A Parable from the Spirit

A lesson about selflessness.

In time out of mind there lived somewhere far away a shopkeeper. He was not merely a merchant; he crafted things himself. He carved astonishing figures from soft wood. Any species of wood in his hands yielded to every stroke, to every notch, as if it came alive before his eyes.
He loved his creations so much—each one unique and wondrous in its own way—that he hid them high on the far shelves of his little storeroom and never displayed them publicly, for he feared parting with them.
What is this?
—Egoism?
—It’s greed. But if he had decided to sell them for unimaginable sums, would that not also be an expression of the same greed?
The fear of letting go of something precious, while others need it, is a manifestation of greed. But to demand what is not yours is also wrong.
One day a boy, bold and bright, dropped in to visit. He saw those toys—seeming carved from enchanted wood—and stood frozen with wonder and admiration. Never before had his eyes burned so brightly, never before had his soul blazed as it did at the sight of those incredible works.
Something tightened in the chest of the greedy shopkeeper. As if for the first time he saw the world in utterly different colors, because the eyes of his soul had changed; they opened.
And in those eyes there was no longer avarice and greed, no grasping or pettiness; there was love, a vast love for the great world revealed through the wondrous eyes of a small boy.
To see the beauty of all that surrounds you, its boundlessness and generosity, through one tiny smile—that is the awakening of the Soul, the rebirth of true feelings of being.
—What happened next?
—He let the boy take any one of those figures. In return, the boy wanted to thank the old shopkeeper for his unheard-of gift and hired himself out as his assistant. For the old man was infirm and walked with difficulty. The boy became his feet and eyes, his mouth and ears, and everything in the shop prospered far quicker and more lively than ever before.
You can never know, when parting with something dear to your heart, that that very thing may serve as a spark of inspiration for others, and through their inspiration your own Spirit may be reborn.
Do not refuse to help where with your hand, your word, or your deed you can assist—simply and selflessly—calling your heart to embrace the works of the Earth.