Parables and allegories can be extremely effective teaching tools and have been around since people first started telling each other stories.  In my years of research on personal growth, I’ve come across a countless number of these tales that seem so simple, yet carry profound insights that can last an entire lifetime.

          Here’s an obscure one that you’ve probably never heard before. I came upon it many years ago and I’m still learning a lot from it.   

          It takes place in a fictional, mythical setting. There is a river with a fairly swift current. On one side, there is a Highland with hills and mountains, and on the other side there is a Lowland that is totally flat for many miles. There are fairly large settlements of people living on each side of the river.

          The residents of the Highland are happy. There is plenty of food and water and creative systems of cooperation have evolved in every area of life. They are extremely intelligent people, practicing what they call “interdependent co-arising,” where everyone recognizes the value of everyone else and they all rise together. They are peaceful and prosperous, with art and music playing a central role in the culture. Generally, it’s a great place to live.

          Unfortunately, the Lowland is the exact opposite. Although there is plenty of food and water there as well, the place is a dog-eat-dog world with every man for himself. Living life in a sophisticated jungle, the people compete with each other over all things, great and small. They routinely distort facts for personal gain, conning each other with dangerous half-truths. Fear and paranoia pervade, no one can be trusted, and serious physical fighting breaks out regularly. It’s simply a constantly ugly existence.

          From the vantage point of the Highland, the people can observe the sorry state of affairs in the Lowland.  But the Highland can’t be seen at all from the Lowland. It’s simply outside of the range of their perception. So, the people of the Lowland have no idea that the Highland even exists.

           Highland residents nurture the most nobble human characteristics, including, of course, compassion. The state of life in the Lowland is a tragedy to them and they’ve come to believe there may be something harmful in the atmosphere there that makes the people behave the way they do.

          They decide to invite the lowlanders to move up into the Highland and one of Highlanders, known as the High Citizen, comes up with a plan. Not only is he bright and kind, but he is also quite a strong swimmer.

          Knowing that the current of the river is swift, he will take two strong metal stakes and securely fasten a long, thick rope between them. He will plant one stake in a firm place near the Highland side of the river, and will then swim across the river to the Lowland side and plant the other stake there.

          Then he will tell the lowlanders about all the wonders of the Highland, and invite them to come live there, explaining that they will all be welcomed with opened arms. He will instruct them on how to hold onto the rope to safely cross the river.  

          The High Citizen carefully constructs his tool and on one clear, sunny day, he puts the plan in motion. He secures the first stake firmly in the ground, then begins to swim across the river, carefully unwinding the rope as he goes.

          As he is getting closer to the shore of the Lowland, a few people have gathered to watch him. Apparently, someone had seen him swimming and thought he was a big fish. Some wild rumors started to spread, and when the High Citizen emerged from the river, about fifty people had gathered to watch him.

          He took the second metal stake and hammered it deeply into the ground. He pulled on the rope several times to make sure it was secure, then he turned and faced the small group.

          He starts to tell them about the wonderful world on the other side of the river. He tells them how bountiful and peaceful it is, that there is plenty of room for them all and everyone is welcomed. Then he explains that all they have to do is grab onto the rope and make their way across the river.

          But this is the Lowland, where paranoia is king, and the confused and frightened people misunderstand everything he says. Within moments, a hundred more have gathered, forming a small, angry mob. The more the High Citizen addresses them, the more hostile the people become, believing he is a villain who has come to steal their money and trick them into drowning themselves.

          Some soldiers have gathered and watch the scene from afar. One soldier remembers an old prediction that a demon would come out of the river, conquer the land and enslave the people. Convinced that this is that horrible demon, the soldier draws his longbow and shoots an arrow into the High Citizen’s chest, who falls down next to the stake in the ground. As some angry lowlanders encircle him, with his last breath, he says to them, “Take hold of the rope and cross the river.” Then he dies.

          The soldiers then throw his body into the river and stand guard until it floats out of sight. Then they dispersed the crowd.

          That’s the end of the first part of the allegory. As a prelude to the second part, consider the famous quote from Harvard philosophy professor George Santayana who said, “History is a pack of lies about events that never happened, as told by people who weren’t there.”

