THOUGHT OF THE DAY

We expect well-educated, cultivated people to respond in a measured and reasonable way when faced with difficulties, because, we believe, they are used to thinking. Very often the reverse is true, however, and the slightest mishap makes them angry, agitated or depressed. It is clear they have studied (although today it is true that any job requires several years of study), but when studying, they never thought to work on their character. And when they find themselves faced with life’s difficulties, neither their education, nor their erudition is of any help to them. The most important thing in life is not to be an engineer, an economist, a doctor or a professor, and so on. The most important is to live. What is the use of these highly educated people strutting about with what they have borrowed from books other people have written? What they should be showing is what they have succeeded in achieving themselves. And if they are incapable of doing so, they should leave aside all the knowledge they have gained from books and go and work at developing strength of character, for this is far more important.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov