JACKSON NATO: January 2016

Thursday, 21 January 2016

DANCE

Dance is a kind of language that reveals a person’s reality, behavior, and character towards God. It also helps give important messages about religions, especially their practices which lie in its feelings, emotional and symbolic capacity to create moods. “It is a game, an art and a ritual.” In a very special way, dance creates a sacred time and place between me and the divine one. It not only takes place at times of particular importance such as at the changes of seasons, but creates a new human time which is a rhythm; a rhythm which humanizes time. It also creates a holy place, again not only because it takes place at a holy well, river bank or sacred tree, but because the dance itself creates a special pattern of space in which the ritual activity occurs. While dancing, change is taking place in a person’s body as well as the mind. Through it a person becomes human. Dance deals with the basic forms of human experience, space, time and out of the direct control of these two elements, creates a totally humanized atmosphere.

Religious dance can range from spontaneous individual movement to highly formalized symbolic movements that appear in ritual and ceremony as part of structured religious services. Devotional dance is a part of many systems of belief about creation, the universe, nature, and the mystery of human existence. To qualify as a dance, movement must embody significant symbolic, healthy, or decorative aesthetic values. Dance can be thought of as a unique form of expression that includes movements, emotions and symbols.

Leaders of Tomorrow

The youth are the leaders of tomorrow. It might be true of course but I found my mind to be more comfortable with saying it the other way round: the youth are the leaders of today. However it may be, whether the leaders of today or tomorrow, all that matters is the desire for difference from yesterday. The time has come for us to mark the eve of the long-awaited tomorrow for the youth to realize their position of leadership in the society. Different generations have come and passed but upon the present lies a greater expectation.

Poverty has spread its branches to every corner, corruption is deeply rooted in our society, the notions of peace are becoming tales, human rights violations have become a common feature, freedoms are being threatened, lives are wasted, families destroyed, people dance to the tune of illiteracy, and other problems too numerous to mention. All are the result of bad leadership. On the other hand young people who are part of the society, where their role is significant in this context. They are integral and essential part of a society and a society is incomplete without young blood. Therefore it is said: “Today’s youths are the force, hope and leaders of tomorrow”, because they are the future of society, country and community. Young people are the driving force of change and can encourage governments to declare their priorities. Young people have important responsibilities towards their country. It is important to learn from the past and to live with a hope for a better future, a future that is appropriate for the children of this age and future generations.

The future generation has a duty to be honest, genuine, of good values and to work day and night for the betterment of the society and the country. Young people have a duty to use their skills, strength, creativity and imaginations to serve the country and the nation in the best possible manner.These are the young people who can make the difference, because they are the backbone of a nation and can build a bright future for society based on values and courageous behavior. Education is the key to success for any individual that holds true for our youth who are the future of the country. Physical education and sport should also be given due importance, young people should play regularly, as health is vital for their progress. If our youth are healthy, they can do more work for the country.

Time is precious and its wastage is a great loss for the future, therefore, young people must do everything to use their precious time wisely. Youth should channelise their energise their precious time and energy to maximise their potentials. I feel that today’s youth are the only hope of tomorrow, and we have a duty to understand their importance and work according to the need of the time. Our youths are not less than the youths of other countries and are very capable and have various opportunities. They have the skill, behavior, attitude, health, knowledge and ability to make the future of the country very shining.

I believe therefore that the life and success of nations and their bright future lies in the hands of the young generation of today. And if young people of today have strong values, the best education, good health, right priorities and full sincerity, then we can say that the future is bright. And if, unfortunately, today’s youths do not prepare themselves enough, then we cannot say that the future will be brighter than today. Because, strong building always has a strong foundation.

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Youth Quest for Meaning

Quest for meaning in life is a usual monograph. And being young is a period where you have got quest for meaning. Youth is fleeting so feels there is no time to lose. In other way yout quest is a turbulent head of steam of inexpressible yearning which must find expression. Youth quest constitute a good mirror to society today. Today’s youth are not concerned merely with building a society for tomorrow; they are a reflection of our own age and not merely the heralds of tomorrow.Their concerns are those of the present.

Each youngster gives a different answer to each question. Each answer is a reflection of his evaluation of the ideologies personalities and life styles prevalent in society. The youths are an emerging generation; they are full of energy. They are enthusiastic. They constantly search for genuine values that can make a success of life find meaning of life. In this search they encounter the adult world, often only to be disillusioned and disappointed. The world of the adult is far from the world of their dream.The future does not belong to those who are content with today; rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment.

