Man’s Ignorance

Talking is the easiest thing in the world, and keeping quiet the most difficult. But there will soon come a time when speech will seem to be such a grave matter that one will wish that one had remained silent all one’s life; one will wish that one had renounced the power of speech and that one’s tongue had been frozen into a perpetual silence.

There is no greater source of temptation in man’s body than his tongue, yet it is his tongue that he misuses more than anything: he uses it to deny rather than accept truth; he uses it to utter evil instead of righteous words. People are quite happy with the way they explain themselves in this world. They do not realize that eventually they are not going to have to answer to any human being; they are going to have to answer to God. If they were conscious of this fact, they would prefer to own up to their worldly disgrace rather than pretend to maintain their honour.

This is all because man wrongly considers himself to be his own master. He forgets that, before long, his true Lord and Master will appear, leaving man to languish in his helplessness.

If people knew what was going to happen to them tomorrow, they would cease to derive enjoyment from their present state. Their pride would suddenly change to humility. It is their ignorance of the after-life that has made the world seem too attractive to them.