Life is a continual battle. Man struggles with things that
are outside him, and so he gives a chance to the foes who exist
in his own being. Therefore the first thing necessary in life
is to make peace for the time being with the outside world,
in order to prepare for the war which is to be fought within
oneself. Once peace is made within, one will gain by that sufficient
strength and power to be used through the struggle of life within
and without. Self-pity is the worst poverty. When a person says,
'I am...' with pity, before he has said anything more he has
diminished himself to half of what he is; and what is said further,
diminishes him totally; nothing more of him is left afterwards.
There is so much in the world that we can pity and which it
would be right for us to take pity upon, but if we have no time
free from our own self we cannot give our mind to others in
the world. Life is one long journey, and the further behind
we have left our self, the further we have progressed toward
the goal. Verily when the false self is lost the true self is
discovered.
Life to a wise person is music; and in that symphony he has
to play a certain part. If one were feeling so low that one's
heart was sounding a lower pitch, and the demand of life at
that moment was that one should voice a higher pitch, then one
would feel that one had failed in that music in which one was
meant to play one's part fittingly. This is the test by which
you can distinguish the old soul and the child's soul. The child
soul will give way to every feeling; the old soul will strike
the higher note in spite of every difficulty.
There are moments when laughter must be kept back, and there
are times when tears must be withheld. And those who have arrived
at the stage where they can act efficiently the part that they
are meant to act in this life's drama, have even power over
the expression of their face; they can even turn their tears
into smiles, or their smiles into tears. One may ask, is it
not hypocrisy not to be natural? But he who has control over
his nature is more natural; he is not only natural, he is the
master of nature, while the one who lacks power over nature,
in spite of his naturalness, is weak.
