Page 3 - Sincerity and Religion
P. 3
Sometimes one may read a whole book
of philosophy and not progress a step
farther. Sometimes one may be quite a
fervent devotee of a religion and not
progress. There are people who have
spent entire lifetimes seated in
contemplation and attained nothing.
There are people (we have well-known
examples) who used to do the most
modest of manual works, like a cobbler
mending old shoes, and who had an
experience. It is altogether beyond
what one thinks and says of it. It is a
gift, that’s all. And all that is needed is to
be that — to succeed in identifying
oneself with it and live it. At times you
read one sentence in a book and that
leads you there. Sometimes you read
entire books of philosophy or religion
and they get you nowhere. There are
people, however, whom the reading of
philosophy books helps to go ahead. But
all these things are secondary. There is
only one thing that’s important: that is a
sincere and persistent will, for these
things don’t happen in a twinkling. So
one must persevere. . . .
The Mother, CWM, 6: 25-26