A man went to an astrologer for a reading. The astrologer told him that he would die 3 days later being hit by a car. The man thought, "If I stay home, then I will not be hit by a car and I will not die."
Three days later, the man stayed inside his house enjoying a well-earned holiday at home. It was a house with a loft overlooking the living room where he watched TV. His five-year old son was playing with a diecast alloy car on the loft. The car flew off the loft, dropped and hit the man's head. He died.
The astrologer was very accurate, right? The story passes out a fatalistic message that no matter what you do, you cannot change your fate.
There is a song in the fifties: Que Sara Sara. This is the first part of the lyric:
When I was just a little girl,
I asked my mother, "What will I be?
Will I be pretty, will I be rich?"
Here's what she said to me:
Que sara sara,
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sara sara,
What will be, will be.
A lot of people misinterpret this song as saying "Whatever will be cannot be change no matter what we do. " Therefore, will a child grow up to be pretty and rich will all be predetermined. There is no need to know our future. Just accept whatever come to us.
In fact, the line "The future's not ours to see" is the essence of this song. It tells us that the future depends on what we do today. Therefore it is not ours to see today. What will be, will be the result of what we do now.
Astrology can be accurate about what comes to us. It cannot be accurate about the outcome because we have a choice what to do and what not to do. This affects the outcome.
JY
13 comments:
Dear Master Yu,
Thank you for your wise words, they are my views exactly.
Best regards,
Teresa
Hi Joseph,
Good examples.
So astrology is not an exact science.
But that is why the accuracy in what we do becomes both an aim and a concern.
The ancient astrologers looked at alternative charts when necessary.
It shows us how they were also concerned with the accuracy of their readings.
Danny
Yes，emphathatic solutions are more important than accuracy itself. ALL horoscopes, predictions, Feng Shui, Bazi, Ziwei, Tarot, etc etc fall in vain when we see Haitians pray, plea and cry for helps in ruins....we don't need profound tecnique or deep analysis now... we NEED love, compassion and most importantly - ACTION.
Dear Joseph,
The singer of this song, Doris Day was playing a mother desperate to find her abducted son.
Only a movie yet a visual interpretation of a good choice and that is to sing. Create a beautiful sound. The only accuracy that is need is that the sound is a reflection of your soul.
Today, mothers in Haiti are heard singing.
May their sound bring them the best humanity has to offer.
A metal tiger is upon us.
Mary
www.marybax.com
The constant clashes between Danny and Joseph and between Danny and myself in the past in forupillars.ning are mostly caused by the clash of different cultures, Devdutt Pattanaik explained it well in TED, although he talked about Indian culture but most of it is also applicable to Chinese culture with Western culture:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/devdutt_pattanaik.html
I am sure Danny won't stop, but at least it will give us an understanding of what is going on when Westerners are learning Chinese Metaphysics.
We need to keep in mind the differences in culture often caused the clashes in opinions and prevents us from moving forward.
Dear Howard,
To me, a discussion is not conflict. Opinions are bound to differ due to diferent cultural backgrounds and the levels of understanding. If through discussion I find that my opinion is wrong due to lack of knowledge, I admit it and thank my guest for pointing it out. I do not ask others to do the same as it needs a lot of courage to do it.
Through discussion I can sharpen my thinking and I an always grateful for the opportunity to present my ideas better.
JY
Hi Joseph, Howard,
To have a discussion does not mean there is a conflict or clash.
To discuss a topic is a way of joint exploration of a topic, it is a type of cooperation.
Each participant brings his arguments on the table and a conclusion or agreement may be reached.
But that's not so important.
Just like every seasoned traveller knows: the journey is more important than the destination.
In a discussion: the flow of arguments is more important than the conclusion (if any).
A discussion naturally continues as long as at least two participants find arguments to bring.
It is up to them to decide when the topic is exhausted.
Joseph goes on starting new topics about accuracy, so it tells us he wants to continue to talk about it.
That has nothing to do with culture clash.
If two people play tennis their game will improve.
If two people argue their thinking will improve.
The funny thing about arguing is that the winner of the argument is always the loser of the argument.
If my arguments are defeated, then I gain the most from the discussion.
***
With regards to culture clash there is one universal principle: the visitor is the one to adapt.
Even I Ching hexagram 56 mentions it.
The host people will have some patience and forgive small mistakes.
But in the longer run it is the visitor who adapts to local customs and agreements.
If I visit China then I also can't expect the people to change for my sake, I will have to be open and flexible and deal with the Chinese ways of doing things.
So "who is the visitor" is always THE question to ask when it comes to culture clash.
In this case it are Joseph and Howard who are Chinese people who camee to the West and teaching and blogging in Western languages.
So they are clearly in the visitor position and the ones who are supposed to adapt to us, not vice versa.
Joseph seems to understand that a lot better than Howard.
In the same way we are also visitors on this blog.
Joseph has always said that argument is welcome on his lists and here, so we go with that if we want to participate here.
Howard was also a visitor on my network, but he didn't seem to realise it.
I communicate to my members what we try to do and what not.
A member (who had bought my four pillars finance program) came in and posted a question about using 4P for stock market.
Howard thought it necessary to take repeated swipes on it, to the extent that this member felt very sad.
Even after I pointed out that 4P for stock market is a very welcome topic, Howard refused to back off.
People have the good right to disagree with my using 4P for investment, but that doesn't mean they can assume the role of moderator of the place.
