There's an old parable about a very educated English gentleman visiting a well- known Buddhist master to see what he could learn from the spiritual teacher. The holy man poured a cup of tea for the Englishman and kept pouring and pouring until there was tea all over the floor. Finally, the Englishman could not sit silently any longer and asked: "Why are you overfilling the cup?" The Buddhist master replied: "This cup is like your head. It is so full that nothing else will go into it. You must empty yourself first in order to learn anything new from me."