“Nothing Bad Can
Ever Happen. Proceed With Confidence.”
There is an old
Chinese proverb to ponder:
A Chinese
farmer has a stallion. One day, the stallion runs away. The village people come
to him and say, "Ah, such a bad thing to happen!"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
A few days later, the stallion returns with three mares. The village people come to him and say, "Ah, such a good thing to happen!"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
The next week, the farmer's son breaks his leg taming the wild mares. The village people come to him and say, "Ah, such a bad thing to happen!"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
A month later, the Chinese army comes and demands all the young men of proper age to be a soldier. The farmer's son does not have to go because of his broken leg. The village people come to him and say, "Ah, such a good thing to happen!"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
A few days later, the stallion returns with three mares. The village people come to him and say, "Ah, such a good thing to happen!"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
The next week, the farmer's son breaks his leg taming the wild mares. The village people come to him and say, "Ah, such a bad thing to happen!"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
A month later, the Chinese army comes and demands all the young men of proper age to be a soldier. The farmer's son does not have to go because of his broken leg. The village people come to him and say, "Ah, such a good thing to happen!"
The farmer shrugs, "Good thing, bad thing, who knows?"
How can it be
that nothing bad can ever happen? It seems so alien to us, so contrary
to all of our traditions. However, when one takes themselves out of the center
of their universe, one begins to see that it is impossible to determine whether
an event was good or bad. An individual’s finite understanding of the totality
of time and causation prohibit the full appreciation of how an event affects
the world around it.
We find it
difficult to evaluate an event as good or bad because it is impossible to
evaluate an event while being objective. The very act of evaluation is
antithetical to objectivity. We are only capable of evaluating an event as
preferable, enjoyable, sad, happy, unfortunate, etc. - we can only make
subjective evaluations. If we begin to accept that we don’t live in a dyadic
universe, tossed between two extremes, and that Good and Bad are concepts
constructed by human minds, we begin to understand that there is no Good or
Bad.
Things we dislike
will happen. However, does the fact that we dislike these things make them bad?
I was laid off by my job: I turned it into an opportunity to go to college. I
ended a relationship with a woman I moved to another state for: I met the woman
I married in this new state. All of the supposedly Bad things that have
happened in my life have all led to the enjoyable, agreeable state which I now
live in. Nothing Bad has ever happened to me: only things that I could not
appreciate at the time. The things that I do not enjoy now? Those are only
things I cannot appreciate at this moment. Only at the end of my life could I
look back at events in judgment, and even then, only insofar as they affected
my own limited life.
These thoughts are
incomplete, a start on a meditation to remove ourselves from our lives for a
moment, to try to look at the bigger picture. Expand the notion with your own perspective.