He forgot that he was in the role of a visitor, and I asked him to make his own conclusions.
That's enough examples.
So , the problem is not in culture clash.
The problem is in Howard thinking that it is his job to protect the purity of Chinese metaphysics.
He is dreaming of setting the standards in our field.
But his lead is not taken and he tries to "clash" with those who don't agree with his vision.
His motivation for arguing is different, and that can be sensed from the way he argues.
That's also why he sometimes forgets he is a visitor when he comes here or on my network.
"What will be, will be!" is a nice song.
But when I am in other people's place, it is more important to remember:
"What is, is!"
And then I can make my own decision: whether to stay or go, whether to particpate or only watch...
Danny
We haven't learnt a thing if we haven't learnt how to be humble, and the first step of humility is to "Listen", and that's indeed a great step into real greatness.
Sometimes we are caught-up in names, forms and labels. In the world of metaphysics, it's important that we can learn to aprreciate other people's point of view; just take what you need (not what you want to hear) and leave the rest. "Agree to disagree" is a good way to open-up ourselves.
There are definitely some "clashes" when two minds argue for an opinion; just that the two sides forget to apprreciate another way of seeing things - that the opposite of one Truth may be another equivalent (if not greater) Truth.
I would like to rephrase my words here:
"Yes，emphathatic togetherness are more important than argument or diagrement itself. ALL exchanges of views, debates, diiscussions etc etc fall in vain when we see people who suffered pray, plea and cry for helps in ruins....we don't need profound logic or deep analysis at ANY POINT OF TIME (especially now...) we NEED love, compassion and most importantly - Mutual Understanding in ACTION."
As student of Metaphysics, we should try our best in avoiding the "disease of strong and biased opinions" - an Open Heart seems to be the only solution.
Everyone needs some paradigm shifts, and we should strive to improve our inner quality and open-heartedness to digest many diiferent views of others - and most importantly, our egoistic cravings that "I'm always right and you are always wrong."
Hi Sherab,
Strong opinions are not a disease, on the contrary they are a sign of health. Strong opinions mean a healthy strong spirit.
In a healthy country there is strong opinions, there is debate and argument...
Haiti doesn't need compassion, it needs intelligence and some real argument about how they run their country.
I am not saying don't send them tents or emergency aid now.
But just look at neighboring Dominican Republic, their economic product per person is $8600, in Haiti it is $790 ($2 dollar per day).
Same island , same people, so why the Haitians are 11 times poorer than their neighbors? That's the question they have to ask themselves.
And when they are a bit richer they would build more accurately and sturdy.
Then a 7.0 earthquake would cause some damage and some casualties, but not 100000.
Compassion will not help, it never has.
The problem with compassion is that soon the population starts depending on that foreign compassion, and instead of doing something about their situation they just wait for the next truck with foreign aid compassion.
The second problem with foreign aid is that it not rarely serves to keep a corrupt government and politicians rich and in power.
Haiti has natural resources, it has good beaches that can attract tourists, and it has a climate that allows for year round crops.
So there is no reason at all why they could not become a prosperous place without our help.
There are plenty of countries that have built up themselves with a far less favorable set of local circumstances.
Our 'compassion' and aid and loans to them has been the problem.
When we will get out of their way?
Danny
Hi Danny,
When you have REAL compassion, you of course can HELP with WISDOM. They said wisdom and compassion are the wings of a bird - who said that you should have one without the other?
I know and can see that you are a advocate of "strong opinion", so in my "soft heart", you are welcome to continue your hardness.:-)
In true dialogue, both sides must be willing to change. If we are interested only in Monologue, why don't just speak to the mirror and enjoy that by all means?
Thank you, and you make this world more multi-dimensional than I think, and I think that's a good thing, why not?
cheers and relax!
Sherab
Hi Sherab,
Strong opinion does not automatically mean hardness.
In fact, your idea that "soft heart" and "compassion" will help poor countries is in itself a very strongly held opinion for many people.
Danny
Hi Danny,
Something that is not hard for you maybe is TOO HARD for someone - if you care enough to think for that someone, e.g feel more instead of just thinking with your brain.
People are right when they think compaasion is imortant, but just like you, they are stucked in the idea that compassion means mere pitiness without wisdom and practical solution. This is their own fault of not having correct view about compassion, not the fault of compassion itself.
This is a interdependent world, everything can't stay by its own; and we need to integrate things rather seperate them piece by piece. there must be something soft in you, that's why you need strong opinions to defend it?
What would happen if we give up beng right, our arguments,our dramas,stories and our control?
Something beyond "strong opinions" and "accuracy" is there waiting for you...
You may not see it or feel it, it doesn't mean that someone doesn't, or you should not learn from someone who does.
Cheers with my very hard-rooted soft-heartedness ^^ (OMG, I start to enjoy complication now)
(We can argue endlessly with concepts and words, since they are dualistic and can be played around, but ultimately what's the essence?)
excuse me what has an earthquake to do with how they run their country. What if an earthquake hit Belgium or Bulgaria with massive loss?
I guess you would say " we dont need help or compassion. We`re self sufficient".
Even in 1755, Portugal was a prosperous country and still needed help. Americans have asked for help when Katrina and 9/11 took place. You live in the mountains and wish to ignore there are more people in the world.
Yes Hitler had strong opinions. He created an healthy society
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