Same God Dwells in All Men
1. "Take heed if you would strike at the devil in man lest you hit God." This saying means that when you censure a man, you must remember that the spirit of God dwells within him.
2. Watch yourself from early morning and say to yourself: I may have dealings with some insolent, insincere, tiresome or malicious men. We frequently come across such people. They do not know what is good and what is evil. But if I know well what is good and what is evil, if I realize that only that is evil to me which I commit myself, no evil man can harm me. No one can compel me to do evil. And if I remember that every man, if not in flesh and blood, then at least in Spirit is my neighbor, and that in all of us dwells the same spirit of God, I am unable to be angry with a creature so close to me, for I know that we have been created one for another, just as one hand for the other or one foot for its mate, just as the eyes and the teeth help one
another and the entire body. How then can I turn away from my neighbor, if contrary to his true nature, he commits evil against me? Marcus Aurelius.
3. If you are angry with a man, it is a sign that you live the life of the body and not the life of God. If you lived the life of God, no one could harm you, because God cannot be harmed, and God,—the God within you,—cannot be angry.
7. In order to live in harmony with people, remember when you meet people that not what you need is of importance, nor what he needs with whom you have come in contact, but that only which God who dwells in both of us requires from both.
Just remember this when a feeling of unkindness towards another rises within you, and you will be immediately delivered from this feeling.
8. Do not despise, do not beyond measure honor any man. If you despise a man, you fail to value right the good that is in him. If you honor a man beyond measure you require too much of him. In order to keep from error, think lightly of that in man (as in your own self) which is of the body, and esteem him as a spiritual creature in whom dwells the spirit of God.
IV.
The Less Man Thinks of Himself, the Kinder He Is
1. It is said that a good man can not help being angry with evil men, but if this were so then the better a man is in comparison with others, the angrier he would be. But the contrary is true; the better a man is, the gentler and kindlier he is to all people. This is because a good man remembers that he himself has done sinful things, and if he should be
angry with others for being bad, he would have.to be first of all angry with himself. Seneca,
2. A rational man cannot be angry with mean and irrational people.
" But how to keep from anger if they are thieves and rogues ? "
And what is a thief and a rogue ? A man gone astray. Such a man is to be pitied and not to be angry with. If you can, persuade him that it is not well for him to live as he is living, and he will cease from evil. And if he does not yet realize this it is small wonder that he leads an evil life.
But you might say that such men ought to be punished.
If a man's eyes are diseased and he loses his sight, you will not say that he must be punished for it. Then why would you punish a man who is deprived of what is more precious than his eye-sight, deprived of the greatest blessing,—of the knowledge how to live in accord with reason? Such men яге not to be treated with anger, but with pity.
Pity such unfortunates and see that their delusions do not arouse your anger. Remember how often you have erred yourself and committed sin, and rather be ang^y with yourself because there is so much unkindness and malice in your soul. Eptctetus.
3. You say that evil men are all around you. If you think so it is a sure sign that you are very bad yourself.
4. Frequently men endeavor to show themselves off by noting the faults of others. They only show off their own weakness.
The more intelligent and kindly a man is, the more
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good he sees in others—^and the more foolfeh and unkind he is, the more defects he finds in others.
5. It is true that it is difficult to be kind to corrupt
men and to liars, particularly if they insult us, but these are just the people with whom we should be very kind, both for their sake and for our own.
6. When you are angry with some one, you generally seek to justify your heart and try to see only that which is evil in him who is the object of your anger. This only increases your uncharitableness. But just the contrary is needful; the angrier you are, the more carefully you must search for that which is good in him who is the object of your anger, and if you find any good in him and learn to love him, you will not only relieve your heart but experience a peculiar joy.
7. We pity a man who is ill clad, cold and starving, but how much more is a man to be pitied if he is a deceiver, a drunkard, a thief, a robber, a murderer? The first man is suffering in his body, but the other in that which is the most precious possession in the world—^his soul.
It is well to pity the poor and help them, but it is still better not to judge the vicious, but to pity and help them also.
8. If you would reproach a man for unreasonable actions do not call his acts or words stupid, do not think or say that what he has done or said is senseless. On the contrary, always assume that what he had meant to do or say was reasonable and endeavor to find it so. It is well to discover those erroneous ideas which have deceived the man and demonstrate them to him so that he may decide by the exercise of his own reason that he was in error. It is only by reason that we can convince a man. And equally so we can convince a man of the immorality of his conduct by an
appeal to his sense of morality. Do not assume that the most immoral man could not become a free and moral being.
Kant.
9. If you are angry with a man because he did that which you consider evil, try and learn why this man did that which you consider evil. And as soon as you understand this, you will find yourself unable to be ang^ with the man, just as one can not be angry with a stone for falling to the ground instead of upwards.
V.
The Need of Love for Association with People
1. In order that association with men be not painful to them and to yourself, do not seek to associate with them if you feel no love towards them.
2. Only inanimate objects can be treated without love; one can hew down trees, make brick, and forge iron without love, but men cannot be handled without love, any more than bees can be handled without caution. The nature of the bees is such that if you treat them without caution you injure both the bees and yourself. It is the same with people.
If you feel no love towards people, sit still, busy yourself with inanimate things, but leave people alone. If you treat people without love, before long you will be acting like a beast and not like a human being, and you will harm both yourself and the people.
3. If you have been offended by a man, you may either retaliate like a dog, or a cow or a horse; that is you may run away, if the offender be stronger than you, or growl and kick; or you may act like a rational human being and say to yourself: ** This man has ойезайлД. \хл^ ^^сах^^
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180 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE
his business, but my business is to do that which I consider good, to do unto him as I would have him do unto me."
4. When you see people dissatisfied with everything, and condemning everything, you feel like saying: "It is not the purpose of your life to realize all the absurdity of life, to condemn it, to be angry for a while and then die. That cannot be. Think a little. Your business is not to be angry, nor to condemn, but to labor in order to correct the evil that you see. But the evil that you see cannot be removed by your irritation, but only by the exercise of that good will to all men which dwells in you, and which you will feel the moment you refrain from drowning its voice."