|
When
societies get out of harmony, problems develop within the
society. Collective problems. Their purpose is to push the
whole society toward harmony. Individuals can discover
that they can not only grow and learn through individual
problem solving, they can learn and grow through
collective problem solving. I often say I've run out of
personal problems, then every once in a while a little one
presents itself somewhere. But I hardly recognize it as a
problem because it seems so insignificant. Actually, I
want to do all my learning and growing now by helping to
solve collective problems.
There
was a time when I thought it was a nuisance to be
confronted with a problem. I tried to get rid of it. I
tried to get somebody else to solve it for me. But that
time was long ago. It was a great day in my life when I
discovered the wonderful purpose of problems. Yes, they
have a wonderful purpose.
Some
people wish for a life of no problems, but I would never
wish such a life for any of you. What I wish for you is
the great inner strength to solve your problems
meaningfully and grow. Problems are learning and growing
experiences. A life without problems would be a barren
existence, without the opportunity for spiritual growth.
|
|
I once
met a woman who had virtually no problems. I was on a
late-night radio program in New York City. This woman
called the station and wanted me to come to her home. I
was intending to spend the night at the bus station, so I
said okay. She sent her chauffeur for me, and I found
myself in a millionaire's home, talking to a middle-aged
woman who seemed like a child. She was so immature, and I
wondered at her immaturity, until I realized that the
woman had been shielded from all problems by a group of
servants and lawyers. She had never come to grips with
life. She had not had problems to grow on, and therefore
had not grown. Problems are blessings in disguise!
Were I to solve problems for others they would remain
stagnant; they would never grow. It would be a great
injustice to them. My approach is to help with cause
rather than effect. When I help others, it is by
instilling within them the inspiration to work out
problems by themselves. If you feed a man a meal, you only
feed him for a day--but if you teach a man to grow food,
you feed him for a lifetime.
It
is through solving problems correctly that we grow
spiritually. We are never given a burden unless we have
the capacity to overcome it. If a great problem is set
before you, this merely indicates that you have the great
inner strength to solve a great problem. There is never
really anything to be discouraged about, because
difficulties are opportunities for inner growth, and the
greater the difficulty the greater the opportunity for
growth.
Difficulties with material things often come to remind us
that our concentration should be on spiritual things
instead of material things. Sometimes difficulties of the
body come to show that the body is just a transient
garment, and that the reality is the indestructible
essence which activates the body. But when we can say,
"Thank God for problems which are sent for our
spiritual growth," they are problems no longer. They
then become opportunities.
Let
me tell you a story of a woman who had a personal problem.
She lived constantly with pain. It was something in her
back. I can still see her, arranging the pillows behind
her back so it wouldn't hurt quite so much. She was quite
bitter about this. I talked to her about the wonderful
purpose of problems in our lives, and I tried to inspire
her to think about God instead of her problems. I must
have been successful to some degree, because one night
after she had gone to bed she got to thinking about God.
"God regards me, this little grain of dust, as so
important that he sends me just the right problems to grow
on," she began thinking. And she turned to God and
said, "Oh, dear God, thank you for this pain through
which I may grow closer to thee." Then the pain was
gone and it has never returned. Perhaps that's what it
means when it says: 'In all things be thankful.' Maybe
more often we should pray the prayer of thankfulness for
our problems. Prayer is a concentration of positive
thoughts.
Many common problems are caused by wrong attitudes. People
see themselves as the center of the universe and judge
everything as it relates to them. Naturally you won't be
happy that way. You can only be happy when you see things
in proper perspective: all human beings are of equal
importance in God's sight, and have a job to do in the
divine plan.
I'll
give you an example of a woman who had some difficulty
finding out what her job was in the divine plan. She was
in her early forties, single, and needed to earn a living.
She hated her work to the extent that it made her sick,
and the first thing she did was to go to a psychiatrist
who said he would adjust her to her job. So after some
adjustment she went back to work. But she still hated her
job. She got sick again and then came to me. Well, I asked
what her calling was, and she said, "I'm not called
to do anything."
That
was not true. What she really meant was she didn't know
her calling. So I asked her what she liked to do
because if it is your calling you will do it as easily and
joyously as I walk my pilgrimage. I found she liked to do
three things. She liked to play the piano, but wasn't good
enough to earn her living at that. She liked to swim, but
wasn't good enough to be a swimming instructor, and she
liked to work with flowers.
I
got her a job in a florist shop so she could earn her
living working with flowers. She loved it. She said she
would do it for nothing. But we used the other things too.
Remember, she needed more than just a livelihood. She
needed other things. The swimming became her exercise. It
fits in with sensible living habits. The piano playing
became her path of service. She went to a retirement home
and played the old songs for the people there. She got
them to sing, and she was good at that. Out of those three
things such a beautiful life was built for that woman. She
became a very attractive woman and married a year or so
later. She stayed right in that life pattern.
I knew another woman who was confined to her room and had
been there for quite some time. I went in to see her and I
could tell immediately from the lines in her face and the
tenseness of her that it wasn't physical at all. And I
don't think I had talked to her for more than five minutes
before she was telling me all about how mean her sister
had been to her. The way she told it, I knew she had told
that story again and again and mulled over in her mind
constantly that bitterness against her sister. I found
myself explaining to her that if she would forgive, ask
forgiveness, and make peace with her sister, then she
could look for an improvement in her health.
"Huh!" she said. "I'd rather die. You have
no idea how mean she was." So the situation drifted
for awhile.
But
early one morning at dawn this woman wrote a beautiful and
inspired letter to her sister, which she showed to me.
(There is something very wonderful to be said about dawn.
Sunset is good, too. The only thing is, at sunset most
everybody is awake and they're hurrying and scurrying
around. At dawn most everybody is slowed down or asleep
and they are much more harmonious when they're asleep. So
dawn is often a good time for spiritual things.) I
immediately went into town and mailed the letter before
she could change her mind. When I got back, she had changed
her mind--so it's a good thing I had mailed it! She
worried a little, but by return mail came a letter from
her sister, and her sister was so glad they were to be
reconciled. And you know, on the same day that letter
arrived from her sister the woman was up and around and
out of bed, and the last I saw of her she was joyously off
for a reconciliation with her sister.
There's
something to that old saying that hate injures the hater,
not the hated.
|
