A Calendar of Wisdom

May 1

He who sees his life as a process of spiritual perfection does not fear external events.

Abu Ganifakh died in a prison in Baghdad in which he’d been put by Caliph al-Mansur for refusing to accept the teaching of Kaad. Once, before his death, when this famous spiritual teacher received a heavy blow from a guard, he told the man who hit him, “I could render you an injury after you have done an injury to me. I could complain to the Caliph, but I will not complain. In my prayers, I could tell God about this offense which you have done to me, but I will refrain from this. During the day of the Final Judgment I could ask divine revenge for your act, but even if this day comes today, and even if I knew that my prayer would be heard, even then I would enter paradise only with you.”

—PERSIAN WISDOM

Do not think that courage lies only in boldness and power. The highest courage is the courage to be higher than your rage and to love a person who has offended you.

—PERSIAN WISDOM

Criticize yourself, but do not feel desperate about it.

—EPICTETUS

What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

—MATTHEW 10:27-28

May 2

People very often do not accept the truth, because they do not like the form in which the truth is presented to them.

The beginning of a quarrel is like a flood which breaks through a dam. As soon as it rushes through, you cannot stop it.

—The TALMUD

One should avoid disputes; when afire becomes too big, it is difficult to quell it.

During an argument, make your words very soft, and your heart hard. Do not try to lash out at your opponent, but try to convince him.

—GEORGE WILKINS

If you know the truth, or if you think that you know the truth, try to pass it on to the others, as simply as you can, along with the feeling of love for those persons to whom you pass it.

May 3

The life of Jesus Christ is very important for us as an example of a life of one who could not see the fruits of his work during his lifetime.

Clever people study in order to know more. Undeserving people study to be more known.

—EASTERN WISDOM

In order to reach spiritual perfection, you should first of all take care of the purity of your soul. This can be reached when the heart looks for truth, and strives for wholeness, and depends on true knowledge.

—CONFUCIUS

If you would like to know how to recognize a prophet, look to him who gives you the knowledge of your own heart.

—PERSIAN WISDOM

Every person has only one purpose: to find perfection in goodness. Therefore, only that knowledge is necessary which leads us to this.

May 4

Every thought which is expressed by words is a force, and this force is limitless.

Good thoughts which originate from the hearts of men are as useful as good examples.

—LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA

Strong thoughts which are expressed in a powerful way aid the improvement of life.

—MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO

A thought is an intellectual and vital energy of life, and it can be either a curse or a blessing, depending on its quality.

—LUCY MALORY

Truth expressed in words is the greatest force there is in the lives of people. We do not understand this force completely, because its consequences are never seen at once.

Use good thoughts of wise people; if you cannot create similar kind and wise thoughts, then at least do not distribute the false thoughts expressed by you and by others.

May 5

Religious teaching, that is, the explanation of the purpose and meaning of life, should be the basis of any education.

People think that it is no crime to lie to children, and that to lie to children is not really very wrong, but even sometimes necessary. But it is clear that with children you should be especially careful and honest about what you say to them.

You should always be truthful, especially with a child. You should always do what you have promised him, otherwise you will teach him to lie.

—After the TALMUD

Man, whose teacher is nature, should not be a piece of wax on which an elevated image of some professor is to be carved.

—GEORGE LICHTENBERG

Do not say to a child whom you teach that there is a final truth, if you do not believe in something completely, or if you have some doubts. To do such a thing is a great crime.

May 6

Compassion for animals is so natural to us that we can become insensitive to their suffering and death only through traditions or hypnosis.

Compassion for animals is so closely connected with kindness that you can truly say that a person cannot be kind if he is cruel to animals. Compassion for animals comes from the same source as compassion toward people.

—ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

Fear God, do not torture animals. Let them serve you, and let them rest when they are tired; provide enough food and drink for those creatures which cannot speak.

—MOHAMMED

A person is not higher than other animals because he can mercilessly torture them, but because he can take pity on them.

—BUDDHIST WISDOM

Do not allow your children to kill insects; this is the first step along a road which can lead to the killing of people.

—PYTHAGORAS

May 7

A person who tries to find good outside himself, either in this life or in the one to come, is making a mistake.

I went along all the earth, searching for a guiding light. I went all over without rest, at night and during the day, and then I heard from a preacher, who opened the truth to me, that the answer is inside my soul, and that the light which I was looking for everywhere in the world is inside me.

—EASTERN WISDOM

There are no coincidences, either in life or in one’s fate. A man creates his own destiny.

—ABEL VILLEMAIN

You either make evil for yourself, or you escape sin and purify yourself; you are bad or evil, or you are pure; and nobody can save you except for yourself.

—DHAMMAPADA, a book of BUDDHIST WISDOM

Your body is a city which is full of good and evil; and you are the king of this city and your intellect is your best counselor.

—SAINT LUKE

The happiness or unhappiness of a man does not depend upon the amount of property or gold he owns. Happiness or misery is in one’s soul. A wise man feels at home in every country. The whole universe is the home of a noble soul.

—DEMOCRITUS

Nothing can give a man strength when he is looking for salvation other than his own effort.

May 8

There is nothing more attractive than humbleness and kindness. But you should not seek kindness which advertises itself.

A wise man said to another man who was chasing him, “If you have any grievance against me, tell me now, before we enter the city, otherwise other people will hear it and they will attack you.”

—EGYPTIAN WISDOM

But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For which is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

—LUKE 22:26-27

The rivers and seas are the masters of the valleys across which they flow. This is because they are lower than the valleys. In the same way, a person who wants to be higher than other people should be lower than they; if he wants to guide people, he should be below them.

—LAO-TZU

A wise man was told that he was considered to be a bad person. He answered, “It is good that they do not know everything about me, because otherwise they could say worse things about me.”

Try to avoid making judgments about yourself, especially by comparing yourself with others. Compare yourself only with perfection.

May 9

Life is constant change; it ought to consist of weakening the material and increasing the spiritual side of our existence.

Seek to learn constantly while you live; do not wait in the faith that old age by itself will bring wisdom.

—SOLON

Virtue always lasts longer than other qualities, and it always starts from the beginning.

—IMMANUEL KANT

The kindness of a dove is not virtue. A dove is not more virtuous than an eagle. Virtue begins only when there is an effort.

If God wanted to, he could have made us one nation, but he tests us. Wherever you go, in all places, try as much as you can to be kind, to be good, and then the day will come when God will unite all of us.

—The KORAN

We cannot stop on the way to self-perfection. As soon as you notice that you have a bigger interest in the outer world than in yourself, then you should know that the world moves behind you.

Only spiritual things exist in reality, and the material world is only an illusion.

If you want to save your soul, forget about your comfort.

May 10

Truly, only those things which are spiritual are real. Those things which can be seen and felt are only an illusion.

Life is given to us not only for pleasures.

—NIKOLAI GOGOL

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

—MATTHEW 6:24

In the long run, there is only one subject worthy of study, and this is the different forms of transformation of the spirit. All other subjects and studies can be brought to these basic things.

—HENRI AMIEL

I can send my thoughts to many different people at once; they will cross the seas and they will go to different lands if there is God’s will, and the power of love and wisdom. My thoughts by themselves are a spiritual power; they can exist at the same time in thousands of places. My body, however, can only exist at one place at one time.

—LUCY MALORY

It seems to us that the most clear, understandable, and obviously existing things are not all there is. There is something else: unclear, unknown, contradictory, and nonexistent.

May 11

The moving force of all perfection, both for individuals and for whole nations, is not the understanding of what exists in this world, but the understanding of what can be achieved.

The weaker my hands, the more effort I should make to achieve perfection.

“You must be as perfect as your father in heaven.”

The perfection of the highest kindness is the goal for which all mankind strives. Christian learning about perfection is a tool for all mankind.

A person who sails far from the shore can see some shore-lines or cliffs. But when sailors go really far away from the shore, they can be guided only by the stars high up in the sky, and the compass which indicates their direction, and both these things are given to us.

No matter how low a person may fall, he will always be able to see that perfection toward which he should move.

May 12

Life is the constant approach to death; therefore, life can be bliss only when death does not seem to be an evil.

We say sometimes, “Here I will live in the rainy season, there I will live in the summer.” So a crazy man dreams, because he does not think about death. But then death comes, and it takes all people with it: the man who is busy, and he who is concerned with something, and he who is greedy, and he who is absent-minded. Neither your son, nor your father, nor family or friends can help you when death comes. A wise man, one who understands this, looks for the way which leads to calmness.

—BUDDHIST WISDOM

A man comes into the world with his hands pushed into fists, as if he wants to say, “All this world is mine.” A man leaves this world with his palms open, as if to say, “Look, I take nothing with me.”

—The TALMUD

You should live your life as if you are ready to say good-bye to it at any moment, as if the time left you is some pleasant surprise.

—MARCUS AURELIUS

Your life is a small stretch of unlimited time. So have a good look at it, and make the best of it.

—SAID-BEN-HAMED

Remember, you do not live in the world, you only pass through it.

May 13

Every person should decide questions of life and death for himself.

A wise man sets requirements only for himself; an unwise man makes requirements for others.

—CHINESE WISDOM

A soul does not learn; it simply remembers what it knew all the time.

—DAUD EL GAFFER

A wise man always finds some support for himself in everything, because his gift is in obtaining goodness from everything.

—JOHN RUSKIN

Nothing will bring you peace except yourself.

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Only the truth which was acquired by your own thinking, through the efforts of your intellect, becomes a member of your own body, and only this truth really belongs to us.

—ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

May 14

The soul knows everything. No new thing can surprise it. Nothing can be bigger than it. Let others be afraid, but the soul is not afraid of anything. It lives according to its own laws. It is bigger than space and older than time. It gives courage against all the misfortunes of life.

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

God lives in all people, but not all people live in God, and this is the source of their sufferings.

A lamp cannot burn without fire, and a person cannot live without God.

—THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA, a book of HINDUISM

Do you think that anybody can damage your soul? Then why are you so embarrassed? I laugh at those who think they can damage me. They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think, they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.

—EPICTETUS

All things in the world belong to me. Creation and destruction happen according to my will. The present world is just a shell, and I am the yolk.

—PERSIAN WISDOM

The intellect questions, how and why? The dove does not ask, it says: I am love. It gives satisfaction without asking questions.

Fear nobody and nothing. That which is the most precious matter in you can be damaged by no one and by nothing.

May 15

Truth is not virtue, but the lack of vices.

The most common and the most widely used deceit is the wish to deceive not other people, but yourself. And this kind of life is the most harmful.

There are thousands of ways which lead to deception, and there is only one way which leads to the truth.

—JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

People should follow only the indisputable truth.

—CONFUCIUS

Truthfulness is the only real currency which circulates everywhere.

—CHINESE PROVERB

Let us be truthful. This is the mystery of rhetoric and virtue, this is the biggest mystery, this is the highest achievement in art and the major law of life.

—HENRI AMIEL

One of the most common mistakes is to think that you can live without truth. The inner and outer consequences of even the smallest lies are usually more harmful than those small unpleasant things which result from telling the truth directly.

May 16

Humanity has never lived and cannot live without religion.

Religion is the necessity and prime condition of the life of an intellectual person.

The stronger the religious feeling is, the better one understands what is and what should be the guide of all one’s actions.

It is difficult enough to plug your ears in a big hall full of dancing people; now imagine that you are in an asylum. For one who destroys in himself his religious conscience, all of the religious activity of other people will produce a similar impression. But it is dangerous to think that you are more clever than the majority of religious mankind.

—HENRI AMIEL

People often say that religion loses its power amidst humanity. This is not true, and this cannot be true. This happens because the people who think so observe only a small group of people, and there are always certain people who do not have religious feelings.

If a person has problems, there can he only one root cause: lack of faith. The same is true within human societies as a whole.

May 17

The greatest joy, according to the works of Francis Assisi, is that you can endure everything, you can even suffer slander and physical pain, and at the end you are able to feel no animosity toward these sufferings, but you feel joy, because you have faith; such joy cannot be destroyed, either by evil people or by your own suffering.

The quality of a really virtuous person is to be unknown to people, or to be misunderstood by people, but not to be disappointed by this.

—CHINESE WISDOM

When they blame you and scold you and discuss you, then you should rejoice; when they praise you and admire you, then you should be sad.

Libel and a false reputation which you can destroy is the best school of goodness.

The blaming and criticism of other people is bad. But at the same time it is understandable, and it is valuable as the only test of your love for God and your neighbor.

May 18

One cannot say that the understanding of the divine essence of your soul gives you power, for this understanding raises you to that level which transcends any notions of force or weakness and therefore of power.

Heaven is closer to those people who purify their souls. Those who have only the knowledge received by our five senses do not know the essence of things. The real knowledge is the understanding that there is a higher spiritual force.

—INDIAN WISDOM

People may ask you, “Why do you know God?” You should respond, “Because he is in my heart.” Look at the essence of life, not with the eyes in your head, but with the eyes of your heart. Can you know yourself, if you do not know God? The real understanding of yourself is the understanding of God.

—PERSIAN WISDOM

Who can harm you, who can be more powerful than you, if you are united with God? And can do this.

May 19

The foundation of all faiths is the same.

It only seems that people are busy with trade, with making agreements, negotiations and wars, science and the arts. There is in fact only one thing which people do; this is to search for the understanding of the moral law by which they live. And this understanding is not only the most important but the only real concern for all humankind.

A wise man was asked, “Is there a single word which you can follow throughout all your life?” And the wise man answered, “There is such a word. This is shu.” And the meaning of this word is, “If we do not want certain things to be done to us, we should not do such things to others.”

—CHINESE WISDOM

You should behave in such a way that you can say to everybody, “Behave as I do.”

—After IMMANUEL KANT

The really true and unchanging law, that law which gives us true direction and which forbids us to do bad things, is the intellect of a higher, superior being.

—MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO

When you clash with other people, remember the law of reciprocity. You should do to others those things which you want done to you. This should become your way of life.

May 20

For a person, for an animal, indeed for any living being, there is neither logic nor meaning in the word “freedom” because all our lives are limited by many constraints. And yet if a person understands himself as a spiritual being, he cannot even speak about not being free: the idea of not being free cannot be applied to the notions of intellect, conscience, and love.

Remember that your understanding of your inner self holds the meaning of your life, and it makes you free if you do not force it to serve your flesh. The human soul which is enlightened by understanding and freed from passions, and lit with the divine light, stands on a firm foundation.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

—JOHN 8:32

Evil does not exist in material nature by itself, but evil exists for every person who understands goodness, and who has the freedom of choice between good and bad.

—MARCUS AURELIUS

We understand very clearly that to be a person with high morals is to be a person with a liberated soul. Those who are disappointed or concerned or afraid, or who are involved in passions, cannot free their souls.

—CONFUCIUS

People who deny freedom remind me of blind people who deny colors. They do not know the nature of freedom.

May 21

In order to live in goodness, try doing it.

You should celebrate each new day with a good action, a good deed. This is the best way to start a new day.

Nobody has any idea about what goodness is, until they start doing it.

—HARRIET MARTINEAU

God’s love will go from heaven to those who give to the poor. A double blessing will go to those who, while doing this, meet the poor and tenderly say “good-bye” to them.

—The TALMUD

When you do a good deed, be grateful that you have had the chance to do it.

You must know firmly and feel deeply that you should dedicate every day to the good of your fellows, doing everything you can for them. You have to do it and not talk about it.

—JOHN RUSKIN

If you cannot teach yourself to seek possibilities for doing good and to do good at every possible occasion, then at least do not miss a chance to do good.

May 22

The greatest changes in the world are made slowly and gradually, not with eruptions and revolutions.

The same things happen in one’s spiritual life.

All great thoughts are living thoughts, and they can grow and be changed. And they change and grow as a tree, and not as a cloud.

—JOHN RUSKIN

All really great things are happening in slow and inconspicuous ways.

The process of life should be the birth of a soul. This is the highest alchemy, and this justifies our presence on earth. This is our calling and our virtue.

—HENRI AMIEL

Our life is unceasing wonder, growth, and development.

—LUCY MALORY

There is nothing more harmful for your inner perfection than the understanding that you are doing well. The way to happiness, the way to real moral improvement, moves so invisibly, so inconspicuously, that a person can see his successes only after great, lengthy periods of time.

If you think that you are moving toward perfection and you notice this, then you should know that you are mistaken, that you have stopped and are moving backward.

May 23

We should be satisfied with the small things in life. The less we need, the less trouble we can have.

It is a great happiness to have what you desire; but it is an even greater happiness not to want more than you already have.

—MENEDEMUS

Who is a wise man?—He who studies all the time.

Who is strong?—He who can limit himself.

Who is rich?—He who is happy with what he has.

—The TALMUD

Nature needs small things, but your imagination needs much.

From pleasures appear sadness and fear. He who is free from pleasures does not have either fear or sadness.

—BUDDHIST WISDOM

The initial joy on becoming free is better than being a king; it is more beautiful than going to heaven; it is more important than commanding whole worlds.

—BUDDHIST WISDOM

The growth of your desires is not the way to perfection, as many people think. To the contrary, the more a person limits himself, the better he can understand his human dignity, and the more free, the more brave he becomes, and most importantly, the more capable of serving God and other people.

May 24

Love is one of the manifestations of God in man.

The purpose of life is to express love in all its manifestations.

In order to be happy, you should love—love with self-sacrifice, love all and everything, and spread a network of love everywhere. No matter who gets into this net, catch them all and fill them with love.

Everyone can recall a moment, universal to all, perhaps from early childhood, when you wanted to love everyone and everything—your father, your mother, your brothers, evil people, a dog, a cat, grass—and you wanted everyone to feel good, everyone to feel happy; and even more, you wanted to do something special so that everyone would be happy, even to sacrifice yourself, to give your life so that everyone should feel happy and joyful. This feeling is the feeling of love, and it must be returned to, for it is the life of every person.

Anything you do should he filled with love.

May 25

You should be careful not to follow bad examples. When you hear your neighbor slandering others, try to stop him.

—From the BOOK OF DIVINE THOUGHTS

There is no worse harm for a person with a strong intellect than the temptation to make witty remarks that blame and mock his neighbors.

Making jokes and blaming and mocking others is like covering a dead body with a nice sauce and presenting it as a meal. Without the sauce, you would turn away, but with it, you find you can easily eat this distasteful meal.

Never listen to those who blame others and speak well about you.

You have to think about what you say; only then will you feel quiet and kind and filled with love. The more you are irritated, the more excited you become, the more care you must exercise not to sin with your words by abusing others.

May 26

The manner of one’s death can be in accord with the manner of one’s life, and therefore it can be a moral action. An animal simply dies, but a human should return his soul to its creator.

—HENRI AMIEL

Christ’s greatest words were said immediately before his death, when he forgave his persecutors, who did not understand what they did. The words and actions of a dying person have great power over people, and thus it is important both to live a good life and to die in a good way. A good death takes away the sins of a bad life.

During the minutes of death, a person can see a candle, in the light of which he reads the book of a life filled with problems, lies, evils, and misfortunes. And, in the minutes of dying, this candle lights up all the world with a very bright and clear light, and brightens up all the corners of a person’s life, even those corners which were always covered with darkness; and then it makes some slight noise, and the light goes down and disappears forever.

When you get ready to die, do not worry about the usual things, like following rituals or taking care of everyday business. Be prepared so that you can die in the best way possible. Use all the mighty influence of those powerful strong minutes of death, when a person exists partially in the other world, and his words and deeds have special power over those who remain in this world.

