EXTRAVAGANCE

 

                                            EXTRAVAGANCE

‘Extravagance’ is totally unnecessary. It is wastefulness, lavishness, profligacy, recklessness, excess, immoderation, lack of restraint, over display of wealth and resources, unnecessary exhibitionism, and excessive expenditure of assets.

A number of religions, moral systems, social philosophies and principles  of simplicity condemn extravagance.

In a country where innumerable citizens have to beg for food, sleep in the open, remain under-dressed and borrow money for various essential  ceremonious functions, extravagance is a vice, a sort of sin and immoral act.

Extravagance is an avoidable wastage of money and means. It is a violation of simplicity and humility and display of material arrogance. It is also an impious activity, hurtful to the under-privileged. It may be approved by aristocracy, but not by democracy.

Here are some of the valuable thoughts on extravagance.

1.     He that is extravagant will soon become poor, and poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption. ---English author Samuel Johnson (1709-84).

2.     The passion of acquiring riches in order to support a vain expense, corrupts the purest souls. ----French Archbishop Francis de S. Fenelon (1651-1715).

3.     Prodigality is the vice of a weak nature, as avarice is of a strong one. It comes of a weak craving for those blandishments of the world which are easily had for money.---English poet, dramatist and political scientist  Sir Henry Taylor (1800-1886).

4.     Laws cannot prevent extravagance; and this perhaps is not always an evil to the public. A shilling spent idly by a fool may be picked up by a wiser person, who knows better what to do with it; it is, therefore, not lost. ---American statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706-90).

5.     Riches are for spending, and spending for honour and good actions; therefore extraordinary expense must be limited by the worth of the occasion. ---English author and philosopher  Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Finally, it is better to be frugal than to be extravagant because a penny saved is a penny earned.

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G.R.Kanwal

20^th February 2024

 

 

 

 

 

HOLINESS

 

          HOLINESS 

The word ‘holy’ is defined as sacred, pious, spiritually perfect, untainted by evil, sinless, sanctified, venerated, religious , devout, heavenly, divine, godly, godlike, angelic and blessed.

To categorize things as holy or unholy is difficult. There can be no consensus among the people who categorize a particular thing as holy or unholy.

There is another question : Has God made the same things as holy at one place and  unholy and at  another place?

Why are some rivers, hills, shrines, etc., considered holier than others?

I sometimes think that whatever God has made or created is holy. The sun, the moon, all the stars, every river, every hill, the whole earth, forests, the natural objects, animals and birds, fruits and vegetable, the plants and herbs all are holy. Likewise, every moment of time is holy. No moment is independent of the full stream of time.

Rain is holy everywhere and in every season. The autumn is as holy as the spring.

There is a diversity of things but all of them are sacred by themselves. It is people, their users, who misuse them and affect their holiness.

People are born holy. They become unholy by their evil deeds.

The English divine Philip  Henry  (1631-96) said “Holiness is the symmetry of the soul.”

According to F.D. Huntington, the American clergy (1819-1904) : Holiness is religious principle put into action. It is faith gone to work. It is love coined into conduct; devotion helping human suffering, and going up in   intercession to the great source of all good.

German humorist Jean Paul Richter (1763-1826) had this to say: Everything holy is before what is unholy ; guilt presupposes innocence, not the reverse. Angels, but not fallen ones, were created.  Man does not properly rise to the highest, but first sinks down from it, and then afterward rises again.

The fact is that holiness is a creation by God, un-holiness, by human beings.

Finally, here is a bit long quote: Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man. No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness. The world calls for, and expects from us simplicity of life, the spirit of prayer, charity towards all, especially towards the lowly and the poor, obedience and humility, detachment, and self-sacrifice.     

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G.R.Kanwal

19 February 2025       

 

SHAKESPEARE ON LIFE

 

SHAKESPEARE ON LIFE

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was not a philosopher. He was a poet-playwright. He changed his views about topics like life, love, death, world, God, happiness, grief, gratitude, ingratitude, etcetera according to the situation before him. He contradicted himself without hesitation. This is also true about many other great poets.

