Does every silver lining have a cloud?

Sure, it that’s your goal – your perspective.

“Every cloud has a silver lining.” means that there is good to be found in any situation if you have a positive outlook and search deeply enough.

If you have a negative outlook, it’s usually a lot easier to find the bad.

Nah. Everything made of silver also has a silver lining.

Kinda along the lines of “be careful what you wish for” I think.
Buy your dream home, silver lining”, having to maintain it a cloud, haha
@ibstubro I’d agree, to a degree, but certain things do not have a positive, like homelessness or deadly diseases and other extreme sufferings.
You can only run just so far with this sort of pop psychology of positive thinking.

An example might be, ” I have just become a quadroplegic but gee, I can still see and hear.”
Not much consolation in that. haha

I don’t think so.

I’ll also add that even when clouds have silver linings, sometimes the silver isn’t worth it.

But, @Coloma, look at all Christopher Reeve was able to accomplish in his life after Quad. The time he as able to spend with his family.

While I agree with YOU, in theory, people just have different wiring.

@ibstubro The illnesses I have dealt with have a silver lining. I am more appreciative of the simple things in life, and I feel my suffering has helped me with problems I dealt with later in life and that I could help others with similar problems. I would give all that experience, knowledge and appreciation back in a second to have not gone through, and still be going through the shit I deal with. The only reason I am even talk about any silver lining in regards to my life is to try to find some good in the bad, but what choice do I have?

Reminds me of an old Taoist story:

There once was a poor rice farmer, who had a very small field just large enough to feed his family. Then one day a herd of wild horses came run­ning through the vil­lage. They ran into the farmer’s rice field and got stuck in the mud, and since they couldn’t get away, they were his.

His neigh­bor came run­ning over and said, “This is good news! Such good for­tune! You are rich, this is amaz­ing!” And the rice farmer said, “Good news, bad news, who knows?”

A few weeks later the farmer’s 12-year-old son jumped up on one of the wild horses for a ride, only to be thrown off and have his leg bro­ken. The neigh­bor comes run­ning over and says, “Oh no, this is such bad news!” And the farmer said, “Good news, bad news, who knows?”

A week later a Chi­nese gen­eral is march­ing through the farmer’s vil­lage on the way to war. On this march, the army is con­script­ing every healthy boy over 10 years of age. So they took every boy in the vil­lage except the farmer’s son because of his bro­ken leg.

The neigh­bor comes run­ning over and says, “Yes! This is won­der­ful news, how lucky are we!” And the father replies, “Good news, bad news, who knows?”

@thorninmud Very Buddhist – but some things do make us sad and others make us happy. I was wondering whether the sadness underneath would ever go away completely but I suspect the answer is, it’s all part of the mix.

It’s all part of the mix.

@thorninmud By George, I’ve got it!

Well…right now, over here, my county is in crisis in the midst of a raging 3,800 acre, 6 sq. mile, out of control wild/forest fire.
10 homes burned, countless ranch buildings, 120 year old vineyards threatened, 100’s of people and animals and livestock being evacuated. No silver lining to this Pyrocumulus cloud. Heh!

@Coloma Of course there is a silver lining! The trees in those forests need fire in order to reproduce.

@dappled_leaves No, they don’t, they are not Redwoods and Pinyons and Joshua trees, mostly various Oak species and Pine. I get what you’re saying, sure, fire is a natural restorative in nature, but, when thousands of humans and animals are losing their homes it is not much of a consolation.

@Coloma Yes, lodgepole pine is one of the classic examples of a serotinous species. It’s not about being “restorative”, it’s about increasing the genetic variability in the population, and the prosperity of the species over the long term. This is a species that is well adapted to fire.

I certainly didn’t say that this was “more important” than anything else. The question is about silver linings. Usually that implies a small good thing in the face of a large bad thing.

@janbb, it’s all part of the mix, but the mix only has as much pull as the attention we give. If you turn your attention inward toward the experiencer of the sadness and happiness, you may find there is a you that comes before the you who is “made” sad or happy. That you comes from a place of peace and is untouched by either.

@dappled_leaves Okay, I missed a species, but Ponderosa Pines and Digger Pines and Black Oaks and Heritage Oaks and Valley Oaks and Madrone and Manzanita do not need fire to reproduce. Sheesh…c’mon…my area is in crisis and you want to debate fucking tree reproduction.

@kevbo That is what I’m working on.

@Coloma Ok, once again… my providing information relevant to the question was not meant in any way to imply that I don’t sympathize with your situation. I can’t believe I have to keep spelling that out.

@dappled_leaves Thank You, I am extremely tense here, my apologies for the bitchy moment.

@Coloma Eh, if my province were more flammable, I’d probably be on edge, too. Friends?

^^^Of course. :-)

@Coloma Sending empathy.

@janbb Thank You…scary.

@janbb, you may like looking at stuff from Ramana Maharishi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Mooji, and/or Papaji. All of their teachings are available free online.

Its all a matter of perspective.
One mans end of the world is another mans ‘oppertunity for an new begininig’
One mans ‘freedon fighter is another mans terrorist.’

The enivitable collapse of the world ecconomy might ‘usher in the next golden age???’

Or….... it might all turn to ratshit?

Personally, I’m an eternal optimist due to my belief that humanity runs in cycles.

Reading more of the comments above:

I kind of go along with the hindu philosophy (i think?) that says that , life should be a struggle, if it wasn’t, you wouldn’t appreciate the finer things in life, or, what may be considered to be the simple things in life, like, family, eating out with friends, being able to tie your shoe laces, holding a baby in your arms, talking to a neighbour, making a sandwitch, walking accross a border, drinking a cup of clean water…........

being born with everything you ever dreampt of just leaves you in a life thats a dream where everything you can think of is manifest for you without thought or appreciation.

Its lifes struggles that teach us to appreciate what we might otherwise nessessarily take for granted.

or…..........

I might have it all wrong and be full of shit?

I guess time will tell.

In the grand scheme of things, none of us have long to wait to find out, or be tossed into eternal oblivian.

“Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be.”

^^^ True, for many, but I don’t think starving people in Uganda, or victims of war or homeless folks or the families of all the air crashes lately or the fire victims in my zone would say that right now. It’s pretty serious to them.

I thought for sure the mods would have said there were too little details for this to stand as a question…......oh well.

The answer as asked, no.

@Coloma Are we talking about many people or are we talking about extreme circumstances? I was kind of thinking about the average person when I searched for the quote I used. There will always be pain with suffering. We have the choice to let it break us, or we can endure and overcome life’s hardships. What would Malala Yousafzai do?

Now, for extra points… how many people read the question correctly?

@jonsblond Just saying that there are many circumstances that don’t have a discernible silver lining. I don’t think it is always about overcoming and enduring, I think that some things are not endurable or able to be overcome. Life should be more than enduring for many.

@dappled_leaves Now, for extra points… how many people read the question correctly?
I did, silver linings do not need clouds to make them great, they are great all on their own.

I think I did, @dappled_leaves?

OK.

Only the clouds with silver linings are silver linings complete with clouds.
Otherwise it would be a silver lining complete with a chocolate inner.
Or a cloud with a chocolate coating.

MMMMmmmmmmmnnnnnn…... chocolate…........

No. The death of a close and much loved friend or family member would not have any silver lining, to me.

The question is about whether there can be happiness without sadness not whether there can be sadness without happiness. Most people misinterpreted it.

There absolutely can be happiness without sadness. I hate the saying you need the bad times to appreciate the good times. Bullshit.