The Parable of the Dancer and the Choreographer

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, how can there be Boxing Day, when ninety percent of people who participate in Boxing Day have no idea what Boxing Day is?”

Josh spoke thus:

A dancer was trying to see the dance.

“Stop it,” the choreographer told the dancer.

“Stop what?” the dancer asked.

“Stop trying to see the dance,” the choreographer said.

“I want to understand how I fit in,” the dancer said.

“It’s none of your business how you fit in,” the choreographer told the dancer, “How you fit in is my business.  Your business is to do what I tell you.”

“I can do it better if I know how I fit in,” the dancer said.

“You can do it better if you do what I say,” the choreographer said.

“I’m doing what you say,” the dancer said.

“You’re not doing what I say,” the choreographer said, “You’re doing what you think you should do to make what I say fit with what you see as being your part.”

“I work better when I see the whole dance,” the dancer said.

“You work better when you do what I say,” the choreographer said, “Now do what I say.”

The dancer did what the choreographer said.

“There,” the choreographer said, “That’s I want.”

“But it doesn’t mean anything to me,” the dancer said.

“It doesn’t mean anything to you,” the choreographer said, “Because it doesn’t have any meaning.  What you do has no meaning at all.  And what each of them does,” the choreographer pointed to the other dancers, “Also has no meaning at all.  What has meaning is the combination of what they do with what you do.”

“That’s why I want to understand it,” the dancer said, “So I can make it make sense.”

“You can’t make it make sense,” the choreographer said, “Because when you make it make sense, it stands apart from what the others are doing.  And when it stands apart, it doesn’t fit in.  And when it doesn’t fit in, it doesn’t make sense.  And not only does what you’re doing not make sense, but now nothing anybody else does makes sense.  I can’t even imagine the chaos that would occur if suddenly everything everyone did made sense.  There would be no sense at all.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” the dancer said.

“That’s my point,” the choreographer said.