Here Are
Some Shocking Truths 12 April 2014
The person who
invented dynamite, Alfred Nobel, went on to establish 90 armament factories and
amassed huge amounts of wealth through the arms trade. Then an incident took
place which totally changed the course of his life.
In 1988, the death
of his brother caused several newspapers to mistakenly publish obituaries of
Alfred. One French obituary stated: “Le marchand de la mort est mort’ (“The
merchant of death is dead”). The obituary went on to day, “Alfred Nobel, who
became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died
yesterday. “ Alfred, shocked at what he read, then took a positive decision
about his life. In 1895, at the Swedish-Norweigian Club in Paris, Nobel signed
his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish
the five Nobel Prizes, including the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.
Shock is a great educator, It sets off such a process
of brainstorming that a whole new mindset takes shape and as a consequence a
new human personality emerges: if in the pre-shock period he was just a man, in the post-shock period
he emerges as superman. Shocks, great or small, are very common. Almost
everyone has had experience of them. But the majority take these as negative
experiences and are unable to learn a lesson from them. However, shock is not
an accident: shock is the language of nature. Nature specials in the language
of shocks. If one saves oneself from becoming negative after suffering a shock,
this can be highly creative experience. Shock will stimulate your mind, and
will unfold your potential. It initiates creative thinking processes. It helps
you to take better decisions in your life by bringing you from a state of total
derailment to being right back on track. In other words, it makes you realistic
in your approach. Shock is the greatest positive factor in one’s life, provided
one responds positively to it. Everyone can become inspirational like Alfred
Nobel; the only condition being that one should take shocks as a source of
learning rather than a source of anger.
One such example is
that of MK Gandhi, who spent 20 years in South Africa. In June 1893, he had to
undertake a trip to Pretoria in the Transvaal, a journey which took Gandhi to
Pietermaritzburg. There, Gandhi took his seat in a first-class compartment,
since he had purchased a first-class ticket. The railway officials ordered
Gandhi to remove himself to the van compartment, since non-whites were not
permitted in first-class compartments. As Gandhi refused to comply with the
order, he was pushed out of the train, and his luggage was tossed out on to the
platform in the extremely bitter cold of the winter.
What happened with
Gandhi was an example of violence. Yet he decided to work for peace. He
returned to India and started his movement which was based on ahimsa, non
violence. Soon, he became a champion of Non-violent activism. According to the
law of nature, life is not a smooth journey: it is a journey through shocks.
One has no option but to accept this as a reality. Indeed, the course nature
takes is determined by shocks and challenges. Anyone who seeks to make himself
successful should understand this reality and take shocks as stepping stones in
life. Follow Maulana Wahiduddin Khan at speakingtree. in and post comments
there.
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