May 27

Very often, all of the activity of the human mind is directed not in revealing the truth, but in hiding the truth. The potential of the human mind to act this way is our major source of temptation.

The court jury has, as its raison d’âtre, the task of preserving society as it exists now, and therefore, it persecutes and executes those who stand higher than the general level of society, and it serves those who are lower than the general level.

A man cannot do everything; but this cannot be an excuse for doing bad things.

—HENRY DAVID THOREAU

I love peasants and farmers; they are not scholarly enough nor educated enough to tell sophisticated lies.

—CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU

If you see that an action is explained by a very sophisticated reasoning, then you can be sure that this action is bad. The decisions of the conscience are always strict and simple.

May 28

For the pagan world, a man’s richness indicates his glory and importance; in a truly Christian world, the great wealth of a man is an indication of his weakness and lies.

People are so involved in their material interests that when they look at the manifestations of the human soul, and at pure relationships between people, they look at them from the point of view of how to improve their material well-being. Respectability is often measured by one’s wealth, and not by his real inner spiritual value.

—After RALPH WALDO EMERSON

The possession of great wealth is a school of pride, cruelty, self-admiration, and dissipation.

The lack of sensitivity among rich people is not as cruel as their compassion.

—After JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

You should not respect poor people too much, but you should take pity on them. A rich person should not be proud of his wealth; he should be ashamed of it.

May 29

Life is the understanding of a holy spirit in yourself; a holy spirit which is put into some limits.

The only clear and final truth is the truth of conscience.

—RENÉ DESCARTES

Under my feet, there is cold frozen earth; around me huge trees are standing; above my head is the foggy cold sky. I feel my body, I feel my mind occupied with various thoughts. And at the same time I know that all these things, all this frosted cold earth, and the trees, and the sky, and my body, and my thoughts, this is all created by chance, this is a temporary world, the creation of my five senses. The world created by me exists only because I am part of it, and therefore, I separate myself from the world. I know that I could die, but the world will not disappear.

Death will make some changes in me, and while I will not be completely destroyed, I will become another being, separate from this world. Now, at present, I understand myself; then, something different altogether will happen to my inner self. And there can be a limitless number of such beings, which exist separately from this world.

Our life is our limited understanding of this eternal and limitless spirit which knows no constraints in time and space and which is not bound by any spatial or timely events.

The human conscience is a divine conscience.

May30

Our land, like our character, cannot be the object of buying and selling. Behind the buying and selling of earth is the hidden process of buying and selling a personality.

Earth is the great gift which nature gave to people, and the birth of every person in this world should give him the right to possess this earth. And this right should be as natural as the right of a person to have the breast of his mother.

—JEAN FRANÇOIS MARMONTEL

A person in our society cannot sleep without paying for the place where he sleeps; he has the right to have free air or water or sunlight only when he is on the road. The only right he has is to walk along this road; until he becomes tired, or he cannot walk, he has to continue walking.

The bodies of men and women, and even more importantly, their children, should not be bought and sold. So too the water, the land and air, because these things are necessary conditions of this existence.

—JOHN RUSKIN

People strive in this world, not for those things which are truly good, but for the possession of many things which they can call their property.

May 31

A person who is not used to luxury, but who acquired luxury quite by chance, often pretends, in order to become more important in his own eyes and in the eyes of other people, that luxury is natural for him, that he is not surprised by it, that he neglects it. In the same way a stupid person pretends that he is bored with life, and that he can find something more interesting.

The joy of your spirit is the indication of your strength.

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

You must believe in the possibility of happiness in order to be happy.

Take from a person who follows the divine law everything which other people think of as comfort and wealth, and nevertheless such a person will remain happy.

A person who has spoiled his stomach will criticize his meals saying that the food is bad; the same thing happens with people who are not satisfied with their lives in this world.

We do not have the right to be unhappy with our life. If it seems to us that we are not satisfied with life, we should see this as a reason to be unsatisfied with ourselves.