The judge, acting as Judge, replied:
”See, my Lord, we can do as you wish, but if you want justice, this has to be well thought out as well as well-defended, and if someone, because they did not have the time they needed, does not do it well, then they will say that the King wanted it that way, that he did not want justice but speed instead.”
The King understood and said:
”You are the Judge, you have the power. It will be done as you say.”
The judge – the real one, the one who was sleeping in his bedroom at home – continued sleeping, while his spirit – the one that saw and heard everything and was still amazed at seeing himself in this surreal situation – was listening to all the commentary. He got closer to some of the important judges, without them noticing.
In fact, they were the most important among the judges, as well as considered to be significant men outside of courts too. Approaching, he listened to them murmuring that they would settle the score with the judge later, once they all left this place, while others said:
”We will let him do it, and, when time is right, we will set a trap for him in front of the King.“ They were all intelligent and enjoyed the support of the Minister of Justice, who clearly showed that he was not satisfied with the arrangement or with the roles assigned.
The judge – the one who had been given the position of the Judge by the minister following the orders of the King – saw himself sitting alone on one side of the room and, when one of the other judges approached him, he heard himself say:
”Until the tribunal is over, I have nothing to comment. Your comments could also undermine the tribunal, knowing one side but not the other.”
The chosen subject was THE ELDERLY. The hearing started once they had organized themselves. The Principal judge with the most authority began to speak. Since he was the one with the most authority, everyone was listening to him, and it was for everyone to see that he was trying to show off. But things that he was saying were nothing new. He had been told to present the case, and that is what he was doing. Without much detail, just to play his along.
Then the next one spoke, also Principal judge, second in authority, and everyone was listening to him. He made his presentations as an accuser – or the Prosecutor – and he himself realized, while on show, that he just wanted to get it over with and get out of there as soon as possible. He felt uncomfortable and considered this whole thing to be a King’s whim.
Then came the third, the one who was appointed to serve as a Defender. Since the accusation had been put forward so badly, he did even worse, as he did not feel he could show up his superiors. And, although in the end, he tried to summarize and clarify what was said, it was apparent to everyone that he wanted to do the previous speaker a favor.
The prosecution witnesses and those of the defense continued, and so until the end. When everyone seemed to have finished, and the Judge’s verdict was supposed to be passed – undoubtedly, it would be favorable to the principal of the highest authority, which everyone, including the King, expected, as it all seemed straight-forward – they found the Judge speaking the following:
”Let me go and say a prayer before you hear my Judgment,” and he retired.
When he returned, his face indicated concern. And so, on his feet, he asked the King for permission to speak. The King granted it, and the judge said:
”Well, all of you now have had a chance to shine before the King, but if he wants justice, we will have to do things differently from how they have been done so far. Otherwise, we will continue to repeat the same mistakes that we have been making until now.”
The principals took those words as an insult, and, rising from their seats, they started laying into the judge. But then, in turn, the King had begun to rise, calling them back loudly. And so they all fell silent again, and listened to him say:
”I am glad the Judge was the one to put you all in your place because, if he had not done it, I would have done so myself. The things I have seen are of no use to me, and I want things new and different. So stop worrying about looking good. To me, you are the Principals, and you do not stand to lose anything. So let the Judge do his job. Let's listen to what he has to tell us. Considering the length of time he spent preparing the speech, he must have more to say to us than he has so far.” And he sat down.
With those words from the King, the judge felt his authority reinforced and began by organizing the work. He announced whom he wanted to hear first from and – as he had done before – said:
”I hope that you are better in your courts because today, you lacked quality. Prepare your work well for tomorrow.” He did the same with all the others, surprising even the King who, on the one hand, at the beginning saw this to be a game, but, on the other hand, he liked the tone and the approach of him whom he appointed as a Judge. They all left discontented.
The Judge, resorting to the authority that the King had awarded him, ordered that the tribunal continued the following day. He spoke to each one separately and gave them time to prepare for their respective roles. Of course, with all that out in the open, and seeing that the King himself who until then ignored them was now taking part in the tribunal itself. Albeit only as a spectator, they all made an effort.
At this point, the Spirit of the Judge returned to his body, flying, making his own thought turn into reality. Before entering, he looked at the house from above and found it curious, as he had never seen the building from this angle. Upon entering the room, he saw his beloved wife sleeping peacefully. He found himself in another room, also sleeping, although in a rather unhealthy posture, and entered the body. When he did so, The Judge – the Physical Judge – woke up. He got up and went to his bed, feeling utterly exhausted.
The judge woke up the next morning and felt as if he was almost sleepwalking through his day as if he were not rested or had a fever. But he remembered every detail of what it was that he had to do. He remembered very well what he had dreamt. He felt so anxious that he decided to consult Him in Prayer. He was told:
”Await tonight for the dream is not over yet.”
The day had eventually come to an end, too slowly for his liking. When the time came to get some rest, he fell asleep, totally exhausted. That, however, did not prevent him from waking up three hours later and reliving everything he had seen in the last night’s dream. He then fell asleep again and re-entered the Court, where the ELDERLY was on trial.
The same thing as the night before happened. The Spirit of the Judge left the physical body and, after looking at it for just a moment, he thought of being in the King's palace. And just as he thought about it, he flew immediately over in the direction of the place where they had to meet up. He was the first to arrive, so he watched everyone else, the last of whom was the King, enter. The King sat down in his armchair, with the Minister of Justice as well as two more Ministers that he invited beside him. Once everyone was present, the Judge commanded to begin.
Tribunal began with the Judge explaining the reason for the gathering and setting out things that had to be done. He also brought up a subject of anyone potentially having any prejudices or pressures or motives for the tribunal to be deemed invalid. Everyone knew that to be the case, and so the Judge spoke aloud the words:
”I know that this is so; however, I understand that you are all Judges, so you should – before entering – be able to leave at the door whatever it may be that may affect what is said here.”
