A Purposeful Life

When the Japanese were asked to comment on this report, they maintained silence. When they were exhorted to speak out, they said: “You know our Chinese friends have a way of twisting our tails, and appealing to our conscience.” Japan had an aim and that was to promote its business interests. This aim for them was character forming in that it taught them the wisdom of forbearance, the avoidance of talking of things of no importance and speaking only when there was a real need. Having a definite objective caused them to forget past grievances and to bury all complaints and war initiatives unilaterally, so that the path to their achieving their goal might become free of obstacles. This is a standard piece of psychology, whether the aim be to transact business or carry out any other project. And when any group loses the ability to follow this line, it indicates that they have lost their purpose in life. When there is no clear objective before them, the individuals of such a group lose in character. At present the greatest weakness of Muslims is that they have no character. You will find that in every field people have lost their character. No solid foundation can be erected upon them. Wherever you try to bring them into play, they turn out to be like a wall of unbaked bricks—unstable. The main cause of this weakness is that today our people have lost all awareness they ever had of a purpose in life. As a group, they have become aimless. They lack the drive to build the future either in this world or the next. This is their real weakness. If this consciousness could once again be revivified, they would once more be a living people—a people of good character, just as they were in the past. It is of paramount importance to impress upon individuals how vital it is for them to have a sense of purpose