A Living People

A Living People

1990 3 March 4 A Living People (290) For a living people, there is no difference between saying and doing.

Mr. Edwin M Reingold is a senior American journalist who, in 1969, was appointed chief of the Tokyo Bureau of Time magazine. In this capacity he has studied Japan and the Japanese people for the last 20 years,

In the light of his 20-year experience, Mr. Reingold wrote an article on Japan (Time, June 5, 1989) in which, amongst other things, he notes that “even though the Japanese appear to be quite rigid, they can move quickly once they have decided it is to their advantage.”

This is the most certain sign of a living nation. For a living people, there is no difference between saying and doing. Once the truth of a principle is clear to them, they are immediately moved to action.

You can always go by their word, for their actions are always exactly in accordance with their declared intentions.

This virtue is found in the highest degree in the true believer. For the common man, self-interest may be the greatest incentive to positive action, but for the true believer, just being shown the truth of the matter in hand is sufficient to make him swing into action.

The true believer cannot conceive of a proven truth not being put into practice. Once the truth of a cause has been established by reasoning, he cannot then refuse to devote his life to that cause.

The Prophet and his companies are perfect models of this quality: where the truth was laid bare to them, they devoted their entire lives to its propagation. Although faced with seemingly insuperable obstacles and all kinds of hardships, they never once wavered, finally sacrificing their lives in the cause of truth.