Famous Arab thinker Gibran Khalil Gibran said: “I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are the sons and daughters of one religion, worshipping God.”
This quotation is indeed very spiritual, but do we practice it in the real world?
Life is surely not all about finding ourselves, but developing and refining our understanding of others – their thoughts, values, hopes and dreams.
In fact life’s most sacred mission is to love and be loved. Hardships are not what happens to you, but how you react, because a wise response can often alleviate adversity and make things right.
So be wise, for these moments make up your life. We rarely remember days or weeks, or years – only moments, ones that can enhance or diminish us. Understand that if you are unhappy, you cannot make anyone else happy. A true hero is someone who won’t hesitate to turn others’ gloom into bloom, because that is the essence of human nature. God gave us the gift of life. It’s up to us to bestow the gift of joy. Not only on ourselves, but all those surrounding us, because their happiness will enhance ours. If a man cannot understand the beauty of life, it is probably because life never understood the beauty in him.
Living in such a cruel world, we must be kind to ourselves and others. Be aware of the billions of souls just like you. If all of them were to change their attitudes and form a new one encompassing humanitarianism, our world would flourish.
Yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a mystery, so let us think of each day as we live it, and plant the seeds of care and kindness which will eventually grow into a gift of fruits from Man, by Man to Man.
Everyone on the planet has experienced dark days and nights. Yet those who have felt the deepest grief are best able to experience and appreciate supreme happiness. And remember that as unfair as this world sometimes is, there are still good things worth striving for.
Mahatma Gandhi once said: “Strength does not come from physical capacity, but from an indomitable will. The will of Man is his greatest happiness.” Yet the will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.
When we read about and learn of the wisdom of our predecessors – not necessarily those from our own race or faith – these giants are gifts of humanity to humanity.
I quote here Eli Wiesel, who said: “The opposite of love is not hate but indifference, the opposite of beauty is not ugliness but indifference, the opposite of faith not heresy, but indifference”.
So the best we can confer on each other is care, attention and commitment. All these can be implemented by us if we prepare ourselves mentally to understand each other thoroughly.
Although today we live in a very advanced, scientific world, we still lack the basic principles of human values. We hear but don’t listen, see but don’t comprehend, because most of us are blinded by selfishness and materialism. The reason is quite clear, that despite all our academic achievements and knowledge, that light of guidance has dimmed in our psyche. We need to return to the teachings of God which came to us through the Blessed Soul. He who stood with holy convictions to explain our wrongs and vices. He came to shake the conscience of humanity, to guide us to the right path, to wash our hearts of misery and injustice – and to establish humanitarian feelings with graceful words that Man had never heard before … “Peace be on this Earth and love for Mankind”.
Let us read this paragraph, not only from an intellectual perspective, but from a human one. With feelings that are pure, divorced from hate and gratuitousness, that irrespective of race, religion or colour, we are all brothers and sisters, and that the Creator fashioned us all to help each other in our helplessness. We are all the children of the same father and mother.
His teachings can only flourish if we embrace them and live and act according to their spiritual guidelines.
Finally, on the occasion of the birth of the Holy Soul, I earnestly wish all my Christian brothers and sisters a merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all mankind.