Do I Fight An Idea With Weapons?

Hello and "Welcome to How Can I Make It A Better World?" - All World On Happy Family.

Here I present my ideas, as they occur to me, as to how I can make this, our world, a better place to live in, for us, and for the generations to come.

Today I happened to see a telecast of a Remembrance Service held byIndia at Gateway of India in Bombay from where a year ago Terrorists landed to carry out their horrendous deeds ending in deaths and injuries at railway stations and the burning of the Taj Hotel.

A speaker at the ceremony, no less than a number one cinema star proclaimed that Terrorism has become a religion for some people. He had no hesitation in supporting any actions taken to destroy that religion he named Terrorism.

My problem with that line of reasoning is that, it goes against the principles of brotherly love I want to have through out the world. I do not advocate destroying another person, simply because that person's beliefs and actions are harmful to others.

Since 9/11. the West took that approach of destroying terrorism. To date, after some thousands of deaths on both sides of the conflict, and some untold billions having been spent in fighting that war to destroy terrorism, has there been a success in that objective?

In fact, a war like that sows the seeds of another war, when a new generation grows up wanting to avenge the wrongs, from their point of view, inflicted to their forefathers.

I am far too an ordinary man to have any expertise to find an appropriate solution to this wrath of Terrorism. But it amazes me that people in great authority and power, and with scholarly learnings, cannot come up with a suitable way to bring reasoning to all sides of a conflict.

In Ben Hur, the movie, there is a dialogue which goes something like this.

"How can you fight an idea.?"

The answer is, "Certainly not with weapons. You fight an idea with another idea."

May be the world now needs a new World Religion which picks and amalgamates the peaceful and love amongst mankind aspects of all world religions into new World Religion.

Then we can make it a a better world.

Thank you for reading this entry.

Wishing you all the best. Shree-1

Where Can I be Happy? Right where I am.

Hello, and welcome to "How Can I Make It A Better World?" - All World One Happy Family.

In this blog I formulate my ideas about how to make our world a happy place to live in, for us, and for all future generations.

Every time I hear of a suicide bomber some where in the world, killing himself by inviting onto himself unimaginable pain, in order to kill many others, I am overpowered with sadness. What agonies must that person have had to endure to have to resort to such horrendous solutions to end those miseries. Could something have been done to make him view his predicament in a way that he did not feel so agonised by that situation?

Could something have been done to prevent the situation that made that person feel so hurt in the first place?

I feel the sad when I hear of family feuds, or of petty quarrels robbing one of joy of living.

Regrettably, there is nothing I can do that can make another person think and behave differently to what they want to do. So I am reduced to changing my attitudes and behaviours, thus making my world a better place to live in.

The secret hope behind putting these thoughts on this blog is that some one else may agree with my feelings, and thus, make his world a better place to live in.

Where Can I be Happy? Right where I am.

For decades of my life, I used to think that I could only be truly happy if I was to live

in the land of my birth. That happens to be a city in Western India, in Gujarat.

After being brought up in in the U.K. I chanced to visit my birth place. There, walking along the narrow passageways of the town, I happened to see an elderly man,

in his white dhoti and tunic, seated on the swings in centre of his living room, totally relaxed. He seemed absolutely contented, completely at peace with himself.

I assumed his being so sublimely happy was because he was at one with his environment. (About this time a book called "Roots" about Africam Americans rediscovering their past was in vogue)

Now, after many years of frustrated living trying to find myself being at one with my environment, I have discovered that it is not the place where I am that determines my happiness, but my own thinking that decided how at ease with myself I feel.

Now I can be at peace with myself, like the image of the man I had seen so many years ago, wether I am along the sandy beaches of a tropical island, or in a park in Surrey, or easier still, in my own living room.

Wherever I am, I can observe the beauty of the world around me, and marvel at the

magic behind whatever I sense and see. I can be at one with the world, be at ease with my self, where ever I am.

My world is now a better place to live in since I have recognised that I can be happy wherever I am.

Thank you for reading my entry.

Wishing you all the best, Shree-1

The Importance of Maintaining Awareness.

Hello and welcome to 'How Can I Make It A Better World?" All world one Happy Family.

I have had a reader tell me of a Tibetan parable that beautifully illustrates the powers one can achieve if one can habitually remain totally aware behind one's actions.

The story goes that one student of a monastery in Tibet was extolling to a student from another monastery the virtues of his master. His master, the student was saying, had so well developed his powers of the mind that he could run for hours over hills and valleys, and his feet would not even touch the ground.

The other student says, "Oh! That is nothing compared with what my master can do.

My master, when he listens, he listens, when he speaks, he speaks, when he talks, he talks, and when he sleeps, he sleeps."

Thank you for reading this entry.

Wishing you all the best, Shree-1

The Skill of Enjoying Every Day

Hello, and welcome to "How Can I Make It A Better World?" All world one happy Family.

To make it a better world for you and me, and for our future generations, we need every one in the world to think the whole world as one family. To show love and respect to every one else. Not to have any bitterness against anybody. To be willing to help any other in need.

All these things require that the other person, as well as me, has to behave in a certain way. I have no control over how the other person behaves. So I am reduced to only changing my ways, and hoping that in doing so, I will at, least make it a better world for me.

It is likely that in these ideas to improve myself, you may find some tips to allow you to develop to your full potential, and thus to make it a better world for you.

You may want to catch up on earlier entries on this blog by following the links in Blog Archive to the right of this page.

I'll begin with a joke about the lady of the house. She was fed up with the laziness and the sloppiness of her maid servant. So she warned her, "I will soon have to find a new maid."

And the maid says, "That is a good idea, Madam. I could do with an extra pair of hands around the house."

The Skill of Enjoying Every Day

The skill is being able to be aware of all your thoughts and actions. To be mindful at all times of what you are doing.

One advantage of you being fully aware of your action is that you will enjoy that awareness. Imagine I hate wall papering my room. But were I to do so, remaining totally aware of my actions as I did so, I will enjoy the awareness behind the action, and so, in a fashion, enjoy doing my work as well.

Another advantage of being totally mindful of all your actions at all times is the immense saving of time and frustration because otherwise you are always having to look for lost keys, wallet, papers, doors left unlocked, and so on.

This is a skill like, say, like riding a bicycle. It is not difficult. It has to be learnt by repeatedly practicing it. Once learnt, it will stay with you for ever.

You will save time by not having to look for lost things, and enjoy every day because you will put your very being into all you do.

Thank you for reading this entry. I wish you every happiness. Shree-1

Mentally Welcome HEALTH Into Your Mind And WEALTH Into Your Home

Hello and Welcome to "How Can I Make It A Better World" - Whole world a Happy Family.

Here I formulate my ideas as to how I can improve myself so that I can bring about this Utopian state for our world. I am also hoping that you, too, will find something in these jottings that will enable you to develop your potential to its full.

You are also welcome to add your feelings about these matters by going into the comment box of this blog.

Please scroll down to get to the very beginnings of this blog entries. Thank you.

A joke for you: A thief was very pleased with his midnight smash and grab job at a high street jewellers. But, oh dear, just as he was sliding along the dark alleys

near his secret hide out, he heard the shrill of a police whistle, and the booming challenge of a policeman, "Stop! Who goes there?"

Fearing that, with the loot still on his back, his game was up, he answered back rather truthfully, "A Thief."

The policeman said, "What! Another nut on my patch! Be off with you quick,

before I arrest you for wasting police time."

Welcome HEALTH into your Mind, and WEALTH into your home.

I remember reading an article in a respectable magazine a long time ago saying that one way of improving your health is to make your health into an imaginary person. Then welcome that person into your mind and into your body frequently every day.

I never took that idea on board then, but I might as well give it a try now.

A personification of health that comes to mind is Atlas, the titan of Greek mythology who holds the globe on his back. With my aim, the title of these writings, Atlas seems an appropriate image of Health that I can use. So, every time I look in the mirror, or at my shadow on the street, or my reflection in a shop window, I will welcome Atlas into my body.

The article went on to say that one can increase one's wealth as well by adopting the same trick. Personify wealth, and mentally welcome Wealth into your home every time you open your house door. For me, a fine picture for Wealth is the Goddess Laxmi of Indian mythology. So I will welcome Laxmi into my home every time I open the door.

Assuming that you too, are in search of better health and more wealth, you might also want to give this strategy a try.

Then at the end of a decent period of trial, say three or six months, we could exchange our experiences with the experiment.

Wishing you every success with your aims. Shree-1

Control your Thoughts to Make It A Better World For You

Hello, and welcome to "How Can I Make It A Better World?" - All world One Happy Family.

In this blog I attempt to make the world a nicer place to live in, for us, and for the future generations.

I welcome your input to this aim by your adding your comments on this blog.

To see this page from its very beginnings, please scroll down the page to the October 09 entries.

Thank you.

A joke to begin with. Joke: A woman was receiving her husband at the airport. She could not help notice that he was expressing no joy at being together with her again, She said, "Look dear at that couple there. See how happy that man looks with his wife there. Cant't you be like that?"

The husband says, "Sure, but just see that he is saying good-bye to his wife. She has come to drop him off.

Control Your Thoughts To Make It A Better World For You

The ideas of the last blog keep whirring in my mind.

It is how you interpret an event that happens to you that decided what feelings the event gives you.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The happiness a little boy gets from his birth day gift bicycle is not in the bicycle. Its in the boy.

These feelings, though, are no more than thoughts in a mind.

So if I can control my thoughts, I can control my feelings.

If I control my feelings, I can control my actions. Then I can stop myself lashing out at

at some one in anger because that person has just wronged me.

Perhaps herein is the seed of making my world a better place to live in.

My next task - how to learn to control my thoughts.

Thank you for reading. Shree-1

I Decide How I React To Events

Hello and welcome to "How Can I Make It A Better World" - All World One Happy Family.

To begin with, a joke:

Having worked all life long a man amassed himself a fortune, and felt he now deserved himself a settled married life. So he married a stunningly beautiful and charming lady. He soon found out that his lovely new wife had the misfortune of having had three husbands, all quite wealthy, who all had died un-natural deaths.

To console her, over a candle lit dinner, he asked his wife how her previous husbands had died.

She said the first husband had died of food poisoning.

"And the second?"

"Also of food poisoning."

"Oh I am sorry. Did the third one die of food poisoning as well?"

"No. He died of strangulation."

"That's a tragedy. How did that happen?"

"The fool would not eat up the poisoned food I gave him."

I Decide How I React to Events.

One of the most common reasons for unhappiness in my life is anger and annoyance.

Anger, because someone has hurt me, and annoyed because things are not going my way.

I need to recognise that these feelings are really my own perceptions of what is happening to me. They are my own thoughts concerning the external events happening to me. The thoughts are mine. I should be able to control them.

One person may bemoan his ill fate that he has been blinded by an accident. Another may overcome that same ill luck and become a home minister of his country. One can be born a wrong colour, in a country where such things matter, and yet go on to study to high levels,

and then aspire to be, and become the President of his country.

I remember attending a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism meeting at Richmond, in Surrey, where the speaker had two glasses of water on the table. In one glass in addition to the water, there was a brown sediment at the bottom. The speaker took a glass rod and stirred the water in the glass with the water alone. The water remained clear. He then, with the same rod, stirred the water in the other glass. That water became a muddy brown colour.

The lesson was simple. The glass rod, external event, was not the cause of the water going cloudy. The ultimate cause for that to happen was in the water itself. The anger shown by a person is in the person, not in the event.

There is no point saying, the other person cut me in, so I can, at the next traffic lights, pull him out of his car, and punch him up. "He made me do it- he made me angry". No, my anger was the way I responded to his action.

May be if everyone could learn to control their feelings, understand that how they react to a situation is their choice, a lot of quarrels, fighting, and misery in the world will disappear.

The world will become a better place to live in.

To learn to control one's feelings, thoughts, is one subject of meditation. That is what I will find out more about in the next few days.

I thank you for reading my blog. Please do help me along by giving me your ideas in the comment box of this blog.

Wishing you all the best, Shree-1

All World One Happy Family - How? When?

Hello, Welcome to "How Can I Make It A Better World?"

Here you will find my ideas as to what I can do to make this, our world, a better place to live in for us, and for the generations to come.

You may scroll down this page right to the beginning of my blog entries to pick up these threads to their roots.

I am hoping that in my lessons to myself as to how I can make this world a better place to live in, you, too, may find some thing to assist you get a better life for yourself.

Before I go on, I have to tell you that my visit to the cinema yesterday turned out to be a very expensive affair. I had to recruit seventeen passers by, and pay for their tickets as well.
Do I hear you ask me why I had to do that? The answer is simple. The picture I wanted to see clearly said "Under 18 not allowed."

A Slogan for this One World Wide Happy Family.

Having got a symbol, or a logo, for this Worl Wide Happy Family I need a slogan for that World.

