There is a conman living within; he wears a dark hat and hides in the shadows. He’s the one that says “Hey, have I got a deal for you.” He brings out a small glowing ball, saying that it is the answer to life and places it under one of three shells on the table. One shell is marked past hurts, another modern religion, and finally intellectual pursuits.
I am so captured by the glimpse of the glowing ball: I stop what I am doing and watch intently as he begins to shuffle the shells. After all, it’s the answer to life!
“Modern religion” I say confidently, knowing that if we are talking about the answer to life then it has to be in modern religion. With a wry smile he lifts the shell to show a bare table beneath.
But everything and everyone around me told me that this was the right answer. So each time he asked me to stop and play I would choose modern religion… and each time the table would come up bare.
One day I noticed just how much time I had let pass playing this game, and couldn’t help but notice that indeed there was now a large stock pile of hurts to deal with.
So this time I went looking for him because I now knew ‘past hurts’ was obviously the key. He gladly took my time and shuffled once again, and once again the table was bare. Being wrong was another hurt, so I played again, over and over, oscillating between modern religion and past hurts, but the result was always the same empty table staring back at me.
Of course, it was so obvious now: my intelligence would get me out of trouble. So I studied and studied and studied anything I could get my hands on. I studied the game, I studied philosophy, I studied my past, all so that I could better understand, and one day finally win the answer I sought.
The next time we stopped I selected intellectual pursuits and waited confidently for my rightful reward… my heart sank as yet again emptiness stared back.
But I was not yet ready to stop because now I had three options, so I played and played, alternating each time, sure that the combination of the three would eventually deliver the prize… I spent months, years, and life-times playing this game. The more I played the more desperate I became, so the more I played.
It never crossed my mind that the man in the hat may not have the answer!
I knew there was more to life, so I played with all my passion: I played until I was broken, beaten and convinced that this game was all that there was to life, so to be closer to the game I started playing it with others. I got quite good at the game and would entertain others for hours, days, months, watching as they tried to guess for an answer I didn’t have.
One day a man named Serge Benhayon walked past my table. It was clear that this was a game he didn’t need to play.
Could it be possible that I didn’t need to play either? But I had both invested and lost so much that it felt impossible for me to step back from the table. He never asked me to leave the table, but I spoke with him from time to time and each time I could see from his eyes that there really was no need to play.
And so I started to step away, but each time the man in the hat showed me another glimpse of the ball and I would be right back, playing for my life… in reality, playing my life away.
Yet I had met someone who didn’t need to play and so knew it must be possible. Day by day I would go to the table but not stand quite as close as I had before. The further from the table I stood, the more I felt a glow within me.
The man in the hat would try to lure me back and I would still play from time to time, but I felt the glow within me would dull and would not return until I stepped away from the table.
One day, as I stepped back from the table, I saw millions of people around me, each at their own table, either playing or being played. I could see the centuries that this game had been played and the mess that surrounded all of these distracted people.
Then I really stepped back and I noticed the mess around my own table: a mess I had to clean up. This will take some time and there are days when the game is the perfect distraction from my task…
But my task is clear – clean up my mess and let others see that the glow is not hiding under a shell, but living within.
By Joel Levin
Further Reading:
Time For Me… To Re-connect To The Love Within
Serge Benhayon – Living Wisdom
Serge Benhayon – The Philosopher
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Absolutely, ‘It is only by seeking within that we will come to know the truth of all things.’
‘But my task is clear – clean up my mess and let others see that the glow is not hiding under a shell, but living within.’ Beautiful blog Joel. Like all things true there is a beautiful simplicity to it.
Absolutely Joel, we can all open up and explore the glow that is within and understanding this is such a loving responsibility that as we learn this is a re-connection that we can fully appreciate as a for-ever deepening part of our Livingness and what a joy it is to live life with this as it is so supportive for our evolution.
“But I had both invested and lost so much that it felt impossible for me to step back from the table.” I know this feeling, the investments always guarantee empty returns, which prompts more investments – it doesn’t make sense, until through our own free will we return to our soul and realise nothing outside of us can fulfill the emptiness, what truly settles us is when we reconnect to our divinity within.
True, nothing outside of us is the answer, it is just a distraction away from our grandness.
When we are waiting for someone else to give us a standing foot, we will never think that our own two feet are strong enough to stand on their own, we will forever seek a crutch, a prop in life & never be certain to make our own two steps.
The spirit, that voice inside our heads has many games thinking they have the answer to life. But really it’s all a waste of time. I more I hang out with my body and how the glow inside feels, I am more aware of how pointless these head games are.
When you begin to value the fire running through your body, the less you want to entertain these games.
Beautifull blog Joel showing first we must discern energy before anything else.
It is an endless game searching for someone to give us the answers when we already know within our inner-heart all there is to know.
We need to connect within, our inner-heart is wise beyond measure.
