Most people believe what they want to believe. They look for evidence for what they consider right. They…

Most people believe what they want to believe. They look for evidence for what they consider right. They search for proof that confirms the doubt in their hearts as truth. That is why they take the things and events they see as confirmation of the suspicion in their hearts and follow it. In fact, a person must set aside his own thoughts, opinions and wishes and strive to find the truth itself and to understand it. It is very likely that the truth runs contrary to what is in a person's ego, mind and heart. What is seen may not be as it seems; what is heard may not be as it sounds. If someone says that there is fire in the bosom of a tree wrapped in green leaves and giving coolness, will the mind accept it? Yet fire lives in the trunk of every tree. There are two proofs of this: if a tree does not drink water, it dries up, and what dries it is the fire within it. The second proof is that if dry tree branches are rubbed together, fire comes out of them. Outwardly the tree seems far from fire, yet inwardly it is the dwelling place of fire. More such examples can be given: in all the creatures of the world one can find fire, air, water and so on. What I want to say is that it is natural for the outward appearance of a thing not to convey the truth about it. Let us return to the point. The point was to explain that most people do not seek the truth, but establish as truth whatever pleases their ego and then look around for evidence to support it. A person sometimes says with his tongue words contrary to his heart. The reason is the nature of imitation — calling good whatever society considers good, and bad whatever it considers bad. A person often follows the crowd; he does not realize it himself, although he is merely drinking his fill from the rain of lies and tricks poured on the masses and vomiting up what he has drunk. For example, if those who have climbed onto the pulpit shout, “We are collapsing,” those below join in and shout the same. If it is said, “We are finding salvation,” they repeat that too. It seems as if their minds confirm it. Yet that mind is merely leaning on the evidence and analyses presented by the person on the pulpit. He himself has found nothing and understood nothing. The talk is getting long, and the point is being left aside. The point was to speak about people regarding as truth whatever their egos desire. Most interestingly, however much people hide what their egos desire, they bring it out at two points, and this does not happen by their choice. The first manifestation is their deeds. However much a person hides it in his heart alone and presents himself as chaste, his deeds show the desire and truth within his ego. The second manifestation is the way they are treated. In many cases, what people desire comes to them through their destiny. If his expectation is of good, good things come; if of evil, evil things; if of sins, sins; if of rewards, rewards. So let a person not say, “Why am I suffering so much?” — it is simply that what is inside him is coming out to meet him. That is, before complaining and blaming others, a person must write clean and pure words on the pages of his heart's notebook, for he is obliged to read these words along the roads of destiny. The words seem muddled. The intended meaning seems to have run off somewhere. Just as mixed dishes and impure food make a person sick and destroy him, so various words and unchecked, unconfirmed information, shameless images and sounds, and in general all such things flow through the pipes of the eyes and ears into the well of the heart and spoil the heart, and ultimately the whole body. If the heart is spoiled, it inclines toward unlawful things; if the ego runs wild, a person cannot subdue it; if the mind goes astray, a person moves away from right decisions, and so on. Now, what were we trying to say? Better to put it in numbered points, so that it stays better in our memory: 1. It is better if we follow the truth, not our ego. 2. It is good if, without complaining and being discontent, we strive to correct our hearts and cleanse our insides. 3. By restraining our eyes and ears, we succeed in keeping our insides pure.

Akrom MALIK