The allegory

Allegory

Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...

 is a parable

Parable

A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...

 that shows the difference between heaven and hell by means of people eating with long spoons where on the hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

 side they are starving and on the heaven

Heaven

Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...

 side they are sated.
The story can encourage people to be kind to each other.^{2}
There are various interpretations of the fable including its use in sermons and in advice to lonely people.^{3}

Narrative

Rabbi Haim of Romshishok was an itinerant preacher. He traveled from town to town delivering religious sermons that stressed the importance of respect for one’s fellow man. He often began his talks with the following story:

"I once ascended to the firmaments. I first went to see Hell and the sight was horrifying. Row after row of tables were laden with platters of sumptuous food, yet the people seated around the tables were pale and emaciated, moaning in hunger. As I came closer, I understood their predicament.

"Every person held a full spoon, but both arms were splinted with wooden slats so he could not bend either elbow to bring the food to his mouth. It broke my heart to hear the tortured groans of these poor people as they held their food so near but could not consume it.

"Next I went to visit Heaven. I was surprised to see the same setting I had witnessed in Hell – row after row of long tables laden with food. But in contrast to Hell, the people here in Heaven were sitting contentedly talking with each other, obviously sated from their sumptuous meal.

"As I came closer, I was amazed to discover that here, too, each person had his arms splinted on wooden slats that prevented him from bending his elbows. How, then, did they manage to eat?

"As I watched, a man picked up his spoon and dug it into the dish before him. Then he stretched across the table and fed the person across from him! The recipient of this kindness thanked him and returned the favor by leaning across the table to feed his benefactor.

I suddenly understood. Heaven and Hell offer the same circumstances and conditions. The critical difference is in the way the people treat each other.

I ran back to Hell to share this solution with the poor souls trapped there. I whispered in the ear of one starving man, "You do not have to go hungry. Use your spoon to feed your neighbor, and he will surely return the favor and feed you."

"'You expect me to feed the detestable man sitting across the table?' said the man angrily. 'I would rather starve than give him the pleasure of eating!'

"I then understood God’s wisdom in choosing who is worthy to go to Heaven and who deserves to go to Hell."

Interpretation

We have the opportunity to use what we are given (the long spoons in this allegory) to help nourish each other, but the problem, as Rabbi Haim astutely points out, lies in how we treat each other.

Given the same level playing field one group of people who treat each other well will create a blissful and pleasant environment. Whereas another group of people, given exactly the same tools to work with, can create a living hell simply by how they treat each other.

It's a simple truth, but easy to forget when you're lonely, when you can't see what's in front of you. The way to turn things around is through reaching out to others.

The parable is one of many approaches to communicating the concept of hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

. From Dante

DANTE

Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...

's inferno

Inferno (Dante)

Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as...

 to other views on purgatory

Purgatory

Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...

.

One other example puts this in context, quoting the inscription above the gates at the entrance to hell.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Hope is a knave befools us evermore


Which till I lost no happiness was mine.


I strike from hell's to grave on heaven's door:


All hope abandon ye who enter in.

-- Beckett

Arthur William a Beckett

Arthur William à Beckett was an English journalist and man of letters.-Biography:He was a younger son of Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, brother of Gilbert Arthur à Beckett and educated at Felsted School...

, translation of:

L'espérance n'est qu'un charlatan qui nous trompe

sans cesse. Et pour moi, le bonheur n'a commencé

que lorsque je l'ai eu perdue. Je mettrais

volontiers sur la porte du Paradis le vers

que le Dante a mis sur celle de l'Enfer :

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.

-- Nicolas Chamfort

Nicolas Chamfort

Nicolas Chamfort was a French writer, best known for his witty epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary of Louis XVI's sister, and of the Jacobin club.-Life:...

Use in conflict resolution

The long spoons allegory has become part of the folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

 of several cultures, for example: Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Oriental and Christian. During conflict resolution

Conflict resolution

Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...

 in non-Western cultures communicating difficult truths is better through a third party who can make suggestions through such stories.

Art and popular culture

While the parable itself is seldom depicted in art, it is well known and used in sermons when referring to hell, where the fashion for depicting hell in terrible, painful, gruesome terms is fading in recent times.

"There's a fable that's a staple of sermons, about the man who receives from God a glimpse of hell and a glimpse of heaven." _{~ Dawn Eden}

See also

• Jewish folklore
• Afterlife
  Afterlife
  The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
  
  
• World peace
  World peace
  World Peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or people. World peace is an idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents warfare. The term is sometimes used to...
  
  
• Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration
• The Golden Rule