Once upon a time there lived a very wise king. His own prime minister committed treason: he transferred some secrets to a neighboring country, to the enemy. The Prime Minister was caught red-handed. There was only one punishment for this - death. But the old king always loved this man. He was sentenced to death, but the king gave him a chance. On the last day he convened his entire court. On one side there was a weapon ready to kill the criminal, and on the other side there was a black door. And the king said:
- You can choose: either death - you are sentenced to death - or the black door. You can make your own decision.
The Prime Minister asked:
-What's behind that black door?
The king replied:
- This is unknown. Nobody knows this because no one has chosen it before. In my father's time, in my grandfather's time, this opportunity was given many times, but no one took advantage of it, so no one knows. This is unknown to anyone; even I don't know that. I have a key, but when my father was dying, he told me: “I can open the door, but if you go through it, I will close it behind you. You shouldn't look into it." But you can see what's there because you can choose. You can figure out what's in there. You have the right to choose.
The Prime Minister thought for a long time and chose death. He said:
- Kill me. I don't want to go behind that black door.
The Prime Minister was killed. The queen was very curious. She began to insist that the king somehow look at what was behind the door. The king laughed. He said:
“I know there’s nothing behind her.” It's just freedom; There is not even any room behind it. This door opens to a wide world. There is nothing there, but no one has chosen it yet.
Instead of the unknown, people choose death. Instead of the unknown, people even choose suffering. The unknown seems to them even more dangerous than death itself. And freedom is the door to the unknown. Freedom means moving into the unknown without knowing where you are going, without knowing what will happen in the next moment. This is a black door. Very rarely does Jesus or Buddha choose the door; everyone else chooses death.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru