A profane man died. He heard a voice tell him he would see both heaven and hell and then decide where to spend eternity.

The man first found himself in hell, in a large room with no ceiling. There was an endlessly long table set up, filled with delicious foods. However, the people sitting at the table groaned in hungry misery. All the food was in the middle of the table. The people were tied to their chairs, so they could not bend forward to reach the food. The only utensils were long spoons that were long enough to reach the food, but were thus too long for anyone to feed themself.

Those at the table would try over and over to feed themselves by scooping food up in their spoons and then throwing the food in the air and trying to catch it in their mouths. Because of their restraints, their throws and catches were clumsy and rarely landed in their mouths. The banquet hall was a chaotic mess, with uncaught food scattered and rotting all over the ground, the diners, and table.

The man was suddenly carried away into heaven. He was puzzled, for heaven was set up identically to hell, with the same banquet table and restrained diners. But here, the room was clean and filled with the sounds of happy conversation. Only one thing differed: the diners were feeding each other by scooping up food and giving it to their neighbors.

The man found himself again back in hell. He approached the nearest suffering diner, leaned down and whispered, “You fool! There is no need for you to go hungry. Feed one of your neighbors, and certainly he will return your kindness.”

“You expect me to feed him?” the diner said. “I’d rather starve than give him the satisfaction of eating!”

In the distance, the man could see a thin rope ladder hanging down from heaven extending all the way to hell. Remembering the choice of where to spend eternity was his, and not wanting to spend it in hunger with such selfish companions, he began climbing the ladder, eager to reach the banquets of heaven.

The climb out of hell is a long one, and the man eventually grew tired. He stopped halfway up to rest. To his dismay, he noticed another new arrival to hell climbing up after him. Fearing that the flimsy rope ladder might break from the added weight, he shouted down, demanding that the other climber get off, that the ladder was his and his alone. The climber below him refused and demanded instead that the man get off. The man then heard the voice of another climber above him demanding that the man and the other climber below both get off the ladder. The man refused. He was worried that if he stayed too long in hell, he would be forced to stay there.

The three began arguing. Each tried to knock the other two off the rope while desperately trying to hang on. Eventually, the rope snapped from their scuffling. All three fell down into hell.

The man was taken and strapped into a chair and restrained for all eternity. His nearest table companions were those who had been climbing above and below him. He was so angry with them for preventing his escape from hell that he refused to feed them.

With regret, he called out to heaven. “Please warn those who are still living—I did not learn, but if I had seen what I see now, I would have learned.”

A voice replied, “you did see when you were still living, yet you never learned. Even at the end you refused to learn. The living have teachers enough. Those with ears to hear and the resolve to act already have what they need to be able to learn and do what is necessary to become worthy of heaven. Those without ears to hear and the resolve to act will never learn, no matter how many times they are taught, unless they choose to open their ears and fortify their resolve.”

Now, to you reading this, the man and the two others on the ladder likely seem foolish and evil, but it is easy to see the foolishness and evil of others and tell them what you think they must do to set themselves right. It is much harder to see your own foolishness and evil and correct it. Focus on shedding your own faults, and seek to live among those working to do likewise, and you can start building heaven around you.

 

**Inspired by an old story, known as “The Allegory of the Long Spoons,” “The Par­able of the Long Chopsticks,” or “The Parable of the Banquet,” attributed as an old Buddhist, Chinese, Chri­stian, Hindu, or Jewish parable, also attributed to Rab­bi Haim of Romshishok; Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, “The Spider’s Thread,” 1918; Luke 16:19-31.