The Parable of the Long Spoons

BY SOFO ARCHON

In 2006, when I was a first-year undergraduate psychology student, a friend invited me to join a group meditation at the Buddhist temple that happened to be on our university campus.

Before the meditation began, the instructor who led the temple shared an old yet profoundly beautiful story—one I’ve carried like a treasure in my heart ever since. It’s called The Parable of the Long Spoons, and its author is unknown.

So, without further ado, here it is.

***

One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”

God showed the man two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of vegetable stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, “You have seen Hell.”

Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful vegetable stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The man said, “I don’t understand.”

God smiled. “It is simple,” he said. “Love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves…”