The Blind Man (No. 207)

Quite some time ago, there was a good man who owned a very large and beautiful property. He didn’t have a family and wanted to find someone who was like himself, to whom he could give his property as an inheritance. He was a very kind and loving man, full of wisdom and understanding. He knew from experience what makes happiness. He was also a very good farmer.

So this man set out to find a manager for his beautiful property. He reasoned that, in order to find someone like himself, he would put someone in charge of his property and he would be able to ascertain his suitability while teaching him how to achieve happiness.

The owner eventually found a nice young man and his wife and showed them over the property, and they saw how beautiful it was.

The owner said to them, “In order for you to take up this manager’s position, I would like you to sign a contract, as is common practice these days, so that you know what I expect from you, and that you know what to expect from me. There are only two conditions. The first is that, because I am the owner, you must try to please me by running the property by following my instructions. I will leave a book of these simple instructions on the kitchen table when I leave. Please don’t put it in the bookshelf to collect dust. It has all you need to know about managing the property. (This young couple didn’t know much about farming as yet.) If you do what it says, the property will remain just as beautiful and you will reap plentiful harvests. The other condition is that I expect you to be kind to the neighbours as I am being kind to you. My part of the deal is that you can keep all the profits from the farm, apart from 10% which you can send to me – free rent, free food from your produce and free firewood. The term of the contract is twenty years – after which time, if you have followed my instructions, the place is yours.”

The young manager was astounded at such a good deal and, after considering it, signed on the dotted line.

The owner said goodbye. “I’m going away, but if you need me, you’ll always be able to find me.”

A few years went by and the manager diligently learnt from the instruction handbook and had plentiful harvests, good healthy animals and the property indeed prospered. He and his wife were extremely happy, and were surrounded by beauty.

He kept very busy. He trained the horses to plough and was kind to his neighbours. There always seemed to be someone in need. When he consulted the instruction handbook, he learnt that he was not allowed to harvest crops right to the edge of the paddock. He had to leave a certain amount around the perimeter of the paddock so that any poor neighbours who needed food could come and harvest enough for their own needs – but they had to come with their sickle and harvest it themselves. The manager started to understand that this not only filled the neighbours’ needs when they were having a hard time, but also that you must not expect something for nothing – if you want to eat, you must work.

So the manager and his wife worked hard and found many wise instructions in the handbook. They were able to help many neighbours, and the neighbours helped each other. Life was fulfilling and peaceful.

Now the owner had said to them that some of the managers on surrounding properties disagreed with his methods of farming and helping their neighbours, and even though these other managers’ practices may appear to be good for the land, don’t follow what they are doing. Stick to the handbook.

One day, a manager from another property dropped in for a visit.

“I’ve been watching how well your farm’s going. I know the owner of this place. I’ve known him for years. I suppose he convinced you that you’ll be really happy if you follow his instructions. But don’t you get sick and tired of following his instructions? You seem pretty intelligent, I bet you could make greater profits if you did it your own way. It wouldn’t take much to increase your profits you know, and you would be even happier.”

The manager and his wife pondered about what the visitor had said.

After some time had passed, the manager decided that maybe he could make more money if he didn’t quite follow the rules. “It won’t matter much,” he thought “If I can make more money, then the owner should be pleased, and his 10% will be bigger. Anyway, he doesn’t need to know how I increase the profits.”

So instead of leaving the edges of the harvest for any poor neighbours, he harvested right up to the boundaries, and sold the grain, and made a bigger profit.

The bank balance grew.

So the poor people went hungry. And he laid off his workers and bought huge machinery instead. And the neighbours had no work. And he cleared the beautiful forest which was on his property to sell the timber and plant more crops. And the bank balance grew. And the weather changed, and the weeds grew.

The neighbours began to stop caring for each other. They began to think that they, too, could have more if they took what was not theirs.

The kind and loving owner heard of all that had happened, and he mourned greatly. So he sent someone whom he trusted to take a message to the manager, to tell him that he must stop these wrong practices. The contract stated that he must manage the property according to the owner’s instructions. If he didn’t comply, there would be dreadful consequences to the land and he would lose his job. And the merciful owner said in the message that if he changed now and stopped breaking the contract, that the owner would forget it this time, but the manager must return to his original ways when the property was farmed properly and he and his neighbours were happy. The owner reiterated his part of the deal too, that the contract would last for twenty years.

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe I have been wrong. Tell the old man I’m sorry.”

But after a short time he went back to his own ways and the handbook collected dust on the shelf.

He started using chemicals to kill the bugs that had once helped in the beautiful property, chemicals to kill the weeds, chemicals to make the cattle fat and chemicals to make the crops grow. But the balance was gone. Huge mono-crops were not in the instruction book. The forest was to be utilised, not destroyed. The once happy bubbling river that flowed through the property became filthy and polluted, and the neighbours were crying out to the manager, “We have no work, we have no food. Our water from your river is making us sick.” – all the while they were fighting amongst themselves.

The manager grew weary of listening to the neighbours’ complaints, so he called up some of his rich friends and devised a plan to take over the land of the neighbours and plant more crops, run more cattle, make more money.

One night they went out and killed the neighbours and took their land.

The managers of other big properties heard of their exploits and saw all the money that was to be made and how powerful one could become, so they, too, took over the lands. They polluted the ground, polluted the air, polluted the food. They tortured and killed the neighbours and those who were left were slowly dying from all the poisons around them – and the neighbours too, no longer knew how to care for each other.

Laughter ceased, and the children couldn’t understand why they were afflicted with so many diseases and deformities and abuses. And they cried.

The beautiful property and the neighbours properties were slowly being destroyed by the managers and the neighbours as they took all they could from the land and from each other. And the land was dying.

The kind and loving owner, had been watching from a distance, as he mourned. Until at last, the time came when the contract had expired.

Then the wise owner’s anger could not be contained. He gathered an army from distant places and they went to the property which was once so beautiful, and destroyed it and all the wicked managers and their properties and the wicked neighbours. The power of his anger was so great that he nearly destroyed the whole earth.

But he heard a cry. And he remembered that there were a few good people left who knew and loved the kind and loving owner and who knew what was written in the handbook of instructions.

So the owner stopped the destruction he had ordered. And to these few remaining people who knew and loved him, he gave the task of repairing his property.

And the knowledge of the handbook of instructions was in their hearts.

In time the property was restored. And all those who had suffered were restored. The owner returned, rejoicing. He gave his beautiful property to them all.

Who do you think the person was that was called the owner?

Who was the Messenger He sent?

What was the Instruction Book He gave the manager?

The story is a simple overview of a just plan for the government of the earth.

You need to find out what you have to do in that plan.

To which group in the story do you belong?

The answers to the problem are at:

http://www.ccg.org

or write to:

PO Box 369, Woden ACT 2606, Australia

PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA