With so many people going through incredible change at the moment, such as financial changes, relationships ending, jobs ending, I find myself thinking of a story that Osho shares.
It goes something like this;
There was a man who owned a beautiful horse, many people, including Emperors had offered him large amounts of money to buy this horse, and he always declined.
One morning he awoke to find the horse had been stolen. The town folk came together to console the man saying, “This is terrible. Many people offered you a lot of money and you wouldn’t sell the horse and now it has been stolen and you could have had all that money. You will never see the horse again”.
To which the man replied “Don’t be silly. All we know for now is that the horse is not in the stable. I do not know what the future will bring, lets wait and see what happens”.
Fourteen days later, the horse returned to the man, and had brought along 12 other beautiful horses with it.
Again the town fold gathered, this time to celebrate with the man. “You are very clever, we did not know what would happen. Now the horse has returned and brought you 12 other horses, you will be rich”.
To which the man replied “Let’s not get ahead of the situation. All we know for now is the horse has returned and brought 12 other horses with it”.
The next morning, the man’s son broke his leg whilst breaking in one of the new horses. The town folk came together to console the man. “How terrible. We are so sorry for you. Your son has broken his leg and now he will be a cripple”.
To which the man replied “Don’t jump ahead. Only say this much, my son has broken his leg – that’s all.”
The following day the government came to town and forcibly took all of the healthy young men from their families to fight the war.
The townfolk came together to see the man “You are so very wise. All our sons have been taken to war. The enemy is much stronger and all of our sons will probably be killed. In our old age, we will have nobody to look after us. You still have your son, even though he is crippled, you still have him here.”
But the man said, “Say this much – that your sons have been taken by the government. My son has been left, but there is no conclusion!”
State the fact. The relationship has ended. The job has finished. What comes from that, no one knows… so lets just wait and see what happens.
Don’t see things as a curse or a blessing. Don’t interpret it and suddenly everything is beautiful.
“What seems to us bitter trials is often blessings in disguise” Oscar Wilde
