Image via WikipediaTwo people go to the same school. They compete for having the highest grades. They are friends. Everyone who sees them thinks they are very much alike. But one of them has dreams about getting rich and famous. The other friend has dreams about a life spent in service to others and worries about children dying of hunger and about many other miseries in this world.
Two people work on the same ship catching crab. It is extremely hard work and they sleep very little. They are friends. Everyone who sees them toiling thinks they are very much the same. But one of them dreams about spending his first earned money to buy drugs and become a drugs dealer. The other friend is saving money to start up an organization that will start up planting trees at the borders of desert land, so the land will be green and the rains will come back.
Two men end up floating around in the same lifeboat. They were on an ocean cruiser that sunk and they are the only survivors. They become friends. If anyone could see them, they would think these two men are very much the same. But they had a completely different life course. One of them had an easy life, everything was always given to him. The other man had to work hard to earn money to pay for his studies. He overcame many internal and external difficulties in his life. As days pass by, the situation on the lifeboat gets more urgent. Who is going to save whom? Who is going to keep up his spirit and whose spirit is going down and ends up complaining and pitying himself?
Two men are involved in a project to save children from hunger. They both have a family that they left behind. Days goes by and the famine gets worse. More children die and more help is needed. These two men are friends and become better friends as they go through severe difficulties together. At home their wives are waiting. The wife of one of these men begins complaining that her husband is away. The wife of the other man feels lonely too, but she prays and meditates to help her husband go through the difficulties. Both of the men feel what their wives are thinking. The one man feels supported and even though he left his family without money, he goes on in his rescue work. The other man feels accused by his wife and thoughts come up in his mind that other people should also do their share in saving these children. He decides to go home. The rest of his life he has nightmares about the children who died because he did not help them. His wife soon leaves him. The other man who stayed eventually also comes home. His wife welcomes him and told him how she managed to come through the difficult time. Their relationship has deepened and their love increased. Both men have sacrificed much for the hungry children, yet the eventual effect on their spirit is entirely different.
Who is who? What determines whether we gain spiritually from what we do? How can our sacrifices be offered in such a way that the merit comes back to us in such a way that our souls are vitalized?
Wishing you a day of deepening your mind!
February 9, 2008
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Wow, that's an interesting post, thank you for stimulating me to think about this. Two people look alike externally, internally they are very different.
ReplyDeleteOn one level they are connected; on another they are in two different worlds.