By Ibonio D’Souza
Is it not our common experience that there is nothing disharmonious in God’s creation? The sun and moon, the seasons, the plants and animals exist and function in perfect order. It is only in human relationships that one finds bitterness and sorrow. Man alone is suffering, not the world of nature. Respect and consideration between individuals must be developed in order to bring about harmony in human relationships.
As man lacks that sense of harmony with others, he suffers from pangs of separateness that condemn him to a life of loneliness. He then becomes afraid, afraid of himself, afraid of others. This sense of separateness creates a thousand anxieties and sorrows. In their turn, these drive an individual to be selfish, cruel, angry, and even criminal. Love alone is the answer to this general problem of human suffering.
Mankind, down the ages and even today asks the same question. How do we end the sense of separateness and rediscover oneness in love? How can we learn to rise above our sense of limitation and fear? How can we discover our oneness with the world around us? This undying craving for harmony is in all and has existed from the genesis of man, in all cultures, races and countries.
Knowing only too well human weaknesses, our saints and sages advise us to grow in love and gain mastery over our challenges by rising above our limited, egocentric view of life and by exercising a constant awareness of the totality of the world, the entirety of mankind, and the vastness of universal problems. When this total perception is developed, our individual problems pale into insignificance. We invariably view our challenges from purely egocentric angle forgetting the vision of the totality of our world and thus our problems assume exaggerated proportions, crushing us down. Whereas to live a life of harmony, is to recognize ourselves as members of an interdependent humanity, living in a composite universe. It is to merge our life with the resonant cadence of the whole and to bring about a beautiful melody of harmonious existence.
Living in harmony with the external world is not to be construed as a life of idle acceptance or unintelligent surrender to the challenges confronting us. The harmony envisaged by the great religious masters is based on an awareness of the oneness of the dynamic life principle that is the Essence of the universe. This art of practicing harmony is to be applied in the din and bustle of the marketplace while we are sweating with exertion upon the narrow path of adversities. Living in harmony with the conditions around us brings to our heart an inward peace and poise. When we maintain poise, problems and challenges vanish like mist before the rising sun.
Man needs to be delivered from his own misconceptions of himself. When one develops respect for the divinity in him, he develops a sense of holiness, and his reverence toward other human beings increases. Then alone, can all economic, political, and social disturbances end. Religion, whether reached through the church, temple or mosque, cultivates in man this self-reverence. The seeker is taught to perceive a greater Reality, a greater and more Divine Presence in one and all.
