Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Hate The Sin, Not The Sinner


Gandhi For Today :The Deed, not Doer

'Hate the sin and not the sinner' is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practised, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.

This ahimsa [nonviolence] is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing every day that the search is vain unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis. It is quite proper to resist and attack a system, but to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself. For we are all tarred with the same brush, and are children of one and the same creator, and as such, the divine powers within us are infinite. To slight a single human being is to slight those divine powers, and thus to harm not only that Being but with Him the whole world.

Man and his deed are two distinct things. Whereas a good deed should call forth approbation and a wicked deed disapprobation, the doer of the deed, whether good or wicked, always deserves respect or pity as the case may be.

Those who seek to destroy men rather than manners adopt the latter and become worse than those whom they destroy under the mistaken belief that the manners will die with the men. They do not know the root of the evil.

It is the acid test of nonviolence that, in a nonviolent conflict, there is no rancour left behind, and in the end the enemies are converted into friends.

Thought for today: We often think that our affairs, great or small, must be tended continuously and in detail, or our world will disintegrate, and we will lose our places in the universe. That is not true, or if it is true, then our situations were so temporary that they would have collapsed anyway. [Maya Angelou]

Have a sunny day. Fine Art and Gems.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful painting - the light is just gorgeous.
Greetings from Munich,
Petra

Anonymous said...

Maya Angelou is also one of my favorite authors. Your post is most interesting, I enjoyed reading it as it has a powerful message.

Annie O.

Anonymous said...

Hi, You sure have deep thoughts! How would you describe a non-violent conflict? How do you experience nature? In nature, there is no good or bad, I think. there is the mere struggle for life from every species at the cost of any other species. Would you think this could serve as a model for harmony? In which way can e learn from nature here?
Love,
Karen

Jim Terral said...

Beautiful site. Brings tears to my eyes. Thanks and keep up the good work. I'd like to learn how do you get sound to work with blogger.

Laura Winslow Godsil said...

To Annie, Petra, and Jim thankyou so much for your kind words. Laura

Anonymous said...

What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL post. I read this and wanted to weep with joy and laugh with joy and hug you for posting something that we all need to hear over and over and over again. Good for you for choosing something so life-giving. I love the concept of deiscerning the difference between the deed and the doer. Excellent writing by the way...Also love the Maya Angelou quote...I think one of her most powerful...that I've read. Thank you for making my DAY!!! :) :) Hugs to Laura, Robin

Laura Winslow Godsil said...

Thank you Robin and consider the hug recieved and returned.