The Story of the Other Wise Man

We all long to be “true to the light” that has been given to us.

Dec 24, 2024

While my children were growing up, an annual Christmas tradition was my wife’s reading of The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry van Dyke. This little gem of a novel, first published in 1895, tells the tale of the pilgrim Artaban. Artaban lived during the time of Jesus and devoted his life to searching for him.

He never encounters Jesus, but during the 33 years of his pilgrimage, Artaban performs many heartfelt, charitable deeds. I won’t spoil the ending, but as he dies, Artaban learns that his life has more meaning than he could have ever imagined.

In the preface to his book, Van Dyke offers insights into the human condition. No matter how hard you work at it, it will never work out the way you hoped for:

You must face the thought that your work in the world may be almost ended, but you know that it is not nearly finished.
You have not solved the problems that perplexed you. You have not reached the goal that you aimed at. You have not accomplished the great tests that you set for yourself. You are still on the way; and perhaps your journey must end now—nowhere—in the dark.

Later in the preface, van Dyke offers terrific advice to all who are moved by the creative force within:

An idea arrives without effort; a form can only be wrought out by patient labor. If your story is worth telling, you ought to love it enough to be willing to work over it until it is true—true not only to the ideal, but true also to the real. The light is a gift; but the local color can only be seen by one who looks for it long and steadily.

Van Dyke offers the wisdom that the goal is not what counts but that the integrity by which you seek to accomplish the goal is everything:

Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul,
May keep the path, but will not reach the goal;
While he who walks in love may wander far,
Yet God will bring him where the blessed are.

Toward the end of the book, Artaban faces one last test. Will he be true to his goal or true to Love. He chooses Love. Van Dyke writes:

What had he to fear? What had he to live for? He’d given away the last remnant of his tribute for [Jesus]. He had parted with the last hope of finding Him. The quest was over, and it had failed. But, even in that thought, accepted and embraced, there was peace. It was not resignation. It was not submission. It was something more profound and searching. He knew that all was well, because he had done the best that he could, from day to day. He had been true to the light that had been given to him.

There is a final treat in this wonderful book—and I will leave it for you to discover.

I first encountered The Story of the Other Wise Man at a Christmas Eve celebration. The storyteller ended with a magnificent version of the “Song of Bernadette,” which, in combination with her telling of the Van Dyke tale, left hundreds of people weeping.

Like Artaban, we all long to be “true to the light” given to us.

Artaban’s path to the light was to make it about others, not himself. This is a mindset issue, not a behavioral issue. In all our seemingly mundane encounters, we can make it about them—the cashier, the other drivers, the waitress, etc.—and not ourselves.

Warm wishes for a joyful, wonderful, and peaceful Holiday.

I will post a special session of Mindset Shifts U on New Year's Day. If you want to participate, please read Margaret Prescott Montague’s short 1917 essay, "Twenty Minutes of Reality."

Montague was in the hospital one dreary day in March when she spontaneously began to see the interconnectedness of all life. Montague-type realizations can arise in us more often than we think possible. What she saw can teach us all. I hope this extra session will help get your New Year off to a wonderful start.

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