In a land not very far away a temple was constructed out of various materials; the walls were then overlaid with pure gold. This temple had cost the owner a very dear price. Naturally a priesthood was added to the temple to take care of it until its owner could return from business he had to attend to elsewhere.
At first, those living in the temple were overjoyed to have such a great privilege, but eventually the newness wore off, and their collective dispositions began to deteriorate. Instead of treating one another with kindness and gentleness as they had been taught, they began to criticize one another.
Interestingly, every time a harsh word was spoken a little fleck of gold would float from the wall to the floor. Eventually, someone would step upon the tiny gold spot, and it would stick to the shoe’s sole. Attitudes were of such a critical level that before long, all of the priests were wearing golden shoes, which they mistook for a sign of the builder’s favor. They marveled at his foresight and the unexpected surprise of golden shoes.
After rejoicing in their luxurious footwear for many months, some of the priests eventually noticed that the walls of the temple were no longer solid gold. They were still predominantly gold, but now there were dark splotches intermingled. No one knew how to explain the disappearance of the gold off the walls; so they began to accuse one another. Fortunately, just as the priests were about to do violence to one another, the builder returned.
He bade the priests to be seated. They all wanted to ask him about the gold shoes and the disrepair of the walls, but they waited for the builder to speak. “Why have you not taken care of the temple?” he asked sternly.
One priest summoned courage enough to say, “We don’t know how to explain it, sire. We did not abuse the walls in any way; we do not know where the black came from or where the gold has gone.”
“Do you not indeed? Why are you all wearing golden shoes?” And they answered him not a word. “Hear the parable of the temple. The walls represent your redeemed souls. As long as you loved one another, they remained shiny and bright. But then you became dissatisfied. The more you grumbled and complained against one another, the more you destroyed the good in one another and trod each other underfoot. You thought you were enriching yourselves, but actually you were making each other poorer.”
“With the good character you once possessed being diminished, what remains but the darkness of your souls that I paid dearly to cover?” All were stunned-and ashamed. They said to the builder, “What can we do? Is it too late for us?”
The architect replied, “The damage can be undone by reversing your behavior. By loving, being kind to, forbearing, forgiving, and serving one another, the gold will return to the walls, from which you dislodged it. And the priests responded to this teaching by . . .