I love an aphorism, paradox, koan, fable, parable, proverb, and Secret of Adulthood. I also love teaching stories.

One of my Secrets of Adulthood is: Important truths are too important to be new. The same truths emerge over and over again, expressed in different words, different metaphors, and different stories. 

Here’s one example. A useful and memorable aphorism attributed to executive coach Marshall Goldsmith is: “What got you here won’t get you there.” That phrase was the title of the bestselling book Goldsmith published in 2007, and I often hear people invoke that phrase. Goldsmith argues that the skills, behaviors, and habits that help us succeed at one level of our career or life often become obstacles or limitations when we try to advance to the next level.

As it happens, there’s a well-known Buddhist teaching story, often called “The Parable of the Raft,” that makes the same point and has been around for more than 2,500 years.

Here’s my version of the story:

Once upon a time, a man on a long journey came to a great expanse of water. Near him, the shore was dangerous, but he knew that across the water, the shore was safe. He yearned to reach that distant shore, but he couldn’t find a boat or bridge that would allow him to cross. So he gathered reeds, sticks, and branches and bound them into a small raft until at last, he was able to use the raft to paddle himself to the other side of the water. 

When he reached the other side, he looked down at the raft and thought, “This raft has been so helpful to me. By using it, working with my hands and feet, I reached the safety of this other shore. Shouldn’t I bring my raft with me, lifted onto my head or carried on my shoulders, as I continue my journey?”

The Buddha’s teaching is that he should leave the raft behind. The raft was useful for crossing over, but it should not be clung to after it has served its purpose. In the same way, once we’ve received the Buddha’s teachings to reach a new understanding, we must let go of our former ways of thought.

The Parable of the Raft reminds me of another teaching story, from economist and philosopher Adam Smith’s groundbreaking book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, published in 1759. Smith suggests why we might find it so difficult to leave the raft behind–and interestingly, he uses exactly the same “raft” metaphor. He observes:

We conceive…a sort of gratitude for those inanimated objects, which have been the causes of great or frequent pleasure to us. The sailor, who, as soon as he got ashore, should mend his fire with the plank upon which he had just escaped from a shipwreck, would seem to be guilty of an unnatural action. We should expect that he would rather preserve it with care and affection, as a monument that was, in some measure, dear to him. 

I think Adam Smith’s observation rings true, and explains why the Parable of the Raft rings true, and why Marshall Goldsmith’s catchy phrase is quoted so often. When something has been very important to us, it’s very hard to leave it behind; we feel very loyal to it, we cling to it, even when it no longer serves us. And yet sometimes we must leave it behind if we are to continue to reach our aim.

Three different teachers across the centuries have commented, in their own way, on an important aspect of the human experience.