The Lone Light

The Universe helps those who help themselves

The universe around us is fundamentally neutral. It will crush your vulnerability, if you see it as weakness, and enhance your momentum if you see it as strength. 

In Sanskrit there is a Subhashita (a well-known saying):

वने प्रज्वलितो वह्निर्वायुना सह गच्छति।

स एव दीपन्नाशयति दुर्बले कः सहायवान्॥

This means that ‘When a fire burns brightly in the forest, the wind joins hands with it and helps it expand. But that very same wind extinguishes a small lamp. Indeed, who stands by the weak?’

Left to itself, wind is a force of nature - it is neither wicked nor kind. It simply amplifies what exists. The wind would not think twice to put out a tiny flame, but the same wind fuels a roaring forest fire making it bigger.

In the case of our lives, when the wind blows - in the form of rejection or anything else - our fragile spark can get snuffed out. 

But when we build our momentum, stop playing the victim and understand the shift around us, the same wind - rejection - can turn into partnership, indifference can turn into hype. The very things that you saw as obstacles will end up carrying you much further than ever.

So stop asking the wind to spare your flickering flame. Focus on building a fierce fire - that way the storm has no choice but to make the flame brighter.