October 29
There is nothing more important than an example. It leads us to do good deeds which would be impossible without this example. Therefore, if we use dissipated or passionate or cruel people as examples, it destroys our soul. The contrary is also true.
Those who do not think independently are under the influence of somebody else who thinks for them. If you give your thoughts to somebody else, it is a more shameful slavery than if you give your body to someone to possess.
If you desire to follow someone as an example, as many other people do, first stop and think whether it is worthwhile to follow this general example.
Those who are not afraid of truly terrible things follow false examples and those people follow the path to destruction.
—DHAMMAPADA, a book of BUDDHIST WISDOM
Evil influence can be destroyed only by good influence. And the way to receive a good influence is to have a good life.
October 30
A sense of self-importance so high that it surpasses all limits is a mental illness called
mania grandiosa
.
People think that self-sacrifice violates your freedom. Those people do not know that sacrifice gives us complete freedom, and frees us from ourselves, from the slavery of our dissipation.
Our passions are the most terrible tyrants, and we can be the slave of them. Only self-sacrifice can free us from this slavery.
If you teach others how many insects exist in this world, or when you look at the spots on the sun, or when you write an opera or a novel—we do these things for different purposes. But to teach people goodness is done only for the purpose of self-sacrifice, service to others, and you cannot express this teaching without self-sacrifice. Christ gave his life on the cross for a great purpose, not in vain. And a sacrifice or suffering is never in vain, and it will triumph over everything.
October 31
Nothing can interfere with the growth of truth in the world: nothing except the wish to save old prejudices.
People say that God created mankind after his image. This means that man created God after his image.
—GEORGE LICHTENBERG
If we believe in the things we were taught, there is goodness and evil at the same time.
—HENRY GEORGE
Humanity slowly but ceaselessly moves forward to the better and better understanding of the meaning of this life.
Among the most terrible lies of all is to teach false faith to children.
Disrespect for traditions has not caused even one thousandth part of the great evil which was caused by the old prejudices, traditions, customs, and institutions which should not exist at present.
November 1
A man who considers himself the master of his own life can never be humble, because he thinks that he has no obligation to anyone. The man who considers service to God to be the purpose of his life is always humble, because he feels that he has never fulfilled his obligations.
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
—LUKE 17:5-10
Truly kind people forget the good things they have done in the past. They are so involved in the things they do now that they forget the things they have done before.
—CHINESE WISDOM
The better a person knows himself, the smaller and less significant he seems to himself and the higher he elevates himself toward God.
—THOMAS À KEMPIS
November 2
A deed done only to achieve glory is always bad, no matter what consequences it has. A deed motivated equally by the desire to achieve goodness and to achieve glory is indifferent. A deed is truly good only when its motivation is to fulfill the law of God.
If you care too much about being praised, in the end you will not accomplish anything serious. People have different values. You may say, “I want good people to value me,” but you know you will respect only those who praise your actions.
We are not satisfied with our real life. We want to live an imaginary life, a life in which we seem different in the eyes of other people than we are in reality.
—BLAISE PASCAL
Let the judgments of others he the consequence of your deeds, not their purpose.
To live only for God, you should do good works which no one will ever discover. Do so, and you will experience a special joy.
November 3
There is only one real law, the law of God, which is the same for all of mankind. Human law can be valid only when it is in harmony with the law of God.
The first and most difficult obstruction to the fulfillment of the law of God is the fact that our society’s existing laws are completely opposed to this law.
Those human laws are good which are based on the law of God. Those human laws are bad which contradict the laws of God; we should change these laws.
—GIUSEPPE MAZZINI
In order to study the most important questions of life, everyone should destroy the prejudices and lies which were created by previous centuries in relation to all serious questions in life.
The law of God contradicts human law. So what should we do? Should we hide the law of God and proclaim human law? People have done this for almost nineteen centuries, and the contradiction becomes stronger and stronger. There is only one solution: to replace the existing laws with the law of God.
November 4
Debates conceal the truth more often than they reveal it. Real truth should be revealed in solitude. When it is revealed, it becomes clear to you that you can accept it without any argument or discussions.
He has power who can keep silent in an argument, even though he is right.
You should abstain from arguments. They are very illogical ways to convince people. Opinions are like nails: the stronger you hit them, the deeper inside they go.
—DECIMUS JUNIUS JUVENALIS
If you live alone, think about your own sins; if you are in society, forget about the sins of others.
—CHINESE WISDOM
The more urgently you want to speak, the more likely it is that you will say something foolish.
November 5
Thought is the glorification of truth; therefore, bad thoughts are those which have not been thought through to the end.
In order that a lamp can give good light, you should put it in a place protected from the wind. If the light is in the wind, then it will leave long, trembling shadows. So too will bad thoughts drop shadows on the white surface of your soul.