A time to rend and a time to sew

When we sing together there has to be rhythm and harmony in it. We must pay attention to timing and to other people or we will be out of tune. The same is true when we live together. We have to pay attention to others, feel our togetherness, and create harmony. People need that as a skillful living. Now if we focus on skillful living, it often breaks down because we have, each of us, no harmony, and no attention to our timing. And what we create in the world becomes a mirror image of what we find in ourselves.

The very first step in creating harmony, happens with in ourselves. It requires no special situation, but can be done whether in a hall, paddle a boat, cook a meal, read a book, or work in the garden. Creating a harmonious feeling in ourselves is dependent being contented. Otherwise, there is discontentment.

Contentment must not be dependent on outer conditions, which are never perfect. After months of dry weather, everyone complained about having to water too many plants. Now we have the reverse-It's too wet and the ground is muddy and slippery. Where can we find perfection in the world? If we are looking for our conditions to bring us contentment we are looking in vain, we have to find inner conditions conducive to contentment.

One of them is independence---Not financial independence which may bring other hazards; but emotional independence from the approval of others. This entails knowing that we are trying to do the best we can and if someone disapproves, that's just the way things are. 
           Not everyone approved of the prophets either-but most of them said we don't quarrel with the world, the world quarrels with us. They accepted the facts that people would voice objections to them or their doctrine. They fully realized that not everyone can agree. To be independent also includes not looking for support from others. Sometimes the best we can do may be very good, sometimes it is only mediocre. That too has to be accepted. We can't wait for everyone to support us. If we sometimes cannot do as well as we thought we could, that is also alright and no reason for discontentment.

            So the bottom line is, each human being is an asset to humanity. There is no shortcut to success. We are different but some are identical too. Preservation, personal growth and personal enjoyment is the key to have contented life.