Though it may appear that they have just been fighting, in no time at all children will be laughing and playing together again. Such innocence and simplicity is not easily imitated by adults. Every time I see such a scene as this, I cannot help but think that children are truly close to God. I only wish that we adults, in our daily associations with each other, could learn to behave in such a manner.
Because we are only human, at times we get angry or feel irritated. At such times, we cannot help becoming a bit aggressive and hostile. However, it is immensely uncommon for adults to come to understand each other and forgive one another, and be quick to wholly forget what happened earlier, shaking hands as better friends. Because there is always some resentment left to linger on, it is very difficult for us to renew our relations with a pure and fresh spirit.
In our modern world of self-centeredness, since our relations with others are always founded upon our own egocentrism we become resentful and angry over the most trifling matters. It is very common in such cases for us to refuse to forget our grudges, harboring ill will towards each other even after the passage of many years. Even when another person bears no grudge towards us it is not uncommon for us to harbor long-standing resentment towards them while shutting ourselves into our own narrow world. We must by all means work to avoid this, striving to understand one another and exist together in harmony.
If we reflect on things, every person is without doubt someone’s child, parent, or sibling. Just as we love our parents, so do others love theirs. Just as we love our children, so do other parents love theirs. And just as we love our brothers and sisters, so do others love theirs.
Those who detest someone because they are the child of another person, mistreat the parents of others because they are not one’s own, and shun the siblings of others for the same reason, reveal nothing less than an unspeakably narrow way of thinking. Such people have yet to make any progress in learning to be tolerant of others.
These people do not realize that there is any other way to view the world save through their narrow windows of self-centered prejudice. This is because there are many narrow-minded people who confuse the momentary yielding of selfishness with the eternal renunciation of self-interest.
We must not flatly deny the grievances of our fellow men. Showing sympathy towards their troubles in all matters, we must gradually lead them towards righteousness.
Because everyone can behave like a completely different person simply based on their mood at the time, we must not let our own present mood influence our judgment of others.
Doing our best to understand the feelings of others, while showing sympathy and compassion, we need to guide them in the proper direction.
To make sweeping statements such as, “that’s no good”, or “that’s a lie”, shows at once one’s own hostility. At all times we must strive to fully understand the feelings of those we come into contact with. In order to do this, we ourselves must be able to identify with such feelings through our own personal experience.
Therefore, we must undertake as great a variety of things as we possibly can, meeting with many different situations and accumulating a wealth of personal experience.
Because all things do indeed exist purely through the grace of God, to flippantly denounce something because it is inconvenient to one is truly foolish.
We must have the broad-mindedness to accept our present world as it is, viewing all things with just impartiality.
With all things, those which we have labored for we value most and treat with the greatest care. Those things which we do not like, we treat roughly and carelessly. This is the way all people relate to things. Thinking ‘this is nice”, or ‘this needs to be fixed up” we take great care of the things which we have put work into. This is generally true of our approach to abstract things also.
With conjugal love as well, a love that two people have taken great pains to build up, value, and refine, is truly close and unwavering. Unless one has labored for it to this extent, love is not truly real.
To think in terms of love as merely a sexual bond without such labor is a great mistake. Without fail, a spiritually vacant spot will spring up somewhere. Even with couples whose original relationship was quite close, after five or ten years they are likely to run into some kind of crisis. At first this is glossed over one way or another, but gradually as they grow older they find they cannot keep up this deception. When they become aware of the true nature of love and affection, and realize that there exists a great gap between them in this area, both become cold and lonely.
Unless from the start both people have the strong resolve to cultivate their love, even after marriage things will not go well. This cultivation requires great effort and time. To marry someone on a far higher level than one is sure to result in trouble. The opposite is also likewise true. Even if it is not an ideal match, if it is based on mutual liking, not just on superficial beauty, and there is some sort of meeting of the souls, it will go well.
We must be aware of how to divert our emotions. Because our feelings change in accord with our environment, by going to see a play or listening to music when we become angry or upset, we may become calm again.
Therefore, everyone should have some sort of hobby or pastime through which they can endeavor to divert themselves when feeling bad.
To engage in frank conversation with another is an even greater pleasure than eating, a true solace and oasis in a life of hardship.
The lives of those who lack such open exchange somehow tend to be prosaic and lonely.
To thoughtlessly blow smoke in the face of someone who hates cigarettes is certainly rude. However, it is hardly rude if someone exhales smoke in the presence of someone who enjoys cigarettes.
To get naked in front of someone who finds nudity vulgar is impolite. Nevertheless, the denizens of highest heaven are believed to run around almost wholly nude.
Our judgment of whether something is properly courteous or whether it is rude is, essentially, not based upon the action itself. It all depends on how the people involved feel about it.