Risk to Let Go

There is no such thing as zero risk. Life is full of risk. For example, every car journey involves an element of risk; that doesn’t mean that we walk to cover distances. There are risks associated even if we stay indoors. However that does not mean all risk is unavoidable. Most of the risks can be managed and measures taken to avoid or to reduce the harm. There is also risk in the youth work and ministry. We have a responsibility to create a safe environment for the young people we serve. They are far too precious to be exposed to harm, especially when it is unnecessary or avoidable.

Young people often take enormous risk just to prove their worth to others. Without giving a second thought to the consequences of their take steps these rash decisions eventually leads to their downfall.

Bitterness towards Jews

Hitler’s hatred was blind towards Jews and referred to them as “carriers of filth and disease.” He forced hundreds of young children to scrub the sidewalks and buildings; also they were forced to paint the word Jew on their parents store windows. More than a hundred Viennese synagogues and Jewish prayer houses were demolished. Jewish children were no longer allowed to attend School; also business and homes were set on fire. All Jews were forced to wear a six pointed yellow star on their clothing, identifying them as Jews. Jews left for places as far away as China, India and Kenya to escape the terrors of Nazism. Hitler had written, “Germany’s final objective must unswervingly be the removal of Jew altogether.” Then Britain and France declare war on Germany, and World War II began.

The understanding of the subjective truth

Christianity is the highest truth of existence, for it brings man to an inwardness that is the deeper than his own subjectivity. Subjective truth is very important for Kierkegaard. He regards it as the highest truth available to mankind, and he makes it clear that by subjective truth he does not mean that a belief is true simply because one believes it to be true. Instead, he is referring to the subjective experience of being, or living, within truth of immersing oneself in the subjective, inward activity of experientially exploring and discovering truth of one’s own self in the process of existing, which is the process of becoming, a direct personal involvement in the living moment by moment process of unfolding reality. This is why subjective truth is sometimes called existential truth because it is essentially related to one’s actual existence; ‘the inward deepening in and truth. Constantly, Kierkegaard says, “Judge for yourself.” This judging or examining one’s life according to the truth can lead the person on the path of self perfection.

When Kierkegaard speaks of the inwardness of subjectivity, he is in no way referring to introspective reflection on our own mental and emotional states, for this would merely be the mode of detached contemplation. Instead, he is referring to active involvement, manifested by passionate self-commitment to one’s innermost moral or spiritual commitments. Kierkegaard gives absolute precedence to subjective truth for dealing with matters of moral and spiritual or religious truth. The truth about how human should live their lives. The truth can only be truly known and are only of use once they have become inwardly appropriated through subjective experience.

Kierkegaard believed that ultimately, the highest level of subjective truth available to a human being is faith- a state of consciousness of infinite in which one is no longer confined to the perception of reality imposed by intellectual reasoning. It is only through a leap to faith that we can commit ourselves totally to a god whose existence is logically and rationally uncertain. Kierkegaard had complete faith that the highest form of selfhood-man’s highest form of self-realization as spirit – is a religious existence defined by passionate self- commitment to the personal Absolute through the sustaining standpoint of faith; for him this meant Christian faith. It is only through the medium of faith that one can accept the paradoxical nature of Christianity and live in the presence of eternal, absolute truth. Kierkegaard sees becoming religious in terms of up building and forming the individual.

Witness

In the New Testament Christ calls the Apostles and the disciples to witness. A witness is a person who directly demonstrates the truth of what he proclaims directly. The performative gesture of witnessing includes more than the simple message it conveys, because it is primarily a demonstration of inwardness, of who I am as a self before God. The point here is that it is a poor proclamation of Christianity that occurs only in words, in direct communication. Why? Because Christianity can be communicated only by witnesses that is, by those who existentially express what is said, actualize it. Being a Christian is, without a doubt, neither more nor less than being a martyr. Because martyr bears a witness to God. Every Christian, that is, every true Christian, is a martyr.Suffering for the truth is the only possible awakening.

