The Fable of the Chaka Fruit

Long ago, in a place of which I am forbidden to speak, there were three villages. It was a fruitful time, and so each village sent out their wisest explorer to seek out new lands to which each village could spread. As it turns out, the 3 explorers met on the path running closest to unexplored territory. And so the explorers travelled together into the unexplored territory.

In this new territory the explorers discovered a fruit. They did not sample it for themselves, but carefully observed its effect on the other creatures in the territory. What they found was most remarkable. Eating just one of these fruit, one would be fulfilled for an entire day. It would even cure any ailments suffered by the one who ate the fruit. But anyone who had eaten the fruit would fall seriously ill after a full day without eating as many fruit as they had the day before.

The explorers from the three villages gathered to discuss how this fruit might affect their villages. “Let us call this the Chaka fruit,” said the leader of one village. “What shall we do with it?”

The leader of the Draconian village spoke first. “This indeed is a most miraculous fruit. But the threat of running out of the fruit is important to think about. The people of my village are accustomed to strict rules and severe consequences. When we arrive, we will set severe penalties for consuming more than one fruit a day. This will leave enough for everyone to share.”

The leader of the Utopian village spoke next. “My people are not accustomed to such rules. However, they like to do what’s best for themselves and their community. I will tell them that eating more than one fruit a day is harmful, and they will ration themselves leaving enough fruit for all to share.”

The leader of the Sage village spoke next. “My people are very thorough in everything they do and would surely learn for themselves the truth of this fruit regardless of what I tell them. But I will tell them that there are three villages relying on this fruit, and we must do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone has enough to thrive.”

The Draconian leader spoke up again, “How can we trust the Utopians not to learn the truth of this fruit and take more than their share?”

The Utopian leader spoke responded, “I would similarly ask, how we can trust that Draconians will not steal fruit when nobody is looking? Nobody can see everything and enforce the rules perfectly.”

The Sage spoke up, “Clearly we should share the whole truth with everyone. When they understand, they will act in the best interest of everyone.”

The leader of Draconian village laughed out loud. “Hahaha… Sage, you do not know people. Even knowing the full truth, without rules, my people would never trust each other enough to behave in the best interest of all our villages.”

The leader of the Utopian village agreed, “My people would be unable to defend themselves against the Draconians in claiming their fair share of the fruit. We should not even tell Draconians about it.”

The Sage responded, “And when the Draconians discover it for themselves, their wrath will be all the more terrible. No we need a different solution.”

A strange noise came from the nearby forest where the Chaka fruit grew. Following it to its source, the three explorers came upon a young animal at a very large Chaka tree. In its mother’s absence, it was unable to reach the Chaka fruit, and was crying out for help. The explorer from the Utopian village reached for a fruit and offered it to the baby animal. “Here young friend. Can we all share this fruit with each other someday?” The young animal gobbled up the fruit and went to sleep at the base of the Chaka tree, satisfied for the day.

The Sage spoke, “Your act and this animal inspire me, Utopian, but I’m not sure my thought is complete yet. What answers do you two have for all of us?”

The Draconian responded first. “We need rules to define what people may do with the Chaka fruit. We must ensure that nobody has more than one each day. If strict enforcement by our people is insufficient, perhaps we can tell them that the Chaka beast we see here can be very ferocious when it detects a person who has taken more than one. And they are numerous, and have ways of knowing what you’ve done that you’d never expect.”

“And when one of us takes two and discovers there is no consequence?” inquired the Sage.

“There is one place from which nobody returns to tell the tale: the afterlife. If you have broken the rules during your life, the afterlife will offer you nothing but torment at the mercy of the Chaka beast.”

“How depressing!” The Utopian sounded agitated. “To take such a beautiful gift and offer nothing but threats and fear. We Utopians would sooner live without the fruit than accept the notion of an afterlife potentially filled with torment.”

“What do you suggest?” asked the Sage.

“This baby Chaka beast has communicated with us. And from it we learn that we can all survive on this fruit without strict rules. It has given us the greatest gift imaginable. The knowledge that by caring for each other, we can thrive more than we ever could alone. When my people see that the innocent Chaka beast also needs this to survive, they will do the right thing.”

“That’s ridiculous! No better than the Sage’s idea to tell everyone all the facts,” responded the Draconian. “Even if your people accept this, my people will see that the beast is doing just fine and take an extra here or there with no consequences. Sooner or later the peoples of all our villages will be forced to live together, and then you will need an afterlife just as much as we do.”

“Very well. But our afterlife will be glorious. And the intangible benefits of Chaka will not be limited to the afterlife, but our collective future as well. You see, the greater our community becomes, the greater is our power for change, our power over the future, if only we share a common vision and exercise that power. Draconian, using fear as your main motivation limits you. You tell people what they cannot do, but don’t inspire them to their full potential by interacting with their community. Sage, your people are limited to accomplishments they can fully understand.”

“What can we not accomplish by understanding it first? I’m starting to see merit to this Chaka beast and the afterlife, but what do we have if we can’t pursue the truth?”

The Draconian looked at the Sage in disbelief, and interrupted, “You like this idea!? You of all people, interested only in the facts, want to speak of the Chaka beast, the afterlife, and of the unknowable future?”

“A common vision is very powerful. Although it does trouble me greatly, this idea of spreading a belief in the Chaka beast or a definite future without any evidence. We Sages have spent ages sorting out the truth of things in meticulous detail, and find this to be of utmost importance. Yet what has it gotten us in the way of community? The Utopians have figured out how to thrive without rules. I can’t explain this by examining it down to its tiniest bits.”

“Yes you can, you just haven’t tried.”

Now both the Sage and the Draconian looked at the Utopian, stunned.

“Okay, maybe you have tried, but what motivates our minds is immensely complex and possibly impossible to understand with a mind of equal complexity. Look, you can understand things to the core, but you don’t need to in order for them to benefit you. We don’t understand everything about what motivates us. We just know that when we all believe in something, we can accomplish much more than we did otherwise.”

The Sage pondered this. “So… if we pursue the truth of the Chaka before we allow ourselves to benefit from it, we... rob ourselves of that truth?”

“Huh?” The Draconian looked bewildered.

“Go on,” the Utopian prodded.

“It’s hard to accept, describe or understand. But this word, ‘Chaka’ is coming to represent something that appears to make a very real difference in our lives despite the fact that there is no reality to it. How can I deny the power of belief? Knowing the facts, we would never believe that we could survive together here. We would try and we would likely fail. And yet, if we believe that we can survive together here by the faith in this ‘Chaka’, we can. How can such an immense difference be based on nothing. It must be something.”

“So, Sage, will you tell your people that they must not seek the truth of the Chaka fruit?”

“How can I deny them their livelihood? No, there’s nothing more irresistible to a Sage than forbidden knowledge. What I will say will drive the Sages ever harder in their seek for knowledge. The fact of the matter is that the truth about the Chaka fruit will be powerless, harmful even, if it is discovered out of sequence. What I will tell them is that the truth of the Chaka fruit will be meaningless, and may even destroy us, if learned before the truths of the mind. They will know when they are ready for the truth of the Chaka fruit when they are able to create a mind as intelligent as their own. Utopians will be ready when all communities are one and there is no fear of the Draconians. And Draconians will be ready when they figure out a single rule by which everyone can live harmoniously. Until then the Chaka beast and power of Chaka to secure our future by eating just one fruit per day is the best truth we can offer.”

“Are these things even possible?”

“It doesn’t matter. Striving for our ideals is what will expose the truth of Chaka to us anyway.”