Hi Steve,
I don't see it being fruitful to go through your list of reasons as to why you believe all these things about President Trump. I do disagree with you, but I respect your right to have a difference of opinion. Instead, I would like to steer the conversation towards a topic we may both be interested further engaging in.
When we manage to rise through duality, will the devil and God be One?
And, do you think Putin or President Trump are Gods children deserving Love?
I just shared some Sufi wisdom that makes me think about politicians and businessmen in general, Inayat Khan calls the pursuit of wealth a valid path. He says there are at least four paths, and it doesn't matter which one someone takes. Ultimately, the destination is the same.
http://spiritualportal.net/index.php/topic,1166.msg44398.html#msg44398So yours may be a path of service, and you're doing what you believe is right. Therefore, I do not take qualm with your desire to be of service to others. And when we disagree, it's beneficial to find the greater meaning behind what's actually going on. We could be butting heads and wasting our vital energy defending our stance, or we can just let it go and allow others to make their own decisions. So I stand by this idea that your path might be the path of service, as you have poetically and reflectively shared here through out the years. Actually, I think you might have dharma and moksha. I think ultimately, we wish to know God. And when we can say we know God, I think all disagreement found in life falls by the way side. It would be quite something to see and know, not from the eyes of our Ego, but from the Almighty One.
In this way we see that there are really two journeys. There is the journey from the goal to the life in the world, and there is the journey from the life in the world to the goal. And both journeys are natural. As it is natural to go forth from the eternal goal, so it is natural to go from the changing life to the life which is unchangeable.
Which is the most desirable thing in life, to seek for the goal or to dwell in this changing life? The answer is that every person's desire is according to his evolution.
The world is engaged in four different kinds of occupations. To one person some of them may be repellant and undesirable, while to another they seem desirable. Everyone has his own occupation in which he seems to be happy, but that of another seems to him useless, foolish or undesirable. In Sanskrit these occupations are called Kama, Artha, Dharma, and Moksha. The occupation of Kama is love, affection, attachment, or infatuation, to such an extent that nothing else matter in life neither money nor position, nothing. Kama is the thing he wants; it is his one occupation.
Artha is the occupation in which one pursues money; he wishes to be rich, to have property, to make trade prosper. Love does not appeal to him. He calls the lover crazy, foolish, out of his mind. He believes that everybody will like him if he has money, and that it is crazy to pursue love!
Dharma is the occupation of pursuing duty. Such a person says, 'these things are not right. The right thing is to do one's duty'. Perhaps he is interested in his family, in family duty to mother, father, wife, or children, saying, 'This is my virtue'; or in the people, the nation, the poor, or the rich. Whatever he considers his duty he gives his life to. He may be a soldier, a teacher, or a merchant; but he feels justified according to the way he does his duty. The person who is after money thinks he is a fool. The lover thinks he is a fool too. For him the first thing is to convert people to his Church; to do something good for his nation, city or village.
The fourth occupation, Moksha, is different again. This means to work for paradise, for heaven, for heavenly peace. What is the use of bothering about ones duty? The whole aim is heaven; that is the happiness to look for. All things will change, all will pass – wealth, earthly love – they are all changeable. But paradise, the happiness one can get in the hereafter after all the suffering here, that is the unchangeable. A man who thinks thus is pious. He suffers all his life; he goes through all kinds of pain; he is seeking for that paradise. The lover may say, 'How foolish; my paradise is on earth. My beloved is my love. What a foolish person to sacrifice all this, and who knows what will come hereafter?' But the other says, 'I can create my own paradise with my wealth'.
These four paths are diverse. Everyone considers his own the best and wisest. The Sufi looks on all with tolerance, and knows that there is a path for everyone. The path of the lover is for him, the path of the one seeking for wealth is for him, the seeker after paradise is following his path, it is all a journey. It is simply that there are four different routes by which the journey is made. The Sufi sees the same goal at the end of each; the lover has to meet the seeker after wealth, and both have to meet the one who has done his duty. Therefore at the end of their journey there is a place where they can meet. What does it matter if one does not go by a certain path? Let each choose the way that belongs to his own temperament and tendency. Therefore the Sufi does not worry. He gives no preference to one or the other. He sees the journey of life being made along one or other of these roads. The saying of Buddha, 'Forgive all', comes true. Forgiveness does not come by learning, it comes by understanding that a person should be allowed to travel along that path which is suited to his temperament. As long as he is journeying with open eyes, let him journey.
https://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VII/VII_30.htm
