Thoughts...

Many of your thoughts are like a tree rooted deep in the soil of tradition & whose branches grow in the power of continuity. My thoughts consist of dreams & imagination, like clouds always shifting in the sky. Many of your thoughts are like a fortress that neither gale nor the lightning can shake. My thoughts are like a tender leaf that sways in every direction & finds pleasure in its swaying. Many of your thoughts are like an ancient dogma that cannot change you nor can you change it. My thoughts are always new, & they test me & I test them day & night.

G-d gave us the power to say yes or no, to dream or not to dream, to imagine or not to imagine. Many people are born into certain traditions, faiths, etc. & they never go beyond that. Many people have the attitude of, “You have your thoughts & I have mine”.

Many of your thoughts allow you to believe in the unequal contest of the strong against the weak, and in the tricking of the simple by the subtle ones. My thoughts create within me a humbleness towards others. Many people’s thoughts urge them to marry into wealth & status. Mine commends self-reliance. Many advocate fame & fortune. Mine counsels me & implores me to cast aside notoriety and treat it like a grain of sand cast upon the shore of eternity. Many thoughts instill in your heart arrogance & superiority. Mine plants within me love for peace & the desire for freedom from all that is worldly.

Many of your thoughts are social science, a religious & political dictionary. Mine is a simple axiom. Many of your thoughts speak of the beautiful woman, the ugly, the virtuous, the prostitute, the intelligent, & the stupid. Mine sees in every woman a mother, a sister, or a daughter of every man. Many of your thoughts describe laws, courts, judges, punishments. Mine explains that when man makes a law, he either violates it or obeys it. If there is a basic law, we are all one before it. He who disdains the mean is himself mean. He who vents his scorn of the sinful vents his disdain of all humanity. Many of your thoughts concern the skilled, the artist, the intellectual, the philosopher, the religious leader. Mine speaks of the loving & the affectionate, the sincere, the honest, the forthright, the kindly, & the martyr. Many of our thoughts advocate Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Lately my thought is that there should be only one universal religion, whose varied paths would be but the fingers of the loving hand of our Father G-d. Many of your thoughts are of the rich, the poor, & the beggared. My thought holds that there are no riches but life; that we are all beggars, & no benefactor exists save G-d Himself the giver of life.

According to many thoughts, the greatness of nations lies in their politics, their parties, their conferences, their alliances & treaties. But mine proclaims that the importance of nations lies in work - work in the fields, work in the vineyards, work in the timber yard, work in the office and so forth. Many think that the glory of their nations is in their heroes. They sing the praises of Ramses, Alexander, Caesar, Hannibal, Napoleon & all the modern day ‘heroes’. But mine claims that the real hero is G-d the Creator of all living things. Many see power in armies, cannons, battleships, submarines, aircraft, & poison gas. But mine asserts that power lies in reason, resolution, truth & G-d. No matter how long the tyrant endures, he will be the loser at the end. Most people’s thoughts differentiate between pragmatist & idealist, between the part & the whole, between the mystic & materialist. Mine realizes that life is one & its weights, measures & tables do not coincide with the weights, measures & tables of the world. He whom you suppose an idealist may be but a practical man created in the image of G-d.

G-d Bless.

J