One of my teachers shares a parable of the Buddha’s, that goes a little something like this:

There are four types of people in the world.

Those who move from darkness to darkness.

Those who move from darkness to brightness.

Those who move from brightness to darkness.

And those that move from brightness to brightness.

Let’s break it down:

1) From darkness to darkness:

Someone is not doing well as far as their life circumstances: as far as family, friends, health, money, work, status… whatever.

But they blame others for their situation, and sow seeds of resentment and bitterness.

They are planting seeds of future darkness, and that will be their harvest.

Avoiding responsibility for their current response to their circumstances, energy leaks away from actual solutions to their problems.

They are moving toward darkness.

2) From darkness to brightness:

Someone is not doing well as far as their life circumstances: as far as family, friends, health, money, work, status… whatever.

But rather than blaming others, they approach their situation with compassion and wisdom.

They muster what compassion they can for themselves and for others.

Rather than blaming others, they take responsibility for their current response to their situation.

They compassionately and sometimes with much effort keep getting back on the horse called “I will do the best I can.”

They are planting seeds of future brightness, and that will be their harvest.

By owning their current response, they are building their internal reserves, they are generating rather than squandering the goodwill of others, and they are more likely to be in a generative place with regard to solutions to their problems.

They are moving toward brightness.

3) From brightness to darkness:

Someone is doing quite well as far as their life circumstances: as far as family, friends, health, money, work, status… whatever.

But they think it makes them better than others.

They put down and criticize others whose life circumstances are not equal to their own.

“The reason I’m so well-off (rich, healthy, famous, etc.) is because I am such a great person (smart, good looking, etc.,) or because God likes me better than them because they are lesser than me.”

They are planting seeds of darkness, and that will be their future harvest.

So rather than generating compassion and goodwill in the world, they are sowing seeds of negativity.

They are moving from brightness to darkness.

4) From brightness to brightness:

Someone is doing quite well as far as their life circumstances: as far as family, friends, health, money, work, status… whatever.

But rather than put themselves above others, or use their situation to pump up their ego, they approach it with wisdom and compassion.

Wisdom: this may or may not last. Either way, I too will some day die. May I live and love fully, however much time I have left.

Compassion: how can I help? How can I make a difference? Somebody is having a hard time or going through a difficult situation: this does not make them a bad person. We are each always doing the best we can with what we know. Perhaps they made a poor choice that will give them an opportunity to learn and grow. Perhaps life threw them a curve-ball as it inevitably does to all of us from time to time. How can I be present, true to myself, and compassionate at the same time?

They are planting seeds of brightness, and that will be their future harvest.

They are moving from brightness to brightness.

The upshot:

We cannot always control the circumstances that surround our lives. Often we can’t.

But what we can control is what seeds we plant.

As you plant, so you will harvest.

If your current life circumstances are in brightness or darkness is actually irrelevant.

Just be mindful of the seeds you are planting, and make sure that you are part of the second group or the fourth group: always moving toward brightness.