Coming into right relationship with patience is a challenging road, for me at least. It’s so easy to get drawn to the negative impacts of patience – inaction, having to go slower, doing/achieving less – it is amazing the mind games that go on around patience. Mind games that in many respects are examples of a limited understanding of the true virtues and value embedded in patience.
At its true core, patience has an innate wisdom connected with right timing, steadfastness, right use of the will to know when to go forward and when to apply a seemingly slower pace or approach.
It requires large amounts of self-control, wise application of resources in the right measure through effective discrimination – meaning objective analysis of the situation. The pressures of modern life don’t really respect the power of patience since most things are demanded in the spirit of instant gratification – we want it now!
And yet when we adjust our perspective and take a longer view, get really clear on our intention, that is, the greater good we are seeking to effect, then patience becomes an invaluable and wise asset. It guards us against assessing a situation too hastily. It helps us to evaluate more broadly.
Let us recall the story of the Chinese farmer
The Chinese Farmer Story
Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbours came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The farmer said, “Maybe.”
The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe.”
The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbours then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.”
The next day the conscription officers came around to conscript people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbours came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” Again, he said, “Maybe.”
The nature of the intention we are holding and the context within which it is set it can be impacted by many different variables. Impatience in how we assess a situation or turn of events can mean that we take ourselves away from the core intention by reacting (too quickly) to the event in front of us. The wisdom inherent in patience helps us to survey more widely, be more circumspect and consider more deeply the action needed in any given situation.
In a time when our intentions, our goals, need to be audacious and need all the help they can get, applying the qualities of steadfastness, discernment, right timing and wisdom seems fundamental. These aspects of patience may require us to consciously create them within our own consciousness and behaviours. Not as expressions of apathy but the opposite – holding the line of active tension between action and patience through right perspective.