(Clearwidom.net) For a quite long time, whenever something happened, I always tried to figure out whether it was the old forces' arrangement or Master's arrangement, as if I had to know whose arrangement it was so I would know how react. Because of this notion, I frequently had a wrong understanding about things and sometimes a wrong understanding about Master, too. Moreover, I was often in the state of weak righteous thoughts. Something happened today that changed my understanding.
Lately I have had a lot of troubles. First I quit my job because I wasn't able to resolve the big conflict in the work environment and failed to pass this test. This worsened the conflicts in my home because it is very difficult to find a new job. I sent out a big pile of resumes but have yet to get a response. The next morning my mom called me and told me that my dad had a lung infection, and then they complained to me because I had not called home for a very long time, which made them very sad. My original plan was that, once I got time, I would go home to clarify the facts to them. But I had not done this yet. Learning about my dad's situation, my first reaction was that the old forces' persecution had probably intensified. I felt very depressed and had no idea how to deal with it. After calming down, I figured that, as long as my family members didn't do anything bad against Dafa, there would still be time to clarify the facts to them. In fact my dad didn't agree with my practicing Falun Gong. Perhaps Master wanted me to clarify the truth to them now? At that time, whenever I ran across something, I always tried to first guess if it was Master's arrangement or the old forces' arrangement. If I couldn't figure it out, I would be slow to react and not be sure how to deal with it.
From this I realized that I had been stuck on this issue for too long. Regardless of whether it's Master's arrangement or the old forces' interference, the key is how to deal with the incident after it happens. Master said,
"so if a Dafa disciple doesn't follow Master's requirements, he must be following the old forces' arrangements." (In the comment "Be Clearheaded")
Therefore if it's Master's arrangement and we can do well, then the result will definitely be the best.
Since the trouble has already manifested, the reason doesn't matter, no matter if it's the old forces' interference or Master using the incident to help me improve. Perhaps I won't ever know the real reason. However, I should choose to do what a Dafa disciple is supposed to do. At the present time, it's most important to clarify the truth to offer salvation to all sentient beings; no matter what happens, we should clarify the truth and save sentient beings. Now that I am at home unemployed and my parents had that phone conversation with me, I should not regard it as a tribulation; I should hurry up and clarify the facts to them.
In fact, many times I have paid too much attention to the cause of an incident (actually it's trying to escape from the trouble), rather than paying attention to how to handle the incident. Master wrote in the ("The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be"):
"life does abound with suffering, however wealthy you may be or however high your status.
"But in reality, what human society takes to be truths are, from the perspective of the cosmos, inversions of truth; when humans go through hardship and suffer it is so that they may pay off karma and thereby have happiness in the future. A cultivator thus needs to cultivate by correct and upright truths. Going through hardship and suffering is an outstanding opportunity to remove karma, be cleansed of sin, purify the body, elevate your plane of thought, and rise in level--it's an extraordinarily good thing. This is a correct and upright Fa-truth."
It's certain that we will run across issues and difficulties. The key is how are we going to deal with them. With this incident I have a little more experience now, and I hope it is worth sharing with fellow practitioners.
