THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Everything’s fine

By the Brahma Kumaris, a spiritual organization committed to self transformation through meditation and positive thinking.

During and after the end of WW II, as the founding fathers of the United Nations formulated a blueprint for a world peace, security and justice, the founding members of the Brahma Kumaris were researching core values which they considered necessary to restore individual worth and human dignity.
In 1980, the relationship between the United Nations was formulated.

“To a truly contented and enlightened soul, everything in the world, which means the way the world is right now, is just fine. To the unenlightened and discontented soul, this will sound like a massive avoidance. But think about it. Does the masterful actor go to the theatre for their evening performance, and on entering the stage start shifting the backdrop, altering the scenery and moving the props around? Of course not, they are totally concentrated on the role they need to create and play to the best of their ability. And so it is with the world… The backdrop of our life is the way things are at this moment in time. The props are exactly where they are meant to be at this moment in time. Many people spend their whole lives trying to change the backdrop and move the props around, little realising the futility of the exercise… Yes, they may succeed in altering an angle here, a minute part of the picture there; but all at the cost of the focus and the energy needed to put on their best performance and achieve their own highest standards of excellence, not only will those around them be changed automatically as the invitation rolls in to perform their life elsewhere. Excellence is a much more powerful influence in the world than discontent. So everything is fine out there. No one says it is perfect; but it is exactly the way it should be…at this moment. So, here is the paradox of effective change - if you want to influence change for the better, then the more effective way to begin is with contentment with the way things are. The way things are, are the way they are meant to be.”

–Brahma Kumaris

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

MANKIND IS INTERCONNECTED AND INTERRELATED
… Unawareness of this is the cause of conflict.

There is a Divinity higher than humanity, that is behind and beneath all man’s activities. But man is not aware of it and he fails to benefit by that awareness. His first task is to recognize this source of joy and peace. That Divinity is like the thread in which the flowers are strung that holds the flowers together and makes a garland out of a heap of blossoms.

Mankind is strung together by this inherent Divinity.

Divine Discourse. March 29, 1979.

– Randall Butisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

MALENKOV’S VISIT TO BRITAIN
(a peep into history)

Georgy Malenkov (1902-198 was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. He briefly became leader of the Soviet Union (from March to September 1953) after Stalin’s death and was Premier from 1953 to 1955. During these years, he was opposed to nuclear weapons, declaring “a nuclear war could lead to global destruction.” He also advocated refocusing the economy on the production of consumer goods and away from heavy industry, which his successor Nikita Khrushchev (1955-1964) would escalate.

Malenkov made a three week state visit to Britain in April 1956, and was well received by many. However there were protests as reported in this Time magazine article:-

… “Not everyone was so misty-eyed. One evening last week Manchester’s ornate old Free Trade Hall, a familiar shrine of well-intentioned protests, was jammed with 2,500 Britons and East European refugees (including the famed Polish World War II General Anders), who had gathered at a shilling a head to protest the forthcoming visit of Russians Khrushchev and Bulganin. The meeting was called by waspish Punch Editor Malcolm Muggeridge. Resolving with a group of friends to “do something about these murderers coming here,” Muggeridge had tried to rent London’s own sedate Albert Hall for the occasion, but he was turned down cold. “They told me,” he said, “that Billy Graham was all right, but that I was too hot.” Time Magazine – April 9, 1956.

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Letter to the Editor: of the GUIANA GRAPHIC, in 1956.

MALENKOV’s VISIT TO BRITAIN - By: Randall Butisingh

There seems to be some suspicion among readers as regards the visits of prominent leaders like Malenkov, the Premier of Russia to the Mother Country. I, as a layman in power politics, think that much good can be derived from regular interchange of visits.

Mankind is the same all over the world and ideologies and religious beliefs are the convictions of individuals and not of entire nations. That the Russian ideology is Communistic is only true to the extent that the government, by the strength of its military power, has been able to give it that semblance…Every other country of the world has its band of deep-dyed Communists whose activities are frustrated by the Government.

My opinion in this matter is: that since the death of the arch Communist Dictator, Stalin, his inhibited satellites have been able to sniff the air of freedom. Malenkov’s lack of restraint in public is psychological proof of the inhibition of the Russian people. If the masses are not free, rulers cannot be free. The escape of prominent Russians, time and again has provided proof that all is not well in Russia. It will not be easy for any Government to keep a people permanently in bondage; “the worms will turn.”

Soviet Atheistic Communism is not an inevitable process in the evolution of society; it is a reaction to despotism and must eventually pass. It is the bitter medicine for a very bad disease and its service can only be temporary, or else it will poison the whole system of the body politic.

Democracy must necessarily survive. As professor Radhakrishna puts it: “Democracy is not a political arrangement, it is an urge of the soul.”
So, even in Communist dominated countries, Democracy with its timeless value is making inroads in the hearts of individuals, including leaders. We may suspect leaders, but if we suspect nations, we suspect ourselves and deny brotherhood which De Lawrence says: “is not a matter of sentiment but a fact of nature.” At this critical moment in history, nothing can be achieved by suspicion and mistrust. Mutual understanding must predominate over statesmanship and diplomacy in order to solve the present problem. The needs of all humanity are the same. All mankind is one and have one spiritual goal. If the question of real peace is not approached in a spirit of love, we will have a forced peace beneath the rubble of a shattered civilization.