All agreed, and it seemed that, with the night that they had to reflect, their aptitude had changed. They realized the Judge was being serious and could give them a cause to be concerned if they did not comply, especially with the King being there.
The Session was opened by him, who had to lay down the accusation and who you would call a Prosecutor. He argued that all the elderly at a certain age or of certain circumstances had to be either killed or permitted to die since they were now useless. Instead, they were a great burden to their family, who had to have people dedicated primarily to them. He argued that, in ancient times, when someone reached the moment of not providing any value anymore, they were left on the mountain to wait for their death, alone and starving. All there would be were two to four days of suffering. He said that it was nothing when compared with the years of suffering that they could otherwise endure if they were cared for, as it could last for years. And then there was suffering of others.
Everyone listened and, although they did not like the subject, it was well presented and well-argued. And so the man who seemed to be made of iron continued with his harsh words:
”Naturally, there are exceptions but, as a rule – and because a Judgment must encompass a general rule, and only then, in its light, each particular case is considered – I say that suffering neither purifies nor helps in your Spiritual life. So there is no point in prolonging suffering because it is also worthless for your internal Spirit. After all, there the minds do not govern. And it is known that the Spirits and the physical body connect through the mind. So, if the mind does not work, this connection is interrupted. The Spirit is waiting for the death of the body to come, so it can leave it behind and go to a place where the Spirits dwell.” Judging by the demeanors of the others, it seemed that what he was saying was considered right.
The Accuser – or the Prosecutor – called on one of his witnesses, who said that his father, whom he had lived with for a long time, was such a heavy burden that everyone wished for him to die. This had been going on for more than ten years. It was the consequence of an accident, a fall from a horse.
This was going on day in and day out. The man could hardly be moved because he was a heavy load and had problems with his back. He had to be bathed and his personal needs attended to. As you know, the sick do not have control of their functions, and thus he was often laying in filth. Everyone seemed to agree.
The man – who was a Judge of the assistants and who ended up with the role of a witness in support of the charge – was saying:
”I am the one who suffers the least since I hardly see him. When I leave in the morning, he continues in his bed, and when I return, he is in his bedroom. All the work falls on the woman and the children, and they can no longer bear it, especially being aware that he occupies a space in the house which we need to be able to separate the children – who are both males and females. They are older now, but must continue sleeping together.” He offered many arguments.
Once he was finished, the second prosecution witness continued:
”You will see that my case is different. I have a father who is already very old, and his mind is gone. But, since he is still alive, according to the Law, the inheritance cannot be distributed. So we just have to endure not being able to do anything while he says, ‘Everything stays as it is. Once I am gone, you can sell up or do whatever else you want but, for now, all the assets are mine to do whatever I want with them.’”
”He does not believe that we would take better care of it if he left the money for us to manage. And he understands that, when he does not own the fortune anymore, we may abandon him or get rid of him, as has happened in some cases that he says to have known throughout his life. See, this is a lot for us to take; and his hair and beard are already grey. He constantly humiliates us by making us ask him for money to be able to continue with the estate. He is bad in the head, and he cannot look after it. He did not see that it was necessary to replace a pair of animals for mating in order to have good livestock. As you know, that costs a fortune. We told him, ‘We sell a piece of land, and with the money we buy animals.’ And, because he is not right in the head, he said to us, ‘By the price you are telling me, it sounds like a robbery.’”
”Since he does not live in our times anymore, he thinks that everything is much cheaper. And there is nothing we can do.”
The witness looked at everyone and, seeing faces reflecting agreement, continued:
”I end by saying that we want him to die, and we believe that things would be much better if such a thing would happen. In our case, he experiences no sufferings, but he has imposed the suffering on us. He seems to have still a body that can endure life, and it will mean ruin to all us brothers.” And here he closed the matter.
The Judge listened, but his face was not giving away whether he was convinced or not. Everyone knew that a judge could not show whether he agrees with any of the parties and that he must reserve that for when the passing of the Judgment comes. Regardless, everyone still expected to glimpse some indication. The prosecution witness finished his presentation, but he spoke again and said:
„I reserve the right to speak again, in the end, after the Defence has spoken.” And, although this kind of thing was rarely ever done, he wanted to show off in front of the King and had thought of this as something unusual to impress him.
The accuser – or prosecutor – finished, and gave the floor to the Defender, who proceeded with the following:
”When a person is sick, they are cared for, so life can go on. If, when we are of no use, when our minds are not bright – because of fever or illness – they look after us, life can continue. This kind of situation can often last quite some time, sometimes even longer than a year, but once it has passed, it is forgotten. How can we treat the elderly as a disease?”
”We are all bound by ties of brotherhood and consider that we have a Spirit within. We are not animals. We have humility, as well as feelings and obligation to help those who need us. That is the basis of our Communities. Look at that – since ancient times – our communities have been formed on the basis of MUTUAL HELP AND MUTUAL PROTECTION.”
The Defender, looking around at everyone and seeing from the faces that his arguments were well-conducted, continued.
”But, what is more, we have been taught since ancient times, and we know it from tradition, and also from some writings, that customs as barbaric as those that have been just presented justifying these deaths, were disavowed by the Spiritual Masters. We have been told that our actions have a spiritual undercurrent. To think, what would that make us if, not only we do not look after those who need and try to make their death easier for them, but, instead, leave those people to die without assistance?”
”Looking at us as representatives of everyone,” continued the Defender arguing,” we are all of the age that we will soon be considered to be elderly. And age will also happen to our children, as time passes. We are imposing harm on these people for having the disease of old age. And, above all, we promote the lack of comprehension in the youngest, for which we ourselves will be judged when the time comes.”
