The left-hand path and the right-hand path are ancient and immutable paths each of us will be forced to go down in our lives. We do not get to choose which one we go down - we will be chosen and sorted accordingly by the hand of fate. The left-hand path is the path of chaos and risk. Odds are you will walk away with nothing. This path is reserved for fools who unwittingly stumble over cliffs. However, a handful of those fools keep walking after the fall - and some find a collection of strange, mysterious runes in the most unassuming of bushes. Being the fools they are - they touch them.
The right hand path is the path of security and normalcy. It is low risk and the yields are guaranteed. You do things as they have been done before and heed the warning when told of dangerous cliffs. This path is for those with a lick of sense.
In nature there exists a balance. This balance is harmony. If it is upset - there will be dissonance. The majority will naturally be sorted into the house of the right-hand. This choice is out of our hands and sits squarely in the hands of fate. The right-hand house represents order, tradition and security. Without a strong and populous right-hand house we shall all surely perish. The job of the left-hand house is to keep the right from stagnating. The majority of those who are chosen for the left-hand house will die having changed and done little to nothing. The solace for them is that they did things their way - they made their bet - and in another life it may have paid out big. A small minority in the left cohort are the great innovators. In the chaotic wasteland they find the gold. They knock on the great palace of the house of right and present them with their findings. Many are mocked and scorned at first - as the right-handed folk tend to be slavishly devoted to the way things are, and a new way is nothing but foolishness to their ears. Slowly, over time - if the gold is good - sense prevails and the right-handers accept this new treasure - storing it safely in their vault- adding it to the collection of the tried and true treasures. The foolish tramp who fell off a cliff hailed as hero - and who doesn’t want to be a hero?
Some in the house of right grow tired of their role. They take no comfort in their place. They wish to be heroes like the left-handed visitors who bring the house of right treasure. They are blind to the reality of the left. They do not see the journey. They do not see the mountain of bodies piled by the cliff. The dead’s insides liquified by the fall. The fools who fell so foolishly. All the envious ones see is a hero who brings treasure - forgetting the scorn and mockery the fool endured for bringing his mysterious finding to the eyes of the old.
Thus a third house is born. The house of the crab.
The house of the crab is populated by those who wish to be heroes - but they have not been chosen for this role - for they are not fools who fall off cliffs. Cunning is the crab. Sly and covetous. If the crab cannot be a hero - then all will be fools.
The crab dresses in fool’s garb. He approaches the house of right.
“A treasure! Most glorious - I’ve found!” The crab proudly proclaims.
“We all can be heroes! The path is this way!
A fool - he would never - lead you astray!”
Most remain steadfast, some are seduced. Slowly but surely, they all eventually listen to the fool - but few.
The crab leads his new followers to the cliff of fools. He tells them the way of the hero. The hero leaps from the cliff and returns with treasure. The house of right is uncertain. Leaping from cliffs? Who would do such a reckless thing? The crab insists this is the way of the hero. It has been done before. The way of the past is the bread and butter of the house of right. If it has been done before - then they shall do it, too. But these are not those born into chaos. They are not chosen for this role. Most who attempt this feat wandered off the cliff in a daze - their risk was not calculated - it was an accident of fate. Most of whom that fell died on impact - others lost in the ravine. The crab knows not of this risk - that or his resentful lust for power silences his conscience. Just like the pied piper led rats through the streets - the crab leads the house of right off the cliff of fools. Singing his siren song of promises of heroics and freedom.
“Down there we will all float!
You’ll all see!”
The crab has upset the balance. His resentment the architect of his undoing. Without the house of right there is no more food. The crabs cannot eat, the house of left starves without provisions and the house of right is reduced to a shell of its former glory. If the crab cannot be hero - he will lead us all to our death - if we follow him into the abyss.
There is a natural order. Its balance must not be upset. Left cannot become right and right cannot be left. The role of the fool is reserved for fools and fools alone. The survival of the society rests on the shoulders of those who do things right. The fools must be left to their own devices - not interfered with - nor emulated.