In the contemplation of reality people often conclude that the best action is inaction, and they become stilted in their actions. They become frozen in their movement. They’re over-whelmed by existence and their place in it. They’re over-whelmed by the difficulties they see in the world. They’re over-whelmed by the pain that they see everywhere constantly being inflicted by man, by the elements, by nature, and they withdraw into themselves and become inactive. In order to stay in the mode of action with all of this energy that’s pushing you away from action, that’s pushing you towards inactivity, despair, reconciliation with the inevitable; to stay active takes courage. It takes energy to be able to do your duty in the midst of all of the reasons that you can conjure not to do your duty. It takes a push, a courageous effort.
And we need as individuals to constantly put forth this effort because action is one of the ways towards understanding God. Action is one of the ways towards serving God. The performance of duty is service towards God. And we must not shirk from our duties. We must not shirk from our responsibilities. We must be able to constantly move forward and push aside all of the negative energies, all of the pain, all of the difficulties that seem to surround humanity and break through them. We need to see them as a fog that’s trying to cloud us.
But the fog, even though it will obscure your vision, has no real substance to it. And the truth is it will dissipate with a little heat. And the heat has to come from us to dissipate this fog. The energy has to come from us to dissipate this fog that the world throws at us, this torpor that the world throws at us, and we have to be able to build up the energy and the courage to fight through everything that’s thrown at us and continue to do what we’re supposed to do.
And in that struggle, we also need to smile. We need to be able to go through that struggle and create a positive nature in our being that will dissipate the difficulties. This positive nature is what leads to the courage that allows us to move forward so that we can do that which we’re supposed to do.
