May 30
Gold loses nothing in the fire but its dirt. So the noble person passes through hardship: tested, yet not diminished — what remains is purer than before.
Verses of Vemana (freely rendered)
Listening mode
Gold loses nothing in the fire but its dirt. So the noble person passes through hardship: tested, yet not diminished — what remains is purer than before.
After a hard time you sometimes notice that certain things no longer reach you. Whether a message sounds friendly enough, whether anyone notices your absence at a party, whether you make the best impression in a group. At first this feels like a gain. You have become less sensitive to small things.
But not everything that falls away at such times was superfluous. Perhaps you have planned far ahead less often since then. Perhaps you talk less about yourself, because understanding didn't come as reliably as you had hoped. That, too, can look like clarity. From the inside, composure and caution are hard to tell apart.
It is tempting to write off everything you lost, after the fact, as ballast. Then the hard time would at least have done some good. But that way you deny yourself the chance to miss some things, such as the ease with which you used to say yes.
What has remained, you know fairly precisely. Whether something disappeared because it was worthless, or only because your strength wasn't enough for everything, you may only notice if it comes back one day.