Following Jesus

In discussing the teaching of Christianity, especially on the imitation of Christ, he states that the life of Jesus itself, and not the volumes of catechism, is the key teaching of the church. Following Jesus Christ’s entire life must supply the norm for the Christian and for the life of the whole Church. One has to take every particular aspect of Christ’s life straight from his baptism to his resurrection and show correspondence. Christianity means to be like Christ. It does not say that you should try to resemble Christ. No, you are to put on Christ, put him on yourself. Christ comes to the world as the example, constantly enjoining: Imitate me. We humans prefer to adore him instead. Just as the name of Christ is the one and only name in heaven and on earth, so also is Christ the one and only predecessor who has gone ahead to prepare a place. Between heaven and earth there is only one road: to follow Christ. In time and eternity there is only one choice: to choose this road. There is only one eternal hope on this earth: to follow Christ into heaven. To follow Christ means to deny oneself, and so it means to go by the same way as Christ went, in the humble form of a servant, in want and scorn and mockery, not loving the world, and not beloved by it.

To suffer christianly

What is influential in Christian suffering? It lies in the fact that it is voluntary “on account of the Word” and “for righteousness’ sake.” “Everyone has a cross to bear.” Christ unabashedly speaks of what would await his disciples when they witnessed to him in the world. “This I have told you so that you will not be offended. They will exclude you from the synagogues; yes, the time will come when whoever kills you will think he is offering God a service” (Jn. 16:1; Mt. 16:23). The possibility of offense consists in being persecuted, ridiculed, cast out from society, misunderstood, and finally put to death and in such a way that those who do it think they are doing God, or the cause of righteousness, a service. It is to this suffering Christ speaks and promises heaven’s reward.

Whether you experience adversities in life, whether things perhaps go downhill for you, though you as a Christian will most assuredly bear these sufferings patiently, unlike many others in the world, however patiently you bear them, this suffering is not yet akin to Christ’s suffering. To suffer christianly is not to endure the inescapable but to suffer evil at the hands of people because you voluntarily will and endeavor to do only the good: to willingly suffer on account of the Word and for the sake of righteousness. One must act in conformity to the pattern; experience the act and the response it prompts, before he fully understands the meaning of the act. It is not difficult to understand that, according to Kierkegaard, Christianity requires suffering for the Gospel. But in order to comprehend the full significance of suffering for the Gospel, not must actually suffer for the Gospel. To grasp the thought of suffering, and the message of joy in suffering, to endure suffering and truly find good in it, to choose to suffer and believe that this is true wisdom unto blessedness, a man requires the guidance of God.

Gospel for the poor

Christ was not making a historical observation when he declared: The gospel is preached to the poor.The accent is on the gospel that the gospel is for the poor. Here the word “poor” does not simply mean poverty but all who suffer, are unfortunate, wretched, wronged, oppressed, crippled, lame, leprous, demonic. Since the gospel is preached to them, gospel remains only for them. The gospel becomes good news for them. What good news? Not: money, health, status, and so on – no, this is not Christianity. For the poor the gospel is the good news because to be unfortunate in this world is a sign of God’s nearness. So it was originally; this is the gospel in the New Testament. It is preached for “the poor,” and it is preached by the poor who, if they in other respects were not suffering, would eventually suffer by proclaiming the gospel; since suffering is inseparable from following Christ, from telling the truth.

Becoming a Christian

Christianity entered into the world not to be understood but to be existed in. He makes it clear that the Christian style of life cannot be indiscriminately blended with any and all human desires. Nor are Christians left to their own devices as to what style of life to lead. And that life which they are to follow or pattern themselves after is the life of Jesus. On the basis of the New Testament, record concerning the life and teachings of Jesus, he sets up an ideal “pattern” to which the individual Christian is supposed to conform. The life of Jesus is the model which the Christian is obligated to attempt to imitate. A Christian is a person of will who no longer wills his own will but with the passion of his crushed will radically changed, wills another’s will. Christianity is not so much related to transforming the intellect but to transforming the will. But this transformation is the most painful of all operations, comparable to a vivisection. Biblical Christianity is concerned with our will, with changing the will. Everything touches this; all the instructions (renouncing the world, denying one’s self, dying to the world, and so on, also to hate oneself, to love God) are connected with this fundamental idea: the transformation of the will.

Real conflict between Christianity and man lies in that Christianity which is Absolute and teaches that there exists something absolute, and demands of the Christian that his life must express the existence of something Absolute. Initially and principally Christianity is and must be so terrifying that only an Absolute can drive a person to it. A Christian is literally a stranger and a pilgrim. Relationship to Christ is the decisive thing. You may be thoroughly informed about Christianity as a whole, may know how to explain it, to present it and to expound it but if with all this you think that your own relationship to Christ is a matter of indifference, you are a pagan. This is Christianity: Let a person begin seriously to realize his need for Christ. Let him literally give all his fortune to the poor, literally love his neighbor, and so forth, and he will soon learn to need Christ.Christianity is a suit that at first glance seems attractive enough, but as soon as you actually put it on then you must have Christ’s help in order to be able to live in it. Christianity came into the world as the absolute not for consolation, humanly understood; on the contrary it speaks again and again of the sufferings which a Christian must endure, or which a man must endure to become and to be a Christian, sufferings he can well avoid merely by refraining from becoming a Christian. In a strict sense, being a Christian means ‘to die to the world and then to be sacrificed; first a sword pierces the heart (to die from the world) and then to be bated cursed by men and abandoned by God (i.e. sacrificed).

There is an endless yawning difference between God and man and hence in the situation of contemporaneousness to become a Christian (to be transformed into likeness with god) proved to be an even greater torment and hence also a crime in the eyes of one’s neighbor. And so it will always prove when becoming a Christian in truth comes to mean to become contemporary with Christ. And if becoming a Christian does not come to mean this then all the talk about becoming a Christian is nonsense and self-deception and conceit is part even blasphemy and sin against the second commandment of the Law and sin against the Holy Ghost.

If thou canst not prevail upon thyself to become a Christian in the situation of contemporaneousness of with Him or of He is the situation of contemporaneousness cannot move thee and draw thee to Himself then thou will never become a Christian. Thou mayest honor, praise, thank and reward with all worldly goods to him who maketh thee believe thou nevertheless act Christian but he deceiveth thee.

Followers and not admirers

It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression “follower.” He never asks for admirers, worshippers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life, Christ is looking for. Christ understood that being a “disciple” was in innermost and deepest harmony with what he said about himself. Christ claimed to be the way and the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6). His whole life on earth, from beginning to end, was destined solely to have followers and to make admirers impossible. Christ came into the world with the purpose of saving, not instructing it. At the same time as is implied in his saving work he came to be the pattern, to leave footprints for the person who would join him, who would become a follower. This is why Christ was born and lived and died in lowliness. What then, is the difference between an admirer and a follower? A follower is or strives to be what he admires. An admirer, however, keeps himself personally detached. He fails to see that what is admired involves a claim upon him, and thus he fails to be or strive to be what he admires. Kierkegaard said that Christians “are not adherents of a doctrine, but followers of a life.

Christ

Jesus Christ came to the world to establish His Father’s wish and kingdom on earth. Christ through his death brought salvation to all. Therefore, Christ is the pattern after which all Christians must seek to shape their lives. His purpose in this was to deliver man yet he also would express what the truth had to suffer in every generation and what it must always suffer. He went about in lowliness, in the lowly form of a servant, in poverty and wretchedness in suffering. Christ was the truth and is the truth. He consistently pictured Jesus as a real man, caught up in many everyday problems and trials. Kierkegaard constantly emphasizes that the recorded specificity of Jesus’ human life provides the category of imitation with concrete content. Kierkegaard asserts that the life of Jesus is “infinitely more important” than the doctrines written about him.

Priest or clergy

There is a complete crew of bishops, deans, priests, learned men, eminently learned, talented, gifted, and humanly well-meaning but not one of them is in the character of the Christianity of the New Testament. If such is the case, the existence of this Christian crew is rather a peril, because it is so infinitely likely to give rise to a false impression and the false inference that when we have such a complete crew we must of course have Christianity, too. He criticized the Danish state church, its clergy, its sacraments, its institutions, its worship, and above all, its claim to be servant of the Gospel in a Christian society. According to him, Danish Lutheranism had nothing at all to do with New Testament faith.

The word of God which is essential for Christianity should be preached to the people. Hence, men are still necessary to preach the word of God and reach it to people. The medium is the clergy. This medium ought to be free from all selfishness. But evil has always been fond of this medium, and still is. Catholicism has correctly seen that it was good for this medium to belong as little as possible to this world; hence celibacy, poverty, asceticism. It is perfectly correct to remove selfishness from the medium. Protestantism did not overlook this error. To guard against this spiritual pride, Protestantism contrived the notion that the clergy should be exactly like other men. So there is completely laicized clergy, officials, dignitaries, married men with wives and children.This is the medium through which God’s word must resound. Luther is an exact opposite of Apostle. The apostle expresses Christianity for the sake of God. He comes with authority from God and for His sake. As for Luther, he expresses Christianity for the sake of man. He is fundamentally the reaction of the human against the Christian acting for the sake of God.

Kierkegaard accuses the clergy of the Established Church of being hypocrites who do not practice what they preach. Kierkegaard says that they are simply actors in disguise, and caustically remarks that the only difference between Church and theatre is that the Church doesn’t allow you to claim your money back if you don’t like the show!

NOETIC DIALECTIC OF KIERKEGAARD

What is the task of Christian teaching? According to Kierkegaard, there are two types of dialectics by which communication takes place. One has been called the Noetic dialectic and another Religious dialectic. Essential to this dialectic are the distinctions between knowledge and ignorance and between truth and falsity. This is the dialectic employed by most teaching, scholarship and science in order to obtain more information or in order to understand a given subject matter. It of course can be applied to activities related to Christianity, for example, in order to obtain more historical information about the apostle Paul or about the formation and development of the Church.

As Kierkegaard saw it, the evasion of the requirements of a genuinely religious Christian existence, which had been going on for centuries, was now greatly amplified in his time because Hegelian philosophy had permeated the intellectual leadership and the scholarship of Christianity.This had influenced the intellectual élite and scholarly teachers of Christianity to examine various doctrines of the Gospel, in order to demonstrate how correct reasoning and understanding could reveal their truth. Consequently, only revelations which can be justified by reason were considered acceptable. Kierkegaard regarded this presentation of ‘the reasonableness of Christianity’ as a form of treason because it dared to presuppose that an infinite God and his infinite wisdom could be grasped by finite human understanding. Since, as finite beings, we cannot know God’s existence. Kierkegaard asserts that one can accept Christianity solely by making a ‘leap to faith’, and if we are unable to live in true faith then we should give up Christianity altogether.

According to Kierkegaard, however, faith that is rooted in understanding is not true faith, but merely an intellectual acceptance of doctrines containing dogmatic truths. Genuine faith, which lies at the heart of Christianity, cannot be sanctioned by human reason. He observes that the general absence of true faith in contemporary Christianity is connected with, and reinforced by, the fact that virtually anyone can ‘become’ a ‘Christian’ – people now call themselves Christian merely because they are born to Christian parents in a Christian nation – and this has reduced Christianity to a mere fashionable tradition adhered to by swarms of unbelieving ‘believers’.

Reason and Faith

Reason and faith are like two sides of the same coins. None of them can stand by themselves isolated from one another. Reason helps us to know something intellectually and faith challenges us to leap into darkness of hope and belief. Reason which also means ‘Noetic dialectic’ focuses on understanding, intellectual capacity and observation. Religious dialectic makes distinction between faith and doubt, not that between knowledge and ignorance.

The expectation of eternal happiness and the significance it has for the present life

The expectation of eternal happiness will help a man to understand his temporal existence because one praises the experienced life and takes guidance from the one who has experienced it. Such a life has gone through struggles and has learned how to live even in case of failures but still it is at the service of our temporal existence whereas the life of youth is at the service of imagination and mental illusions. Therefore one requires guide in his life who helps one to understand life gradually. That guide is his goal, an eternal happiness.

The life experiences may teach one to bring gladness in one’s life but the expectation of eternal happiness brings him true joy. The expectation of eternal happiness will reconcile every man with his neighbour, with his friend, and with his enemy in understanding of the essential. Experience teaches one to give others their due but still it’s concerned in its temporal existence. It teaches one to reconcile all but that effect fades away after a certain period of time but the aspiration for the eternal happiness console one beyond all measures because it is in harmony with itself.

Eternal happiness is a grace that god gives us. It is a relation between God and me. Therefore we shouldn’t allow third person that world to interfere it. We on our merit can’t achieve it. If we think so then it becomes earthly and not eternal. Therefore in faith we expect this eternal happiness and receive it.

Eternal Happiness

We have been seeing regarding Christianity all through this paper but the question as to why all this always remains. The question is answered in this point by Kierkegaard. He says that when reveal our wishes to somebody he understands us because in it not only our soul is revealed but also he sees us because our wishes betray us to him. Therefore someone has said that wishing is a foolish art because we compare one who has the habit of wishing with the one resorted to the beggars staff through laziness. Both of them live on charity.

