“Heaven and hell are here and now, both within us. When we are at peace with ourselves, we are in heaven. In our peaceful state of mind, we radiate peace and we live in harmony with the other living beings. We remain settled and we are more accommodating and forgiving. Most importantly, we remain civil. We cherish and show respect for the inherent human dignity.
We give what we have.
When we are unhappy inside, we tend to be angry and radiate anger. Anger consumes us. We live with an unsettled state on mind and remain reactive; people run away from us. Our unsettled mind also tries to unsettle the world around us. In that state of mind, we also lose civility and respect for the inherent human dignity. Our thoughts become muddled. Fear and insecurity – real or unreal – are generally the basic reasons underlying unhappiness (Refer to my book: My life does not have to be unhappy.). Many people get caught in paranoia. Everything looks pale to a jaundiced eye. One thing leads to another, there is no end!
Peace and quiet are not weakness; they are virtues, which reflect our culture, education and upbringing, and civility. We are a product of both nature and nurture. Education is not literacy; education is much more than literacy. Education teaches civility and self-restraint. Education inculcates knowledge, patience, rationality in thoughts and wisdom. Wisdom and intelligence are two different things, with some overlap of course (Refer to my book: My life does not have to be unhappy.) Wisdom generally comes with age; there are reasons why army generals are grey haired.
Blind people (due to ignorance and not physical blindness) quarrel with one another about the shape of elephant. The world is not so black and white; most of it is in different shades of grey. Unfortunately, people who see the world only in black and white invariably cause strife in their own lives and in the lives of others.
To err is human and to forgive divine. Without knowing the truth, the whole truth, absolutely, one must never pass judgement. If God judged us, bad people would have no access to air, water and food. If we respect our self, we’ll respect others too. If we respect our parents, we’ll respect the parents of other people too. If we respect our thoughts and opinions, we must respect the opinions and thoughts of others too.
Our karama will catch up with us one day, we can’t escape! God won’t save us from our karama, we are answerable and accountable to our True Self, which is watching us every moment, in the highest court of this universe!” … Bill K Koul