The American poet and essayist Walt Whitman (1819=1892) asked : Do I contradict myself? And answered, yes I do? I am great.

Given below are a few quotations on ‘Life’ by William Shakespeare. They present no consistent philosophy; yet each view expressed by him is weighty and laudable.

1.     The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: Our virtues would be proud if faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues. ---All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4.

2.     .  . . . Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. ---Macbeth, Act 5.

3.     Life is a shuttle.---Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 5.

4.     It is stillness to live when to live is a torment. ---Othello, Act 1.

5.     We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with sleep.----Tempest, Act 4.

6.     There’s nothing in this world can make me joy: Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man; and bitter shame hath spoil’d the sweet world’s taste, that it yields nought but shme and bitterness. ---King John, Act 3.

G.R.Kanwal

18^th February 2025

 

WHAT IS LIFE?

 

          WHAT IS LIFE? 

Life is a mystery; so is death. The world, too, is a riddle, a conundrum, a puzzle.

Even the purpose of life is a problem, an enigma, a brain-teaser.

The span of life is not the same for all humans and other living beings.  

In spite of all these issues, life is both a dream and reality which is going to be there for aeons to come.

A lot of thinkers have expressed their thoughts about the nature of life. They are not only interesting but also illuminating.

Given below is a small selection of thoughts expressed by great thinkers from various fields of life. The names of these thinkers have been mentioned but not their particulars for want of space.

1.Every man’s life is a plan of God. – Horace Bushnell.

2.Every man’s life is a fairy tale, written by God’s fingers.---Hans Christian Andersen.

3. A little work, a little sleep, a little love and it is all over.---Mary Roberts Rinehart.

4. Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, stains the white radiance of eternity. ---P.B.Shelley.

5. The book of life begins with a man and woman in a garden. It ends with Revelations. ---Oscar Wilde

6. Life is a long lesson in humility.---James M.Barrie.

7. We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.---Voltaire.

8. Life is a series of surprises. We do not guess today the mood, the pleasure, the power of tomorrow, when we are building up our being. -----Ralph Waldo Emerson.

9. He lives long that lives well; and time misspent is not lived, but lost. God is better than his promise if he takes from him a long lease, and gives him a freehold of a better value. ----Margaret Fuller.

10. Life is the childhood of our immortality.---Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

11. Life does not count by years. Some suffer a lifetime in a day, and so grow old between the rising and the setting of the sun. --- Augusta Evans.

12. There are two lives to each of us, the life of our actions, and the life of our minds and hearts. ---History reveals men’s deeds and their outward characters, but not themselves. There is a secret self that has its own life, un-penetrated and un-guessed,--- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton.

            To conclude, here is a short quote: Life is a dream ---realize it.

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G.R.Kanwal

17th February 2025       

 

         

 

SAY NO TO TEMPTATIONS

 

SAY NO TO TEMPTATIONS  

Temptations are traps. They are alluring, attractive, fascinating, enticing, fascinating and tantalizing but their effects are harmful and vicious.

Those who cannot resist temptations have to face undesirable results. Adam and Eve were tempted by the forbidden fruit in heaven and had to fall from there and come into this world.

Things which tempt us are unhealthy. Wine, cigarettes, spicy food, sensual activities, unethical pleasures, stealing, greed, gluttony, extra-marital relations, cheating, use of unfair means for fair ends, indulging in immoral practices and so many other physical, mental and  spiritual temptations have hellish consequences.

Temptations are illegitimate desires. Their fulfillment is painful. The pleasures or joys which they give us are ephemeral. A rat tempted by the food in the rat-trap becomes a prisoner. He loses his free movement and perhaps feels remorse for his getting tempted.

The English divine Samuel Clarke (1675-1729) said: Bearing up against temptations and prevailing over them is the very thing wherein the whole life of religion consists. It is the trial which God puts upon us in this world, by which we are to make evidence of our love and obedience to Him, and of our fitness to be made members of His kingdom.

And according to the American educationist Horace Mann (1796 --1859): Temptation is a fearful word. It indicates the beginning of a possible series of infinite evils. It is the ringing of an alarm bell, whose melancholy sounds may reverberate through eternity. Like the sudden sharp cry of “Fire!” under our windows by night, it should rouse us to instantaneous action, and rouse every muscle to its highest tension.

  The best way to escape the evil consequences of temptations is to say ‘no” to them. To resist temptations is to preserve the holiness of your body, mind and soul.

To conclude, here is a quote which says: “Common temptations include eating too much, spending too much, laziness, venting on social media, gossiping, feeling jealous, viewing pornography, lying or cheating and abusing alcohol.”

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G.R.Kanwal

16 February 2025  

 

WHAT IS LOVE?

 

          WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is a quality of the heart. To be alive is to be in love not only with a man or woman but the whole world.

We must love our country, our home, our friends and relative, our body, mind and soul.

Nothing is unlovable in this world. The whole universe is worthy of love. All nations, all religions, all planets deserve love. One must love, the sky, the sun, the moon the stars, mountains, rivers and gardens with their trees, flowers and thorns.

Birds and beasts all look for loving eyes and affectionate hands.

God deserves maximum love for His infinite life-friendly blessings and well-deserved mercies.

Love is life. A person who does not get  love is almost lifeless. He is alone and cut off from all the joys, beauties and charms of the world.

Love is health and happiness; its antonym hatred is sickness and distress.

Love demands sacrifice not for some time but for the whole of one’s life.

Love is not a duty, it is a spiritual offering. It asks for no material rewards.  It is a selfless phenomenon.

To be untrue and unfaithful in love is poisonous. Truthful and loyal love is elixir.

A person who loves his enemies, rivals, opponents, competitors and antagonists is the best practitioner of love.

If love changes into hatred; hatred, too, changes into love. In this respect, time is a great changer.

True love is  free from jealousies. It is extremely broad-minded. It is non-possessive. It believes in the freedom of the loved ones.

To conclude, here is a sonnet by the English poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

. . . . . . . Love is not Love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove;

O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken.

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth is unknown, although his height be taken.

 

Love is not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

 

If this be error and upon me prov’d,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

  

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G.R.Kanwal

15 February 2025

  

           

GOOD AND BAD HABITS

 

GOOD AND BAD HABITS 

A habit is defined as something one does often and almost without thinking.  Once formed a habit is hard to break.  

There are good and bad habits. Good habits keep you healthy and happy; safe and loveable; successful and comfortable; they maintain your good reputation and win you more and more friends and admirers.

Bathing daily, going for a walk, doing some exercise, eating nutritious food, reading books, offering prayers, appreciating  friends and relatives, saying please and thank you are some of the good habits.

Drinking, smoking, gambling, eating too much, oversleeping, criticizing others, losing temper and making excuses for not performing your duties and fulfilling your promises are a few bad habits.

Cursing is bad; blessing is good.

The best period for forming good habits and avoiding bad habits is childhood. Homes and educational institutions are the most important places for cultivating civilized behavior with good habits.

It is well said that habits are good servants but bad masters. Whereas they save your time, they snatch your liberty to change your life style.

The American clergy George B. Cheever (1807-90) said: Habit is the child of impulse. There is in human life the period of impulse, when habit is nothing; and there is the period of habit, when impulse is nothing. Young persons are creatures of impulse; old persons are creatures of habit. Almost everything is impulse with a little child, and nothing can be called habit; almost everything is habit in the second childhood of old age, and there is very little that can be called impulse. Impulse is habit in formation; habit is impulse fixed. When habit is once formed ,impulse is powerless against it. Indeed all impulse falls into it. It is like a deep and swift and resistless river, into which an opposing mountain current may pour with tremendous momentary shock and  agitation, but with no effect whatever, save to increase the volume, rapidity, and fury of the tide, which is turned downward to the sea.

To conclude, here is another significant quote: Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny. ----American clergy George Dana Boardman (1828-1903).

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G.R.Kanwal

!3 February 2025