Accepting Reality…Maybe
Over the last months, three different versions of the same story showed up in my world before I finally paid attention. When I am dense or merely inattentive the Maestro has to point at me more than once before I take my cue. I first ran across the story in Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth. A friend who had not read Tolle’s story told me a second version. A few weeks later I heard a third version, told by Phillip, a wheelchair bound character played by Forest Whitaker in the film Ripple Effect. OK, then I was listening. The versions are different but the message is the same.
The Story
Here is a synopsis of Tolle’s version of the story:
A wise man won a car in a raffle. His friends said, “Isn’t that great.” He replied, “Maybe.” A few weeks later the car was wrecked in an accident and he was hospitalized with multiple injuries. His friends said, “That was really unfortunate.” He replied, “Maybe.” While he was in the hospital a landslide took his house into the sea. His friends said, “You were lucky to be in the hospital and not the house.” Again he said, “Maybe.”
Tolle then wrote:
The wise man’s “maybe” signifies a refusal to judge anything that happens. Instead of judging what is, he accepts it and so enters into conscious alignment with the higher order. He knows that often it is impossible for the mind to understand what place or purpose a seemingly random event has in the tapestry of the whole.
Light Not Always On
I do know, intellectually at least, that I often cannot understand the place or purpose of events in my life. But my acceptance light is not on all of the time. I must remember to throw the controlling switch, even though I can point to many events in my life that seemed to be appalling but turned out well, and many that seemed superb and turned out to be miserable. So Tolle’s wise man appears supernatural to me; his level of acceptance and refusal to judge seem just out of reach.
Phillip’s telling of the story is the more dramatic because he is living it as well as telling it and because Whitaker fits the role. Phillip is wheelchair bound because he was run down by a hit-and-run driver. He is at peace because he knows that his life, and the lives of others, would have taken disastrous turns if he had escaped the accident. In my current state, if I were Phillip, I’d have to be throwing the acceptance switch every thirty seconds or so.
Reminder To Self:
At least you know where the switch is and can sense when it needs to be turned on. Be grateful for that.
Tags: A New Earth, Acceptance, Forest Whitaker, judgmental, Ripple Effect, Tolle
Not knowing the other stories very well, here’s another.
Thanks Dan. That version sounds very much like the the one in Ripple Effect, except that I don’t recall Phillip telling it as a Taoist story. I do like that the story is in the atmosphere! Now, if we can embed it into consciousness…wouldn’t THAT be something!