“Serving Life” – from The Book of ECK Parables
Volume 4, Pages 341 & 342 - Sri Harold Klemp
The Giant Utensils of Heaven and Hell

A wise man died one day. Although he was very wise, he had done some
minor infraction while on earth, and for this he was obliged to spend
a short time in hell.

When he arrived, he was quite surprised. He found the furniture was in
good condition, even modern. There were tables laden with all kinds of
food. And the temperature was just right – not too hot and not too
cold. `I wonder why they call this hell’, he mused.

When it came time to eat, he found out. All the eating utensils were
six feet long. The law of hell required that all the people there use
the utensils if they wanted to eat. They had the most difficult time
trying to get the huge fork or spoon to their mouths.  Even though
there was an abundance of food, the people in hell were starved and
emaciated.

Time passed, and this person had spent enough time in hell. He had
worked out his sentence, and the powers that be said, `alright, you
may now go to heaven.’

So the wise man came to heaven, and he was very surprised to find out
how things were there. The furniture was brand new, the same as in
hell. The temperature was just right, the same as in hell. And there
were tables laden with food. But then he saw the utensils. “Oh no!” he
said. “They’ve got these six-foot-long utensils for eating here too!”

But when he looked around, he saw that the people were all healthy
looking; they had nice, plump faces, and they were happy and laughing.
And he said, “everything here is the same as in hell. Why are all the
people so happy?”

The gong sounded for dinner, and all the people began to eat. But
instead of trying to feed themselves, they took up the long utensils
and began to feed each other.

This is the principle of becoming a Co-worker with God. There are two
aspects of the path of ECK. The first aspect is Soul as the
individual. We are each a unique divine particle of God. The other
principle is this: for individuals to become spiritual, they must
become Co-workers with God. This means to serve others.

Keep the parable about the giant utensils of heaven and hell in mind
as you go out into the world to get your spiritual food.