Never Despair

Never Despair

1989 3 March 13 Never Despair (382)

Acceptance of the present opens the door to a brighter future. Failure to do so deprives man not only of whatever the present has to offer, but also of what the future might hold in store. Man’s best course is to engage in high thinking at all times, and never to sink into despair and the resulting state of inertia.

“That which does not kill one makes one stronger.” This conclusion reached by a western thinker suggests a context in which human survival hovers on the brink of annihilation. It suggests survival achieved in the face to gigantic odds, and the great lesson taught by that experience. The learning of such a lesson is ideally what should happen when one is forced to struggle against adversity, but it is only the wise man who can turn unfavourable circumstances to good advantage. Where the common difficulties of life spell ruin for the unwise, for the wise those same difficulties become a ladder to progress.

To succeed in life one must never lose heart. “We need to get over the questions that focus on the past and on the pain – ‘Why did this happen to me?’–and ask instead the question which opens the door to the future: “Now that this has happened, what shall I do about it.?” (Rabbi Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People.)

The present world has been made in such a way that unpleasantness has to be confronted and obstacles overcome. Man is faced with a bewildering array of difficulties, not once but many times over. This being the situation, the only way to have a successful life is to forget the past and concentrate on the future. The disadvantaged should never waste their time in bewailing their losses. They should instead give all their attention to the remaining possibilities. And if they have to start all over again, they should lose no time in doing so.

Acceptance of the present opens the door to a brighter future. Failure to do so deprives man not only of whatever the present has to offer, but also of what the future might hold in store. Man’s best course is to engage in high thinking at all times, and never to sink into despair and the resulting state of inertia.