A RUTHLESS TEACHER

Learn before it is Too Late

ROBERT HOLMES à Court was a South Africa-born Australian entrepreneur who became Australia’s first billionaire. His first venture was a woollen mill which he set up in Western Australia in 1962. From there he soon went on to carve out a financial empire for himself. His assets were estimated to be of the order of $1.1 billion.

Then in 1987, his business started going downhill and he lost half his empire. In September, 1990, he suffered a heart attack and died at his horse-breeding farm at Perth when he was only 53 years old. “Once the country’s wealthiest man, he died the second richest (after fellow entrepreneur Kerry Packet) with an estimated fortune of $650 million.” (Time Magazine, September 17, 1990)

In this world, everyone remains in the first position before death. Then death relegates everyone to a ‘second’ position. Before death, man regards his life as the only ‘real’ existence. Nothing else matters to him. But death brings the message that the only reality is that of God; no other ‘I’ has any real existence.

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Death is the most ruthless of teachers. Wise is he who learns this for himself before this ‘ruthless teacher’ catches up with him.

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Death is the most ruthless of teachers. Wise is he who learns this for himself before this ‘ruthless teacher’ catches up with him. A man endowed with such insight will be looked upon kindly by his Maker. One who waits to learn his lesson from the ‘ruthless teacher’ is little better than a blind man. When his end comes, he will be left forever groping in the dark. It will be too late for him then to find the right path.

How disillusioned will such a man be when he finds himself relegated from the position of ‘Mr. First’ to the rank of ‘Mr. Second’, when the moment of truth ultimately arrives.