Daily Meditation: Sunday, November 7, 2004

Convictions - do not expose them in order to better preserve them

11/07/2004

No matter how enthusiastic you are about the religion or spiritual teaching you have discovered, do not begin by preaching it to others. First of all, people have heard enough sermons on the subject, and it is your actions alone that will convince them. Secondly, to do so is not good for you either. A spiritual conviction must be lived in the depths of your being so that it becomes a part of you. If you begin preaching to everyone, something within you will begin to disintegrate, and the slightest jolt will throw you off balance. Even if you remain faithful to the principles, they will rapidly lose their vibrancy; and you will become hardened and parched, because the spring within you will have run dry. You must find very subtle ways to express your convictions. Otherwise you will lose them or, even worse, they will soon turn to fanaticism.