SOME THOUGHTS ON POWER

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON POWER

‘Power’ has many meanings like ability, capability, competence, force, strength, mastery, right, prerogative, etc. In this short note, this word has been used in the sense of authority.

            The central idea in this note is that power should not make its holder proud, arrogant, autocratic, dictatorial or revengeful. Power should be used to help not to harm anybody. English writer Francis Bacon (1561-1626) says “Nothing destroys authority so much as the unequal and untimely interchange of power, pressed too far and relaxed too much.“ 

According to French philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662 } “Justice without power is inefficient; power without justice is tyranny. Justice without power is opposed, because there are always wicked men. Power without justice is soon questioned. Justice and power must therefore be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful  may be just.”

Power should not be misused. It should not make its holder cruel or merciless. It should rather make him humble and kind-hearted. God is omnipotent, yet very merciful. The appropriate use of power is to strengthen the weak and uplift them.

To conclude let you power become moral power and be used spiritually rather than physically.     

There is the most famous quote

“ Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”

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G.R.Kanwal

11^th April ----------- 2024

 

RUMI SAID ….

 

RUMI SAID ….

“Come, come, whoever you are,

Wanderer, fire worshipper, lover of leaving.

This is not a caravan of despair.

It does not matter that you have broken your vow

A thousand time, still come,

And yet again come.”

 

These poetic lines have been taken from “Rumi The Big Red Book by Coleman Barks.”  Rumi”s full name was Jalal-al-Muhammad Rumi. He was born on 30th September 1207 at Balkh, Afghanistan and died on 17 December 1273 at Konya, Turkiye. He is regarded as the greatest mystical poet of Islam.  His poems are  popular among the followers of all the faiths in every part of the world.

 

The lines quoted above are about God’s forgiveness for all sorts of  sinners howsoever hardened they may be,  provided they have decided to reform themselves.  God is always merciful, his home is one of hope, not of despair.  

 

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G.R.Kanwal

9^th March 2024  

 

A POEM ON FORGIVENESS

 

            A POEM ON FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness is an essential quality of a noble person.  To feel offended by the wrong doing of somebody is a normal reaction.   But not to forgive the wrongdoer and to think of retaliation shows that they are ignorant of each other’s background.  

The title of the poem that follows is “To KNOW ALL IS TO FORGIVE ALL”. It is written by an American journalist Nixon Waterman (1859-1944).

“If I knew you and you knew me--

If both of us could clearly see,

And with an inner sight divine

The meaning of your heart and mine---

I’m sure that we would differ less

And clasp our hands in friendliness;

Our thoughts would pleasantly agree

If I knew you, and you knew me.

 

If I knew you and you knew me,

As each one knows his own self, we

Could look each other in the face

And see therein a truer grace.

Life has so many hidden woes,

So many thorns for ever rose;

The “why” of things our hearts would see,

If I knew you and you knew me. “

        

            According to a commentator the  poem “To know all is to forgive all” means understanding and knowledge can lead to forgiveness. If we have a deep understanding of someone’s circumstances, experiences, or struggles, we can empathise with them more fully and find it easier to forgive any wrongdoing or mistakes the may have made.”

 

            The key lines in the poem are: Our thoughts would pleasantly agree/If I knew you and you knew me.

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G.R.Kanwal

8^th March 2024

 

BENEFITS OF FORGIVENESS

 

BENEFITS OF FORGIVENESS

To forgive is to let bygones be bygones. It is to excuse, pardon, acquit, not to bear malice or harbour grudge. English poet Alexander pope’s saying : “ To err is human, to forgive, divine “ is only partially true. Human beings, too, should be kind-hearted and forgiving. Revenge and retaliation are not virtues; they are some sort of deadly sins. .

            Forgiveness has many benefits. One of them is “It brings restoration. When we forgive, it opens the door for relationships to be restored. It is the key to rebuilding trust and restoring broken relationships.”

