THE SPIRITUAL TREE

Personality Of A Believer

A TREE is a physical illustration of the spiritual life. It has a unique quality. It begins from a small seed, and then it grows and grows, until it becomes a full-fledged tree. How does this miracle take place? It is due to an inner quality of the tree. It is able to take food from everything: from soil, water, air, and sunlight.

A seed is small, less than half-an-inch perhaps, but when it grows, it becomes a large tree, sometimes a few hundred feet tall. Man, also, is initially a seed. He is born with great potential. When he grows up, he can become like a giant; a superman. When he is born, he is like a seed. He possesses all the great human qualities. But all these things are in terms of potentiality, not in terms of actuality. It is for Man himself to turn this potentiality into actuality.

But there is a difference here. A seed grows automatically, following the law of nature. Man however, is required to develop his personality by his own efforts. This requires conscious planning. Man should discover himself and plan for his development accordingly.

We live in a world where we face different situations, both negative and positive, wanted and unwanted. All these are like food for human beings, food for our growth. We must extract this nourishment for our development from all things, including negative things, and unwanted situations. We can learn much from these, too. This is the course of human development in this world. Man must take food from everything.

When he is angry and controls his anger, he is developing in his personality the art of turning negativity into positivity. When he faces a crisis situation and manages to keep his patience, he is developing the ability of positive planning. If he faces a violent situation and refrains from reacting, he is developing his personality in such a way that he can maintain his peace of mind no matter what condition he finds himself in.

This gives Man the ability of not wasting his energies and, instead, of devoting himself totally to constructive work. When he faces a provocative situation and maintains his balance, he develops selfcontrol. It is as if he has enrolled for a course in intellectual development. By developing self-control he is developing in himself a mindset that will enable him to manage the crises everyone faces in life, at some time or another.

All these situations are like intellectual food for us. If you try to face these situations with a positive attitude, you will be helping yourself grow. You will be enhancing your creativity. You will be developing your personality on positive lines. One who adopts this course will surely emerge, sometime or the other, as a well-developed personality, like a full-grown tree. Every person is born into this world with tremendous potential, but he or she has to work hard to unfold this innate potential. This potential is provided by nature, but its unfolding is entirely every person's own job to do.

Nature never discriminates against anyone with regard to the blessings that it showers on one and all. It is Man who makes himself either a success or a failure.