What Will It Take?

Weekly Message, October 8, 2005
What Will It Take?
Written by Terry Grant

There is a story about a village that lay in the middle of a large forest. There was a growing fire burning in the forest, and the inhabitants of the village were desperately trying to save their homes from the approaching flames. They urged each other on with the words, "We must put out the fire!"

They poured liquid on the flames, but the liquid was kerosene which only made the fire stronger. The priests of the village were of no help either. They sold the kerosene to the people, and made sure the supply never ran out.

One day a stranger came to the village. He told the people, "You have to put out the fire." But he refused to pour kerosene on the flames. He told the people that the liquid only worsened the fire, and that their village would be destroyed if they continued to use it.

When the villagers heard the stranger's words, many of them dismissed him: "He's saying the same thing we have been saying all along; there is nothing to learn from him." Others reacted with indignation to the stranger's instruction: "What right does this newcomer have to tell us what to do?" And so the villagers kept pouring the kerosene, and the fire continued to spread, threatening to consume the whole community.

Such is the plight of a truth teller.
. . . .

There is a famous spirituality author who, in one of his best-selling books, wrote that "the physical body is an illusion." Recently, a couple of people asked him (I'm paraphrasing), "If, as you indicate, this physical existence is just a cosmic movie, then why should anyone care whether the planet is destroyed?" He replied (again I'm paraphrasing), "You have taken the concept I gave you, and mistakenly used it as a guide for action. You instead should have realized that the concept only pointed to the truth, and was not the truth itself."

In other words, "Yes, I sold you the kerosene, but I didn't expect you to use it."

The world today is rife with the belief that "This isn't it." The belief takes many forms: The idea that the this life is inherently imperfect or sinful and that true fulfillment can be attained only in heaven; the notion that this existence is merely a temporary stay on the way to another lifetime; the mindset that all manifest form is but a passing dream and that the only absolute reality is "the unmanifest"; the conviction that salvation will come in a "rapture" event where the faithful will be rescued from a hopeless life of struggle -- these are all variations of the belief, and all tend to be destructive.

People often take offense when the ruinous nature of the belief is pointed out to them. Some react: "It is judgmental to say such things." Others come back with: "It is elitist to reject what everyone else accepts."

And so the flames grow larger. How devastating the belief!

What will it take for us to see?

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