"Maybe good, maybe bad, who knows?"

A Taoist Parable of a Farmer

“The Taoist prefers to look at life events without judgment or interpretation. According to Taoism, the true significance of events can never be understood as they are occurring for in every event there are elements of both good and bad. Furthermore, each event has no specific beginning or end and may influence future events for years or even centuries to come. An excellent example of the Taoist view of life is found in the parable of the Taoist Farmer.

“There once was a Taoist Farmer. One day the Taoist farmer's only horse broke out of the corral and ran away. The farmer's neighbors all hearing of the horse running away, came to the Taoist Farmer's house to view the corral. As they stood there, the neighbors all said "Oh what bad luck!" The Taoist farmer replied 'maybe.'

“About a week later, the horse returned bringing with it a whole herd of wild horses which the Taoist Farmer and his son quickly corralled. The neighbors hearing of the corralling of the horses came to see for themselves. As they stood there looking at the corral filled with horses, the neighbors said "Oh what good luck!" The Taoist farmer replied 'maybe.'

“A couple of weeks later, the Taoist farmer's son's leg was badly broken when he was thrown from a horse he was trying to break. A few days later the broken leg became infected and the son became delirious with fever. The neighbors all hearing of the incident, came to see the son. As they stood there, the neighbors said "oh what bad luck." The Taoist farmer replied 'maybe.'

“At that same time in China, there was a war going on between two rival Warlords. The Warlord of the Taoist farmer's village was involved in this war. In need of more soldiers, he sent one of his captains to the village to conscript young men to fight in the war. When the captain came to take the Taoist Farmer's son he found a young man with a broken leg who was delirious with fever. Knowing there was no way the son could fight, the captain left him there. A few days later, the son's fever broke. The neighbors hearing of the son's not being taken to fight in the war and of his return to good health all came to see him. As they stood there, each one stated "oh what good luck!" The Taoist farmer replied 'maybe.'
Then he revealed the secret of his wisdom. "It is not for us to know what is good or bad. It is only for us to be fully engaged in the adventure of living, for how can we know what event is ultimately good or bad? That is the future and we can only know the now which is never good or bad, only part of the adventure. Who knows?"

Source: the internet.

I think I may have first heard this from a Buddhist monk or nun, but I managed to find a copy of it on the internet.

The moral of this story is, (in my opinion)
Do NOT (in your Arrogance), JUDGE a situation or event as being either 'GOOD' or 'BAD'
Because YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT YOU DON"T KNOW!!!
You are NOT all seeing or all knowing!

TRUST that your Higher Power knows what's best for you,
even if it makes NO sense at all to you at the time.

This is essentially a story about Arrogance,
and us thinking we know 'how the world should be'
or 'what is best for us'.
When you stop being Arrogant about what Gods will is for you,
you are able to accept the things that show up in your life
without 'having an opinion'
or putting a 'good' or 'bad' mental sticker on the event.

Our rock bottom is the BEST example of a seemingly tragic event,
which can transform us in utterly magical ways,
and fill our lives with grace and beauty.