All affairs of life depend upon man’s attitude, and the mechanical work that is psychologically done is such that before man steps forward to work, he sees his attitude being reflected on his mind. On that affair he sees the shadow of doubt when a person wants to do something which he knows is not quite just; before he begins the work he sees the phantom of injustice before him.

That alone which is comforting and consoling…
is that feeling of purity in one’s own heart.

The heart of man, as the Sufis say, is a mirror; all that is reflected in this mirror is projected upon other mirrors. When man has doubt in his heart, that doubt is reflected upon every heart with which he comes in contact; when he has faith, that faith is reflected in every heart. Can there be a more interesting study and a greater wonder than to observe this keenly in life?  As soon as man is able to watch that phenomenon in life, it is just like a magic lantern that is making all so clear to him. How foolish in this light would appear to man the cleverness and the crooked ways of the dishonest, who for a moment thinks that he is profiting by such behaviour, and who for a moment may seem to be benefited by it. 

Worldly gains which are snatched from one hand to another are not worth making in this life on earth, upon which we cannot depend even on the morrow. That alone which is comforting and consoling through all this life of falsehood is that feeling of purity in one’s own heart, when one feels that one’s attitude in life is right and just. The one who experiences it will certainly say that it is greater than all the wealth of the world.

It is the knowledge of this philosophy which seems to be lost from the heart of humanity at the present time. It is therefore that all things go wrong. And if there is a preventive which can be used against it, it is to make one’s own life as much as one can an example of one’s ideal, although to make it perfectly is most difficult. There is nothing like trying, and if once failed, another time one may be successful.