The Healing King: A Tale of Generosity

I am going to start this blog with a story I read when I was very young. I don’t know the author, but I acknowledge this unknown author because I still remember the story.

There once was a very popular healer. When his fame reached the king, the king decided to consult him about his health problems. The healer told the king that he had a king’s disease and that it would cost him a million coins to be cured. The king thought for a while and said, "I will get back to you." The king thought, "I am a king and can afford the million coins, but I would like to know what happens when someone cannot afford it." So, the king disguised himself and sat in line for hours until it was his turn. The diagnosis was the same, but the healer suggested he bring certain ingredients to make the medicine, which would take three months to be ready. He told the king where to go, which included various places, even the top of a mountain, to collect some herbs and a copper coin. After three months, the king got his medicine for free and was healed. Needless to say, the healer became the royal healer.

When I heard that it takes five hundred thousand dollars a year for a new drug to keep one individual alive, this story came to mind. Since I write about spirituality, I must say that I am an idealist, and to me, it is a shame for humanity that we create situations where someone has to die if they cannot afford the cure. It makes me wish we had those kinds of kings running our governments so that equality would be imperative.

Logically, we can envision and create scenarios in our heads, making us all insecure to varying degrees.

A billionaire died a few years back in Toronto, leaving behind 18.9 billion dollars. I mention this because I saw one of his friends on TV saying that he lived in an old house and was very excited when he bought a freezer full of hot dogs on sale. A man can only consume so much in his lifetime. If you really, and I mean really, learn to live a temporary life, your attitude would be different. In mortality, it is not what you save or own that counts; it is what you consume during your lifetime. Somehow, we think our time will come, but not for a long time, so we live to save, not to consume. That is why most people’s money is in banks. I can safely say that there is more money in banks than in circulation because people worldwide always think and feel the need to save regardless of the need. Why do I say "feel"? Because insecurity falls into the realm of feelings. If we all have the urge to save because of the unknown, we all contribute to creating poverty, hunger, famine, and an extreme gap in wealth.

Everyone has been taught by their parents, culture, or nation to save, save, and save. A mortal life is lived in deprivation by choice. The business of spirituality does not mix well with insecurities. If everyone saves not out of need but out of fear of unknown insecurities, eventually, all humanity will have a problem. Sure, it is important to have some extra money to leave behind before you die. After balancing the books when you fold, you still have to be useful to humanity, not a burden.

Here we have people in graveyards with tombstones saying they died in the 1800s. That means humans are the only creatures on the face of the earth who own a piece of land long after they have died, yet we have homelessness all over the world. If loved ones would give some money to the poor in the name of the deceased instead of spending money on flowers for the grave, that dead loved one would still be useful to humanity.

It is not only the duty of the individual to be spiritual; collectively, we should be spiritual as well. As I have written before, a society that can take care of its sick is spiritually healthy. If people die from avoidable sickness, hunger, or poverty, that society is spiritually bankrupt, regardless of being a political powerhouse. Politics and business are not the only things a society should run on; compassion, conscience, ethics, and love should not be related to the individual alone.

Unfortunately, our religious people are against universal health care and equal human rights. How and why is that possible? Where is the spirituality? The political arm of religion is so strong that people would give up their human jewelry for their belonging groups. Compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love are the fundamentals of all spiritual systems, taught to us by our religions, but look at where religions stand. Can anyone find these jewels in the history of religions? We have been killing each other in the name of God for a very long time, and it is not for God; it is all about the politics of the sense of belonging. If a religion can’t teach spirituality, it has no business in God’s world. Equal human rights and universal health care are the spiritual essence of humanity. If you stand against these things, you need some spirituality in your religion.

Every society, regardless of religion or governing system, preaches to save or face the stress of being left alone. Politicians say they will protect and secure the individual, but once they come to power, there are no promises, so the insecurity continues and is actually created by our education system.

Spirituality teaches that security is in believing in and contributing to humanity. Your faith is a great asset because it is given to you by God. It is not only good for you but for humanity as well. If you believe, as you are told or taught, that you are a worthless sinner, your belief will be the dead weight of your insecurities. You would try to secure yourself with material things, yet you can’t deal with deeply ingrained insecurities, and they will show up in your everyday life. Look at your behaviors. If you don’t believe anything is done for you by God and think your life is a failure, just look at the abilities you hold inside. They are all there because of the faith and the oxygen you have been blessed with. Being happy or unhappy is strongly related to comparison. If you want to compare, always compare with both sides to be fair. Look to those better off than you for inspiration and to those worse off than you for appreciation. (Read "The River of Time" and "The Ladder of Horizon.")