Vindictive and revengeful persons harm not only those who have hurt them but also themselves. The anger which they carry disturbs their inner peace because they go on brooding over the unhappy past events which ruin their physical and mental health.  

            Finally, as somebody said : He who has not forgiven an enemy has never yet tasted one of the most sublime enjoyments of life.

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G.R.Kanwal

6^th March 2024

WHAT MAKES A NATION STRONG

 

                WHAT MAKES A NATION STRONG

Countries are classified as developed, developing and undeveloped. The main basis is their industrial development and the wealth produced by it. However, there is no equal distribution of wealth among the people of any country. There are very poor and very rich people side by side.

Some unworldly philosophers don’t agree that wealth is the essential basis of a country’s strength. According to them, the wealth of a state, consists not in great treasures, solid walls, fair palaces, weapons and armour; but its best and noblest wealth, and its truest safety, is in having learned, wise honourable, and well-educated citizens.

There is also no single definition of wealth. For Greek philosopher Epicurus (341 Bc—270 BC) wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.   

To conclude, here is a poem titled “A Nation’s Strength” by the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882):

Not gold, but only men can make

A people great and strong

Men who for truth and honour’s sake

Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep

Who dare while others fly –

They build a nation’s pillars deep

And lift them to the sky.

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G.R.Kanwal

5^th March 2024      

 

 

 

Religion and Politics

 

Religion and Politics

There are different views about politics in religion and religion in politics. As there are several religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc., so  are there several political systems like democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, aristocracy, dictatorship, etc.    

            In secularism, States do not represent any particular religion. Here, a citizen is free to practice any religion.

            English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) says : “For forms of government, let fools contest/Whatever is best administered is best.”

            Cutting short my theme about intermixing  religion and politics, I want  to emphasize only one  thing and that is one’s  relationship with God.  

Here is a relevant view by American orator and statesman Daniel Webster 1782-1852). He says: Political and professional fame cannot last forever , but a conscience void of offence before God and man is an inheritance for eternity. Religion, therefore , is a necessary, an indispensable element in any great human character. There is no living without it. Religion is the tie that connects man with his Creator, and holds him to his throne. If that tie is sundered or broken, he floats away a worthless atom in the universe, its proper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing but darkness, desolation and death. A man with no sense of religious duty is he whom the Scriptures describe in so terse but terrific a manner, as ‘living without hope and without God in the world.” Such a man is out of his proper being, out of the circle of all his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness, and away, far, far away from the purpose of his creation.”

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G. R. Kanwal

4^th March 2024   

 

WHAT ARE PROVERBS?

 

          WHAT ARE PROVERBS?

Proverbs are also known as sayings, maxims, adages, aphorisms, etc. Most of them are old, well-known, traditional and time-honoured. 

Lord John Russell has defined them as the wisdom of many, and the wit of one.

According to American author Ralph Waldo Emerson proverbs are the literature of reason, or the statements of absolute truth, without qualification. Like the sacred books of each nation, they are the sanctuary of its intuitions.

The simplest definition of proverbs as : ”Short sentences drawn from long experiences.” Belongs to  the Spanish writer Cervantes (1547-1616).

A bit longer definition which follows is by the English Quaker William Penn 1644-1718 . “The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures of directions for human life.”

Let us now look at some proverbs taken from a school boy’s English textbook .

1. A lie has no legs to stand upon. 2. Truth is ever green. 3. Might is right. 4. It takes two to make a quarrel. 5. Hunger is the best sauce. 6. Nearer the church, farther from God. 7. Haste makes waste. 8. It is never too late to mend. 9. Better late than never. 10. Out of sight, out of mind. 11. A rolling stone gathers no moss. 12. A little pot is soon hot. 13. A golden key opens all locks. 14 Much cry, little wool. 15. Penny wise, pound foolish.

To conclude, proverbs are not the literary treasure of the educated people. They are an important   part of folklore. The illiterate, too, use them in their day-to-day life.

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G.R.Kanwal

3^rd March 2024