As a child, we are working very hard to prepare for the day when we finally go to school thinking that when we finally go to school, we’ll start living. As soon as we hit primary school, we get entangled in all the work and start preparing for high school, when we get into high school, we’ll start living. Finally you get into high school and before you know it, you start preparing for when you finally get out of high school postponing life once again to prepare for life.
Eventually you finish high school and start with college or varsity where you once again postpone life to prepare for life. You finish college or varsity and start working, pretty soon you’ll get entangled in the work life again and forget to live, again preparing for the day when you retire.
Retire, to do what? To prepare for death?
The Tibetan monks have a very simple, yet profound way of thinking about life, if the path you’re walking doesn’t lead to the goal you’re aiming for, then it’s most likely the wrong path. If your goal in life is to be happy, then you should be happy right now, planning to be happy tomorrow while doing something that doesn’t make you happy will not lead to happiness tomorrow. Having a goal to live a peaceful, stress free life of relaxation, you’ll need to live that kind of lifestyle right now to achieve that kind of lifestyle in the future, preparing to relax is not the way to do it. If you keep on preparing to relax, eventually the Grim Reaper will come along and force you to relax.
The businessman and the fisherman story is a prime example of this scenario …
A few years ago, a very rich businessman decides to take a vacation to a small tropical island in the South Pacific. He has worked hard all his life and has decided that now is the time to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He is excited about visiting the island because he’s heard that there is incredible fishing there. He loved fishing as a young boy, but hasn’t gone in years because he has been so busy working to save for his retirement.
So on the first day, he has his breakfast and heads to the beach. It’s around 9:30 am. There he spots a fisherman coming in with a large bucket full of fish!
“How long did you fish for?” he asks. The fisherman looks at the businessman with a wide grin across his face and explains that the fishes for about three hours every day. The businessman then asks him why he returned so quickly.
“Don’t worry”, says the fisherman, “There’s still plenty of fish out there.”
Dumbfounded, the businessman asks the fisherman why he didn’t continue catching more fish. The fisherman patiently explains that what he caught is all he needs. “I’ll spend the rest of the day playing with my family, talking with my friends and maybe drinking a little wine. After that I’ll relax on the beach.”
Now the rich businessman figures he needs to teach this peasant fisherman a thing or two. So he explains to him that he should stay out all day and catch more fish. Then he could save up the extra money he makes and buy an even bigger boat to catch even more fish. Then he could keep reinvesting his profits in even more boats and hire many other fisherman to work for him. If he works really hard, in 20 or 30 years he’ll be a very rich man indeed.
The businessman feels pleased that he’s helped teach this simple fellow how to become rich. Then the fisherman looks at the businessman with a puzzled look on his face and asks what he’ll do after he becomes very rich.
The businessman responds quickly “You can spend time with your family, talk with your friends, and maybe drink a little wine. Or you could just relax on the beach.”