Man plans, God laughs
Dec 8th, 2004 by mark
In the book Illusions by Richard Bach, he talks about meeting an advanced soul, and about learning the truth of this lifetime. One of the techniques for discovering truth that he talks about is posing a question in your mind and then opening at random a book or newspaper and reading the first thing that you see aloud. If you are properly focused the text will contain an answer to your question.
At present our life is in an uproar as Michele and I are hoping and praying for a change in our circumstance. We have put into motion several events and are waiting to see if one of the results is the outcome we truly want. We have tried very hard not to plan on any one outcome; (a) so that we can be flexible enough to accept what ever happens, and (2) so that we don’t emotionally invest so much that the loss of the outcome doesn’t destroy us.
With all of this in mind, when I recently stumbled across this Hebrew proverb, Man plans, God laughs, I realized that it was an answer to a question I had been holding in my mind for some time now. The question hasn’t been put into words as much has it has been a context for all that I have been thinking and feeling in the past few weeks. If I were to put it into words I would pose it this way: What actions or inactions should I be taken to get the outcome I truly desire? The answer is: Man plans, God laughs. To me this means that you have to give up the illusion of control and accept what your inner essence leads you toward.
I have to trust that part of me that is the Tao or God. I have to believe that inside of me is a compass that unerringly points in the direction I need to go, and that all I need do is relax enough to see this internal compass and I’ll be okay. I’m not suggesting that I be fatalistic or passive, on the contrary, I am saying I need to be active and participate in my life, but in a way that listens to my inner voice. In a way that honors that part of me that is in touch with the Divine.
