Benjamin
Franklin and the 12 foot spoons
Below
is a free sample from "Benjamin Franklin's Secrets to Success GR
Workbook".
It's
a short allegorical story (a
few paragraphs) that demonstrates a basic premise of one of the general
goals of this book. Everyone seems to love and relate to it.
We
only publish the one book at this time (although a book on raising
positive children easily is in the works). I mention that because I
don't want you to think the below excerpt is really all there is to
it.
Using
Franklin's own concepts for personal development and working towards
perfection, the book provides many methods and affirmations for
self-improvement of all kinds, covering nearly all topics and problems
that people want or need to deal with in their lives.
Back
to the story - it goes something like this: There's this man who dies,
and is shown a kind of "heaven and hell" scenario, yet the two different places
are exactly the same,
while at the same time, totally different. Yet they aren't just places you can go after you
die, like the concept of heaven or hell. It's about two different places we can LIVE
right now, and how we can experience life totally differently with a
different attitude and perspective. Confused? Intrigued? Good. Here goes:
There
was a man who died and was being taken to heaven by angels. But first,
they wanted to show him hell (just for the hell of it I guess).
The
angels then took him to a place where there was a great bowl, so great
that it was as big as a lake. The bowl was filled with a nutritious
stew. All the way around the sides of this bowl were people. Emaciated,
starving, miserable people. These people had spoons to eat the stew
with, that were long enough to reach it from the shore (about 12 feet).
The trouble was, while they could scoop up the stew into the spoon, they
could not get it into their mouths because the spoons were so long the
stew would fall off before they could get it to their mouths. So
here were all these pathetic people, suffering and moaning in agony,
constantly trying to eat the food that was abundantly in front of them -
all in vain. Next, the angels took the man to heaven. To his surprise,
he saw the same scene! There it was, a giant lake-like bowl of the same
stew, surrounded by people with 12 foot long spoons. Yet something was
different here - all these people were smiling, happy, and healthy
looking!
"Why?
What is the difference here that these people are happy and well
fed?", the man said to the angels.
They
replied, "Have you not eyes to see?". The man looked more
carefully, and observed that one person would scoop up the stew, and
bring it to the mouth of another. Then someone else would scoop up stew
and feed it to the other.
The
angels smiled and said, "Here the people feed each other. Here are
the people that learned the way of Love."
The
above story uses a striking allegorical fantasy to clearly illustrate a
fundamental difference between a world of people who are looking out for
themselves first, and a world of people who make caring for others their
first priority. That’s what Benjamin Franklin's moral/virtue
perfection project (also known as "the Art of Virtue").
Essentially, the story
exemplifies living by the Golden Rule, or not living by it, in a
nutshell.
But
it’s more than just a story. It truly represents the real difference
that living that way could make - both for ourselves, and in our world. It shows us
what tolerance and caring for others first, does. And even if you cannot change the world so profoundly, it
still represents what kind of a world we can eventually live
in if we live by Franklin's code of self-improvement/the golden rule, and make ourselves deserving citizens
of paradise.
So
how do we go about making the changeover to being the kind of person
that belongs in place where everyone care-takes each other? Or at least
start bringing it about in our life and those we live and deal with
daily? We start with ourselves.
When
most people think of making their lives better or changing the world,
they think about the flaws other people have and want to change them.
But we can only offer others opportunities to change WE
CAN'T CHANGE ANYONE ELSE. The only person we can be sure of changing, is
our self. That is so important of a fundamental concept to
understand.
It
can only start with me (and you). We can only change our self. But just
by doing that, you'll find that your whole life will change around you.
You can have and be
a truly "good neighbor", a good friend, and have great
relationships with everyone who wants to do the same, if you
start with yourself.
What's the golden rule and what does it have to do with me and life?
The answers found by Ben Franklin's quotes & biography.
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