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 | | From: | JPF | | Subject: | Judgment and Wisdom | | Date: | Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:33:46 GMT |
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 | There was an old man in a village, very poor, but even kings were jealous of
him because he had a beautiful white horse. Kings offered fabulous prizes
for the horse, but the man would say, "This horse is not a horse to me, he
is a person. And how can you sell a person, a friend?" The man was poor, but
he never sold the horse.
One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. The whole village
gathered and said, "You foolish old man! We knew that someday the horse
would be stolen. It would have been better to sell it. What a misfortune!"
The old man said, "Don't go so far as to say that. Simply say that the horse
is not in the stable. This is the fact; everything else is judgment. Whether
it is a misfortune or a blessing I don't know, because this is just a
fragment. Who knows what is going to follow it?"
People laughed at the old man. They had always known he was a little crazy.
But after fifteen days, suddenly one night the horse returned. He had not
been stolen, he had escaped into the wild. And not only had he return, he
brought a dozen wild horses with him.
Again the people gathered and they said, "Old man, you were right. This was
not a misfortune, it has indeed proved to be a blessing."
The old man said, "Again you are going too far. Just say that the horse is
back... who knows whether it is a blessing or not?" It is only a fragment.
You read a single word in a sentence - how can you judge the whole book?"
This time the people could not say much, but inside they knew that he was
wrong. Twelve beautiful horses had come.
The old man had an only son who started to train the horses. Just a week
later he fell from a horse and his legs were broken. The people gathered
again, and again they judged. They said, "Again you proved right! It was a
misfortune. Your only son has lost the use of his legs, and in your old age
he was your only support. Now you are poorer than ever."
The old man said, "You are obsessed with judgment. Don't go that far. Say
only that my son had broken his legs. Life comes in fragments and more is
never given to you."
It happened that after a few weeks the country went to war, and all the
young men of the town were forcibly taken for the military. Only the old
man's son was left because he was crippled. The whole town was crying and
weeping, because it was a losing fight and they knew that most of the young
people would never come back. They came to the old man and they said, " You
were right, old man - this has proved a blessing. Maybe your son is
crippled, but he is still with you. Our sons are gone forever."
The old man said again, "You go on and on judging. Nobody knows! Only say
this, that your sons have been forced to enter the army and my son has not
been forced. But only God, who sees the total picture, knows whether it is a
blessing or a misfortune."
Judge not, otherwise you will never become one with the total. With
fragments you will be obsessed, with small things you will jump to
conclusions. Once you judge you have stopped growing. Judgment means a stale
state of mind. And the mind always wants judgment, because to be in a
process is always hazardous and uncomfortable.
In fact, the journey never ends. One path ends, another begins: one door
closes, another opens. You reach a peak; a higher peak is always there. God
is an endless journey. Only those who are so courageous that they don't
bother about the goal, but are content with the journey, can be content to
just live in the moment and grow into it; only those are able to walk in the
total.
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