Monday, August 26, 2024
Be wary of how your mind draws conclusions. Feelings and thoughts feel like irrefutable facts, when indeed, they are inconclusive and temporary. Those seemingly “final” decisions, those hard and fast beliefs, or those statements of “fact” can be deceiving.
In a small Japanese village, a 17 year-old girl became pregnant. When she told her parents, they demanded to know who the father was. She confessed it was the local zen master. They approached the zen master and accused him of taking advantage of their daughter, and he replied, “Is that so?” His reputation had become besmirched by the news.
After the baby was born, they brought the child to the zen master telling him that it was his baby and that he had to raise it. He replied, “Is that so?” The zen master then took the child in and cared for it. A year later, the young girl was so distraught, she confessed that the zen master was not the father and that she had lied. The parents went back to the zen master, apologizing saying that it was a mistake and he needed to return the child to them at once. The zen master responded, “Is that so?” And he handed over the child.
Examine what feels true, then ask yourself, “Is that so?” “You’re never going to amount to anything.” “You always make me uncomfortable.” “Nothing ever works out for me.” “This is a dead end.” “He is the love of my life.” “I’m so lucky.” “Losing weight is hard.” “This election cycle will end us all.” “I could never do that.” “I’m so fat.” “Nobody listens to me.” “I’ve got to get this finished on time.” “Once a cheat always a cheat.” “I’ll never find love again.” “If I lose my job, I’ll lose everything.”
Is any of this so? No-one gets the last word….is that so?