Respect elders to keep a temple or family whole

Learning Point No 166

The family comprises of different personalities from the parents to the children and grand children. No two in the family are identical but yey all are one. Bood runs thicker than water.

 

But should there be problem and the family is divided or worst still become a broken family, family members could come to blows and that would be ugly.

 

Son or worst still grandson may decide to take over the running of a family but if there is no harmony and no respect for the elders like the father or grandfather, the son  or grandson may send the father or grandfather out of the house and the grandfather  or father be thrown to the roadside.

 

This is just because the elder is no longer in the lead and no longer of use or a hindrance to the agenda or thinking of the son or grandson because the elder still talks  and wants to be heard though no longer running the household or holding the purse strings.

 

There must always be respect for elders even if they are not in their prime or may appear to be liability of sorts. This respect for parents and elders is one of the seven universal precepts that Lord Bo Tien passed down to us.

 

The temple of any saint or prophet too is like the family. A family like a flower is made up of many different components or parts. On their own, these parts  are not as outstanding and beautiful like the flower.

 

A temple or church anywhere is the same like the flower or family. It is beholden for second and third generation leaders who are children or grand children of the pioneers to  place their greatest respect for the pioneers who are parents and grandparents of the temple even if they have retired and no longer holding job or appointments.

 

But all hell will break lose if the 3rd generation takes over the running of the temple and announces that the pioneers are no longer parents or grandparents. Whatever the generation gap and even if the younger generation are better educated than the elders generation, the elders must be venerated as elders even if there be character flaws of sorts which even if present are debatable. 

 

If not, the scenario that unfurls would very much be unbecoming. No wonder Lord Bo Tien said that a flower (likewise a complete and united family) is a beauty to have but the stand alone singular part of the flower or an incomplete or damaged flower is not.

 

A temple like a family must be as complete as a flower. A temple like a family is a flower. Let a temple or church like the flower be whole. The flower is no longer whole and attractive if a part of it is torn away. This is the teaching of all saints.