THE DOUBTING THOMAS INSIDE US

Pic.: Sherry Haridas 
One of the major worries for many young-ones today is their inability to speak in English. What is surprising is that this worry has gripped not only those youngsters who come from vernacular-medium schools, but also hundreds of them who come from English-medium schools. “Sir, I can’t speak English,” they invariably cry, “How can I learn to speak English?”

I give them my own example. I tell them, that if they have enough desire, determination and persistence, they can overcome their problem, just the way I did. Though my example helps them to feel good, they, invariably, end up reacting: “But, sir...”

Yes, I hear them say: “But, sir...!”

They doubt!

Today, at the age of 56, when I tell these anxious young-kids that, when I was like them, I battled, every day and every night, with the same ‘I-can’t-speak-English-ghost’, most of them don’t believe me. “How is it possible? We can see you, hear you and feel you speak and write so well in English... You are a Christian... You teach, train and write in English... So, we can’t believe, that you were, once, gripped by the same fear as we now do.”

I tell them, that unless they are able to visualize in their minds what they want to achieve – to be good English-speakers – they will not succeed.  I tell them, that they have to believe it first in order to see it...

Dr. Wayne Dyer has written an entire book on this title: ‘You Will See it When You Believe It’... And, as a young newcomer in this big city – gripped by hundred anxieties about my future – I learnt it from Dr. Napoleon Hill’s classic, ‘Think And Grow Rich’. The message went straight into my thirsty mind: “Whatever man’s mind conceives and believes, it can achieve’!

So, I tell the young-ones, “Be able to conceive your dream... to become fine English-speakers... Be able to believe in it, now... See it in your mind first... Believe... You will, soon, see it manifest outside... Not until then.”

Presently, a young Punjabi woman has been learning from me English. She has done her B.A from a university in Punjab, and after her marriage, settled in Mumbai. When she first approached me, I told her the same things I have written in this Post today... I gave her my own example and said what I always do: “If I could, you, too, can.”. But, I quickly caution them: “Remember, I did not say ‘You, too, WIIL!”

There is a difference of an epic proportion between ‘I CAN’ and ‘I WILL’!

After almost a month of helping and teaching, one afternoon, I asked this lady: “Ma’am, do you see your progress?”

“Yes sir,” the young-lady said with a lukewarm voice, “But, sir...” I heard these dreaded words coming with vigor...

I laughed and told her the story of Thomas – ‘The Doubting Thomas’...

Eleven of the twelve deciles of Jesus had seen Him risen from the death; but, Thomas hadn’t. He refused to believe other disciples and told them point-blank: “Look, unless my eyes see the Lord, and unless I feel His wounds with my fingers, I will not believe that He has risen.”

So, when Jesus appeared the second time, Thomas was present... and, Jesus asked him to come near Him and see Him, touch Him and feel Him so that he could believe... Then, the Lord told the doubting Thomas - what I had been told by hundreds of Masters on this earth, including Dr. Wayne Dyer and Dr. Napoleon Hill - this:

“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. But, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Hope, you will realize that this Post is not about how to become good English speakers in life... That’s too small a dream, my friends...

The big dream is: How to ‘see’ it – your dream - before you actually see it, touch it and feel it. Yes, your every dream... including English, Latin or Greek!

If twelve utterly-ordinary disciples – most of them fishermen – could raise the largest, the richest and one of the longest empire on this planet, the empire called ‘Christianity, then, you and I must be some dumb idiots not to believe in such a naked truth...

Blessed are, in deed, they that do not ‘see’, and yet believe!

GERALD D’CUNHA