When I reflected on the results of this year’s election, it reminded me of the story, of the farmer’s son of fortune or misfortune…
Who Knows? The Farmer’s Son: Fortune or Misfortune?
One day in late summer, an old farmer was working in his field with his old sick horse. The farmer felt compassion for the horse and desired to lift its burden. So he left his horse loose to go the mountains and live out the rest of its life.
Soon after, neighbors from the nearby village visited, offering their condolences and said, “What a shame. Now your only horse is gone. How unfortunate you are! You must be very sad. How will you live, work the land, and prosper?” The farmer replied: “Who knows? We shall see”.
Two days later the old horse came back now rejuvenated after meandering in the mountainsides while eating the wild grasses. He came back with twelve new younger and healthy horses which followed the old horse into the corral.
Word got out in the village of the old farmer’s good fortune and it wasn’t long before people stopped by to congratulate the farmer on his good luck. “How fortunate you are!” they exclaimed. You must be very happy!” Again, the farmer softly said, “Who knows? We shall see.”
At daybreak on the next morning, the farmer’s only son set off to attempt to train the new wild horses, but the farmer’s son was thrown to the ground and broke his leg. One by one villagers arrived during the day to bemoan the farmer’s latest misfortune. “Oh, what a tragedy! Your son won’t be able to help you farm with a broken leg. You’ll have to do all the work yourself, How will you survive? You must be very sad,” they said. Calmly going about his usual business the farmer answered, “Who knows? We shall see”
Several days later a war broke out. The Emperor’s men arrived in the village demanding that young men come with them to be conscripted into the Emperor’s army. As it happened the farmer’s son was deemed unfit because of his broken leg. “What very good fortune you have!!” the villagers exclaimed as their own young sons were marched away. “You must be very happy.” “Who knows? We shall see!” replied the old farmer as he headed off to work his field alone.
As time went on the broken leg healed but the son was left with a slight limp. Again the neighbors came to pay their condolences. “Oh what bad luck. Too bad for you”! But the old farmer simply replied; “Who knows? We shall see.”
As it turned out the other young village boys had died in the war and the old farmer and his son were the only able bodied men capable of working the village lands. The old farmer became wealthy and was very generous to the villagers. They said: “Oh how fortunate we are, you must be very happy”, to which the old farmer replied, “Who knows? We shall see!”
This election is part of a larger whole… who knows what will really come out of all of this. This could be what we wakes up more Americans and the World, or who knows maybe Trump will surprise us, as he
did in the primary and election. At this point no one knows. We can only say, “Who knows? We shall see!”
This lesson in all of this is not about passivity, but rather about how to be unattached to things that happen in our lives – to not project good or bad onto a circumstance or situation. Don’t look at this election in despair or euphoria, because we don’t know what is around the corner. Life is unpredictable, which is part of the experience of being human. Humans are unpredictable, as we clearly saw in this election.
Try to, breathe, live in the moment and be compassionate with yourself and those around you. Try not be attached to the outcome, or spend much time and emotion on controlling a future that can’t be controlled. Do your best to control what is in your control, and leave the rest to the universe.
The essential point is to strive to be empty and to let all things go. Let the contents of the mind go — both good and bad—and let the light that illumines the mind flow through us and guide our way. Then we can treat each moment, each situation, as a new beginning. Then, we will be “seeing”, hearing, sensing, and feeling from a deeper more open space.
The best that we can do, is to do our very best — act from a place of love and compassion and be unattached to the outcome.
With this election, “Who knows? We shall see!”
Onwards and upwards,
