THE ART OF NON-PROVOCATION Character Above Every Insult

is intellectual: he notices the final human transaction but overlooks the enormous system that made the transaction possible. He sees the price tag but forgets the universe behind the product. A thoughtful person sees things differently. When food reaches his table, he sees not merely a commercial commodity but the final product of a vast chain of divine facilitation. When he drinks water, he remembers the planetary system that delivered it. When he earns money, he recognizes that his own intelligence, health, opportunities and abilities were themselves given to him. Such realization naturally produces gratitude. And gratitude is the proper response to sustenance. The truly awakened person therefore does not stop at the shopkeeper, employer, market or supply chain. His mind travels beyond these immediate causes to the Cause behind all causes. He realizes that money may purchase food, but money cannot create a seed. It may pay a water bill, but it cannot create rain. It may buy medicine, but it cannot independently create the laws of healing. It may purchase a ticket, but it cannot create the physical laws that make transportation possible. Human beings arrange, process, transport and exchange. But the foundational resources, laws and possibilities have already been provided. This is the divine system of sustenance. Man makes the payment at the counter. But long before he arrives there, the universe has already been working for him.  Overconfidence makes people anticipate the destination without beginning the journey.