Activity 2: Story - A Cup of Tea
Activity time: 10 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Story, "A Cup of Tea"
Preparation for Activity
- Read the story "A Cup of Tea" so you will be comfortable presenting it.
Description of Activity
Introduce the story "A Cup of Tea" by saying, in these words or your own:
In every religious tradition, stories are essential to teaching about the faith. Sometimes they are presented as historical, as in, "Such-and-such prophet did this at this time," but more often they are intended to make you think and to illustrate things that that faith finds supremely important to the human journey. "A Cup of Tea" is such a story. See if you can tell what it is saying to us.
Tell or read the story. Ask participants:
- What do you think this story is saying?
- How does that relate to what you already know about Taoism and its values?
- Where does your cup fall on the full-to-empty continuum? Is it pretty full or is it pretty empty? Do you think that is good?
- If you think your cup is really full, so full it is hard to let anything new in, what can you do to empty your cup?