Our intellectual pursuits will never surpass the wisdom and knowingness of our heart.
Is it possible that we don’t want to admit how long we have been fooled into playing this game with the conman who hides in the shadows?
The game with our Spirit is lost even before we started to play. So from now on I’m choosing to be honest, leave the game and see what’s next to heal and clear. It’s a choice that serves me and everyone.
Thanks for sharing such a great analogy Joel. It’s interesting how different feels the beggining from your sharing to the end. First I could feel the exhaustion and tenssion of playing, searching, trying and doing…and at the end a loosening in my body which said ‘thank you’ for your choice of leaving the table and take the responsibility for your own mess. This step up makes possible what is not common to see in this society, a life that can be lived in full of purpose, joy and contentment. It’s what I could feel the very first time I knew Serge Benhayon and I found it very inspiring.
We are tantalised by a glow outside, by something giving us the answer, and we go in search for many years. Yet that answer is within. It is not something that tantalises or teases us but waits steadily for us to stop searching and come ‘home’.
Your blog says an enormous amount about modern life in that so many think consciously or not that either religion, intelligence or hurts are the answer. There is a constant debate with all, yet it actually requires a mixture of them to keep the illusion that one of them had the answer going otherwise it would be clear that the answer was never there to begin with.
Life can be a huge distraction full of games if we make it so, and when we stop playing, it is easier to see that it is time to clean up the mess we’ve created, just like when children pull out all their toys to play, afterward they have to clean up.
Yes, we get distracted with things outside of ourselves, which really are just slowing down our return to Soul.
This is great – showing so clearly the game we play with ourselves and the amount of time and energy we’re prepared to spend on looking everywhere else, but within. Nothing outside of us can tell us what we don’t already know about who we are.
So true Bryony, we could spend lifetimes looking for answers outside of us without realising they have always been within us all along.
A classic case of how our needs can blind us.
There’s something about when we realise we have made a wrong investment, a loss, that we have to make up for, and it’s crazy how we often just keep repeating, or even reinforcing, what we have done, thinking it is a revenge, as if somehow the magnitude of repeated negative would magically flip over to the positive, and stop what we have been doing even though we know it does not work seems like an impossibility.
Stop playing the game or games will allow us to observe and to be honest about our choices and along the way heal all our hurts and get clarity about what ideals and beliefs we have taken on, until such time we finally step away completely and live the glow that’s inside for all to see on the outside. No ‘rightful reward ‘ needed.
Yes there is a moment where we offer ourselves a moment of pause, to step back from life and the pace we have lived it and ask ourselves if we have been caught in a game that we are feeding. We have a choice, far more choice than we choose to admit to, and it is us who will need to make space for those moments in our lives in order to reconnect to what is already within.
Once we reconnect to our inner glow, it becomes easier to reconnect to it again and again as it never leaves us. The games we play to avoid this connection is what can leave us feeling lost and miserable.
Thank you, Joel, it is revealing… That we either play the game(s) along or that we do no longer entertain: an observation that we can do and help other with wisely so. It is all about awareness. And no longer playing the games of lies.
It is awesome to expose the many games we play Joel, we distract ourselves and avoid responsibility until we wake up and realise how exhausting and miserable this truly makes us feel.
My feeling is no matter how much we avoid responsibility, ultimately at some point, we will get to see that the only way out of our exhaustion and misery is already there waiting for us to embrace. We are always being called to take responsibility and to evolve, we can either be obedient to this or dig our heels in and delay.
Distracting ourselves and avoiding responsibility are slowing down our return to our soul.
Joel another great blog bringing our attention to how we all fall for playing the game until we meet someone who doesn’t play the game and we are inspired to live a different way.
Such a great blog, it does make you ponder on why we chose to never question if the man behind the table is a conman. What part of us doesn’t really want to know the truth and likes the illusion?
How much do we truly seek Truth in full?
We still have to become aware to what extent intellectual pursuits are directly related to past hurts. Academia does not lead to re-imprinting your movements, just cements them.
Intellectual pursuits can be used to keep us in our head, rather than connecting with and being in our body, being present.
Joel, you blow me away. Super powerful, super evolutionary, and of so wise. I adore your blogs. Thank you.
‘But my task is clear – clean up my mess and let others see that the glow is not hiding under a shell, but living within.’ Wow as I look up from my laptop I see the huge red sky, there is a golden glow, the sun is beginning to rise. A new day dawns with a new opportunity to clear the mess and stay clear of any impending mess and shine like the sun in all our power and glory.
It’s true, when we have to clean up the mess we make – I think that’s part of why we keep distracting ourselves – because otherwise we have to take responsibility for this mess and properly clean it up so that it can no longer effect everyone else.
Also, could we be avoiding cleaning up our mess around the table because we have let it go on for far too long and the mess is piling up?