          You can probably guess what unfolds in the second part of the story. After several years, all the people who had actually witnessed the events by the river all died. And the Legend of the High Citizen began to grow. But remember, there’s no truth in the Lowland, so the tale was all based on rumors, exaggerations and outright lies.

          Religious-style groups sprang up. Now this was still the land of cheat and deceit, so the different sects battled each other over followers and resources, often leading to serious violence and bloodshed.

          But through it all, the mythical story kept expanding. At first, the story was that the High Citizen was an extraordinary warrior who had come to save the people but had been killed by villains. Then it evolved into the idea that he was a saint or even a divine creature, like some kind of an angel. Finally, he came to be seen as the  incarnation of God himself. According to the story, strange lights had been seen in the sky and angels sang from the heavens when he emerged from the river.

          At one point, a fourteen-foot-tall stone statue of him was erected on the spot where he died. Pilgrims would come to kiss the feet of the statue and pay homage to the incarnation. Since no living person had ever seen the High Citizen when he was alive, the statue had no resemblance to him whatsoever. But of course, that didn’t matter. And the religious battles raged on.

          Amazingly, the stake that he had buried in the ground, attached to the rope that led into the river, still remained solidly in its place. And because they had built the statue on the very ground where he had died, the rope and the statue were side by side.   

          People still had a distorted version of what the High Citizen had said about the Highland and the rope, but the idea that there was such a place, and that you could actually get there, was always dismissed as just an allegory.

          The stake and the rope were just ennobling symbols of a better existence. And the truth is, nobody had ever seen any signs of life on the land across the river, and beside it would be sheer lunacy to try to cross it, as the current was just too strong.

          Still, every once in a while, some Lowlander would take the words of the High Citizen literally and enter the river, holding onto the rope. As bystanders watched, the brave soul would eventually disappear from view, never to be seen again. The Lowlanders would assume that the maniac had been washed away by the current and had been drowned.

           But that was just the view from the Lowland. On the shore of the Highland, whenever a Lowlander would emerge from the river, they would be joyfully met by a welcome party, that would happily escort them to their new home, which had been carefully prepared for their arrival.

          And that’s the allegory of the rope and the statue.

          So, to me this is quite a powerful story. Externally, its meaning is fairly obvious. Throughout history, time again great beings have arisen, pointing humanity in the direction of higher ground. But unfortunately, their messages have been largely misunderstood.

          After they were gone, different factions formed with differing beliefs about what had happened. The factions often fight and kill each other over their interpretations of the message, which invariably emphasized peace and kindness amongst people.

          Unfortunately, this kind of ironic tragedy isn’t limited to just one specific time, place, culture or religion. On the contrary, it’s been going on in every region of the world since civilization began. And it’s still going strong.

          Personally, I like to take the allegory one step further and also consider it from the vantage point of inner growth. What can this story tell me about what is happening within my own consciousness at this moment in my life?

          From that view, the Lowlands with the statue would represent that certain region of my ordinary mind where all the anger, guilt, fear, paranoia and all their destructive henchmen invade my thoughts and feelings.

          The Highland would be my heart or my Essential Self, which is the home of all the higher human characteristics. We all know them well – kindness, compassion, inspiration, integrity and the thousands of other better angels of our nature.

          And the rope would represent the stable, but narrow pathway that exists between the two. Some cultures consider it to be the size of a rope. Others say it’s as narrow as a razor’s edge. And some even say it’s as subtle as the coming and going of the breath.

          It doesn’t really matter. To me, the point is to make the journey from description to reality. It’s like if you’re dehydrated and you really need water, you don’t care about the decorations on the bottle, the flowery descriptions of the source of the water, or the scientific breakdown of the molecules. You just need to actually drink the water and get your thirst quenched.  

          For me, with the allegory of the rope and the statue, the question is, what am I doing with my time? Am I languishing in the Lowland? Am I holding onto the rope, making my way across the turbulent river? Or am I comfortably living in my beautiful home in the Highland, and loving every minute of it?

          Now, the wisdom of the ages would tell us that the answer comes down to the power of choice. They say we can actually choose our destiny, which is a pretty liberating concept. If I really do have a choice, I’ll take the happy-at-home option any time. Of course, that’s just me…

          Well, that’s the end of this episode. As always, keep your eyes, mind and heart opened, and let’s get together in the next one.