From time to time, I come across something that impacts my perspective and worldview so profoundly that I feel compelled to share it with others.

It’s often something simple—a speech, story, or framework that causes me to pause and rethink the questions I’ve been asking and the way I’ve been living.

In particular, I have found great power in classic parables. A parable is broadly defined as a succinct story that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. My view is that these parables have a sort of “Lindy effect” signaling, whereby their survival and re-telling across the generations is a signal of their usefulness and value. There are several that have become regular parts of my re-reading cycle whenever I need to refresh myself on their lessons.

I recently came across a beautiful, short parable that had this effect. In today’s piece, I’d like to share that story with you, as well as the two powerful lessons that I wrote down in my notebook to memorialize it.

The Farmer & the Horse

There was a farmer in a small village with a single horse who helped him earn a living for his family. The other villagers constantly told the farmer how lucky he was to have such a great horse.

”Maybe,” he would reply.

One day, the horse ran away. The villagers came to the farmer to express their sympathies.

”Your horse ran away. How unfortunate!“ the villagers exclaimed.

”Maybe,” the farmer replied.

A few days later, the horse returned home, with ten strong wild horses in tow.

”What good fortune. What incredible luck,” the villagers crowed.

”Maybe,” the farmer again replied.

The following week, the farmer’s son was riding one of the wild horses in the fields, when it kicked him off and broke his leg.

The villagers arrived to express their dismay.

”What dismal luck,” they said.

”Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next month, a military officer marched into the village, recruiting able-bodied young men for the war. The farmer’s son, with his broken leg, was left behind.

The villagers were joyful, “Your son has been spared. What beautiful luck!”

The farmer simply smiled.

”Maybe.”

The 2 Lessons to Remember

The Cyclicality of Life

In Ancient Indian traditions, there is a belief in a concept called the Wheel of Time (or “kalachakra”).

The idea is that time goes through a natural three-part cycle:

• Creation
• Destruction
• Rebirth

Every period of creation is followed by a period of destruction. Every period of destruction is followed by a rebirth and period of creation.

This has always resonated with me. I believe our lives follow a similar natural cycle from creation (growth) to destruction (struggle) to rebirth (new beginnings).

The wisdom is found in:

• Embracing the periods of creation but knowing that they won’t last forever (a core insight of the Surfer Mentality).
• Outlasting the darkness of the periods of destruction and knowing that destruction is a precursor to rebirth.

The Parable of the Farmer and the Horse brings this to life:

The seeds of destruction are sown during creation, and the seeds of creation are sown during destruction. The farmer’s good fortune is rooted in his bad fortune and his bad fortune is rooted in his good fortune.

Life is cyclical!

Good is born from the bad and bad is born from the good.

Lesson: When times are nice and sweet, enjoy them, but know that darker times will come. And when times are stormy and dark, adjust your eyes to the dark, and remember that the seeds of light are already being planted.

Dispel the Narratives

Humans are storytelling creatures. Our stories allowed our cultures to develop and thrive and for knowledge to be disseminated across generations. We have a deep, natural desire to apply a story to help explain the unexplainable.

This parable only reached us because of our storytelling tendencies—but it also teaches us the dangers of such storytelling.

We need to learn to separate the story from the reality. To separate the narrative from the facts.

The villagers attempt to place judgement on each reality—whether something is “good” or “bad”—by applying a story.

The farmer separates story from reality. He allows the space for the events to just exist, to be neither good nor bad—to just be.

This is mindfulness:

To separate story from reality, to allow events to simply flow with us (and past us) as they are, not as we want them to be.

Lesson: The events of your life needn't be judged. It's impossible to know whether such judgements will prove accurate with the benefit of hindsight, so the wisest among us allow events to exist without applying a narrative layer.

Cultivating Your ”Maybe” Mindset

The Paradox of Change says that the only constant in life is change. Entropy is reality. The world is in a continuous state of change. It’s the one thing you can always count on—the only constant.

The Parable of the Farmer and the Horse teaches us to embrace chaos, to be dynamic, to flow with it, and to avoid judging it.

As you go through life in the coming days, weeks, and months, I would encourage you to recall these powerful lessons:

1. Life is Cyclical: The seeds of destruction are sown during creation. The seeds of creation are sown during destruction. Enjoy the sweetness, knowing that darker times will come, and outlast the darkness, remembering that the light is already growing.
2. Dispel the Narratives: Separate story from reality. Allow events to simply flow with and past you as they are, not as you want them to be.

I hope this story impacts your life as deeply as it has impacted mine.

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