As all stoics and realists know, life is a continuous exercise in facing and managing adversity. For a large number of humans, the caveat about living usually is: solve one issue and manifest a more complex one soon. Understandably, this is how it happens for people who are on the path of accelerated personal growth through self-mastery.
Many brave and aware individuals are endowed with the power to insist that even in the most unfortunate life events, there sometimes is a lesson to be grateful for.
Ancient history from the East has a record of a peculiar tale that illustrates the above.
There was a highly respected and powerful king who had great confidence in his trusted personal advisor, a man of profound wisdom. The advisor had an unsurpassed talent for finding the hidden meaning of life’s events.
One day, a severe flood devastated parts of the kingdom. Months later, the king was still depressed about the losses that his dominion had incurred due to the flood. The monarch called his advisor and requested that he helped him figure out the significance of that unforeseen catastrophe. The advisor said: “There is an upside to all calamities. In the case of this catastrophic flood, indeed, it brought about severe damages to the infrastructure, but the flood water caused the kingdom’s crops to yield three times more rice than anticipated.”
A few weeks later, while on a hunting trip in the company of with his advisor, the king accidentally chopped off one of his fingers. The monarch asked the advisor to interpret the reason of the accidental loss of his finger. The advisor reflected upon the matter and said: “I don’t know yet, but as usually, there must be a hidden benefit to the misfortune.” The king felt so insulted about the interpretation that in a fit of rage, he sent his advisor to prison.
After a couple of months, the sovereign got on his horse and travelled to a foreign land for explorative purposes. On his way there, he mistakenly went way too far into the jungle. Soon, His Majesty entered a forbidden village that was claimed by a tribe of fierce, uncivilized warriors. Those tribal beings were specialists at playing only by their own rules and savagely defending their territory. They also had a custom of practicing human sacrifice to feed their cannibalistic gods.
As soon as the king entered the forbidden tribal village, he was captured by the natives, disrobed, tied with ropes, salted, and peppered. Then three sacrificators tossed him into an oiled cauldron. While the warriors were getting ready to light a fire underneath the cauldron, one of the sacrificators shouted: “We can’t use this man! He’s not suitable as a sacrificial offering to the gods: he is missing a finger!!!”
The next day, still shaken, the king went to the prison to visit his advisor. The monarch told him all about his incredible escape from his existential threat in the jungle. Then, he asked his advisor: “It must have been terribly hard for you to be in prison. I know that you always give a positive slant to adversity. So, what have you learned from your imprisonment?”
The advisor replied: “If, as previously planned, I had gone on that trip with you, then I would have been the one sacrificed to the tribal gods.”
“What appears to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”
~ Oscar Wilde
Those who have enough strength of character to be grateful for the tests and trials of life as well as their good fortune, set higher standards of balanced spiritual growth for themselves and for humanity. It is a yin and yang process.
Sri Regine Lherisson-Bey, Ph.D. and doctorate candidate in Natural Medicine, is a Mind-Body Therapist, Wellness Coach, and published Author voted Wellness Expert by peer consensus in 2005. Therapist Lherisson-Bey is the author of the Kindle bestseller HOW TO DETOXIFY YOUR LIFE NATURALLY as well as the weight management program GET SLIM EFFORTLESSLY. From an original CD, the publication has evolved into an instructional picture book, an eBook, and an effective weight management program. Therapist Lherisson-Bey’s works have been featured on TV, radio, and in several magazines in the past 30 years.
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