There was an old farmer in a village and he had a fine horse. Like the farmer, the horse was also old. One day the horse ran away. All the villagers offered their sympathies to the farmer. “Your only horse is gone. What will you do now? How will you work on the land?” they asked him. The old farmer replied: “Who knows? We shall see”.
A few days later, the horse returned bringing with it a wild horse, which was beautiful and healthy. When the villagers heard the news, they came to the farmer and congratulated him. “You are so lucky, you now have two horses. You must be very happy.” The old farmer again replied: “Who knows? We shall see”.
The next day, the farmer’s only son mounted the horse. He tried to tame and train the wild horse. But the horse threw him on the ground and he broke his leg. The villagers now sympathized with the farmer. “Oh, what a tragedy! Your son cannot help you with the farm work. How will you do all the work yourself? You must be very unhappy,” they said. The old farmer just replied: “Who knows? We shall see”.
Some days later, the King’s men appeared in the village. A war had broken out and the King wanted more soldiers. His men had come to take all the young men in the village for his army. The young men were all marched away, but the farmer’s son was not taken due to his broken leg. The sad villagers told the farmer, “How lucky you are! Our sons have all gone away, but you have your son with you.” The old farmer again replied: “Who knows? We shall see”.
Background:
This story is said to be a Taoist one, more than 2000 years old, and is found in many books and on websites with minor variations. It is also said that the famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu liked the story very much and his followers have been repeating the story for generations.
The story seems to resonate with many people, especially during hard times. It could help a person navigate through “bad” experiences and not go overboard with “good” experiences. Thus, the story could help a person maintain equanimity in good times and bad.
Very interesting story. Another aspect could be our tendency to make quick judgments based on situations. Like trying to judge a book by reading a chapter. The tendency to judge is sort of programmed into our selves and it is very difficult to see things as they are!
Causal connections are different in chaotic situations – like what we are seeing now. Being poor is more beneficial than being rich now, isn’t. The same with other living creatures now. There is no absolute good or bad.
If we take life as it comes, it is a choice-less state. It requires equanimity to accept anything that passes our way. This state requires no comparison, competition or compulsion, but a sense of sincerity should prevail in all that we do. An exceptional state that is not acknowledged by many. I think the invisible foe, Covid-19, should slowdown our total approach to life. Anything we do has to be done passionately so that we see life in it, and anything that is done artificially brings boredom. Also, there is a caveat for the lazy and this is beyond tolerance. It’s an attitude and the rest requires no further explanation.