DEVELOPMENT IS ENDLESS

 

DEVELOPMENT IS ENDLESS

            Development is defined as the gradual growth of something so that it becomes more advanced, stronger, etc.

            It is also defined as the process of growth, advancement, or creating something new.

            In a way development is also the synonym of evolution which is defined as the gradual development of plants, animal, etc. over many years as they adapt to changes in their environment .For more facts on this topic, read  Darwin’s theory of the evolution of the human species.

            In politics, one can see sudden violent change instead of gradual development. From democracy to dictatorship, from the policy of peace to that of war, from contentment to dissatisfaction and yearning for more, are a few examples.

            National development means improvement of a country in all areas. The American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882) said:

            Not gold, but only men, can make

            A people great and strong;

            Men who for truth and honor’s sake

            Stand fast and suffer long.  

 

            Specific male figures who contribute  profoundly to the overall development of the world are: thinkers, discoverers, inventors, scientists, industrialists, psychologists, ideologists, educationists, medicos, economists, statesmen, spiritualists, philosophers, people at the helm of affairs, etc.   

 

            It will also be correct to say that men and women of all ranks contribute to the development of a nation.

 

            However, the  greatest role belongs to God’s theory of evolution.  

 

            Development started the day the world was created and will continue till its end. However, development also  has its rise and fall. There are periods of decline, regression, destruction, retrogression, stagnation, etc.

 

            Here is a relevant quote:

           

            “The Roman Empire transformed from a modest Republic into a Mediterranean superpower over centuries, dominating Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It eventually collapsed due to economic crises, political instability, and unrelenting barbarian invasions, culminating in the West’s fall in 476 CE.”

 

            To conclude, modern man has already invented nuclear weapons of total destruction. While highlighting the existential threat involved in future wars  the German scientist Albert  Einstein (1879-1955)  said: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but the World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

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G.R.Kanwal

14 June 2026

     

WHAT MAKES LIFE PERFECT?

 

                                WHAT MAKES LIFE PERFECT?

            Life is made perfect not by the large number of years, but by its worthy deeds which may be accomplished even in a brief period.

            In his poem The Perfect Life, the English poet and playwright Ben Jonson (1572-1837) says: Perfection does not consist in bulk. The highest beauty in nature is not seen in a tall oak tree, standing for three hundred years, but in a lily which blossoms and dies in a day.

            Look at these lines taken from his poem:

It is not growing like a tree /In bulk, doth make man better be.

A lily of a day/Is fairer far in May/Although it fall and die that night--/It was the plant and flower of Light./In small proportions we just beauties see;/And in short measures life may perfect be.

 

          English romantic poets John Keats (1795-1821), Lord Byron (1788-1824) and P.B.Shelley (1792-1822) lived a short but perfect life. They are immortal in English literature. Keats said: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. Byron’s famous quote is: I love not man the less, but Nature more. And see this great quote by P.B.Shelley: We look before and after/And pine for what is not/Our sincerest laughter/With some pain is fraught.

 

            Here is another poet talking about brief but perfect life. He is Robert Herrick (1591-1674). The following three stanzas are taken from his most popular poem To Blossoms:

 

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,/Why do ye fall so fast?/Your date is not so past,/But you may stay yet here a-while,/To blush and gently smile;/And go at last.

 

What, were ye born to be/An hour or half’s delight,/And so bid good-night?/’Twas  pity Nature brought ye forth,/Merely to show your worth./And lose you quite.

 

But you are lovely leaves, where we/May read how soon things have/Their end, though ne’er so brave:/And after they have shown their pride,/Like you a-while;---they glide/Into the grave.

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PUNCHLINE: The life of a mosquito is short but very active.

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G.R.Kanwal

12 June 2026         

           

 

THIS WORLD IS NOT GODLESS

 

            THIS WORLD IS NOT GODLESS  

            Among the common attributes of God omnipresence is the most significant. He is present everywhere. He is watching you with his open eyes that can make no mistake. You cannot hide yourself from his observation. No curtain can make you invisible.

            God’s  other attributes include omniscience, omnipotence, eternity, immutability, and sovereignty.

            God wishes all human beings to be virtuous. Some cardinal virtues expected by Him are:

            Prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, humility, charity, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.

            The antonyms of virtues are :

            Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, revenge, and rebellion.   

            Some people think that God is all merciful. He overlooks our moral weaknesses, physical and mental aberrations, all sorts of sinful beaviour;  and we can therefore escape punishment. It is an incorrect conception.

