Maybe

Reflecting on the significant number of uncontrollable events affecting everyday life, from traffic congestions to macroeconomic downturns, I encountered a story, the Taoist farmer story, that dealt with that topic.

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbours came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbours exclaimed.

“Maybe,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbours again came to offer their sympathy for what they called his “misfortune.”

“Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbours congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

“Maybe,” said the farmer.

The immediate teaching of the story is that events are per se neutral, and the meaning we assign to them is subjective. Every situation can be valued positively or negatively; it all comes down to the benchmark considered. I personally think the approach taken by the farmer is unfeasible and not human. In fact, humans tend to assign a positive or negative meaning automatically: difficult to remain neutral in front of a broken leg🏥.

What is interesting is that, being events neutral in theory, believing that everything happening to us outside our control is positive makes us happier than holding our judgment or judging negatively. In this way, we can always feel lucky and better seize the opportunities arising from any event. Still, it is important to remember that this is a process made consciously and on purpose. Our world is certainly not the best possible one, as the story of Candide, ou l’Optimisme explains masterfully.

There is also an aspect of self-fulfilling prophecy while dealing with assigning a meaning to past events. This is why, even in clearly negative situations, it is rationally convenient to think of them as the best possible ones, because it increases the probability of actually turning something good out of them.

Next time you (and me) want to swear or curse🤬, just do it intensively for two minutes, then try to think of how you can turn the situation in your favour.

Luca Bisi