Learning from the example of calmness under fire 

One of the theories on the meaning of life I relate to, is that expressed by the late Scott Peck, author of bestselling The Road Less Travelled. He suggests our time on earth is like a schoolroom within a box in space and time. And that one day we will return from whence we came, richer for the experience.

Dr Peck's theory is that once we absorb the fact that life is difficult, the paradox is it actually becomes easier. Because we start seeing this series of escalating challenges as learning experiences. Our growth, he theorises, only ends when we stop accepting them because the process has become too painful.

I was reminded of Scott Peck's thesis during discussions yesterday with an old friend who has been through a particularly difficult few years. He has overcome obstacles most of us wouldn't wish on our worst enemy. Yet his cosmic reward has been to be thrown surely his greatest challenge yet.

The way my friend is approaching all this is inspiring. He has mentally regrouped and kept his own counsel. Instead of lashing out at persecutors, he relies on meditation to remain centred, knowing that all good comes from calm. Not agitation. Were he still around, Scott Peck himself would surely applaud. We can learn much from watching calmness under fire.

From Biznews community member Herman Griessel

Morning Alec…

I fully agree, this time zone we find ourselves in, I've always thought of as a training zone, a time of preparation.. which requires much refining … hence we should be glad when faced with many trials, for it hones and refines us … burns away the dross ..

Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head. William Shakespeare
Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 – 1616)

Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.
William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part III, Act III, sc. 1
Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 – 1616)

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln
16th president of US (1809 – 1865)

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
Anne Bradstreet, 'Meditations Divine and Moral

He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.
Ben Jonson
English dramatist & poet (1572 – 1637)

He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatness of the soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported without the latter.
Henry Fielding (1707 – 1754)

You will never truly know yourself or the strength of your relationships until both have been tested by adversity.
J. K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Address, 2008