Bondage

BONDAGE
By
J.R. Richards

There is a story about a man who fell in a hole named Corban. When he finally realized that he could not get out he started to yell for the people he heard above. The first person who answered his call was a billionaire who threw down a check for $100,000. Corban thought, “Where am I going to spend this down here?”, so he threw it aside. The next person who answered the man’s call was a religious leader, “What can I do for you, my son?” said the cleric. When Corban presented his problem, the cleric said, “I must perform mass at the church in 5 minutes, so I can’t stop now, but we’ll pray for you.” As he was getting ready to leave he dropped a Bible into the hole. Corban picked up the Bible and tried to imagine any possible way he could use it to get out of the hole.

The next person was a woman who threw down some organic vegetables, vitamins, and herbal supplements. A doctor stopped and donated a few bottles of sample medications; a lawyer came by and talked about suing the city for not putting a fence around the hole. At this point Corban was giving up hope that anyone would help get him out, he felt lonely, and a little afraid. He desperately needed someone to guide him out of the hole. Corban couldn’t help the tears of desperation that fell from his eyes, eyes that were quickly losing hope in humanity.

Then a woman came by who told him that he had to let go of all his negative thinking, learn to visualize, and then use the law of attraction. “But that’s exactly what I’m doing, trying to attract someone to help me get out of this hole!” Corban yelled, anger beginning to rise within. “You must not be doing it right”, the woman responded, and she threw down a DVD about the law of attraction. A little while later, a Zen Buddhist sat down at the end of the hole, wanting to teach Corban how to meditate. “If nothing else,” the zen master said, “if you practice long enough, you’ll feel better about being in the hole. You might even be able to levitate your way out in a few lifetimes.”

Corban couldn’t believe it, were these people so blind that they couldn’t see that he needed real help, not food, money, a DVD, or anything else they tried to throw down at him. Couldn’t they hear the desperation in his voice? Couldn’t they see that his life was in danger and that he needed to get back to his family? Corban also thought that maybe the woman was right, maybe it was his fault that he was in here, and maybe it was his fault that he didn’t already know how to get out.
Then a man’s voice shouted “Can you move over a few feet, out of the way?” His eyes still moist with the tears of hopelessness, Corban reluctantly stood up and took a few steps back toward the side; he figured this person didn’t care about his problem either. After he moved, the man jumped into the hole, landing at Corban’s feet, “What did you do that for? Now we are both stuck in here!” Corban exclaimed. “Why couldn’t you throw down a rope or get a ladder?” The man looked at him gently, “Those won’t work. I’ve been here before, and I know the way out.”

I used this story because it is a model of what I have been through, and probably a model for a lot of people’s lives as well. You go to all these different “groups” looking for the answers to the questions that burn deep inside you. You think someone has to have the answers, so you search and search. Mostly what you end up finding is a lot of disappointment, unanswered questions, and no help from anyone. You actually begin to wonder if these people are actually keeping you in the state you are in.

A lot of places don’t want you to find inner peace, they don’t want you to find the answers you seek, because that means less money in their pockets, so they drag you along for years, revealing small bits of truth just to keep you coming back for more. Should the truth about reality really be peddled for money? The Light of the Creator is supposed to be freely given to people who truly desire it, so that they can live an abundant life, not used as bait to keep people tied down and under another’s control. I was blessed to find two mentors who deeply love and care for me and my husband. They don’t tell us what to think, they just walk beside us on our journey and share their experiences with us, allowing us to come up with our own conclusions and find our own way.

So I ask that all of you really look deeply at where you are learning from spiritually, are you really seeing a change in your life? Are there people there to “lean on” when times get rough and you need a little mentoring? Are they doing it for money? Always keep your spiritual eyes open, this new spiritual awakening ‘movement’ is big business now, making tons of money, and there are many wolves ready to devour our energy and potential, keeping us in their chains of bondage.

– J.R. Richards –