We are all looking for something. Some of us don't even know what. I guess when we are very young it doesn't even matter -- all we want is to enjoy life, and have a whole heap of fun. As time passes, though, one really wonders what it is that we are here for. Is it to achieve the gaining of that one more qualification that we desired? Or perhaps, to win the lottery, when we wouldn't have to work ever again, but sit back and relax? Or, some of us do want to work, and achieve success through the work that they do.
Surely, there is another reason. We work, play, okay, so we win the lottery. Then what? Do we splurge this money on ourselves? On buying more clothes? On buying a new car?
There is a theme commonly found amongst the rich and famous that money is not everything. The book Believe and Achieve by Paul Hanna, one of the great motivational speakers of our time -- tells us to believe in ourselves -- lay the foundations, and 'it' will happen -- whatever 'it' is that we desire. Hanna tells us to cultivate the belief, to tell ourselves that we deserve 'it', that we will make it big, and then 'it' will happen.
I think this is true to some extent. Without belief, there is nothing -- belief in ourselves, in those around us.
But there is still something missing. Do you see what it is? Faith. We need faith, not only in ourselves, and others, but also in that part of ourselves that many of us do not believe in, that part of ourselves that divides as well as unites us -- faith, in whatever form we conceive it, whether it be as a religion, or as being part of who we are.
A long time ago we were not yet in a state to appreciate who we were, or where we come from. Since then science has shown us many wonders -- both in the realm of physics, and in non-physical fields. Of course not all of us will ever be converts to everything, but the vast majority of us do believe that Man indeed walked on the moon; that we can now successfully clone a human gene; and that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still causing genetic abnormalities in children unfortunate enough to have been born there.
In this age when in many cases religion divides instead of uniting; when intolerance means a lot of prejudice in many countries around the world; and when people seem lost to others' needs, selfishly following their own ways when that means bull-dozing their perhaps more-needy neighbours'; then what else do we have left to fall back on?
Other essays of interest . . .
I believe that the best sort of gain that we can hope for is when we make others happy. To see that sparkle in the eye of the little boy to whom you give a small gift; in the eye of that old woman you help to cross the road; or even in the eye of that stranger on whom you bestow a smile -- isn't that worth its weight in the gold you could hoard up all your life as a lonely person who has no-one to call his or her own?
We can make excuses for not believing that there is a higher power. 'Who are you to force your beliefs on me?', we say. But religions are based on the fact that we are all one -- part of the whole. We are brothers and sisters, and co-exist on this Earth side-by-side.
We do not have to believe in religion, whatever that religion be, to love our neighbours. Your neighbour, the one sitting next to you at this moment -- whether s/he is family, or a friend, or an acquaintance, or your pet budgie or wolf-hound -- you must believe s/he is most worthy of your respect, your trust, your faith -- and, most importantly -- your love.
So yes, have the will to achieve - have the belief, the self-control, the trust; but most important of all -- have faith. People talk about peace on Earth being but a dream; if we all put in our earnest efforts, it, like other major achievements we have made, could be made a glorious fact, to be celebrated as any other -- another wonder of the many wonders of this beautiful planet we all call our home.
I wish you joy; I wish you love; above all, I wish you faith.
© 2008 Malobi Sinha
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