Be a winner and not a loser in life

Learning Point No 390

Innocence is often considered a purity, more so if it is the innocence of youth and childhood, or the innocence of the new believer in a religion. 

Common feature is one of faith in life, the beauty that life presents. Youth is like the flower, ever beautiful and enchanting but once exposed to the vicissitudes and temptations of life which are like insects to the flower, the innocence is lost and the flower withers. 

All the beauty and enchantment will be there no more. In their place, we find ugliness of life when life is no longer as good or as innocent as before. 

When men grow be it in society or in religion, the initial faith and innocence will be replaced by distrust, pride, jealousy and prejudice. That seems to be the case in any society and in any religious organisation. 

It is very much like the budding, blooming of a flower and the subsequent withering.

Hope seems to give way to despair and anguish as society or religious organisation grows and moves on. The pioneer days are always ever wonderful and beautiful. There is no doubt about that.

But like the flower withered by insects coming to it for nectar, blame not the flower. Blame not society or the religion for the failings of life we experience.

Blame not society for the problems that come about because of the scheming and self centered actions of men who came purportedly to lead and help but actually are helping themselves instead. 

Blame not the church or temple for the problems exacted by men with social agenda under the guise of spiritual agenda. Such leaders in men often start off correctly like saints. 

But tainted and won over by erstwhile distractions, they bent and wrecked havoc and damage below the surface often unseen and undetected like cancer till their schemes are exposed eventually. 

Lament not the loss of innocence in life. But try to be mindful and discerning that what is beautiful may well not be under the surface or may not last for long. 

Stay mindful and will to be at peace even if there is mud and unwholesome underpinnings in society. This is the way of the saints. 

Saints never lament on the loss of innocence. They see the true nature of life as it unfurls and wither like the flower. 

They are at peace with life as it blooms and even as it withers, for there is much to learn and gain from life as it unfurls or as it folds, if it has to fold. 

Saints never lament and whine but are at peace. They are not affected by the tide of life, by the seasons and by sunrise and sunset. 

The choice is plain. It is certainly better to be saints and be winners always than be losers and whiners in life. 

Such men never die. They resurrect the life of peace and joy. They live even as they die because they believe in the way of saints. They are winners. They win over life and not lose out to life. 


PS This post like many others is again based on the parable of the flower and the insects which was elucidated by Lord Bo Tien.