henri J. M. Nouwen, 2004
