Farmer

Original Art Work by Adam Mennella @adam_mennella

The Farmer AKA Maybe

A Zen Parable

A farmer’s horse ran away. The neighbors came to say, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. What bad luck.” The farmer said, “Maybe.”

The next day the horse came back bringing ten wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eleven horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe.”

The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.”

The next day, military officers came around to enlist men into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great, what luck!” Again, he said, “Maybe.”

The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad. We never know what will be the consequence of a misfortune; or, what the consequences of a good fortune will be.