A parable and a challenge

[Tre-L]

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who left to his children many gifts as an inheritance. Among the gifts was one which contained the key to living a happy and abundant life. The only thing his children knew of this gift is that it seemed small and insignificant compared to the other gifts their father had left them. So this tiny gift sat largely unnoticed and unappreciated by his children. They had so many gifts after all, and as each child desired the gifts they thought to themselves to be the greatest, the one gift they truly needed was all but discarded. While the mans children did their best to make the best of their inheritance, the gift containing the key to their happiness was neglected and viewed to be the least important among the rest. And much to his childrens shame, and because they neglected the gift that could help them live an abundant life, they failed to experience a life filled with joy and happiness. His children missed out on an amazing inheritance because they failed to realize the importance of that one tiny gift."

The challenge is for you to identify the "gift" and the meaning of the story as it possibly relates to mankind. May the force be with you all, hehe. :yoda:

Tre-L

 

[Wandered Off]

The obvious moral of the story is to communicate clearly and effectively which gifts are important so that your loved ones don't miss out. As for identifying the key to living a happy and abundant life, I suppose it has to be some variety of chocolate.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

The only meaningful answer to what the gift is, is the ability to clearly and honestly understand one's self, and be able to identify and implement the changes necessary for you to have a happy and abundant life.

Of course, this gift has nothing to do with the kingdom of heaven, as living life in anticipation of dying, is certainly not a path to a happy or abundant life.

 

[Willamena]

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who left to his children many gifts as an inheritance. Among the gifts was one which contained the key to living a happy and abundant life. The only thing his children knew of this gift is that it seemed small and insignificant compared to the other gifts their father had left them. So this tiny gift sat largely unnoticed and unappreciated by his children. They had so many gifts after all, and as each child desired the gifts they thought to themselves to be the greatest, the one gift they truly needed was all but discarded. While the mans children did their best to make the best of their inheritance, the gift containing the key to their happiness was neglected and viewed to be the least important among the rest. And much to his childrens shame, and because they neglected the gift that could help them live an abundant life, they failed to experience a life filled with joy and happiness. His children missed out on an amazing inheritance because they failed to realize the importance of that one tiny gift."

The challenge is for you to identify the "gift" and the meaning of the story as it possibly relates to mankind. May the force be with you all, hehe. :yoda:

Tre-L

The gift is Eris (chaos).

 

[angellous_evangellous]

This is an insult to intelligence.

 

[Tre-L]

This is an insult to intelligence.

Let this thread serve as an illustration of how different people will derive different meanings from a parable, such as the parables Jesus told. There is a meaning behind the parable, which only I know fully, being that I am the one who wrote it. Take a stab at it angellous. Perhaps you can interpret it as it was meant to be interpreted?

Take care,

 

[Willamena]

Let this thread serve as an illustration of how different people will derive different meanings from a parable, such as the parables Jesus told. There is a meaning behind the parable, which only I know fully, being that I am the one who wrote it. Take a stab at it angellous. Perhaps you can interpret it as it was meant to be interpreted?

Take care,

The problem with that is that you demand mind-readers, rather than interpreters.

Everyone interprets it correctly (it's not possible to do otherwise).

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Let this thread serve as an illustration of how different people will derive different meanings from a parable, such as the parables Jesus told. There is a meaning behind the parable, which only I know fully, being that I am the one who wrote it. Take a stab at it angellous. Perhaps you can interpret it as it was meant to be interpreted?

Take care,

If you have something to say that isn't served by individual interpretation, then just say what it is. Otherwise, there is no point in being vague and nebulous. Unless, of course, the author of the parable specifically wants people to miss whatever point there might be.

 

[Tre-L]

The problem with that is that you demand mind-readers, rather than interpreters.

Everyone interprets it correctly (it's not possible to do otherwise).

Everyone will derive their own meaning from it, but there is only one way it was meant to be interpreted. The challenge is for you to identify the 'gift', and the meaning as you think it applies to mankind. It doesn't demand being a mind reader, but it does require one to sit down and think about the implications being made. Jesus almost always spoke in parable, and although we derive many different meanings from them, His parables only had one correct interpretation, which only He understood fully. It is an exercise of the mind, simply geared to make us think. I thought it might be fun to see how many different interpretations you guys could come up with.

 

[Tre-L]

If you have something to say that isn't served by individual interpretation, then just say what it is. Otherwise, there is no point in being vague and nebulous. Unless, of course, the author of the parable specifically wants people to miss whatever point there might be.

What fun is there in giving away the meaning the author holds. I'd much rather see how many different interpretations can be derived from just this one parable. Yes it is quite vague, and many will derive meanings only meaningful to them. For instance: Jesus told numerous parables, all of which we interpret differently. One of the purposes of the thread is to illustrate that although we have derived meaning from Jesus' parables, it doesn't make our interpretations correct. We could all be wrong about what He intended to imply.

 

[Willamena]

Everyone will derive their own meaning from it, but there is only one way it was meant to be interpreted.

Let me guess: your way?

That lets the rest of us off, as interpreters.

