It just is

There is an ancient Chinese parable that goes a little like this:-

There was an old man living in a rural village who owned a very beautiful and well trained horse.

Everybody who saw the horse wanted it for their own, and before long, word about the magnificent animal had spread to the emperor, who promptly sent a messenger to the old man's village with a request to purchase the horse for an extremely large sum of money. The old man politely thanked the messenger but turned the offer down.

The villagers were outraged at the old man's foolish decision, the emperor's offer was for more money than any of them had ever seen.

"Such a fool you are!" the villagers screamed. "What a terrible judgement you have made!"

"My decision not to sell the horse is not good and is not bad," the old man calmly replied. "It just is."

A few days later, the old man's beautiful horse ran away and disappeared into the adjoining woodland.

The villagers once again showed up at the old man's door.

"You foolish old man!" they shouted. "You could have sold that horse to the emperor and been a very rich man. But the horse has run away and now you have neither the horse nor the money. That is very bad luck for you!"

"The horse running away is neither bad nor good," the old man quietly replied. "It just is."

A few days later, the horse returned, bringing with him thirty beautiful wild horses dancing and prancing into the old man's corral.

The villagers all rushed to his house and cried, "Old man, you were right! That horse running away wasn't bad luck after all. It was very good luck because look at all the beautiful horses he has brought to you!"

"These horses coming to my house is neither good nor bad," he said, pulling on his long white beard. "It just is."

Weeks passed, and the old mans son began riding the wild horses, only to get bucked off and break his leg so badly that he would never walk properly again.

Once again the villagers were at his door.

"Old man," they shouted, "what bad luck it was to have those wild horses. Your only son has broken his leg and will never again be able to walk properly."

"This is not good or bad," he said, gently smiling. "It just is."

Soon, a war broke out and all the young men from the village were called into service, with the exception of the son of the old man, whose leg had been broken in the fall from the horse.

The villagers once again came to his door.

"Old man," they cried, "you were right. Your son breaking his leg was not bad luck after all. He will still be alive after all our sons have been killed in the terrible war. Indeed, it was very good luck."

"It is not good and it is not bad," the old man said quietly. "It just is."

The old man in the story represents the epitome of being in balance with one's self. No matter what happened, he was not easily moved off his centre line. The villagers, on the other hand, swung form one emotional extreme to the other, never able to grasp the sheer simplicity of the events around them. For them everything was a big deal.

A wise man told me this story and his view on the balance of it...