User:VisitingPhilosopher/AllegoryDraft

STORY TITLE: Allegory of the long spoons

Reverend Lapsley told a tale of a vision he had of heaven and of hell.

He told of two Viking long houses standing, isolated, in a cold Scandinavian expanse, high up in the Arctic Circle.

The Viking kings would gather their whole tribe inside the tribe's long house for festivals.

He told that leading up to the two feasting houses were two paths which joined at a huge gate.

The gate was magnificent, tall and adorned with pearls.

Looking closer at the two long houses, he saw only one difference.

One long house had “Heaven” on its door, the other “Hell”.

He went up to the long house called "Heaven" and peered through the window.

Inside, the people in heaven were very happy, they were all laughing, joking, well fed, chatting with each other and enjoying a wonderful meal from a long table.

Then, he looked in through the window of the long house called “Hell”.

He saw an identical long table in the centre, piled high with delicious food and drink, out of reach of the feasters sitting on their benches.

But in hell the people inside were thin, weak and arguing with each other. Some were shouting, some not talking at all,

everyone in hell was miserable.

Apart from their name plate on the door, the two long houses were the same in every way, so he wondered why the people inside were behaving so differently.

The same long benches were along the walls inside each building.

But here was the strangest thing of all, in both feasting houses each person had a long slat of wood bound to their right arm, strapped on so that they could not bend their elbow! All the people were fixed in their seats on the wooden benches along the walls of the room. Peering closer he could see it was a long spoon bound onto their arm. They could not pick up what was in front of them. They could not bring the food to their mouths.

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Reverend Lapsley paused and asked us:  "Have you remembered what I saw?"

In heaven – Everyone was happy, laughing, joking, well fed, chatting.

In hell - they were thin, weak, some arguing, some shouting, some not talking at all,  everyone was miserable.

But in both houses, all the food, the seats, the table and the long spoons were exactly the same.

Why is this?

The people in heaven were helping each other. They each used their long spoon to reach the food on the table and feed the person opposite them. In this way everyone in heaven was well fed and happy.

In hell no one helped anyone else, they tried to feed themselves but they didn't manage to get the food into their mouths. They were all thin and weak.

Judgement day

Outside the long houses, at the huge set of pearly gates, stands St Peter.

He holds up your life’s record and he decides whether you belong in the long house of heaven, or hell.

Interpretation of the allegory

The Reverend Lapsley said it is very important that each person is sent to the right place. Just one person who is sent to the heavenly place by mistake will destroy the happiness of the others there.

Each person in heaven reciprocates kindness and feeds the person opposite. If a selfish person is sent to heaven, then the happiness will be disrupted.

It is important that any selfish and unkind people are sent to live together in hell.

Otherwise the malaise of an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth revenge could spread like an infection in heaven. This is why the decision made at the gate is so important. If there is any doubt, it may be better to send someone to live in hell than disrupt the happiness of heaven.

Reverend Lapsley preached approaches to peace and reconciliation to his congregation in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for decades during The Troubles. His approach was ecumenical, bridging across the divide between Protestant and Roman Catholic.

For the history of this allegory, and more information, please see: Allegory of the long spoons

By: Visiting Philosopher. Attributed to: Rev. D. W. Lapsley. (1927-2017)



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Proposal for a new entry with the full allegory, as told by Rev Lapsley
The version below of the story is as told by Rev Lapsley, free use copyright is granted for this version.

It is valid to be published on Wikipedia in this form as this version of the story has been publicly displayed on Parish noticeboards in Kent, England for several months.

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