The Kingdom and the World

A kabbalistic fable.

What is the world like? The world is alike unto a household. A house with many doors, many rooms, many windows. Rooms within rooms.

The master of the house kept a great treasure there. But now his daughter was getting married, and in leaving to attend the wedding day, in a far-off land, he fashioned a secret place, placed the treasure there, and sealed it with an impenetrable iron door. He fashioned a special key to fit the lock and work the elaborate mechanism that held the door fast. It was a unique key – there was not one like it anywhere in the world. And without this key even the most skillful metal worker could not penetrate into that secret place – the treasury – in time before the master must return with the wedding party for the celebration and the wedding feast.

He held the key in his hands. What to do with the key in the meantime? He could not take it with him. it was of such a nature, and of such a size required to work the elaborate mechanism, that it could not be well hidden. It would weigh him down and distract from the nuptial vows. But nowhere was as safe as the secret place, on the other side of the iron door for which the key was required.

A dilemma indeed. He could lock the key somewhere else, and fashion another key for that place, and so on, but in the end the same problem remained. The only really safe place was behind the iron door. And to put the key there would render it without purpose.

Perhaps he could give it to one of the servants, obedient to him? But could they be trusted? Would curiosity alone not impel them to at least look into the treasury? And then what? Would they resist the discovery? There was only one thing to do. After some time, he wrapped the key in canvass and gave it to his blind servant. He told the blindman that the key was an elaborate scepter, a new scepter, a sign of authority and dominion, and that the blindman must keep it wrapped, and himself hidden, down here in the scullery.

The blind servant, not able to see the key, nor work out its elaborate teeth beneath the heavy cloth, felt only its weight and span. He agreed to hold the key while the master was away. He would hold it the scullery, and guard it jealously. He would tell no one of its worth, and if any of the other servants came in, as they did from time to time to check on the provisions in the larder, he would disguise it form them, by upending it in the cooking pot where, day after day, he stirred the master’s soup. The master thought this a fine plan, and set out for the wedding, for was scheduled for the next day.

What is the treasure in the secret place? What is the treasure in the treasury, behind the iron door which only the key can actuate, the treasure to which the blindman alone has access?

I tell you, it is the gift of sight!