The Parable of the Copper Miller

“Do you know how he once went into another’s land, to foreign territories? He was unprepared for what he would see there, for what he would confront. He saw ignorance, hunger, poverty, laziness. Unforgivable ignorance.
People there did not want to live; they merely existed. At least, that was how it looked to him.
“What did he do?”
“He raised bread for them, taught them, showed them, gave them seeds and caused them to sprout in that poor soil. Those seeds sent up shoots. And the harvest was unprecedented.
When they saw what he was doing, they hurried to help him so the work would prosper in the best possible way.
“And what happened?”
“It was a good harvest. They gathered much grain. The miller, having built a large mill there, intended to grind that grain. The ignorant people tried to steal the grain. They did not understand that the miller was trying to give them more, to give them bread, that product which would satisfy them. But what did they do? They began taking those sacks of grain, feeding it to their animals, consuming it all down to the last bit, until nothing remained. And the miller said, ‘What are you doing? Come to your senses! You are robbing yourselves of the daily bread meant for your sustenance, for your benefit!’
They realized they were wrong, and that hunger would make them regret it bitterly.
But the miller was not a simple man; he was wise. Therefore he hid a sack from them. And they sowed new fields. A new crop rose, but now those ignorant people helped him from beginning to end. Trusting without stinginess, they entrusted the grain to the miller so he might grind their flour, that they might bake bread and be satisfied.
“What is this parable about, tell me?”
“Often it happens that in your ignorance you do not desire new knowledge, fearful of incursions upon your inviolability, upon yourselves. But by shutting yourselves off from knowledge, you do not become wiser. All wisdom is in being nourished by the knowledge that is given to you.
And when you give your grains of knowledge, the results of your skills, do not be surprised that soon you will taste the fruit of true knowledge; that sacred grain will reveal itself to your inner sight.
“But the miller? He hid some, didn’t he?”
“Having left the grains, he did not hoard them; he saved that knowledge so that it might sprout into an unprecedented harvest of wisdom. That is different.”
“And why copper, after all?”
“Those people knew nothing of agriculture, of raising grain, that is true. But they were skilled artisans and cast a statue of him in copper in honor of the miller.
“So it turns out they weren’t entirely lazy?”
“They were craftsmen, but lazy in receiving new goods.
Never shut yourselves off from receiving the goods bestowed upon you by the Creator; study, unfold, receive what is bequeathed to you, what is given to you for the sake of your development.”