Effort argues with Destiny
ONE DAY EFFORT SAID to Destiny, “My achievements are greater than yours.”
Destiny did not agree. He challenged Effort immediately: “What have you done to make your achievements surpass mine?”
Effort said, “Whether someone lives long or dies young, is rich or poor, will succeed or fail depends on me.”
Destiny said at once, “Old P’eng’s intelligence did not match that of the emperors Yao and Shun, but he lived a long and healthy life. On the other hand, Yen-hui, Confucius’s best student, died when he was eighteen. Confucius’s virtue far surpassed that of the feudal lords, but compared with them he was destitute.
The emperor Shang-t’sou was cruel and immoral but lived a prosperous and long life. On the other hand, his ministers who were virtuous met with violent deaths.
There was a man who sacrificed his own fortune to allow his brother a chance to be employed by the lord of Cheng. He remained poor and unknown for the rest of his life. Then there was another man who had neither virtue nor ability who became the lord of Ch’i.
How about Po-yi and Shu-ch’i who starved to death in the mountains because they would not compromise their integrity and honor to serve an enemy lord? What can you say about corrupt officials who are rich, or honest, hard-working people who are poor?”
Effort had not expected this barrage of evidence against his assertion. He frowned, but Destiny continued, “If you are as effective as you say, then why don’t you make the hard-working people rich?
Why don’t you give virtuous people a long and prosperous life? Why are the intelligent and able people not employed, and why do stupid people occupy important places in government?”
Effort had no more to say in the face of these challenges, so sheepishly he said to Destiny, “You are right.
I do not have much effect after all. But I daresay a lot of things happen the way they do because you’ve been up to mischief, twisting people’s destiny around and enjoying it!”
Destiny then said, “I cannot force the directions of things. I merely open doors for them to go through. If something is going straight, I let it follow the straight path; if something takes a turn, I do not hinder it. No one, not you or I, can direct the path of things. Long life or short, rich or poor, success or failure, fortune or misfortune, all come about by themselves. How can I direct events or even know where things will end up?”
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The farmer is dependent on the mercy of weather, the merchant on the economy, the artisan on timely application of skills, and the politician on public opinion.
In agriculture there are seasons of plenty and seasons of drought. In business and commerce there are boom times and recessions. Success in design and manufacturing depends on demand in the market.
Popularity of government depends on political preference. There is no profession that guarantees success. Success and failure depend on timelines, which we can neither control nor predict.
This is what Lieh-tzu means by destiny. Timeliness can make or break a career.
A talented person may never realize his or her potential without the proper opportunities. On the other hand, someone with average abilities may rise to great fame and fortune if the times are right. Therefore, fortune and misfortune depend on destiny.
Whether someone is fortunate or unfortunate also depends on when the situation is evaluated.
Thus, something that may appear unfortunate now may actually be beneficial in the long run, and vice versa. Since we don’t know how long “the long run” is, it is impossible to tell whether something is fortunate or unfortunate.
Moreover, whether something is considered good fortune or misfortune will depend on a person’soutlook.
Typically, people who are less attached to external circumstances will be less eager to label something as fortune or misfortune.
Our empathy toward another person’s misfortune is based on the assumption that if the same circumstances were to happen to us, we would feel bad and want to be pitied.
Therefore, empathy may be based on self-pity rather than compassion toward others.
Given all this, Lieh-tzu asks, why must we be so attached to success and failure, fortune and misfortune?
Why spend so much effort pursuing what we consider at present to be success or fortune?
What may be beneficial now may be harmful later. And if it turns out to be harmful, who can say it may not be beneficial in the future?
Topic: Fortune and Misfortune .. (Read 3057 times)