We watched the movie Ripple Effect recently. It’s a story about one man’s perceived karmic debt to another and their mutual attempts to work through an event that changed both of their lives 15 years prior to when the movie begins.
The truth? It’s not my favorite movie of all time, but it held my interest–probably mostly due to its unpredictability. It was an interesting reminder of our interconnectedness and the nature of duality.
Forrest Whittaker’s character recalls a Buddhist story about the only man in a village who did not have a horse:
People would say “You are so unlucky, you have no horse”. The man would say “Wait and see”.
Then one day the man caught a wild horse and his neighbors said “Now you have a horse. You are so lucky”. The man said “Wait and see”.
The next day the man’s son fell off the horse and was paralyzed. The villagers gathered around him and said “Friend, you are so unlucky. Your son is paralyzed”. The man said “Wait and see”.
Soon thereafter a war with a neighboring state broke out. All the young men in the village went off to war except the paralyzed son –and were all killed. “You are so lucky. Because your son was paralyzed he is the only one alive in the village.” The man said “Wait and see”.
Before getting too excited that is was a “good” day or “bad” day, I need to remember that I have the power to transform my perception of the day’s events and reinterpret it accordingly.
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