            Remember: God sees the truth but waits.

His ways of punishing and forgiving us are mysterious. He does not retaliate but at the same time He does not quickly forgive. .

            Confession of your guilt, immoral actions, undue pride, arrogance, immoral and sinful behaviour and the promise to mend yourself at the earliest is the best way to please God.   

            Also remember: It is never too late to mend.

            Here is a poem about forgiveness and non-retaliation.  Its title is Yussouf and is written by the American poet and essayist James Russell Lowell (1819-1891). Its central idea is that forgiveness is the noblest form of revenge.

                                     Full Text of the Poem

A stranger came one night to Yussouf's tent,

Saying, 'Behold one outcast and in dread,

Against whose life the bow of power is bent,

Who flies, and hath not where to lay his head;

I come to thee for shelter and for food,

To Yussouf, called through all our tribes "The Good."

 

'This tent is mine,' said Yussouf, 'but no more

Than it is God's come in and be at peace;

Freely shall thou partake of all my store

As I of His who buildeth over these

Our tents his glorious roof of night and day,

And at whose door none ever yet heard Nay.'

 

So Yussouf entertained his guest that night,

And, waking him ere day, said: 'Here is gold;

My swiftest horse is saddled for thy flight;

Depart before the prying day grow bold.'

As one lamp lights another, nor grows less,

So nobleness enkindleth nobleness.

 

That inward light the stranger's face made grand,

Which shines from all self-conquest; kneeling low,

He bowed his forehead upon Yussouf's hand,

Sobbing: 'O Sheik, I cannot leave thee so;

I will repay thee; all this thou hast done

Unto that Ibrahim who slew thy son!'

'Take thrice the gold,' said Yussouf 'for with thee

Into the desert, never to return,

My one black thought shall ride away from me;

First-born, for whom by day and night I yearn,

Balanced and just are all of God's decrees;

Thou art avenged, my first-born, sleep in peace!'

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G.R.Kanwal

11 June 2026

WHAT IS POETRY?

 

               

                                                                WHAT IS POETRY?

1.     Poetry is the language of the heart, the mind, and he soul. It expresses deep feelings and sublimest thoughts both realistically and imaginatively.  Its medium is metrically expressed music.   It covers all the scenes and sights of earthly and heavenly life in the best possible words.  Nothing is outside of its beautiful pale and panorama.  

2.     The English poet and playwtight William  Shakespeare (1564-1616) says in his play Midsummer Night’s Dream:      

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,

Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,

That is the madman; the lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt:

The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And, as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

    

3.     The Greek philosopher Plato said: Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.

4.     According to the American journalist Gamallel  Bailey (1807-1859) : Poetry is itself a thing of God. He made his prophets poets and the more we feel of poesie do we become like God in love and power.

     

5.     Here are a few short definitions of poetry:

(a). Poetry is emotion put into measure,--English poet and novelist Thomas Hardy. (b). Poetry is the language of the imagination and passions.---English essayist William Hazlitt. (c). Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement. ---English poet and playwright Christopher Fry. (d). Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings : it takes its origins from emotion recollected in tranquility.---English poet William Wordsworth. (e). Poetry is what gets lost in translation.---American poet Robert Frost. (f) A good poem is a contribution to reality.---Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and writer. (g). Poetry is not turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion.---T. S. Eliot,  American poet and playwright .(h). Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.---English writer Samuel Johnson. (i). Poetry is the best words in the best order.---English poet S.T.Coleridge. (j). If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all.---English poet John Keats.

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G.R.Kanwal

10 June 2026  

  

 

 

 

 

 

A FEW DON’TS

 

                          A FEW DON’TS

1.    Don’t tell a lie because it has no legs to stand upon.

2.    Don’t brood over the past. It is dead and to think of it is to waste your precious time of today.

3.    Trust no future however pleasant. Let the past bury its dead. Act,---act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead!.

4.    Don’t think of taking revenge. Try to forget and forgive.

5.    Don’t indulge in gluttony. It destroys your health.

6.    Don’t be arrogant. Arrogance loses friends.  

7.    Don’t say “yes” to everything. Protect your energy by setting healthy boundaries and learning to decline without guilt.

8.    Don’t hate anybody. You will remain mentally disturbed so long as hatred is there. Replace it by love as soon as possible.

9.         Don’t be a spendthrift. Believe in simple living and high thinking.

10.            Don’t bottle up your emotions. Expression is better than repression.

11.Don’t burn your candle at both ends.

