There was a man in the state of Qi who wanted some gold. One morning he dressed himself smartly and went to the market. Arriving at the gold-dealer’s stall, he seized a piece of gold and made off.
The police who caught him asked: ”Why did you steal gold in front of so many people?”
”When I took the gold,” he answered, “I saw nobody. All I saw was the gold.”
Allegorical Meaning
This parable is a masterclass in illustrating a profound psychological and philosophical truth:
- Overpowering desire, especially greed, acts as a blindfold and an intoxicant. It can completely distort perception, override reason and survival instinct, and create a dangerous, self-centered delusion.
- Such desire inevitably leads to self-destructive folly and ruin. Actions taken under its influence are reckless and ignore reality.
- The pursuit of material wealth, when it becomes all-consuming, erases awareness of others and the broader context, leading to isolation and disaster.
- True perception requires freedom from the domination of blinding desires.
The man from Qi is not just a thief; he is the archetype of the individual utterly consumed by a single desire, living in a self-created prison of avarice that blinds him to the world and inevitably causes his capture – both literally by the authorities, and figuratively by his own destructive passion. The story remains a timeless, potent warning against the corrupting and blinding power of greed.
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