Persuading Others

Question: How does one go about trying to persuade others to awaken their spirit, and to pursue enlightenment - if those that one wishes to help are too stubborn and egotistical to allow themselves to be helped? Answer: rnYou don’t need to try to persuade anyone to awaken their spirit. It has to emerge on its own terms in its own time for it to be an authentic awakening. Have faith in each person’s connection to their truth and light. That connection is their path, and no matter how helpful you think your ideas are, if they are not appropriately supportive of their own spiritual connection, then you are actually doing them a disservice. Rather than see them as stubborn and egotistical because they are not interested in your message at this time, see them as following the path that is right and necessary for them. rnI remember a quote from the Sufi Al-Hallaj that might apply here. He said,rnI have meditated on the different religions, endeavoring to understand them and I have found that they stem from a single principle with numerous ramifications. Do not therefore ask a man to adopt a particular religion (rather than another), for this would separate him from the fundamental principle; it is this principle itself which must come to seek him; in it are all the heights and all the meanings elucidated; then he will understand them. rnLove, Deepak