On Earth as It Is in Heaven

This version is from Stories to Solve: Folktales from Around the World by George Shannon, although it is evidently a traditional tale. The book gives the following credit: "Heaven and Hell" is retold from Tales from Old China by Isabelle C. Chang (Random House, 1969) and Studies in Jewish and World Folklore by Haim Schwarzbaum (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1968). Regardless of the different faith traditions involved and different meanings of heaven, I think it is a valuable lesson and a philosophy worth living.

Heaven and Hell

People are always wishing. But once in China a man got his wish, which was to see the difference between heaven and hell before he died. When he visited hell, he saw tables crowded with delicious food, but everyone was hungry and angry. They had food, but were forced to sit several feet from the table and use chopsticks three feet long that made it impossible to get any food into their mouths.

When the man saw heaven, he was very surprised for it looked the same. Big tables of delicious food. People forced to sit several feet from the table and use three-foot long chopsticks that made it impossible to get any food into their mouths. It was exactly like hell, but in heaven the people were well fed and happy.

Why?

In heaven they were feeding one another.