Gleaning Wisdom from the Sage and Personal Friends

"I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death."~Leonardo da Vinci

"Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it." ~Mark Twain~

"Only those who find solace and sublime joy in their hearts and are consciously willing to be meek and compassionate to others have the chance to succeed. Faith in God, hope for humanity and deep realization of human responsibility for love could be the virtue needed to succeed in practicing forgiveness, patience and perseverance; without these, we may never last the long journey in advancing our principles." ~Maguid Maruhom

"The secret to success job-wise, career,marriage, interpersonal relationships is true humility.The rest will follow as you rightly put it. My personal belief is that without knowing the real meaning and purpose of life, and growing to the ultimate potential and sowing seeds that benefit others will be bring life's journey harder and shorter." ~ Precy Dancel Bierbaum

"Knowing the meaning and purpose of life is the beginning of wisdom. But without the means (formula) it would be impossible to do what you said. I agree, loving your enemy is the hardest of all. But how do we do this without forgiveness? How do we forgive if we are not meek? And how could we be meek without love? Reason why love is made as the pinnacle of faith -" without love there is no faith," as Muhammad repeatedly said. It appears to be a cycle. You thought it is impossible but when you succeed once, it becomes a habit in following the foot steps of Jesus. But it is the inner weaknesses that prevent the unconscious self from doing this, particularly, pride, fear, etc. The first step, therefore, involve overcoming personal weaknesses, and thus the saying, "the heart of revolution is the revolution in the heart." ~ Maguid Maruhom

"General Douglas MacArthur said and I do agree with him..."We have had our last chance. If we do not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involved a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advance in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past 2,000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

Albert Einstein put it this way, "The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.”

Yes indeed, we need those principles, means or formulas if we all want to succeed in life that you mentioned above. It must be taught and learn daily as life goes along. Someone said that life is strange...yes and no.
"Overcoming personal weakness" is the message that we seldom hear from people. Many religion of this world does not teach that and yet it is the true essence of religion, Christian and Islam alike.

Character is what we are going to carry in the after life and this has to be developed in this earthly home. Then only then human beings can learn to forgive others and able to love even the enemy."~ Precy Dancel Bierbaum

"Marvelous! Precy, I never thought such words of wisdom can come from an ordinary soul like you, but it is the truth. It is my first time to hear this piece. I agree, indeed, our greatest challenge is social. Our advances in science and culture is not matched with our spiritual development. The fruits of science and technology had been reaped like no other time in history, but with our illusion of success, contentment and happiness and the culture that pursue it,  are way out of sync with the truth of reality. It only gives us more and more disconcord- ance in life. I share your view, the greatest problem this age faces is morality. I cannot imagine how the fruits of cultural advancement can only bring suffering and pain to millions of souls and destroy mother earth if we only use it in accord with the right values. Everyone is a victim!

But religion is still the answer and could have offered us the greatest solutions to our present difficulties. The sad thing is, many religions opted to resign from offering the light we badly need in pursuit of harmony and peace. Many were even been exploited by the power be that rule the world through manipulation and machination. Instead, they concentrated much on saving the soul and leaving the material (social) thing in limbo or to be consumed by injustice. They are more and more preoccupied with with endless debates, bickering and dividing humanity when what we truly need is dialogue and unity for change. For as long as the soul is imprisoned in the body, it could be impossible to save it unless you save the body, as well. I boldly say, what we need is a harmony in life, a complete integration of our social and spiritual life; for the truth is, the human being is a coin with two sides; the material and immaterial. For as long as we fail to harmonize and integrate them (individually and collectively) we will always fail in our pursuit of real peace.

The hope is, we still have faith in God, and nothing is permanent but change. I believe in the capacity of the human spirit for change." ~ Maguid Maruhom

Reactors: Precy Dancel Bierbaum, my sister. BS Food and Nutrition - Undergraduate
Maguid Maruhom - our dear Muslim Brother who knows our family all too well, best friend and classmate of our eldest brother, Jacob. He is a Politician and Humanitarian, and Ecologist

This is the kind of family we have. Our mindset is far from the mainstream of the material world.

Source: Extracted from Facebook dated 20 February 2010