No 47 of Living Life Series 1
There is in every one, an inner light of God waiting to be kindled and fed by the fuels of wisdom and purity.
Hatred and ill will cause it to wane. Even if the individual is in the right, taking it out on the wrong party to exact justice is simply a case of an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth. Offering the left cheek when the right cheek was slapped is on the other hand a bit far fetched and worse still when this is done out of sacrifice of one’s own interest for that of the errant party. Such apparently moral high ground is sometimes misconceived wisdom if there is mortification of one’s life to give way to the perpetuator of wrong.
Being vindictive may simply smack of ill will. One may think that not being vindictive will be just being a door mat for others to step on. What one really wants is to let the wrong party know that one is wronged and do not wish to be wronged. We just need to be firm and to make our feelings known. But do not cross swords or fan up ill-will. That will make matters worse and multiply one’s woes and conflicts with others.
If peaceful and sincere clarification fails or do not work, pursue the matter no longer for the wise one will not be party to forging of ill will. Just be firm and get on with your own happiness. This does not require you to foment bad feelings in yourself or in the party who may have wronged you.
Do be mindful that ill-will creates bad consequences (results) even for the one who is on the right side of a conflict.
Where you can, do associate only with the wise or at least with the wiser moments of others you have to deal with, for the wise will not wrong you or less likely to do so. Even if they somehow do wrong you due to lapses on their part, they do so with no malice and will readily accept your view points.
The wise will neither display ill-will nor will they elicit ill-will out of you. Associating with the wise and civil will be a blessing. Associating with the unwise will be a bane and far from a blessing.
But if you some how find that others seem to be wrong all the time or most of the time (and this appears to be the case once too often), then do be wary. Often we see the dust in others eye and fail to see the dust in one’s own eye.
Steer clear of blaming others all the time but neither should you blame yourself as well. What is needed is to change for the better and move forward with zest. We need to reinvent ourselves. We need better ways to be that more reliable, rigorous and robust in our mission of life to purify ourselves to nurture the God light in our soul.
We need to improve ourselves and that means not looking backwards but ever forward always with our best foot forwards though the best may not yet be the ultimate best. All of us are in the same boat. All are learning. We do often act not that correctly, perfectly, ideally or as wise as we should. There will always be better ways of doing things but we need to be realistic and pragmatic for now. Better to improve than not to make any move for fear of not being perfect and out of desire to be blameless. Do not regret or blame yourself for not having better ways for that will spell lack of love for yourself and may even be the beginning of ill will for yourself.
As many heavenly saints (Lord Bo Tien included) say:
Do learn from others mistakes and be wiser
Your life is rich with lessons which if you learn well will bring you nearer and closer to the saints.
Ask God and saints for help. But do remember that you can help one another as well.
Seek blessings and you shall find. Ask and the saints would bless you. All you need to start with is to have faith to want divine help and to pray to the saints.
No one is an island to himself or is his own fortress. We need God and saints and we too need fellowship of men but not just any Tom, Dick, and Harry. We need to surround ourselves with love of God and with people who can share love with us.
“Every one is a candle flame, and if a candle flame is sheltered and nurtured by the Lord, it will glow in strength and brightness.” Thus did our good Lord Bo Tien tell us decades ago.
The coming together of candle flames when we can surround ourselves with like minded people who can share love with us will be that “more amazing and magnificent not only for ourselves but for others as well”
This is how we should live our life. This is how we should handle people and relationships. Truly, the principles work for life here and for life here after.
Thus our good Lord did say, “The same spiritual principles will give us happiness not just in life here after but also in our day-to-day life here and now.”
There is no need to forgo the mundane material life of society by leading the life of the ascetic, recluse and hermit in the wilderness away from society. That will be running away from people and issues, and from the very life which will provide us with lessons we badly need to learn.
We go for the lessons of life and not stay away from the life that will enrich us in many ways. But we must know how, that is, by cultivating correct spiritual principles that work for life now and life here after. Learn from your life and learn from the problems and weaknesses of those around you. Life is rich with lessons to enrich our souls. The good saints will lead us and make us that much richer and wealthier in more ways than we can hope for. Praise God and saints of the heavens and of the Buddha realms.
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