A Depressed King
There once was a King who had everything a person possibly
could want in the way of money, fame, power, and material
possessions. In addition, the King had been blessed with good looks,
considerable intelligence, and extraordinary health -- to such an
extent that he had never known a sick day in his life. In fact, not so
much as even a slight toothache had touched him.
Yet, he felt something was missing in his life -- something that his
wealth could not buy, nor his power command, nor his fame attract.
Consequently, he was mystified by his condition because he had been
brought up to believe that the gateway to happiness was gained
through all the money, treasures, and status he already enjoyed, but,
alas, he was not happy.
However, the King was not an ungrateful individual, and despite
his feeling of dissatisfaction or sense of malaise about a certain aspect
of his life, he was very thankful for all the many, many blessings
which had been conferred on him. Indeed, since the King was a good
man who cared about his subjects and was not interested in being a
tyrant or making the lives of his people miserable, and because he
was not someone who had acquired his wealth at the expense of his
subjects, through such things as taxation, stealing from them, or
confiscating their lands, the King did all he could to try to improve
the lives of others by sharing his good fortune with them.
Being human, however, sometimes the King became
disappointed with his life. While there seemed to be no reason why
he should feel unhappy or sad, nonetheless, this was his condition,
and he seemed powerless to do anything about it, and the
combination of a lack of understanding concerning the source of the
problem, along with his inability to do anything about it, would, on
occasion, induce him to fall into a condition of despair about
existence.
Whenever he came under the spell of this state, he would become
agitated, trying different kinds of activity, seeking to find something
that would alleviate his sense of pain and darkness which was caused
by his mysterious ailment. However, nothing he tried ever really
seemed to work, and, instead, he found that given enough time, the
condition tended to pass on its own, unrelated to any of the things he
had tried in order to hasten its departure .
Nevertheless, sometimes, the amount of time which would have
to past before he felt his condition improve was considerable, and
these periods were very painful. Furthermore, he was somewhat
fearful because he believed the length of his depressions was starting
to increase with each passing episode.
One day, when the King was in such a state of depression, he
assembled the people of his Court and said: “My people, I am sorry
to say on this occasion that I am under the sway of a certain kind of
darkness and emptiness within, and although I have tried different
things to dispel this feeling, I have been unsuccessful, so, I thought I
would try something else and see what happens, and I need your
assistance in this.”
Since the people of the Court recognized the King as a just and
good man, they were eager to do whatever he wished and awaited
further instructions. These duties were spelled out when the King
informed them: “Please, go into the city and, as quickly as you can,
bring whatever people you may find from our Kingdom, to the Great
Hall of the Palace. When those whom you have gathered have been
assembled, I will make an announcement that may be of interest and
benefit to everyone.”
The members of the King’s court set about their task, and within
an hour, a great many of the King’s subjects had streamed into the
Great Hall. The room was filled with an electricity of anticipation
concerning the King’s forthcoming pronouncement.
Finally, when all who were going to come appeared to be present
and had taken their seats, the King rose from his Throne and started
to speak to the hushed crowd. “My people, as you may know, I am
experiencing one of my periodic bouts of malaise, and I am hoping
that what I am about to do may help my condition. More specifically,
I am issuing a Royal Edict which will entitle each of you here to take
one object from among the treasures of this Palace. When your
appointed turn arrives, please take whatever you like - whether it be
jewels, gold, or other precious things -- from the Palace, and leave in
peace. If I can’t be happy, then, perhaps, seeing your joy will help
bring some sense of contentment into my life.”
The people were all amazed at the King’s generosity and
kindness. After the reality of the great opportunity inherent in the
King’s words began to sink in among the assembled people, they
started to roam through the Palace, and one by one, each of them was
permitted to take whatever she or he wanted. Since there were a lot
of people present, this process took quite some time.
Late in the evening, all but one of the King’s subjects had
selected an item and left the Palace. The individual was brought to
the King, and one of the representatives of the Court who was
accompanying the person indicated that this lone straggler, who was
a young man, was requesting permission to ask the King a question.
The King was tired after the long day’s events, and despite the
great happiness which appeared on the faces of his subjects as they
left the Palace with this or that treasure, the King was still feeling
despair over his own unchanged, inner condition. However, the King
quickly granted the man his request for the King wished to dispense
with this last matter and go to bed.
“Is it really true,” inquired the young man, “that I may select
whatever I wish and love from among the contents of this Palace?”.
The King, believing his earlier Edict to have been quite clear was
somewhat irritated with the question. Nonetheless, he kept his
frustration in check and gently said: “Yes, anything you want is
yours.”
The young man hesitated a little, and, then, eyes brimming with
emotion, indicated: “In that case, I want your friendship, because I
have always loved and admired you as a human being.”
One of the King’s attendants said to the young man: “What a
clever fellow you are. All of the other people took single items, but
you’re going for the source of everything. You play a good game, son
– why settle for one thing when you can have whatever you want,
whenever you want it?”
The young man replied: “No, that is not my intention. I wish only
the King’s friendship ... nothing else.”
The King was somewhat stunned at the young man’s words.
After all, the individual could have had anything he wanted from the
Palace, yet all he wanted was the King’s friendship. But, there was
something even more extraordinary that the King noticed in
conjunction with the young man’s request. The King’s depression and emptiness had disappeared.
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