I had someone point out recently that we can go around trying to prove that love doesn’t work, instead of being all the love you are and proving that love works- this was an eye opener for me.
It is interesting to observe what it is we give our power away to, be it seeing answers outside of ourselves or seeking recognition for the world around us. For when we do this we negate our connection to who we already are within, that which is what truly confirms who we are and guides us to live impulsed by the truth of our inner-knowing.
” It never crossed my mind that the man in the hat may not have the answer! ”
Its funny how we are so inclined to give our power away for answers.
And the answers are within us all, and as soon as we seek anything outside of us for answers we give our power away because we are going against our natural flow and movement.
Giving our power away is mighty common; why do we not fully accept how powerful we in fact are?
The whole idea of a game where someone wins and another loses is so absolutely ridiculous when one clearly observes it – and yet the whole lot of us have got hooked on the game of the winner and loser to the extent that there will be cheating, poisoning, sabotaging, and even killing in order to win. The absurdity of it is beyond anything imaginable!
The man in the hat is very confident and that confidence can fool us. I notice many times a day, occasions where somebody makes a confident statement and the more I know about the particular subject the more often I realise the person is simply wrong. Sometimes the confidence is justified but many times it is not.
Its not an easy thing to begin to step back, look at how distracted we have become by the game and then see what we need to clean up because of the distraction. But this is a process we all need to do so that we feel more and more what is within.
Every day I celebrate that Serge Benhayon made the choice to step away from ‘the table’, no longer choosing to play the game of life that most of us have played or are still playing. And from not choosing to remain in the illusion, from his reflection of truth he now offers the rest of humanity a choice to also not continue to play the un-winnable game anymore.
When we fully step away from the table and stop playing this illusionary game, the man in the hat loses his imagined power and also steps away from the table.
Yes, no audience, no performance. What would be the point?
We don’t have to play the game that takes us nowhere. But for how long I tried! Love your parables Joel.
Great read for this morning Joel. This story shows so clearly that we are pursuing ideas from the mind and can be quite stubborn in it, but again and again it proves to be empty of the truth we deeply feel we are missing and looking for. The illusion that the answer is in a game, like with gambling, is a false one and will only keep us distracted from the true path that we can take, a simple path to our inner most where already is what we think are missing.
Gorgeous to read Joel thank you for sharing” But my task is clear – clean up my mess and let others see that the glow is not hiding under a shell, but living within.” this too is my task, clearing away what no longer serves me, whatever it is that dulls my light from shinning.
‘There is a conman living within’ and its this that we focus on till we wake up, its this that rears it’s ugly head from time to time and then takes us out of our source. And then someone reflects and makes you realise that we are carrying stuff that needs to be cleaned out, it’s no different to decluttering our home. Loved what you shared Joel.
This has sent shivers through my body Joel, reading it for the first time. It exposes the games I have played for so long expecting the answers to come from under one of those shells. It is so beautiful to realise we don’t have to play the game at all, and the answers are not there. All the answers we need are from within us all the time.
I have to second your ‘shivers through my body’ comment Gill, because this is really a powerful allegory of life that I am sure everyone can relate to in one way or another, because we all have been invested in finding the answers to all of life’s big questions via the three options that Joel mentioned, and many times I have felt that I have spent the majority of my life pursuing all these ‘games’ as one big distraction from that ‘inner glow’ that was there to connect to all along. So much out there tells us to look outside of ourselves for all the answers, from our parents, to teachers, to scientists and modern medicine.
Trying to beat life might be the most addictive gamble game we have ever played, yet just as with gambling the answer is not in getting better at the play but in not playing and needing it at all.
Indeed Lieke, in our pursuit to beat life with gambling we might have short lived successes, but in the long term we never win but only keep ourselves distracted from that simple gateway to all the answers to life that resides in our inner most.
When you spend so much time being mesmerised by the falsities of life , you don’t notice the mess around your own table. Thank God for Serge Benhayon who is offering people a chance to stop and look at life a little differently and from there they have the opportunity to see the mess around their own table.
Very true Sarah. When we give our power away to anything outside of ourselves, we lose sense of who we are, along with the awareness of how we are living and the impact our every move has in the world.
We spend a long time hiding the truth from ourselves and it’s funny because the answers are within us all along.
The lure of ‘fixing’ life or a better life seems stronger now than ever. this analogy runs true in many ways, and like you Joel, I have started to step back from my table and see the mess that is needed to clear up. But we all have this choice, to feel more of the glow within us and make this what we are drawn too.
And although there is a lot of mess to clear up, once re-connected to the glow within it is so beautiful. It is preferable to being close to the table and playing the games.
We can get so caught up and distracted by searching for answers from others but when we meet someone who feels the truth within them we can choose to be inspired to look within ourselves and know truth.
This is a beautiful blog Joel and exposes how we are caught in a game that is rigged from the start. If we open to the possibility we can begin to observe what is truly going on…