What's your philosophy?

Everyone has a philosophy of life - things one believes and makes decisions by - things which guide one's point of view of people, reactions to people, handling pressure situations, dealing with personal losses, success/failure at work, financial losses, death of a near relative, and so on. People may or may not call it philosophy, but everyone has ways of drawing opinions and conclusions.

A good philosophy comes from a good mind - a mind which thinks rationally. One's ideas and opinions may change over the course of one's life, especially when coming across other ideas, exploring other horizons. So the question is:

Does philosophy make a difference?

Philosophy does make a difference. The holocaust was a negative and dark chapter of our history. The murderous ideas that caused these killings and tortures ware the fruits of an evil tree that grew in evil soil - the mind of Adolf Hitler. After the takeover of the government of Germany, Hitler executed his idea that "only Arian's should live" on all those Jews, infirm, aged, with the cost of so many lives. To some, the holocaust is a chapter of history, a thing of the past. For some, who lost their relatives under the Nazis, it is a gruesome and evil memory and experience. But the pains and sufferings borne during that time will leave a permanent scar.

It is much easier, it must be said, to speak of an event so long ago, and learn lessons from it. So what lessons can be learned then?

It matters what one thinks about life

It matters what one thinks about keeping promises

It matters what one thinks about time

It matters what one thinks about morality

It matters what one thinks about "is my life my own"

It matters what one thinks about God

It matters what one thinks about death and after

But when the lessons apply to one's own life, introspection can reveal that under pressure or pain, one struggles to live up to one's philosophy. Socrates was one man who deserves great respect. He said "the unexamined life is not worth living". He believed that virtue was essential and sufficient for happiness. The crowning glory of his life, is that he died for his convictions.

All Creation Searches for God

Listen to your heart, says Bryan Adams, picturing the love story of Robin Hood and his love. The song tries to capture to love between the friend of the poor and his beloved. The Peace Pilgrim said I searched for God in churches and everywhere, finally I found him in all things that is beyond us, the creative force behind all things. In Paulo Coelho's beautiful book, "The Alchemist", a shepherd finds the soul of the Universe and the soul of man being united. Hinduism talks of the atma(soul) and the paramatma(great soul).

Sometimes one may wonder. If I am convinced about my faith in Jesus Christ, could God have given me a Catholic birth and another a different birth? How would that equate to the great good? Well, the answer is simple. You can be born in an island and find no church, no temple, no synagogue, no mosque, no stupa, no whatever. Yet, we are created by our Divine master, the master of all things. This is a great creator who has placed in each of our souls, the desire to know and love God.

It is this desire of us people that causes great wise men to leave the pleasures of money or material wealth and seek God far away. It is this desire that causes great conquerors like Alexander the Great to say to his friend - I have conquered so many lands and so many men are in my command. Yet, deep inside, I have an incompleteness and feel no satisfaction. Our human person is not just a machine. Even if it were a machine, the human body is amazing when you consider how it grows from an embryo and how the heart beats - nothing like a human heart has been created. How the mind works - so amazing with so much imagination.

Yet, the human person is more than a body. More than a body and mind. A complete human person is a body, mind, soul and spirit. Yet, this soul is not isolated from other things. Rather, it is the soul that seeks the prefection. One who listens to his soul sees far beyond reason or logic. The eyes of the soul seek the perfect, the greatly good, the most beautiful and lovely, the powerful and yet humble truth. This is the search of truth.

Like Pilate in the movie "The Passion of the Christ" says "quid est veritas" - or what is truth? We all say inside? What is truth? What is the purpose of living? Jesus Christ taught many people - among them were sinners and prostitues too. Of special note is the fact that there were these groups of people publicly known as sinful, who were touched my the teaching of Christ and followed this teaching, even though their past was coloured by franatic search for temporary pleasure and things that pass.

It is this search in every man, in every generation, in every human person. The human soul is restless until finally at the end of time, it rests forever in its creator, God himself!! For me, everything around is a testimony of this search. Science is the search of truth, yet following experimentation as proof of any fact. This is science. For example, Stephen Hawking, considered a great teacher and authority in Relativity, says in the first chapter of "A Brief History of Time" -

"We shall never be satisfied until we find finally, an answer to all the mysteries of the universe". This is the search of science - a complete explanation of every thing that is so beyond our world, that we strive endlessly to. I do love these words of Hawking because the soul in every person can be seen in writings by people from fields so different from one another. This search can be seen in people in lands far away, who met different people and knew different systems of thought.

Each man or woman seeks love. Why? Life feels changed completely when one finds true love. Yet, love is not imperfect, but simply beyond human logic and reason. No person can master love and tell it what to do. It defies logic because it can do things that no logic can do. What is perfect love? An important distinguishing attribute of perfect love is sacrifice and unselfishness. Love is truly tested when it is difficult to love. When it hurts to give, if one can love, then that love is a reflection of the Divine love. The soul of man can find true love in surrender to the Spirit of truth, the Divine master, the Creator and all-powerful. The perfection of all things comes to the great altar in love.