Here is a Sufi story that I found on the web. I particularly like
the statement "What does it mean to be a disciple? It means to be
able to learn. "

My thanks to the unknown author.

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When the great Sufi mystic, Hasan, was dying, somebody asked "Hasan,
who was your master?"

He said, "I had thousands of masters. If I just relate their names
it will take months, years and it is too late. But three masters I
will certainly tell you about.

One was a thief. Once I got lost in the desert, and when I reached a
village it was very late, everything was closed. But at last I found
one man who was trying to make a hole in t he wall of a house. I
asked him where I could stay and he said 'At this time of night it
will be difficult, but you can say with me - if you can stay with a
thief'

And the man was so beautiful. I stayed for one month! And each night
he would say to me, 'Now I am going to my work. You rest, you pray.'
When he came back I would ask 'Could you get anything?' He would
say, 'Not tonight. But tomorrow I will try again, God willing.' He
was never in a state of hopelessness, he was always happy.

When I was meditating and meditating for years on end and nothing
was happening, many times the moment came when I was so desperate,
so hopeless, that I thought to stop all this nonsense. And suddenly
I would remember the thief who would say every night, 'God willing,
tomorrow it is going to happen.'

And my second master was a dog. I was going to the river, thirsty
and a dog came. He was also thirsty. He looked into the river, he
saw another dog there -- his own image -- and became afraid. He
would bard and run away, but his thirst was so much that he would
come back. Finally, despite his fear, he just jumped into the water,
and the image disappeared. And I knew that a message had come to me
from God: one has to jump in spite of all fears.

And the third master was a small child. I entered a town and a child
was carrying a lit candle. he was going to the mosque to put the
candle there.

'Just joking,' I asked the boy, 'Have you lit the candle yourself?'
He said, 'Yes sir.' And I asked, 'There was a moment when the candle
was unlit, then there was a moment when the candle was lit. Can you
show me the source from which the light came?'

And the boy laughed, blew out the candle, and said, 'Now you have
seen the light going. Where has it gone? You will tell me!'

My ego was shattered, my whole knowledge was shattered. And that
moment I felt my own stupidity. Since then I dropped all my
knowledgeability.

It is true that I had no master. That does not mean that I was not a
disciple -- I accepted the whole existence as my master. My
Disciplehood was a greater involvement than yours is. I trusted the
clouds, the trees. I trusted existence as such. I had no master
because I had millions of masters I learned from every possible
source. To be a disciple is a must on the path. What does it mean to
be a disciple? It means to be able to learn. to be available to
learn to be vulnerable to existence. With a master you start
learning to learn.

The master is a swimming pool where you can learn how to swim. Once
you have learned, all the oceans are yours."