The challenge is for you to identify the 'gift', and the meaning as you think it applies to mankind. It doesn't demand being a mind reader, but it does require one to sit down and think about the implications being made. Jesus almost always spoke in parable, and although we derive many different meanings from them, His parables only had one correct interpretation, which only He understood fully. It is an exercise of the mind, simply geared to make us think. I thought it might be fun to see how many different interpretations you guys could come up with.

Done, and done.

 

[Tre-L]

Let me guess: your way?

Hehe, yup my interpretaion would be the correct interpretation, being that I'm the one who wrote the parable.

That lets the rest of us off, as interpreters.

Oh snap!

Do play along, Willamena.

Don't be shy....

 

[Riverwolf]

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who left to his children many gifts as an inheritance. Among the gifts was one which contained the key to living a happy and abundant life. The only thing his children knew of this gift is that it seemed small and insignificant compared to the other gifts their father had left them. So this tiny gift sat largely unnoticed and unappreciated by his children. They had so many gifts after all, and as each child desired the gifts they thought to themselves to be the greatest, the one gift they truly needed was all but discarded. While the mans children did their best to make the best of their inheritance, the gift containing the key to their happiness was neglected and viewed to be the least important among the rest. And much to his childrens shame, and because they neglected the gift that could help them live an abundant life, they failed to experience a life filled with joy and happiness. His children missed out on an amazing inheritance because they failed to realize the importance of that one tiny gift."

If the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the afterlife heaven, is like that in your parable, then what it would appear you're talking about is that thinking constantly about heaven, living happily in this life is neglected and missed.

Question: will you ever give your "correct" interpretation, or will you remain as a Zen Master?

 

[Quagmire]

This is easy: The man left his children cases and cases of all kinds of canned goods. The neglected gift was a can opener.

(They all starved. It was very sad.)

 

[blackout]

I don't mean to be mean..
but it's not much of a parable.

It's not really a parable at all.

 

[Reptillian]

The children are employees of their boss, the man. The gifts are mostly office supplies...photocopiers, printers, monitors, staplers, pencils, and erasers. The overlooked gift with the key was an old fashioned bottle of ink with the key to the executive bathroom stuck inside it. Since the employees didn't find it, they were forced to use the common restrooms and caught deadly diseases from not washing their hands before going back to work. The moral of the story is to not be so reliant on computers and to use old timey fountain pens when writing. Am I close? If not, I think thats a pretty good moral to the story.

 

[Tre-L]

If the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the afterlife heaven, is like that in your parable, then what it would appear you're talking about is that thinking constantly about heaven, living happily in this life is neglected and missed.

Question: will you ever give your "correct" interpretation, or will you remain as a Zen Master?

Nice, Riverwolf!! You are extremely close to the intended meaning. There is one thing standing in your way of interpreting this thing as intended. It is the idea that the kingdom of heaven is in the afterlife. As for your question ..... I'm sure it won't be long before I post the intended meaning of the parable. I would like a few more serious stabs at this before I do.

LOL @ Zen master .... I like to write, and tell stories is all. I've told this parable to many people and only one has interpreted it as intended, which shocked me actually. I thought it might be too vague for anyone to nail (I guess not).

Take care

 

[Tre-L]

This is easy: The man left his children cases and cases of all kinds of canned goods. The neglected gift was a can opener.

(They all starved. It was very sad.)

Funny stuff, but yes quite sad for the mans children!

 

[Tre-L]

I don't mean to be mean..
but it's not much of a parable.

It's not really a parable at all.

You are a hard lady to please, violet. Actually, a parable is a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson. By this definition, what I posted is a parable. :yes: Btw, I listened to some of your music last night. I particularly enjoyed nights in white satin. You have a beautiful voice.

 

[wmjbyatt]

Well, the thing is, in order to understand what you meant, we'd have to know a little more about you so that we can correctly get inside your mind. Hermeneutics and context and all that.

But, guessing from what little I can gather by your writing, I'm going to offer two guesses as to your meaning. If your Christianity is literal, I'm going to guess that the "gift" is the gift of Christ's bloodshed and His sacrifice, so accepting the gift and using it is accepting the light of Christ into our hearts and having faith in Christ, for (as we've all heard), "...God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

If, however, you accept Jesus as a "moral teacher" as you've written in other posts, and therefore understand Christian teachings more liberally, then the key of which you speak is neighborly love. Acceptance and peace and love for all who walk the earth, without jealousy or spite or anger. It's a little thing whose value can be overlooked easily, but whose power is enormous.

The meaning of the story can then be understood isomorphically through a series of different linguistic constructions, but I think the simplest way to get the point across would be to say that the meaning of the story is "If only we turn the key [as described above], we, as individuals and as a species, will leave in peace and happiness."

Of course, this gift has nothing to do with the kingdom of heaven, as living life in anticipation of dying, is certainly not a path to a happy or abundant life.

The kingdom of heaven is not a place where one is taken when one dies. Even in the Bible, it says "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you." We enter the Kingdom of Heaven while alive, through whatever formula the particular Christian sect currently speaking advocates, and then when we die we remain there, "living" eternally.