A few days afterwards, his horse returned with a number of wild horses, and his neighbors came again to congratulate him on this stroke of fortune. The old man replied, "How do you know this is good luck?" With so many horses around, his son began to take to riding, and one day he broke his leg.
Again the neighbors came around to express sympathy, and the old man replied, "How do you know this is bad luck?" The next year there was a war, and because the old man's son was crippled, he did not have to go to the front.
Source : Lie Zi (Chinese Taoist philosopher)
Thou hast made us for Yourself
and our souls are restless
until we find our rest in Thee.
~St. Augustine~
O Lord, all the things in heaven and on earth are Thine. I desire to offer myself to Thee willingly and freely To be Thine forever. In the simplicity of my heart, I offer myself to Thee this day.
~The Immitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis"~
Dear Lord, I abandon myself to you.
I have tried in every way I could think of to manage myself,
to make myself what I thought to be But have failed.
Now I give it up to You.
I give you permission
to take entire possession of me.
~Hannah Whitehall Smith~
Faith is not so much believing this thing or that
about God as it is hearing the voice that says,
"Come unto Me." And yet we go.
Faith is standing in the darkness and a hand is there
and we take it.
~Fredrich Buechner~
Everything will turn out right if you have faith.
~Marge Simpson~
The old man's stoic attitude towards his life may look fatalistic. But I say otherwise. It is the mark of a religious person. Someone who does not judge but lets things be. Someone who is not driven to exercise control over others to get what he wants. Someone who has surrendered his fate to a higher Being. Someone who has made a leap of faith, trusting in a God that will provide him the security that he needs.
Yet, this dramatic leap of faith does not come easy.
Unconsciously, we adopt controlling patterns early on in our life as a coping mechanism. This may arise because of a low self esteem due to a lack of attention, or a craving for power and freedom, or a search for meaning. An internal struggle ensues. Then we adopt a behavior to cover up our insecurities. Like a domineering personality. Or being abusive. Or becoming a compulsive liar to get our way through.
The constructed personality may bring about the immediate results we wanted. But it will not last. Our relationship may end up disastrously if we are not honest with our feelings. Or our career may flounder if we cheat our way through. It does not guarantee an internal peace. Our spirit will remain restless.
The turning point comes, as Miller says, when our restlessness leads to an inner struggle or a personal crisis of the will. He suggests that "we're asked to make a gigantic psychological leap: to acknowledge frankly our sense of unrealness or even worthlessness, and powerlessness." The only choice left is to surrender ourselves to a higher being, or to God. "There is evidently no substitute for this surrender of the constructed personality and its goals to free the soul," he adds.
Testimonials gathered by Miller from those who have made this leap of faith include affirmations of having received a great release from guilt, a sense of forgiveness and a new relatedness to God and people. Others report gaining a personal revelation to the meaning of life. Still others say they gained personal courage to be who they need to be in a difficult relationship or job.
Finally, Miller says that this surrender is "about being accepted as one is and having the door opened to a new perception of what is real and true. The individual has a new whole sense of relatedness with God and life in which he or she is not responsible for huge accomplishments or perfect performance in order to be enough".
After all, isn't this attitude what the old man at the fort has adopted all along in the beginning story?
And isn't this act of faith in a supreme being a liberating experience?
Cheers.
Tsinoy