Edward's Diary Entry 4 - Charity?

And so after my talk with Guru Nanda, I was left to myself… I re-read a few books. Yes, I had read them before, but I still thought I would find some new meanings here and there. But nine months ago, something finally clicked. My life was pretty much in order, but five decades of “karma” had taken their toll, and I still had a few odds and ends to work out. Especially, as I mentioned before, since I’d been quite a non-conformist. So it was a surprise when I actually expressed a thought to Ximena and realised I was talking seriously. Ximena is a generous person who believes in charity and actually does it. I, on the other hand, thought I had never been very charitable. Maybe I was incapable of being generous, or I feared that I might not know how or whom to actually give to. Charity seemed like a burden. So when I found myself repeating a phrase from an Indian “holy man”, that if people practised charity well, there would be no disorder in the world, and that 10% of one’s earnings should go to charity (with a threefold subdivisions as well), it suddenly dawned on me that there was no excuse. See the quote on the Extras page. Reading and talking was no longer enough. I saw I had to implement a strategy to actually do something. So I worked out a plan. I calculated my 10% and divided it into thirds, more or less, and simply started from that very same week. Now every month, and every day of the month when necessary, I give to others, and thank them in my mind for giving me an opportunity to help – if of course the help really helps, which is also difficult to take responsibility for, but that’s another question. In fact, it was at that time that I worked out the beginning of what would become my new “Life Plan”. I knew that an emotional personality like mine often has to seek order to be able to cope with life’s challenges. And that’s how I started with my initial plan… And a new struggle began.