2008 Update: After many years we have seen the downfall of Communism in the Soviet Union; the break-down of the Berlin Wall and the lessening of tensions between East and West.

Randall Butisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

CONSCIOUS SUBMISSION

When men are subdued by force they do not submit in their minds, but only because their strength is inadequate. When men are subdued by power in personality they are pleased to their very heart’s core and do really submit.

Mencius (Meng Tzu}

The power of personality or charisma or ideas can be more powerful than the might of the sword, or the cannon or the bomb. The use of force can capture and suppress but it usually cannot maintain allegiance when the force is removed. True power is invisible and accepted consciously through acceptance of the ruler and his methods of governance - conscious submission.

Great leaders have the ability to enthuse others and to garner support with their words and actions and their leadership qualities. People follow and obey their wishes and such leaders thrive in the power vested and bequeathed to them by their people. They have little fear that the people will rise up against them.

The same concepts ccould be applied to the conquering armies of the old civilizations of the Greeks and the Romans. Later, the great European colonial powers of the Industrial Age showed their longevity in controlling millions of subjects with minimum physical force. In some cases they may have conquered initially by force, but they were only able to retain their power through mutually beneficial policies like trade and power brokering with the local factions in their colonies e.g. The Indian Raj of Britiin’s colonialism of India.

Even in the historical writings of little Demerara, now Guyana, that the Dutch ruled from 1581-1781 it is said that the Dutch settlers did not subjugate the native indigenous Amerindian tribes. The Dutch settler policy was to actively befriend local tribes with gifts and trade so that they became allies and protectors of the Dutch interests there. This policy also ensured that their slaves, imported from Africa, did not successfully escape as they were quickly tracked down and returned by the Amerindians.

It can therefore be said that the likeable personality, like the pen, is mightier than the sword. That endearing personality can be embodied in an individual or in a whole nation or people, as they are perceived by others. Their rule is accepted by their subjects who consciously submit as they are pleased with their method of governance.

Cyril Bryan

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

All is ephemeral - fame and fortune as well.
Marcus Aurelius

He also said that very little is needed to make us happy. And yet, man chooses to amass material things which will perish with time, seeking satisfaction from them; rather than feeling the joy of sharing with the dispossessed, the hungry and the homeless, who are our brothers, and so lay up treasures in Heaven where nothing can destroy. Everything material changes and corrupts with time, even man’s corporeal frame, but Good deeds, motivated by love does not perish; it is like the perfume which survives the flower after it has perished. Good deeds are building blocks (metaphorically speaking) for our eternal home.

Randall Butisingh

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THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Hitch your wagon to a star.
Emerson

In other words Aim high and pursue your goal with enthusiasm and commitment. You may not reach the goal. Success lies not in reaching the goal, but in the journey towards that goal. You will meet obstacles on the way; they are there to test you, and as you surmount each, you will grow stronger and stronger, and also feel the joy of accomplishment. You will also meet fragrant flowers blooming along the way; pause a while and enjoy them; do not pluck them, you will find more as you go along. Drink the nectar from the cooling streams that flow and enjoy rest under the shade of the spreading trees. Your destination is eternity and that is not at the end of a journey, it is all along the way.

Randall Butisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE

Your purpose in life must be a lifelong search inwardly as well as outwardly to ascertain what your real role is during your short sojourn here on Planet Earth.

Your life’s possibilities are not fixed by birth, status or education. Your fullest potential is only achieved when you become aware and identify your “calling” or purpose in life. On finding it, your feelings of self-worth, happiness and connection to the Universe will be so overwhelming that you would know that “This is it”!

You will now be no longer hampered by self imposed limitations and stereotypes of yourself and your capabilities. You will now be supercharged with the spiritual energies of the Universal Energy force and able to put yourself into God’s frame of reference as you actualize your ideas in executing God’s plan for you to get his work done through your ACTION.

Cyril Bryan - cybryan@hotmail.com

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

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SOME THERE ARE that torment themselves afresh with the memory of what is past; others again afflict themselves with the apprehension of evils to come, and very ridiculously both - for the one does not now concern us, and the other not yet…One should count each day a separate life.

Seneca

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THOUGHT FOR TODAY

THE DUALITY OF MAN  

Man is a duality of mysterious grandeur and pompous aridity. A vision of God and a mountain of dust. It is because of his being dust that his iniquities may be forgiven….and it is because of his being an image…that his righteousness is expected.

Abraham Heschel

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Man has now become conscious of having come into the full possession of his sphere of action. Having reached this apogee of responsibility and freedom, holding in his hands all of his past, and all of his future, he will make the choice between arrogant autonomy and loving excentration.

Teilhard de Chardin