Nothing is Good or Bad: Parable of the Chinese Farmer
Photo by kelly
My concept of simple living revolves around a rejection of many of the material things that we are offered in our world. This rejection is motivated in part by an examination of the emotional motivation behind every purchase.
Consumerism can often be a self-soothing technique. Anxiety, depression, and a lack of purpose are plagues of modern society. The easiest fix, as we are constantly told by advertising, is to buy something. A more sustainable and holistic approach is to find the root of where those feelings are coming from. At the heart of many emotional crises is a fear of, or struggle to adapt to change.
A lot of people see change as a bad thing or an adversity to overcome. But change is neither benevolent nor malicious, but a simple ever-present truth in our existence. We might be able to avoid the emotional weight and material commiserations if we are able to view what we happens in our lives through a different lens.
There is an ancient parable of the Chinese farmer from the 2nd century B.C. that offers us one way to re-frame our perspective and find emotional equilibrium. It goes:
Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.”
The farmer said, “Maybe.”
The next day the horse came back, bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening, all the neighbors returned and said, “Oh, isn't that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!”
The farmer again said, “Maybe.”
The following day, his son tried to break one of the wild horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. Everyone then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded
“Maybe.”
The next day the conscription officers came around to draft people into the army, and they rejected the farmer’s son because he had a broken leg. Again, all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!”
Again, he said “Maybe.”
-retelling of the parable of the Chinese farmer by Alan Watts in his talk, “Swimming Headless”
What is good to us may be bad to another, and within our own lives, fortune leads to misfortune and vice versa. Human perception is so narrow that it is impossible to predict future consequences of an event in the grand scheme of things.
History can give us some clue of how things will play out in the long run. Restrictive politics leads to progressive overhauls, which leads to pushback of conservative values and so forth. Massive empires rise, then collapse, without fail. Humans degrade their environment and must leave so it restores, so they can return to degrade it again. Our reality is cyclical and never-ending with all seemingly opposites intertwined. Hence the design of the yin-yang symbol.
The Tao te Ching states:
Misfortune is what fortune leans on;
Fortune is where misfortune conceals itself.
(Henry Wei translation)
You may argue, if I think something is bad, I’m allowed to feel my feelings about it. Maybe you feel something that has happened to you is so incredibly bad and no one can empathize. The question then becomes, why do you yearn to think this thing is so bad? It is easy to become attached to suffering because it makes us feel special and deserving. Attachment to suffering becomes a self-sustaining wallowing that is very difficult to escape.
It’s true that the feelings are real, but the thoughts about them and how you handle them are in your control. Rather than cling to our highs and lows, we have the power to change those feelings however we wish, with the goal of granting ourselves emotional equilibrium and a more stable, tranquil existence.
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky.
~thich nhat hanh
The parable of the Chinese farmer also shows us that deciding that something is good or bad attempts to put things into limited time frames. What may seem like a bad thing in the present (losing a job or getting a serious injury) may end up being a net positive after some time (finding a better job, getting a new lease on life). It’s an impossible and futile task, so why not free yourself from the mental clutter?
Seeking the good within the bad has its obvious benefits of curbing anxiety, providing hope, and bringing joy where others may struggle to find it. Looking on the bright side makes life easier, less complicated, and simply more fun.
On the other end, recognizing the bad in the good is a form of negative visualization, a Stoic practice of contemplating the loss of what you have in order to appreciate it. It’s not about fearing this loss, but just mentally preparing for inevitable change. Negative visualization offers increased gratitude, fortitude, and a reduction in future sorrow.
It’s incredibly freeing to become less attached to whatever hardship is happening to you and not see the stakes as so high and so personal. Resisting categorizing events as good or bad and becoming mentally malleable will turn down the volume on your internal emotions and lead to a greater sense of peace, no matter the external circumstances.
This way of thinking celebrates that there is nothing more perfect than the present. Accept what it is now, and don’t let your own judgments get in your way. As Hamlet tells Rosenkranz:
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Daoism encourages us not to try to become something or someone but rather flow through the river of life, letting what will be, be. Recognize your feelings, but see them as something outside of yourself and release them. All you are is simply existing in this moment.
This ties into the Daoist concept of wu wei, which translates to ‘inaction,’ ‘effortless action’ or, as Alan Watts describes it, “non-forcing.” This doesn’t actually mean that you should never do anything in life, but instead, release your ego, your plans, and your preconceptions. By not letting yourself get in your own way, you can actually achieve more.
This goes for being concerned about whether something is good or bad on a personal level because when you’ve released your sense of self, how can you know what will actually benefit or hurt you? Once you recognize that fortune and misfortune contain each other, you can lead life with greater readiness and appreciation, and less fear for whatever may come your way.
To put the concept of wu wei into more modern terms than an ancient farmer, we may turn to Dudeism, a philosophy based on The Dude from The Big Lebowski (arguably a dirtbag in his own right) and inspired by Daoism. The Dudeist website describes the whole thing pretty well:
The Dude Abides
The idea is this: Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it. So don’t do anything about it. Just take it easy, man. Stop worrying so much whether you’ll make it into the finals. Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others – that is to say, abide.
Abide and enjoy a freer life. Being able to let go of what is good and what is bad means dropping notions of about what success means to you versus what it means to wider Western culture, which in turn leads to placing a lower value on material goods.
You will find yourself more comfortable letting go of norms and concern for how others perceive you, as well as being able to lighten your judgment of others...and yourself. Most importantly, rather than trying to stop the force of change as effectively as a pebble in a river, you will learn to let change flow through you and maybe, even, someday enjoy it.
