One pen that changes your life
How Your world is coming from how you treat others before
If something truly works, it should work all the time
We all have similar experiences where things work sometimes but not other times. After I take an aspirin, my migraine goes away sometimes, but other times it doesn't. Two people can make the same stock investment and sell it based on the same signal, yet only one makes a profit while the other doesn't.
If something truly works, it should work all the time—but we often forget this simple principle.
There's a new concept from ancient wisdom called Emptiness that can completely change your life. It explains how our world works, and I will use The Pen story to illustrate this concept in just a few minutes.
The Pen
If I hold this pen in front of you and ask you what it is, you will say: "It's a pen." But what if I hold the same thing in front of a dog? What will it do? Maybe lick it or chew on it. Will the dog see this thing as a pen? No, it will see it as a chew toy. So the same object could be both, right? It could be a pen and a chew toy, with no contradiction.
But if I put this object on the table, and both the dog and we all leave the room, at that moment, what is it? You probably shrug and shake your head in front of your computer or phone. That's right—in that moment, it is neither a pen nor a chew toy; it's nothing. This is extremely important. This is what ancient wisdom calls "Emptiness." It's like the white screen in the cinema before the movie starts. It's nothing yet, just potential—neither pen nor chew toy.
But when we open the door, walk toward the table, and lay our eyes on it, it becomes a pen. And when a dog walks toward it and sees it, it becomes a chew toy.
Now, here's another important question: does this pen come from the pen itself, or does it come from us? Logically, it must come from us. If this pen were inherently a pen, then a dog would use it to write a love letter to his canine girlfriend. Or we would all share the same opinion about this pen—whether it's good for journaling or somehow poor in quality.
If the pen's identity comes from me, does that mean I can just close my eyes, hope it becomes a big diamond, and it will transform when I open my eyes? I know this sounds silly, but aren't we doing similar things all day—hoping our investment portfolios will skyrocket or wishing our husbands would stop looking at their phones during dinner? We all know it doesn't work that way.
So there must be another energy that causes us to see this stick as a pen and forces the dog to see it as a chew toy. That energy is what we call "Seed." In ancient wisdom, we might call it karma. How does it work? If we see a pen, it means we must have done something similar in the past. Perhaps when my friend needed to sign a contract urgently and asked me for a pen, I gladly provided one. In that moment, seeing myself perform that action left an imprint in my mind. This imprint became a seed that grew and waited for the right moment to manifest, forcing us to perceive this stick as a pen.
Your world is coming from how you treat others before
So let's put it simply: your world is coming from how you treat others. If there are 10 people in the office, they will each have a different experience, just like a dog and human looking at the same stick. While one colleague feels overwhelmed and stressed by their workload, others might experience this month as a high point in their career, celebrating numerous orders from international customers.
If everything comes from how I treat other people, then it gives me hope and opportunity. I can start to plant seeds for my future—3 months, 6 months, or a year from now. If I want to experience a life without money worries, I should begin sharing what I have: money, time, and knowledge with others. If I'm tired of seeing my boss yell at me, I should examine how I behave toward my family and friends. Stopping my own mean behavior would plant a seed to experience no more yelling bosses.
Put into our Lab
In each SeedLab newsletter, we will encourage our reader to put this idea into your world. That why we name ourselves SeedLab.
Become an observer, and see if there are two people in your life who have different experiences or perspectives on the same thing?
Think of one goal that you would love to achieve. Before you heard about the Pen, what was your strategy to achieve this goal? Now that you understand the concept, How will you approach achieving your goal differently?
Things are like white screen, don’t have any nature
Everything comes from your seeds—how you treat others
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About SeedLab
SeedLab is a bridge that connects ancient wisdom to modern life. We provide thought-provoking insights for you to try in your daily life—working on the real causes that consistently yield results.
