"PEACE DOESN'T REQUIRE TWO PEOPLE"
Pic.: Malabika Ganguly
“All the advice you ever gave
your partner (or anyone) is for you to hear.”
One of the thoughts I have, always,
believed in is this: The basics of every chapter I teach are very important;
therefore, my students should not miss the initial lectures of every chapter… particularly
the first lecture.
So, I keep reminding them
about it, much in advance. “Look guys, I will be starting this chapter on such
and such date. If you miss the basics, you will find it very difficult to cope
up later. So, come what may, please don’t remain absent.”
Now, most of them don’t miss.
Mercifully, because, they have realized the meaning and value of my advice.
But, some of them do miss and walk into the class, the following lecture, as if
my advice - or warning, whatever it is - meant nothing to them!
And, look at my behavior.
If I operate from my rigid belief that they’ had to’ attend the class come
tsunami or come volcano… yes, if I believe in my own such thought, I would end
up bringing in my class either a tsunami or a volcano!
Jesus Christ, save my
students… For, their teacher is angry!
Who caused my anger, now?
I was reading Byron Katie’s
book ‘Loving What Is’, once again, today and these lines stood before me:
“A thought is harmless unless we believe it.
It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes
suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without
inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for
years.”
Mrs. Katie adds:
“In my experience, we don't make thoughts
appear, they just appear. One day, I noticed that their appearance just wasn't
personal. Noticing that really makes it simpler to inquire.”
Two days ago, in one of my batches, I was to teach a new
chapter. Before that, I had played the familiar gramophone – ‘come-what-may-don’t-miss-the-first-lecture’ - in the class several times to ‘warn’ my students not to invite
trouble for themselves… And, today, a couple of them, who had missed the ‘first
lecture’, blissfully walked into the class as if everything was okay… Yes, as
if a tsunami or a volcano had nothing to do with their presence or absence!
They were right… The tsunami or the volcano in my class had nothing to
do with what my young-students chose to do… It only had something to with what
I chose to do!
The class went on amazingly… All was well… All peaceful!
“Peace doesn't require two people;” I heard Mrs. Katie concluding, “It requires only one. It has to be YOU... The problem begins and ends there.”
GERALD D’CUNHA
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