Touch Nothing But The Lamp

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I have often thought about this part in Aladdin as an allegory, especially in the troublesome years of my life. To retrieve the magic lamp, Aladdin must make his way through the Cave of Wonders. Although the cave is loaded with gold, gems, and priceless treasure, he is told to "touch nothing but the lamp."

Life can be a lot like the Cave of Wonders. The ingredients to a good life are well known. Do your best, treat others justly, and stay grateful. That is the magic lamp in reality, and there's a clear path leading up to it. Also, like the cave, life has all these little temptations that take us off the simple path to goodness.

Aladdin has a small monkey companion named Abu. I think of Abu as a representation of human weakness, a trait we all have. While Aladdin makes his way to the lamp as instructed, Abu is the one who succumbs to greed and grabs a giant ruby. Instantly, the entire cave begins to melt and collapse upon itself.
This much of the story already tells us a lot about the path. All the temptations are not only illusions but traps. As human beings, we have that monkey side that will always reach for something. The irony is that if we had the magic lamp, one single wish would produce every treasure in the cave!

Of course, Aladdin and Abu are not doomed. There is one more factor at play: the flying carpet. Like a guardian angel, the carpet watched over them the whole time and flew them to safety in their moment of peril. There is another truth to this too. Every living person has made mistakes, and the scary thing about mistakes is that we never know which one might mean the end. The lesson in this is to remember how easily it could have been over any time we messed up. In gratitude, we stay humble, and our monkey shuts up.

To live a good life (which is the magic lamp), we must be aware of the human experience as we strive for excellence. We all walk the same path surrounded by false gold, and we all have a monkey that will touch it from time to time. Treat people kindly when they make this mistake because, as we know, the only reason we're even here is because a magic carpet caught us when we fell.

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