Learning from Difficulty
Understanding challenges as teachers that develop character.
Difficulties are not punishments but teachers. Through hardship, character is forged and wisdom is gained. The Hero Twins overcame Xibalba's trials through intelligence and courage. Our trials similarly invite our growth and transformation.
The corn must be ground to become tortilla; we too are shaped by pressure.
Difficulty-as-teacher reflects Mayan acceptance of hardship as developmental.
Popol Vuh
Written about in
- What Maya wisdom says about good and evil
Hardship is treated as a teacher rather than a punishment. The image given is maize, which has to be ground before it is any use.
- What the Maya tradition says about starting again after a fall
Hardship is classed as a teacher, not a punishment, which quietly removes the question "what did I do to deserve this?" The image is milling: corn has to be ground before it can become a tortilla.