Some phrases that come to mind are: World Peace Depends On Me
I can make my world happy
World Peace Today
Our World at Peace
All World One Happy Family.

Of these, perhaps the last one best reflects what I am hoping for.

Perhaps you have a suggestion which is far better.

Please do add your thoughts to this slogan by using the "comment" section of this blog.

Our world, for the rest of our lives, and for the babies born today must be a world where there is joy and love and friendship amongst all.

I must own up to a selfish trait behind that wish. My daughter today gave birth to a lovely baby boy, her first child, and our first grandchild.

I wish them, and you, all the best. Shree-1.

Designing A Symbol for 'World Peace"

Hello, and welcome to "How Can I Make It aA Better World"

Here I jot down my thoughts on what I need to do to make this, our world, a better place to live in, for us, and for the generations to come.

Amongst these ideas of mine, I am hoping that there are some that you may want to take on for your self. You may want to do that, because implementing the ideas suggested will empower you to develop yourself to your full potential. Acting on the ideas can give you all the health, wealth and happiness that you ever wanted.

For instance, in my last blog I mention of how one way to assist you getting what you want is to visualise the the situation you want to have, in the affirmative, as if you have already got it.

Of, course, you will have to act on getting your wishes come true, as well, but keeping your aim in mind should help you get to your goals quicker.

In that blog I also mention of the fundamentals of a good diet - only eat when you are hungry, never to extreme, and drink plenty of water through out the day.

The theory of life as an ocean wave gives you the basis under which you may draw on higher powers to assist you with your life's missions.

Earlier on I list the traits normally exhibited by people who have achieved happiness and

success in their lives.

I am hoping that some of these ideas will benefit you. If so, I will happy. And a happy me will make my world a better place to live in.

A SYMBOL FOR THIS HAPPIER WORLD.

I now want to design a symbol to represent our happy peaceful world.

The one I can think of would show a group of happy dancing folks, in various national dresses, with limbs in various dancing poses, holding hands, going around the globe.

This drawing would be put on a flag. The background colours may be light blue, at the top, with stars, to represent the sky, and the lower part, deeper blue, for the sea, and green brown for land and vegetation.

One day, some day, I will learn how to paint using the tools I have on my computer, and then present you with the picture of the symbol I am thinking of.

Meanwhile, please do let me know of your thoughts on how that symbol for one peaceful, happy world may look like.

Thanking for reading this entry.

Wishing you all the best, Shree-1

It's A Lovely Home We Have!

Hello, and welcome to "How Can I Make It A Better World."

In this blog I am setting down my thoughts how I can make this, our world, a nicer place to live in, for us and for the generations to come.

I also invite you to add your suggestions to my ideas.

Just for the fun of it, I'll begin this blog with a simple joke.

Joke: An American drives home in a brand new car. His wife is astonished. How could he have been so foolish as to increase their monthly repayments.

To ease her anxiety, the man says, as he comes out of the car, "Don't worry dear. The salesman only wanted one initial down payment. He doesn't want any more money from us. We do not have to pay him any money at all every month."

Today I will just day dream of the world that would be a nice place to live in.

The whole world is just one big family home.

Every one will be contented and happy.

There will be enough food for every one, No one will go hungry. But people will only eat when they are hungry. They will only eat enough to satisfy their hunger - never over eat to

uncomfortable fullness. They will chew each bite of solids, till these become liquid, and chew liquids, to digest those in the mouth.

There will be enough water for everyone, and all will drink huge amounts of water every day.

Every one will love and respect every one else, even total strangers. No body would want to harm any one else. No one will want to steal, rob, maim and kill.

There will be no locks on briefcases, on cars, or homes. No nations will have any police

departments, no armies, and no weapons of mass destruction.

Time and money saved would be used for learnings of great things, for growing crops

and flowers, and for looking after the young, the aged and the infirm.

There is a teaching that if you want something to happen to you, you must visualise that

what you want by a positive affirmation, imagining that you already have what you desire.

Since I regard the whole world as one global home, and wanting to state my wishes as if already obtained, in the present, I title this entry, "It's a lovely home we have."

You can see my earlier entries by scrolling down this page.

Please do comment if you wish by clicking the "comment" word here.

Thank you for reading this entry. Shree-1

How can I stop a person harming me?

Hello and welcome to my blog, "How Can I Make It A Better World."

This is my blog No. 5.

You may want to begin from the beginning, in which case just scroll down this blog page.

With my writings I am trying to jot down my ideas on how I could make this, our world, a better place to live in, for us, and for the generations to come.

But, I can already see how impossible that aim is. Because I cannot think of how I can stop someone harming me and others. Judging by the history of conflict and wars through the centuries, and by the conflicts around the world even today, it seems that no one has yet
truly found the answer to the problem of how to stop someone harming others.

The last blog mentions of the world being one big global family. And that our lives on this earth will eventually end with our death, anyway. Therefore, I should not harm anyone else.

That may be is something I can do. I am robbed, but I can forgive the robber, and carry on with my life, with more determination to recoup the money I was robbed of.

But what if my forgiving the robber does not stop him from robbing others?

Who decides that the action of that person was a robbery in the firstr place? That "robber" might have though my money was rightfully his. He might have wanted to rob me to give it to another person more needy than me.

And what punishment can one give to that person? Who gives that punishment? To punish the robber is effectively causing him harm and that is against our principle.

You slap me, and encouraged by my family, I hit you back, twice. So you come up with something stronger than a fist, and hit me and my family, too, for having ill-advised me.
So I muster up greater force to destroy you.

Where does it end? How can it end so that everyone comes out a winner out of the situation?

Do you have an answer to the problem? Does our relegion have an answer?

I need to a lot more studying over the next few days.

Thank you for reading this entry. Please do add your suggestions to this subject of how to
make our world a better place to live in.

See you next time. Shree-1

Life as an Ocean Wave

Hello, and welcome to wwwhowcan-i-make-it-a-better-world?

In this blog I jot down my ideas as to what I can do to make it a better world for us, and for the future generations.

This is my Blog No.4.

You can read the earlier entires, right to the start in Oct. 09, by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.

I dearly want your suggestions as to how you would set about making this, our world, a nicer place to live in. Please do add your comments to this blog. Thank you.

Some Eastern philosophies compare our life with an ocean wave.

An ocean wave emerges from the body of the ocean. It has a definite shape and form. This shape is a result of and many forces, like, say, wind, deep ocean currents, pull of the moon, etc.,
It lasts for a certain time, and then subsides back into the ocean from where it emerged. A new wave arises again to repeat the cycle endlessly.

Drawing on this analogy, it is deduced that we too, though different shapes and sizes, have the same origins, and are made of the same funadmental energy that is the substance of the whole cosmos. I could call this substrate to all our existence Water, God, or Intelligence, or whatever that I wanted to.

Then it follows that each of us, too, have, though in a miniscule amount, the same stuff that
is the foundation of all cosmos. We all have the same origins, as brothers and sisters of the same parents. The whole world is one big family.

I imagine the practice of meditation when perfected, is aimed at us being able to recognise that Intelligence within us, within our mind. I also think that Prof. Murdo MacDonald-Bayne,
points to that same Intelligence in his book "The Higher Powers You Can Use."

The messages for me from these thoughts is clear. One is that Life is too short to cause harm and suffering to others. Second is that I should be able to use these higher powers to develop my potential to the full.

You may have other theories for the life on this planet. Please do allow me a glimpse of your theories. Please write them in the comment box of this blog.

Thank you for reading my ideas. sbp-one.

Ways to Imrove myself

There is an old Chinese saying that if you want to make the world a better place, you must first make your village a better village to live in. To do that, you must first make your family a nicer group. To make the family nicer, you must first improve your own self.

On that basis, I attempt to make myself better.

Big books have been written advising how one can improve one's own self.

Some of the suggestions the gurus who write such books emphasise on are:

Have self confidence. Have self worth. Have self esteem. Have self belief in one's abilities.

Have self respect. Have ability to manage themselves.

People with these qualities generally do the following:

1. They have vision. They know what they want. They feel their wants to the very core of their existence. They have a passion for the work that needs to be done to get to their aim.
2. They have strategy. They have a plan to get to their vision. If need be, they can vary their plans to meet changing circumstances.
3. They have high personal and social moral values. Their actions do not hurt anyone's feelings or harm anyone.
4. They act on their plans and hopes.
5. They become the person they want to be.

There is enough material above to keep me thinking for many days.

So see you after a few days.

But meanwhile, please do add your comments to my musings. Any suggestions will be appreciated and welcome. Thank you.