Ia and the Preachers

Ia and his disciples came upon a large market which was being held in a square near the center of a small village. Residents from all the nearby villages had brought their wares to be sold at stalls which the host village rented for a modest price. In addition to the stalls brimming with goods, a number of men and women dressed as priests sermonized at the edges of the market square. These preachers wore expensive, well-made clothing which was the envy of the poorer villagers, and the villagers listened closely to what the preachers said because the preachers claimed that the villagers, too, could escape their dreary existence.

Ia's disciple Creassin asked Ia, 'Holy One, how is it that all these men and woman could claim to possess the solution to the problem these villagers face?'

Ia responded by saying, 'Different paths might lead to the same destination.' Then he bade his disciples, 'Now listen closely to the promises they shout.'

Ia's disciples did as asked, and they found to their amazement that all these priests of differing faiths, despite using somewhat different words, echoed the same promises. These promises did not come from a place of genuine altruism, but offered only the merest hints of salvation before the preachers diverted from the topic and solicited donations for their church, which the gathered villagers eagerly provided.

'Why do you not stop them, Holy Ia?' Creassin asked. 'Will you allow these villagers to lose all they have worked hard to earn to such charlatans?'

'These villagers pay what they desire to hear these words, even if they are empty and without greater or further meaning. They pay the price now, in coin, and they will pay the price later, when they are thrust through Danimoth's Gate without having attained any measure of redemption.'

'Should we not try to change their ways and offer them a means of salvation we know to be real?'

'They cheerily chase words of little weight, but have no will to hear or heed those which form messages of true importance. Your time and energy is spent better elsewhere.'

So Ia and his disciples quickly passed through that small village and left it behind them.