I will now tell you one little story about life and the related risks
based on my own outlook on life. There was once a great monk who was a very accomplished philosopher. He had a very intelligent student who had been learning from him for years. The student was getting impatient to see the world and ask the wise monk to release him from his seclusion. The monk agreed but only on one condition. The student was required to undergo a test to prove that he was mature enough and had sufficient wisdom to conduct his own life outside the monastry. The wise monk pointed to a field full of ripened corn with golden stalks of grain of various sizes and height. He told the student to walk through the field without turning back and to take the tallest stalk of corn he can find and to give it to the master as a parting gift. The student thought privately that the test was a piece of cake. As he walked slowly and attentively through the waving sea of corn he caught sight of one tall stalk of corn a few feet in front of him. As he lowered himself towards that particular stalk, his line of vision from a lower angle led him to the impression that another stalk situated at some distant further forward appeared to be taller. So, he abandoned the original choice and moved forward. Again, the same thing happened. The student was thinking that his master might have played a trick on him by deliberately planting the tallest stalk at the far edge of the field to test his patience and power of observation. Finally, when the student reached the last stalk at very edge of the field he still found that the last one is shorter, on hindsight, than some of the previous ones he had given up. But he was not allowed to go back in the opposite direction where he originally came. His indecision had left him empty handed and he failed the test. The wise monk finally revealed the lesson to the student. Life is full of risks and choices. Regardless of the risks in life, choices have to be made time and again. The fear to take risks will result in no choice being made and consequently no living in the true sense. Life is similar to a financial investment in this respect. Risk and return is directly proportional. Some risks have to be taken in order to get a corresponding return that reflects on the degree of risks taken. Of course, common sense must prevail. There are risk takers and conservatives in the financial market just the same as it is in life. The bottom line is that some risks must be taken or there can be no living in the true sense. Lock yourself in a bank vault and you will be 99.99% out of life's normal risks but you will also have to give up the same amount in your quality of life. The ideal approach is, of course, to take reasonable risks in return for a reasonably happy life. I hold the same philosophical outlook on life.
based on my own outlook on life. There was once a great monk who was a very accomplished philosopher. He had a very intelligent student who had been learning from him for years. The student was getting impatient to see the world and ask the wise monk to release him from his seclusion. The monk agreed but only on one condition. The student was required to undergo a test to prove that he was mature enough and had sufficient wisdom to conduct his own life outside the monastry. The wise monk pointed to a field full of ripened corn with golden stalks of grain of various sizes and height. He told the student to walk through the field without turning back and to take the tallest stalk of corn he can find and to give it to the master as a parting gift. The student thought privately that the test was a piece of cake. As he walked slowly and attentively through the waving sea of corn he caught sight of one tall stalk of corn a few feet in front of him. As he lowered himself towards that particular stalk, his line of vision from a lower angle led him to the impression that another stalk situated at some distant further forward appeared to be taller. So, he abandoned the original choice and moved forward. Again, the same thing happened. The student was thinking that his master might have played a trick on him by deliberately planting the tallest stalk at the far edge of the field to test his patience and power of observation. Finally, when the student reached the last stalk at very edge of the field he still found that the last one is shorter, on hindsight, than some of the previous ones he had given up. But he was not allowed to go back in the opposite direction where he originally came. His indecision had left him empty handed and he failed the test. The wise monk finally revealed the lesson to the student. Life is full of risks and choices. Regardless of the risks in life, choices have to be made time and again. The fear to take risks will result in no choice being made and consequently no living in the true sense. Life is similar to a financial investment in this respect. Risk and return is directly proportional. Some risks have to be taken in order to get a corresponding return that reflects on the degree of risks taken. Of course, common sense must prevail. There are risk takers and conservatives in the financial market just the same as it is in life. The bottom line is that some risks must be taken or there can be no living in the true sense. Lock yourself in a bank vault and you will be 99.99% out of life's normal risks but you will also have to give up the same amount in your quality of life. The ideal approach is, of course, to take reasonable risks in return for a reasonably happy life. I hold the same philosophical outlook on life.
