Tolerance

 We are still unable to come to terms with inclusiveness, tolerance and acceptance. We conflict over religion. We debate about our national language. We have forgotten to piece the jigsaw puzzle together to make a wholesome picture that we can all be proud of.

We have a wonderful example of different kinds of trees coexisting and contributing to our eco system unanimously.

It is amazing that in a “friends” chat group, we have to refrain from anything political or religious. Opinions can cause massive rifts and boycotts even if they are rational discussions. Everyone walks on egg shells. Truth is multipronged! There is no single root. This is nothing but intolerance. The deep need of conversion also is perhaps rooted in people feeling threatened by any kinds of different belief systems and therefore, wanting clones to co-exist, to create a comfort zone for insecure people.

Culturally, earlier, we supported one code of conduct which everyone had to follow, and that body of principles made us a strong and cohesive body of people. This had no bearing on the religion people followed. It was a set of principles for a creation and sustenance of human harmony. 

We are now paying a high price for individual egoism. The “I am right” factor. Gone are the trends that brought and kept people together. It is all about “me and myself”. We see this seeping into group activities, too.

Basic respect for everyone, no matter how different they seem to be on the surface would start the peace process.

I have a question. Those who are judgmental and non-accepting of others … do you accept yourselves ?

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Tolerance

 

“Keep the doors open” and “don’t burn your bridges” are two very important aspects of human connectivity. Circumstances can change overnight and if our relationships are not intact, there will be no support system in times of crisis. Families were created for exactly this reason.

Tolerance for the good, bad and ugly circumstances in our lives is mandatory. However, that tolerance towards everything and everyone without reacting adversely is what will keep us going. Calm and patience , and the faith that things have to change with time and the wheels keep turning. Nothing is static!

We also, hopefully, will keep learning as we go along and contribute to external change by means of our internal change.

Nothing is impossible!

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Perspectives

 

“All the five fingers are not alike” is a wonderful saying if we can consider its implications. But a fist is formed with all of them, despite the irregularity.

A family is just like that. The motley crowd of a family forms a fist uniting all the fingers. And it is said, a closed fist is worth lakhs. It is symbolic of united families where each one is different but together, they are awesome, even formidable.

But sadly! That is not true anymore.

We don’t look at the larger perspectives because the vision is lacking. We are very short sighted. We only look at what can fulfil our wants.

So, as a result, families are breaking up. No tolerance and little caring for each other.

And we keep adjusting to the new ways of distancing! Where is the choice? A clap also needs two hands.

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Compassion

 There are many attitudes and philosophies rampant in this world. Some believe that it is best to live and let live. Some feel extremely entitled. Some are very class conscious, especially economic status. Some help the needy for publicity and some out of compassion. Some want to be forerunners all the time while some don’t like racing with others and are contented.

It takes all kinds to make this world . The only factor lending to strife is we feel our ways must be accepted by all. It has become a dangerous trend in this world and nothing good can ever come out of intolerance .

It just takes a small amount of wisdom to start minding our world and finding happiness in it. And leaving others to do the same within their worlds. Collision of any kind produces friction which can be avoided . Wisdom is all about knowing when to treat things at face value and when to dig deeper.

One thing is certain. If we must dig deeper, let us do it within ourselves. At no point is digging up the lives of others going to help us .

Let apples be apples and oranges be just oranges. Let us enjoy the different tastes of life instead of getting obsessed with cloning. It can be very boring.

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Uniqueness

 Religions are manmade. Every apostle left the earth alone and people around him organized themselves around his teachings and it became a religion. For example, Buddha only said, “become a Buddha”. But his followers started a religion. The good thing was that there was an attempt to follow the teachings because not one of them ever preached anything separatist or conflict driven. They spoke about how to lead a spiritual life and connect with Creation and the soul.

What happened was that man, in his frailty, started to imagine his religion to be the only right one. And the rest is history. There has never been peace because there has never been either tolerance or acceptance between human beings.

It is worth thinking about why we feel we have to reject people who are different. People who are not like us, people who don’t think, walk, talk or look like us. It has to be an aberration. That we can go to the extent of even exterminating these people. How badly threatened we must feel, right?

Actually, we are so unable to extend our vision to encompass and appreciate the uniqueness of others. We feel small, irrelevant. And we don’t like that feeling. And we lack courage to become better. So, we feel it is easier to remove / destroy what makes us uncomfortable.

Always worth remembering that it is a lack within us that presents an illusion of a lack within others it is the resonance that makes this real. If you elevate yourself from that space, you are through.

So, keep your religion and all other identities within yourself and only for you. And allow others to do the same. Why is it so difficult?

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari