FLOWERS AND THORNS
Today’s limited world is like a jungle. We have flowers as well as thorns in it. In the eternal world of ‘tomorrow’, the flowers and thorns will be separated from each other and a final eternal world will be made in which one part will consist only of thorns — hell, while the other part will consist only of flowers — paradise.
The conditions of today’s world are actually a means of preparation of the human personality. God has created this world as a testing ground. He has given man a free-will and is getting a record made of his thoughts, speach and actions. At this very moment, two groups are being formed; one of thorns and one of flowers, and every man is showing, from the record of his life, for which group he has qualified himself — the thorns or the flowers.
For instance, if someone abuses you, troubles you or provokes you, than you have two ways of responding. One way is to give a ‘tit for tat’ response. That is, just as you have been troubled, you likewise trouble the other person by abusing him, troubling him or harming him. So in times of provocation, you retaliate in like manner.
One who retaliates in this way develops a negative personality. He grows within him a harvest of thorns. In the eternal world of ‘tomorrow’ after death, he will emerge as a thorny personality; he will then be put in a jungle of thorns and will spend the rest of his life eternally grief-stricken and frustrated.
A quite different type of person is one who responds in a positive manner to negative situations. Others may abuse him, but he himself will not abuse anyone. Others may torment him, but he will not torment others. He may be harmed, but he will not harm others. Others may provoke him, but he himself will not provoke anyone.
This is the man who lives like a flower amidst the thorns. He discovers God while He is unseen in this world and lives a God-oriented life of positivity. He takes the situation as an opportunity to take blessings from God and builds within himself a personality like a flower. So he will be given the opportunity to live in the Garden of flowers after death in the eternal world of paradise.