12.Don’t depend upon external approval for your actions.

13.Don’t harbour grudges. Holding onto anger is to punish yourself rather than anybody else.

14. Don’t let clutter build up. It creates mental chaos and disallows you to  relax.

15. Don’t commit any offence because it will rob you of your tranquility.

16. Don’t run after wealth. It is better to be contented than to be greedy.

17. Don’t forget that character is higher than intellect.

18. Don’t have a false face anywhere.

19. Don’t speak ill of the dead.

20. Don’t trust anyone blindly.

21. Don’t indulge in violence.

22. Don’t be disloyal.

23. Don’t lose patience in any explosive situation.

24. Don’t love the body more than the soul.

25. Don’t blow your own trumpet.

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G.R. Kanwal

9^th June 2026

 

 

MORAL VALUES

 

MORAL VALUES

            Values are defined as those fundamental beliefs, principles, or standards  which approve  individuals or their groups’  judgment, behaviour, and choices. They tell what is right, wrong, important, desirable, or virtuous in life.

            Remember that what is valuable is good, worthy, respectable, appreciable , helpful, and upright, etc.

            That which is not valuable is worthless, base, harmful, offensive,  useless,  injurious, and unrespectable.

            The word moral means : good, right, just, virtuous, ethical, honourable, religiously sound, sacred, honest, just, devout, decent, chaste,  proper, fit, pure, and blameless.

            A short but important list of moral values  consists of:

Honesty, truth, loyalty, faithfulness, sincerity, patience, forgiveness, tolerance, love, affection, sympathy, empathy, charity, patriotism, righteousness, impartiality, pity, mercy. helpfulness, compassion, integrity, gratitude, humility, justice, co-operation, and companionship,

            According to the English polymath and writer John Ruskin  (1819-1900)  :

            “Value is the life-giving power of anything”.

            A great and spiritually sound country must continue to embrace moral values in all walks of life.

            The French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) said:

            “All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God.”

            According to the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882 ) :

            “Morality without religion is only a kind of dead-reckoning ---- an endeavour to find our place on a cloudy sea by measuring the distance we have run, but without any observation of the heavenly bodies.”

            E. H. Chapin, the American preacher and editor (1814-1880) , said:

            “Morality is the vestibule of religion.”

            To conclude, here are a few valuable words of the  Scottish divine Ralph Wardlaw (1779-1853): 

            “Morality is religion in practice; religion is morality in principle.”

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       G.R.Kanwal

       8^th June 2026  

 

VICES AND VIRTUES

 

                   VICES AND VIRTUES

            Good health depends on shunning vices and embracing virtues.

            A vice is defined as immoral or wicked behaviour.  It is a form of un-ethicalness. It has harmful effects on one’s body, mind, and soul.

            The antonym of vice is virtue. Its synonyms are – wrongdoing, wickedness, badness, evil-doing, frailty, evilness, crime, offence, scandal, and sin.

            The synonyms of virtue are : uprightness, goodness, probity, integrity, morality,  excellence, righteousness, incorruptibility, rectitude, grace, merit, and excellence,

            What are some of the vices?

            There are at least ten vices which one must shun. They are: greed, envy, gluttony, pride, sloth, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language and lies.            

            Virtues keep a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. They keep him happy, calm, peaceful, safe, contented, patient, fearless, friendly, loving, and affectionate,

            A vicious person loses sleep. A virtuous person enjoys  a long peaceful sleep even in a dangerous situation.

            Vices destroy health and happiness. For example, anger can be fatal.  Vices affect one’s digestion and make him seriously sick.

            Virtues make you brave, patient, robust, glad, cheerful, contented, and worthy of public respect and populariy.

            A vicious person is unreliable; a virtuous one is trustworthy.

            Hell awaits a person who has lived a vicious life.  Heaven is wide open and ready to welcome a virtuous man.

            A vicious man is irreligious.   A virtuous one s a spiritualist. He is concerned with the purity of his soul; whereas the vicious person is a slave of his unhealthy materialistic desires.

To conclude, here are two memorable quotes:

1.     Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbour, and let every new year find you a better man.

2.     It is easier to be vile together than to be virtuous alone. Be noble like the sun; let even those who resent you for shining benefit from your warmth. True virtue is knowing the self not by intellectual knowledge but by pure silence.  When truth looks in the mirror, virtue looks out.

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G.R.Kanwal

7th June 2026