... Is surrender ever honorable? Is resistance always noble? In what way do you need to surrender? To keep fighting? How do you know when to do what? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, p.573).
These
are perhaps the most persistence and important questions that we
face. We are in a dilemma – if we too readily accept reality as
unchangeable, progress would never be made. On the other hand, we
must stand ready to accept reality when it cannot be changed. The
better part of wisdom is knowing when to fight a certain battle and
when to surrender in that battle so that greater and more important
goals can be defined and won – so that new horizons can be set and
new efforts enlisted. A large part of our sense of meaning and our
self-esteem comes from working towards and fulfilling unrealized
goals from whence come a sense of hope – surely an essential form
of deep and abiding human pleasure. But coming to grips with reality
is another source of pleasure. For example, identifying natural laws
that cannot be changed paradoxically empowers us since we are better
able to cope and even exploit nature. So in a real sense, even when
we are confronted with the inevitable and the unsurmountable, we come out
winners. To come face-to-face with limitations opens up vast
horizons and new possibilities. Knowing one's limitations makes one
appreciably stronger.
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