The Treasure

Suppose you dig through the floor of your house and beneath the surface you find a treasure. The treasure makes you instantly among the richest people in the world. What are you going to do with this treasure?

Are you going to spend it? At what?
Are you going to pretend you did not find it? Are you going to protect it from robbers?
What is the nature of the treasure? What is its actual value?
Should you enjoy having it? What can you do with it? Should you show it off?
Who is the original owner of the treasure? Can you return the treasure to the owner?

So, you realize that you have to experiment with the treasure. Only by experimenting you will find out its worth. Only by experimenting you will find out what you can share of it.

So, the first day you go out and say: "I am the rich'st man of the world!" People hear you, but they think you are crazy: "Ridiculous to think that you can get rich over night." Some may come over to you and say: "O, why don't you give me some of your riches?" Since you did not take the treasure with you - its just not practical to carry it around - you go home and think about your experience of this first day.

You sit in front of your treasure and are in awe about what happened. You start to realize that the same treasure is beneath every floor of every house. So, you actually do not need to share your own wealth, but you need to share the means to obtain that wealth, so that everybody can find it independently when they are ready for it. You start to tune in to the nature of your wealth as you never had done before. The nature of your wealth is your capacity to share and from your ability to share that wealth, more wealth is coming to you.

The second day you go out and you say: "Dig the floor of your house and you will find your treasure." Again, people hear you, but they think you are even more crazy. But do they actually do as you say? Their reluctance is rooted in doubt, but they rationalize it by coming up with excuses. They say to themselves that they do not want to deal with the mess in their home. Why destroy a perfect floor, while the chance of finding this treasure is nil?

You go home again and wonder what you should do. You could pay for all the costs of all your neighbours. You could share with them all your riches, but wouldn't they just be jealous? They would become dependent and feel their lack as never before. The tragedy then is, that they experience lack that they did not experience before, while they do not need to experience lack in the first place if they only started digging. So, using the treasure to pay for their costs is not the right way to spend it. For if people feel poor as the result of your giving, you are in effect reducing their efforts to find the treasure for themselves.

So, is it still better not to say anything at all about the treasure? How wondrous this treasure, that you found, but its value is too precious that you may give it to somebody that has no real need, or who is not ready to receive it. You are comforted with the following thought: "Only the few who observe me might suspect that I am actually telling the truth. And when by chance and circumstance, they take courage and start digging, they will dig, destroy their home's floor and find the treasure that has been waiting for them. The treasure is of such a value that they can easily repair their floor. Their joy is my reward and they will be in the exact same position as I am. My being confident will make them confident."

The third day you go out and you are friendly to everybody.
The fourth day comes by providence.