Aphorisms #2
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“Dig for treasure, end up in a hole.”
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If you dig for buried treasure, you are unlikely to find it, but one outcome is certain, there will be a hole. And holes, from the human perspective, tend to be a negative, particularly if they were not intended. You fall down holes, you get stuck, you then have the challenge of escape.
This aphorism reminds us that the means used, the action that takes place, can have as much consequence as the goal and if the goal is unlikely or impossible then the consequence will be confined to the product of those actions, in this case, digging.
I’ve been thinking about unattainable goals, misplaced commitment, tenacity. This was the subject of the last fable I wrote, ‘The Monkey and the Moon.’ The consequences in that instance were catastrophic, at least as implied by the monkey’s decision to throw itself into the water, to surrender to the moon’s ‘deception,’ assuming the monkey cannot swim. But the pursuit can also have benefits…
Consider the means as a journey. The destination you set may prove unreachable but you may still find yourself in a good place. Your path will lead somewhere. You will meet people, gain experience. That is life.
Forgive the optimistic digression.
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