There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away.

Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“May be,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

“How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.

“May be,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg.

The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “May be,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by.

The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

“May be,” said the farmer.

 

 

Explanation Of The Wisdom

 

Most often in life, we think in terms of dualism.

If I get her to marry me, I will be happy. 

If my child succeeds in his business ventures, I’ll die happy.

If my life turns out the way I want, then I’ll be happy. If not, I won’t.

So what we do is labelling situations as good or bad and allow these situations play around with our happiness.

So what if your business failed?

So what if your cat died?

So what if you lost the functioning of your legs?

Are these bad?

May be.

Are these good?

May be.

Stop giving the external situations the power to make you sad or happy. Access something permanent within. Something that doesn’t change with the whims of the universe.

There is one things that stays with you until you die. Your being. Your essence.

To realize this, you must meditate and self enquire.  In essence, you must start living from the present moment. This requires concentration, awareness and mindfulness skills.

There is only one way to put this wisdom into practical living: start a daily meditation practice and start an investigation towards enlightenment.

Theory, debates, reading, listening, talking, arguing and knowledge will only get you so far. 

You must “walk the talk”.

If in doubt, remember the priceless wisdom.

“Meditate on the breath (mindfulness meditation to build concentration and awareness skills) and then self-enquire (the teachings of Ramana Maharshi) until you are free of all psychological sufferings and ego. (aka enlightenment)

Do this everyday and trust in the process that eventually your mind will be healed.

Why?

Because all good things require training and patience.

Know that as long as you do the work, the results will eventually follow.”

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