Uncle Tom had a weak heart, so when the family learnt that he had inherited a billion dollars, they feared to tell him lest the news give him a stroke. So they sought the help of the priest who assured them he would do the needful.
“Tell me, Tom,” said Father Murphy, “If God, in his mercy, were to send you a billion dollars, what would you do with it?”
“I’d give you half of it for the Church, Father.” Father Murphy got the stroke!
When an industrialist got a stroke from pushing his industrial empire it was easy to show him his selfishness and greed.
When the priest got a stroke from pushing God’s Kingdom he could not see that this was selfishness, only, in a more respectable disguise: Is it God’s Kingdom you are pushing or yourself? I constantly ask myself. The Kingdom needs no pushing. Your anxiety betrays you, does it not?
I was saying we want other things, accurately put, we don’t want to be unconditionally happy. I’m ready to be happy, provided, I have this, that or the other thing! Its like saying to your friend, your wife, your God or anyone: You are my happiness. If I don’t get you, I refuse to be happy. Its important we understand that we refuse to be happy without these conditions. We’ve been taught to place our happiness in them.
So the first thing to do is to realize the fact that if we want love, freedom, joy, peace – we need spirituality. Not piety, devotion, religion or worship, but Spirituality! What a waste of tremendous energy, of health, of emotions that comes from the heartache, loneliness, fear, confusion, conflict in the hearts of people, inner conflict, outer conflict! Suppose someone shows us we have a way to truly love one another, be at peace, be at love, would we want it? Can you think of anything more practical than Spirituality. But we have people thinking that big business is more practical, that science and politics is more practical. What’s the earthly good of putting men on the moon, when we cannot live in peace on earth? What’s the good of a fine house if you don’t have a peaceful planet to put it on?
“Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, or by running away from things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world. Rather, we must learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomsoever we may be. We must learn to penetrate things and find God there.”
? Meister Eckhart
? Meister Eckhart
Thank you for stopping by to read, rate and comment. As I was about to finish this post a thought just flashed acroos my mind, Do you really think I'm doing the right thing, operating PetesPlace, I mean? Please feel free to share your thoughts. Thank you.
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