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Universal Teachings For Everyday Living Page 2

President’s Message

Early one spring, my father, Rev. Gyomay Kubose, and I

were driving down a tree-lined street. In the Midwest,

the weather is still chilly in March but this particular year

Looking at the fat buds covering the tree branches, my

father exclaimed, “Nature is so honest!”

It doesn’t matter what the calendar date is, if it’s warm,

buds come out on the tree branches and plants send up

their green shoots. I want to live such an honest life, a

life of naturalness without pretense or artificiality. I want

to live fully, and minimize the should’s and ought’s. When

I decide to do something, I want to back up my decision

100% and do things without excuses or explanations.

pletely put myself into taking out the garbage! No need

one thing but chronic complaining and criticizing is what

I’m talking about here. We also become clever and say

things like it’s too hard to take out the garbage because

I’m so tired from working at my job all day. We find this

and that excuse to get out of doing things we don’t want

to do. We might even proudly say, “Well, I’m lazy!” and

feel others should admire one’s ‘honesty.’ There’s no

end to the convoluted dynamics of the human mind. What

is honesty anyway? Is it always good? Can it be abused?

One can get a headache from over analyzing what hon-

esty means. Sometimes we may feel like reducing hon-

esty to when “nature calls.” When you have to go, you

have to go! Human affairs are rarely so simple.

The other day while on a walk, I saw two dogs meet-

another and tails are wagging, each dog knows there’s

an openness to meeting and getting to know each other.

You will never see a dog fake wagging his tail and then

bite another dog out of meanness and deception.

Even though honesty is usually considered a good

thing, we devious humans can manipulate a virtue and

and says that he needs to talk to you. If he starts out by

saying, “To be perfectly honest with you,” you can be

sure that you’re not going to hear anything very pleas-

ant. Honesty can be used as a hunting license to go out

and harm others. Some people justify hurting others by

doing it under the banner of honesty.

Honesty in dealing with others can be a complicated

matter. It is even more difficult to look at oneself hon-

estly. An unwillingness to try and sincerely do this is at

the root of what can be called evil. On the other hand,

the basis of a spiritual life is the willingness to look at

step… and when I reflect further, I realize it is the end

Live naturally, like water flows, like flowers bloom. Too

often we live our lives from the “outside in” and let exter-

nal events determine our inner world of thoughts and

feelings. How much more honest and natural it is to live

life from the “inside out.” A plant may need a nurturing

environment but when it blooms, it does so 100%. The

flower doesn’t complain, “Hey, no one’s around to ap-

preciate me . . . maybe I shouldn’t go to all the trouble of

blossoming so completely!”

Nature is a great teacher. Let’s take the time to look

around and marvel at the budding trees, the greening of

the yards. Let’s smile appreciatively as we feel the warm

sunshine and gentle breezes. May we witness the simple

but awe inspiring sincerity in nature’s response to spring-

time temperatures. May our spirits resonate to nature’s

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