The Two Paths
Diners sat around the table with great spoons in their hands, yet they were shrieking with hunger in that terrible place. They tried to feed themselves, and gave up, cursing God, for the spoons that God had provided were so long that they could not reach their faces and get the food to their tongues. So they starved, while their dish of plenty lay amongst them. The priest knew their screams were the cries of hell, and as this understanding came, the door closed before him.
He shut his eyes in prayer and begged God to take him away from that terrible place. When he opened them again, he despaired, for the same door stood before him, the door that bore no name. Again it opened, and it gave onto the same room. Nothing had changed, and he was about to cry in horror. There was the table, and at its centre the steaming dish, and around it were the same people, and in their hands the same spoons.
Yet the shrieking had gone, and the cries and the curses had changed to blessings; and nothing had changed, yet everything. For with the same long spoons they reached to each-other's mouths and fed one another, and they gave thanks to God.
And as the priest heard the blessings, the door closed. He fell to his knees, and he too blessed God who had shown him the nature of heaven and hell, and the chasm - a hair's breadth wide - that divides them.
A Parable of Heaven and Hell - author unknown
IN THE SCHOOL OF LIFE there are two paths, and each and every person must choose to tread either one or the other. These two roads of learning have been accorded the names the Left-Hand Path and the Right-Hand Path.
The Left-Hand Path is the way of service to self. It comprises all self-seeking, including the quest for self-liberation and self-enlightenment. Through spiritual practises applied with a personally-oriented attitude, psychic powers and expansions of consciousness may be attained, yet no purity or holiness can ever be realised in this way, and this is why one of the greatest powers in the universe - Love - always eludes the seeker with self-interest, ultimately leaving them bereft of fulfilment and happiness.
It has been demonstrated since time immemorial that the Left-Hand Path is a most difficult and painful road, fraught with all the dangerous temptations that pervade and proliferate within the illusory world of the ego. The Left-Hand Path is strewn with potholes down which the shortsighted self-seeker may fall at any moment into an even deeper darkness of separation and suffering. If the traveller upon this path remains unillumined by the lamp of right-seeing and therefore does not presently choose to switch to the Right-Hand Path, in time it is likely that he shall develop a sombre interest in manipulating his environment solely for himself. The dangers are therefore certain upon the Left-Hand Path, for in his consequent sinking into greater self-obsession, and by thus promoting his own isolation and hunger for power, the self-seeker shall begin to attempt to control and exploit others, and may eventually embark upon the way of black magic. So it may be clearly seen that the Left-Hand Path ultimately leads to evil.
Evil bears within itself the seed of its own destruction because its transgressions go against the natural, inclusive and upward flow of Evolution, which must triumph, for such is the purpose of Creation. It may be recognised, therefore, that any selfish thought is analogous to the planting of an evil seed or the fostering of an existing evil tendency that must ultimately lead to misery and self-destruction in the invincible wake of cosmic forces, which are ever engaged in service to the Universal Intelligence. Ghengis Khan, Hitler and Stalin demonstrated perfectly the typical consequences of following the Left-Hand Path.
Conversely, the Right-Hand Path - the way of true spiritual emancipation - is by far the most easy, joyful and quickest road leading back to the Kingdom of God. In every race and nation, in every clime and part of the world, and throughout the endless reaches of time, back into the limitless past, human beings have discovered the way that leads to liberation through helping others. They have trodden the True Path gladly, accepted its conditions, endured happily its disciplines and exemplified its virtues. They have rested back in confidence upon its realities, received its rewards and, through its verities, they have realised the One Goal of spiritual Deliverance. Discovering that most cherished prize, they have entered into the Joy of Heaven, participated in the mysteries of Paradise, dwelled for a while in the glory of the divine Presence, and then always have they returned to the ways of the world, to serve. The testimony to the existence of this path is retained in the priceless treasures of wisdom left behind by its witnesses who successfully transcended all desire for the personal self, and who consequently penetrated into the ever-expanding world of true meaning and divine purpose. Lord Buddha, Jesus, the Piscean Christ, and St. Francis of Assisi all walked upon the noble Right-Hand Path.
Due to the inherent divine solidarity that is always present amongst those who live in harmony with the benign Forces of Good, the person who sincerely treads the True Path is automatically aided and protected throughout life's vicissitudes by the invisible benevolence of ever-attending divine Guides. Conversely, the person upon the path of service to self is much more prone to random 'accidents' and setbacks; they may find no haven from the gales and tempests of life's often seemingly cruel conditions. This is one reason why the Right-Hand Path is so much safer and expeditious for everyone upon their return journey back into Oneness.
Comparing the two paths, it should be understood that there is a very great difference between those seeking after personal mystical experience, and enlightened spiritual seekers who, in their sincere and selfless commitment to the greatest good of all, offer themselves in service to others as an integral part of their quest. By contrasting the ultimate results of the two paths, it may be observed that there is a very marked distinction indeed between a sorcerer and a saint. Sorcerers, who may have acquired unusual levels of expanded psychic awareness and who are therefore able to exhibit certain powers, often pose as holy masters in order to manipulate others and to gain greater power for themselves. Saints, however, never have a thought for themselves, and utilise 'miracles' only when absolutely necessary, and then solely for the benefit of others. A love of humanity and, indeed, of all living things is an innate quality of the person who treads the Right-Hand Path, and such a benevolent attitude constitutes the truly enlightened mind.
Enlightenment, as it is known to many, has for eons been regarded as the highest goal of mankind. It is a term that has been applied to all those assiduous personalities who have attained permanent divine-contact. Communion with Divinity is facilitated by adequate preparation and purification of the lower vehicles of consciousness; namely the mental, emotional and physical sheaths, which compose the personality of the individual. Once this worthy spiritual objective has been accomplished, the Light from Above is able to express itself unimpeded down through all three of the lower planes just mentioned. Divine-contact, then, is but the first stage of enlightenment, without which further spiritual progress is impossible.
Selfless service automatically invokes the attention of Divinity because charity is an inherent attribute of the divine Nature. Therefore, the quality of goodwill is all that is required for the divine Spirit to be contacted, subsequently shared and thus the first joyous step to be made upon the Right-Hand Path, which leads to the enlightened state. Perhaps the most soothing balm and inspiring truth today for a confused humanity is that the Everlasting Road that leads up through all the heavens and on into Infinite Beauty shall be found eventually by everyone. However, this inevitable discovery may be greatly hastened by the fostering of two elementary virtues: true understanding and right attitude.
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