The following Taoist parable is copied from Julie Anne Long's essay on the publishing journey in RWR Dec. 2008. It caught my eye and I pondered on it a good long while. It is where you are now and it is where you think you are and it is where you are going.
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There was once a poor farmer who could afford to own just one horse. He took very good care of it, but one night it broke through a weak fence and ran away. The farmer's neighbors offered sympathy when they learned what had happened.
"What bad luck!" they exclaimed.
The farmer replied, "Maybe. Maybe not."
A week later, the farmer's horse returned, bringing with it three wild horses, and the farmer and his son managed to corral all of them.
"What great luck!" their neighbors enthused.
"Maybe," the farmer replied. "Maybe not."
The farmer's son set to work taming the wild horses, but while attempting to ride one of them, he was thrown to the ground and his leg was badly broken.
"What terrible luck!" the neigbors said this time.
The farmer replied, "Maybe. Maybe not."
The next day, soldiers visited the farmer's village to draft all the local young men into the army of a warlord. Because of his broken leg, the farmer's son was the only young man not taken. The neighbors descended on the farmer again.
"What wonderful luck!" they exclaimed.
"Maybe," the farmer said. "Maybe not."
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You think there's nothing you can do. You think this is all you can do. You think everything is floating away. You thing it's mostly your luck. You think your only horse is gone so you're now having to plow all by yourself. Again.
Maybe. Maybe not.
