It is much more valuable to look for the strength in others. You can gain nothing by criticizing their imperfections.
Daisaku IkedaRead
It is crucial that we develop real awareness of ourselves as citizens of Earth, linked by mutual and indissoluble bonds. When we clearly recognize this reality and ground ourselves in it, we are compelled to take a strict accounting of our way of life.
Interpretation
We must understand our interconnectedness as global citizens to reflect on our lifestyles responsibly.
Daisaku Ikeda emphasizes the importance of recognizing our shared existence on Earth, highlighting that this awareness fosters a sense of responsibility towards our actions and their impact on the planet and each other. By acknowledging our mutual connections, we are encouraged to evaluate our habits and choices in a way that promotes sustainability and empathy, thus enhancing our collective well-being.
In practice
In a speech at an environmental conference, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for collective action.
It is much more valuable to look for the strength in others. You can gain nothing by criticizing their imperfections.
There’s no need for us to be held back by the past or how things have been so far. The important thing is what seeds we are sowing now for the future.
True love should be transformative; a process that amplifies our capacity to cherish not just one person but all people. It can make us stronger, lift us higher and deepen us as individuals. Only to the extent that we polish ourselves now can we hope to develop wonderful bonds of the heart in the future.
Let us give something to each person we meet: joy, courage, hope, assurance, or philosophy, wisdom, a vision for the future. Let us always give something.
Just as a diamond can only be polished by another diamond, it is only through genuine, all-out engagement with others that people can polish their character, and help each other to reach greater heights.
Creating harmony amidst diversity is a fundamental issue of the twenty-first century. While celebrating the unique characteristics of different peoples and cultures, we have to create solidarity on the level of our common humanity, our common life. Without such solidarity, there will be no future for the human race. Diversity should not beget conflict in the world, but richness.
A belligerent state permits itself every such misdeed, every such act of violence, as would disgrace the individual.
For some small number of people, a parental loss appears to be, ultimately, a desirable difficulty - again, not a large number.
I don't think it had ever occurred to me that man's supremacy is not primarily due to his brain, as most of the books would have one think. It is due to the brain's capacity to make use of the information conveyed to it by a narrow band of visible light rays. His civilization, all that he had achieved or might achieve, hung upon his ability to perceive that range of vibrations from red to violet. Without that, he was lost.
The truth is that life is hard and dangerous; that he who seeks his own happiness does not find it; that he who is weak must suffer; that he who demands love will be disappointed; that he who is greedy will not be fed; that he who seeks peace will find strife; that truth is only for the brave; that joy is only for him who does not fear to be alone; that life is only for the one who is not afraid to die.
Serial or sex murder, like fetishism, is a perversion of male intelligence. It is a criminal abstraction, masculine in its deranged egotism and orderliness. It is the asocial equivalent of philosophy, mathematics, and music. There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.
Today it is becoming increasingly apparent to thoughtful Americans that we cannot fight the forces and ideas of imperialism abroad and maintain any form of imperialism at home. The war has done this to our thinking.
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