The Two Realizations

The Two Realizations

There's nothing called a free lunch. You've to work towards what you want, you have to earn it.

To survive, thrive and live gracefully in this world, we need a bit of both worldly and spiritual wisdom. Just having worldly wisdom may help you acquire material wealth and fame, but it doesn't mean you'll have peace and bliss. And having spiritual wisdom alone may mean you know right from wrong, moral from immoral, but it doesn't guarantee a materially comfortable life. With the objective to help you understand my perspective, allow me to classify wisdom into two categories: spiritual and worldly. In this post, I'll sum up, in one sentence each, the essence of such wisdom. These are the two ultimate realizations, the finest guiding principles. So, what are they?

I once read an anecdote in a book called Jewish Wisdom by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. As follows:

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman served as an advisor to the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. He once addressed the Knesset, the unicameral parliament of Israel. Soon after his speech was over, a Knesset member approached him and said, "In the Talmud, Hillel summarized Judasim in one sentence: 'What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: this is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary.' Could you summarize economics in one sentence?" "Yes," replied Friedman. "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

Witty. There is probably not a crisper way to condense the spiritual and worldly wisdom in two sentences. The essence of all religions, at the core of spirituality, is not the understanding of rituals or recitation of scriptures but the realization that we have a duty of care towards our fellow human beings and other living entities. You may believe you are politically, financially, emotionally or intellectually independent, you remain part of a grand system, a minuscule entity in Nature's apparatus, a tiny one, a spare part.

Om Namah Shivay