Daily Theosophy

Luckily he never killed anyone, but still the thought of it had started a strong history thread that would work out on him in one of his future lives.

But because Shano had forgiven him in his own heart, the two never had to meet again.

(44)

(Shano’s New Life)

Shano moved to a far away part of the city, alone, and managed to keep his address secret. He had no phone so that nobody of his old “parents” and “friends” would know how to contact him. In his new environment he found a good room – the last thing ever his stepmother had done for him was to give him quite a large bank account (so that she could be sure that he would never come back). He entered the same grade of a school over there and was quickly liked by teachers and pupils. The people there were more civilized and more intelligent than where he lived first, and the houses and buildings there were nicer and lighter. Also the new school was more pleasant than the old one: better and more compassionate teachers. He made some good friends with whom he could talk about serious things, such as the ideals of society, about the philosophy of what was good and what was bad. Also he lost his secret shame for his masturbation, because in this more open society such things were not as secretive as at other places, and he finally he could accept himself as normal, and walk with a straight back, and he dared to look the people in their eyes. His “differentness” played no role at all there. He became more optimistic and cheerful and managed to make a lot of fun. He even got a girlfriend for some time – his first real and fiery love – but she appeared mainly interested in the color of her toenails and her mascara, and after three weeks he gave up because he could never get her to talk about something serious. When he told her she cried and said that she loved him more than any creature in the whole universe. Then she looked in the mirror and saw what her tears had done to he make-up, and suddenly turned around, and said: “Okay. You go. I’ll easily find someone else.” It was no shock to him.

He talked a lot with his friends about what would be good in the society, and how they could change it. Shano’s main point was non-violence: people should respect each other. Another boy was of opinion that the world could only be saved and just if all rich people would be killed in a war, because then only the good people would live in peace. One of the girls – she was quite young – thought that you could eliminate all evil in the world by killing all bad people. One of the brighter girls brought in that killing bad people was also bad. So where would you get the good people from to kill the bad ones? One of the boys was the son of a politician. He said that nothing could be reached without social reform and that there should be more police to keep people from doing bad things. Shano thought for himself: ‘I lived in a place were there was much more police than here. Still they didn’t prevent my father from cheating my mother, my mother from leaving me and from my teacher raping me, and the school director from being a selfish coward.’ Shano maintained that the inner attitude and dignity of people would change the people from within, and then they would naturally stop making war and kill and rape and cheat and steal.

Thinking by himself when he was alone, he thought that if you want to promote non-violence you should be non-violent yourself. That could never be accomplished by killing other beings. You had to had the attitude of non-violence first. He thought that he should begin with himself and in a simple way. And he decided to become a vegetarian. Because that would save many animal lives and suffering for them in narrow cages and it would also make people think about non-violence and it would change them. They would become less violent when they would stop eating meat and be responsible for animal cruelty. The next day he told his decision to his friends, and hoped that they would do the same. They could form together a club of non-violent boys. But their reaction was very different. One said: “How can you live without eating meat? You will destroy your own health and then you can do nothing.” Another said: “This is pure sentimentality. Animals have no feelings.” And another: “We are here to make the world better, not to turn it into a zoo.” But a few sympathized: “I can understand your decision. I also would like not to eat meat, but then I would get a big argument with may parents and they would force me to eat it anyway.” And: “You are lucky that you have your own room and can cook and eat what you like. We cannot do that.” But still they respected Shano’s view. Shano quickly understood that his idea was not received very well, but at least they did not ridicule him. The real reason was of course that nobody liked to give up hamburgers and hotdogs and fried chicken which they almost daily got from snack bars. They couldn’t eat cheese with salad everyday. Shano was disappointed, but for the rest they remained friends. They discussed many other subjects and had a lot of fun together. And most important for him was to be accepted as part of a group and that people took him serious.

Adi looked at the scene with confidence. He knew that Shano had the elements of character to become a good man, and he knew which wife was destined to become his wife, and which hearts would live in the body of his two children, a boy and a girl. He knew also that in later lives he would even become a great man, one of Adi’s great helpers. But – and this may amaze you – even Adi can not see the future exactly. He can see the threads between the past and the present and how something that happens now is connected with a thought and action in the past. He could exactly see that. He could also see the threads running to the future – but never knew for sure when the effect would take place, even though he knew that is would be in the same part of the a future cycle as when the thread had been started. The precise future cannot be known by anyone, not even by Adi, or by Adi’s parents, or the teachers of his parents or the teachers of the teachers of his parent. At least – as far as I know, of course. Why? Exactly because every mind of a human being is free, and therefore can always decide different from what others expect.

In Shano’s case it did not happen as expected. The discussion about becoming a vegetarian had happened about three weeks before his seventeenth birthday. Shano, having more self-confidence than ever, and living for the first time on his own room, and for the first time since his childhood he had a real circle of friend, decided to give a party and invite all his friends to his room. He would do everything to make a nice evening for them, with good food (vegetarian of course), good music and a lot of other things to have fun. So he invited them all. The friends thought about a birthday present for Shano. They knew Shano to have some feeling for humor and they did not know much of the inner pains Shano had suffered. And without real bad intentions they decided to a practical joke. When his birthday was approaching they got a very big box. They put the present inside and wrapped it with nice paper and a happy birthday wish written on it. With this box they went to Shano’s room for the party.

(45)

(Shano’s Birthday)

Shano unwrapped the box, full of expectation, and opened the lid of the box and saw …