Monday, February 22, 2010

The Choice




You have just been granted a wish. 

One wish.  Irrevocable.  Nontransferable. Unequivocal.  Right here, right now, today, this minute, think carefully now, you must make a choice between two things.  Think as long as you like, within the ten minutes allotted to you for this purpose,  then tell me your answer. 

Which would you rather have?  Great wealth?  Or truth?

Great wealth.  Or truth.

You cannot have both, it is either/or, you have to pick one or the other.   Wealth?  Or truth?

Wealth.  Or truth.

If you should choose wealth then you will never have to worry about money again for all the rest of your life. 

Imagine it.  Never again will you hunger or thirst yet have to go without either for lack of money.   Never again will you have to feel the unrequited longing, the hurt, the humiliation of not being able to afford whatever you need or want.  If you want those new shoes, you may have them, just like that.  That new leather coat?  It is yours.  A whole new wardrobe?  You can have it today.  You can have a new wardrobe every day if that's what you want, it will never be a problem. 

Never again would you ever have to suffer the hardships and disappointments of not having enough money to make ends meet.  You would never again be forced to choose between buying food or buying medicine.  Your children will have all of the best of food, clothing, toys, necessities, medical care, education and travel. 

Yes, you could travel all you want to, anywhere you like.  You can stay in the most beautiful hotels and be waited on hand and foot by smartly uniformed professional hotel staff who will rush to bring you anything you desire. 

You don't have to stay in that run down old house of yours with the crooked fence and the squeaky stairs and the cracks in the walls and the tattered insulation, chipping paint; those old appliances, all that dust, that depressing mass produced suburban view across the street. 

You can leave all of that behind. Right now. Today.  Instead of that dreary ordinary insufficient life style you can have all of the wealth you need to be free forever from all worries about money. 

What's that?  You want to know how much money, exactly? 

No number is needed, there is no specific sum.  You will simply possess great wealth for the rest of your life.  You will never run short or run out of money.  You will have enough money to live every day, year round, in Las Vegas, if you so desire;  staying in the most exclusive, expensive hotel penthouse suites, gambling all day and night;  your money will never run out.   You will always have enough money to do and to have whatever you want.  No material thing, as long as it exists and is available to be had by you, will be beyond your reach.  You will be able to afford it, no matter the price.  That is how wealthy you would be.

That is the up side.  But there is a down side too, as there always is, and this you should consider well before you make your choice. 

A small price must be paid for the gift of great wealth, for the priceless gift of living free from lack and want and financial worry. 

That price is this: in exchange for all of your ample material gain, you must give up knowing the truth.

You will not be able to tell what is true from what is false, you will not know the difference.
 
You won't be able to know for certain whether or not you are being misled or lied to. 

You will not get a sense of anyone's intent, should someone want to manipulate you for their own purposes and gain.  You'll have no way of sensing tricks or lies, con jobs or sob stories, it will all sound the same as any believable thing sounds. 

If you look deep into the eyes of a speaker, be he in the pulpit, wearing a badge or a crown and robes, it will lend you no clues.  You will not know if what you hear is truth, if what you read or see is truth, if what you are counseled and told to be truth, is truth. 

For all the rest of your life you will not know if any person in your life, in any capacity of your life, is honest or deceitful.  You will not be able to sense to a certainty, whether someone is sincere, if when they say they love you that they truly love you or only love your money instead.  You will not be able to sense to a certainty, whether those nearest you are really faithful friends, or if instead they are brazen back-stabbers who use you and make you look the fool to all who can see you. 

If you're thinking you can outwit the price think again.  You cannot avoid the payment price.  You will have no internal truth meter, which is something that you currently possess.  Whether or not you use it much is another thing, but used or not, you will have to give it up.  It must be forfeit. That is the payment price.  Your ability to know truth will no longer function and you will never again be able to tell a truth from an untruth with your natural inborn ability to do so.  Your heart will no longer tell you what is true, it will not know what is true.

That is all there is to it.  It's really no big thing.  And if this tiny inconvenience does not trouble you too dearly, and why should it,  then you should be ecstatically happy taking the money.  The price is not so great,  it's a trifling thing.  Truth is cheap after all.  Certainly there are other ways for you to procure correct assessments,  to validate suspicions; certainly you can find others on whom you can depend to wisely council your decisions, to guide you, to bring you the light you seek, to give you the answers you need.  Such can be purchased, advisors and experts of the highest caliber are easily obtainable.  It's not at all difficult, it's quite easy.  It is standard procedure anyway to purchase the council of others.  No one in a position of great wealth seeks their answers from within.  How ridiculous.  It would be unheard of. 

Luxury.  Security.  Life options.  Adventure.  Respect.  Power.  The world is your oyster.   But do you find the price too steep?  None of the finer things in life come cheap.

Isn't so called truth dependent on who is looking at it?  And don't these things all change like the weather?  Truth is fleeting, is it not?  Truth is hard to find, and it is often inconvenient.  It's not all that it's chalked up to be.  Not really. 

Truth is easily ignored; and it is often irrelevant in the greater scheme of things.  Truth is not enough reason to hold back greatness of any kind.  At least, it hasn't been so far.

Face it.  There isn't much call for truth these days, few are really that interested in it.  The truth goes down much easier when you make it up yourself, that's what everyone does anyway.  The fact of the matter is that making up your own truths, making truths that suit you, holds so much more potential for happiness and love.  Plus who would disagree that lies are much more fun and exciting?  Naughty little lies are well known to lead to things that are much more fun and exciting than the ordinary mundane things we're supposed to be content with.  But aren't those things which are considered "forbidden" or "bad" the most scintillating, pleasurable things of all?   If it were not so, there wouldn't be so much of it around, would there be?

Truth is really just a bore. Does "truth" even actually exist?  Is there such a thing as truth, really?  It's too silly to worry about  to any great degree, don't you think so?  Most everyone thinks so.

So, lucky traveler, master... the clock is ticking.  It is time to make your choice.  Which do you choose?  Wealth or truth?  Give me your answer.  Choose now between wealth or truth,  else miss this once in a paradise, once in a dream, once in a million chance of a lonely little life time turning into something totally new.  This offer can not be repeated.  It will not come around again.  So tell me master, what's it going to be?