However, wishing also displays an attractive side. All of our childhood goes on in wishing which adds meaning to our life. Sometimes there were stories in which men and women were granted satisfaction by three wishes. One of them is eternal happiness. When he had assured eternal happiness for himself then he would wish for other things for the sake fun. In the midst of life’s seriousness we require fun.

Kierkegaard says that the men of this age have learned how to work their wish so that they can divorce themselves from the habit of wishing. It is good if we want to get away from the deceitfulness of wishing but the eternal happiness is not what men consider to be frivolous.

Eternal happiness is not acquired on the earth by involving ourselves with the things like the concern for the future or is achieved by violence rather doing the things which are impossible, to seek the kingdom of god here on earth.

3.3 What is to become a real disciple?

Becoming a real disciple is a task that begins when a person realizes that he was in a state of error that is he was unaware of the Christ but once he comes to the knowledge of Christ he possesses the truth. He becomes a new creature in the sense of becoming a man of different quality. In so far as he was in the state of error he was running away from the truth but after he has opened himself to the presence of Christ his life takes the opposite direction. This change is called conversion. This conversion cannot take place unless it is taken up in his consciousness. With this consciousness he will take the leave of his former state by being sad for remaining so long in the state of error. This grief is called as Repentance after which he looks forward to quicken his life towards reaching Christ. This whole process of transition from his former state to the present is nothing but new birth. It is because when enters into the world he’s completely a new person.

3.1 Serving One Master

Kierkegaard observes the words of Jesus in the gospel according to St. Matthew, “No one can serve two masters.” He says that we must go into the world and observe what the lives of people express. They express only one thing that no man can serve two masters.

He means that we can’t serve both God and the World. Choosing to serve either of two means complete dedication. Either we can serve God or the world and not both. Even the lives of religious who profess to have dedicated them in the service of God can’t live on two planes. They serve either of them. As the time passes with people becoming more and more sophisticated and cultured, they try to use their knowledge and common sense to suit their needs. Sometimes people also try to change the teaching of Christianity to suit the needs of the time. They say that they require a faith or teaching that is relevant to their age not that was practised by people of earlier age which could have been relevant for them at that time. But Kierkegaard affirms that Christianity can’t be changed. It is unchangeable. He gives an example of a child who just because can’t climb the top of it commands it to get aside from the place. People can do away with Christianity or give up their faith but can’t change its teaching. There are absolute requirements of Christianity which are to be fulfilled.

Why do people feel that original teaching of Christianity is not pertinent to this time? It is because they may not be or are not able to fulfil the absolute requirements. Therefore the solution Kierkegaard puts before is like our forefathers accept the fact that lack to fulfil these requirements. Why Christianity is not willing to change? Because if it does so there will be different teaching at every time. People will create their own Christianities to suit their motives and the essence of the real teaching will be lost.

Therefore every Christian must strive to fulfil the absolute requirements. There may come a time when nobody will fulfil it but the fact will continue to remain the same that one has fulfilled it at the cost of His life. He is none other than our Lord who served only one master by fulfilling the absolute requirements when he was on the earth.

3.1 The Narrow Path

Jesus says, “Walk through the narrow way because it leads to the kingdom of God.” Why? For it is full of difficulties. One must go through this to attain the kingdom of God. Kierkegaard rephrases this sentence and adds his words saying that what is more important for us is not the narrow path but the narrowness of the path. It means that to reach towards the perfection one must experience tribulation. Here the essential meaning of this pint is not the path but the journey in other words how one travels the path. Though one is aware of the tribulations and the afflictions on the path one radiates the joyful disposition. One must always keep oneself joyful because the afflictions lead one to perfection. When one finds oneself joyful in the midst of these afflictions on the way towards perfection one is strengthened.

As one moves forward on this path it becomes harder and harder. Therefore before beginning the journey one should always establish the task that one wants to achieve and then perfect it. Once the task is established the way becomes clear that is the way of affliction. As one marches ahead one may find many people on the same path along with one who have no afflictions then one must know that they don’t share his path.

The affliction and the way are not two separate things. They are one. If you take one away then the other also is taken away. Eventually it leads to something. As long as the affliction is the way it will lead to something and if it is not then it ceases to be the way.

To conclude, as our master has said that we must walk through the narrow way to achieve the eternal life. It means that we must walk on the path full of difficulties and hindrances so that it will lead us to achieve eternal happiness