Delight to You

By Hilja

For those who chose to read this book, the intent herewith is to show you how you can have delight for your life.

I have had many experiences in my life. I want to share these experiences; it is the best I can offer.

Take the time to read and to think. You have all the resources you need to make the best of your life. You must seek, seriously, to find the delight of your life.

As we read good authors books, we learn knowledge from these authors through their writings. Often we find what we are looking for, and even more! This is what makes life delightful.

We are not perfect, and can become confused by things we experience in life. There are answers for everything, and all the means to solve problems, by studying the truths in your life. You will find that you already know the answers but you have to think. Thinking is hard work! I have learned this from Socrates the Greek philosopher.

To all those who read this book, I pray and wish you all the best from Heaven above.

Very Sincerely,
The Author, H.R.S.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452093420

Hilja

Hilja was born in Finland in 1920, the time of the Great Depression. Her life has taken her down many roads, as she has lived in Finland, Germany, Sweden, and currently resides in America. Life has taught her many lessons. The things she has learned on her own journey have helped her discover the joy and delight in life. This book is intended to help the reader find delight in his or her own journey.

Book preview

THE CREATION OF MAN

We read in the first chapter of Genesis, the very first verse of the King James Version of the Bible: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We continue reading and it tells us that God created everything in this world, day by day, and at the end of each day God said that is was good. As we read until Genesis 1:26, it says, God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the foul of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that crept upon the earth. Genesis 1:27 says, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. Genesis 2:7 says, And the Lord God formed men of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

So God created man. He made man in His likeness. He did not create man without any purpose, nor left him all alone and helpless. No! He would not create anything worthless. If we are to be in His image, we surely must learn to know what He is like. We read in the King James Version of the Bible the attributes He has and all that He has and has shared with men.

In my Bible, I read about God: Body of Corporal nature; God, creator; God, Eternal nature of God; Foreknowledge of God; Gift of God; Glory of God, Indignation of God; Intelligence of God; Justice of God; Knowledge (of God) about God; Law of God; Love of God; Manifestation of God; Perfection of God; Power of God; Presence of God; Privilege of Seeing God; Spirit of God the Father; Elohim, Jehovah, God; Standard of Righteousness God; will of God; wisdom of God; Works of God. Godhead: Godliness-Jesus Christ.

God gave all these attributes to all His images and man may use them as he wishes to do whether good or bad, right or wrong. It is for man to decide and choose. God created man as significant. He knew what we needed to survive in this world because he made it for us to live in. He provided in His image 100% of what we need.

This tells us that we are living, human beings as long as this soul stays within us. The soul, our conscience and our minds form our spiritual identity, which is the nucleus part of us. It is placed (set) in us so securely that we cannot touch it even with our own hands. We cannot destroy it nor give it away; it is ours for time and eternity. No one else but you and your creator know it.

When we look into a mirror, we see ourselves in it. That is our physical identity, our physical body, like our fellow men know us also. In our spiritual body we have a conscience that oversees everything we do. It also lets us know and feel whatever we do whether good or bad, right or wrong. So our conscious can never lie to us, not even to twist the truth. As God created us, He knew that man needs a guiding light which would direct us daily in our works and activities; but, it is still up to man to choose what he wants to do.

Our conscience has become so famous that man has learned to use it in all mankind’s legal proceedings. Man must take an oath to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. Like his conscience dictates it. God doesn’t make men do anything. He created us with a mind which may seek whatever it wants whether good or bad, right or wrong. He left it for man to decide. He did not put any limit on man’s mind. It’s what man chooses to do, however he behaves, that determines who he is and what he is like; therefore, he needs to learn to know who he is.

We have all the senses. They are constantly busy working. Our sight, taste, hearing, touch, and smell are our physical facilities. They give us the impression of the world outside ourselves. The impressions they give are received by our minds. Our brains are alerted and then, as needed, alert our body to the actions. The brain is the soft grey matter in our skull. I don’t know, but I believe, it needs our senses and mind, before it gives the command to our body, for action. The mind is the medium to our spiritual and our physical blessings. The mind tries to be good to the spiritual needs and wants, and also to the physical needs, wants, and desires. We let our minds analyze with all our activities. The spiritual well being and the physical wants, often times, have conflict. In this state of mind, if man doesn’t know who he is, he can easily be led to many kinds of believing and activities.

Any person can become so strong that no on can swindle his mind to wrong and bad actions, but man must learn to know who he is and learn it so well that he can compare all his actions of the Ten Commandments. We also have an autonomous, independent, self-governing system which functions without our known will. It is our internal organ and gland system. We know little about our physical body, but it is enough to see what a magnificent creation we are. It is very important that we learn to know ourselves, who we are, and who we are like.

We were created in the likeness of our Creator. Our first earthly action shows us immediately how Adam and Eve learned right and wrong with the freedom of what to do. We are very fortunate in today’s world to have men who have left us a lot to read and learn. The most important matter is that man learns to know who he is and to accept the truth that he learns about himself.

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

I have learned tremendously from the Greek philosophers Socrates and Stoic, and I wish that all mankind wanted to learn themselves, like these two philosophers did and lived according to what they learned. I simply adore both of their knowledgeable minds. But I feel very sad about the way some people treated Socrates. They filled their minds with the great resentment, and made him to be the martyr for his honesty of truth.

Socrates was one of the greatest thinkers and teachers of all time. He gave up the work of stonecutting, or sculpting, to be a philosopher and teacher. He would not take pay for teaching and he lived in poverty. Homely as he was, he was greatly loved because he was wise, honest, simple, and kindly. Socrates was a critic of Athenian education, especially of the Sophists. He said they boasted too much of their wisdom and made their pupils conceited. He would not allow himself to be called a Sophist-Wiseman. He called himself a philosopher, which means a lover of wisdom and a humble seeker for knowledge and truth. Socrates criticized the Sophists for teaching the boys to live by memorizing proverbs and imitating their elders instead of learning to think for themselves. By learning to think for himself, he said man could learn wisdom, which would lead him to right living. Only evil could result from ignorance.

Man must depend on his reason to guide his life, to show him what was truly important and what was not. Young men must be trained to reason, he said if they were later to govern, so that every citizen could lead the best possible life. Socrates did not teach in the way that the Sophists did. They were lecturers—they told their pupils what they should think. Socrates asked questions of anyone he met anywhere. The purpose of his questions was not to get information, but to make men think in order to answer them. He especially wanted each man to understand himself. Know thyself, was his great motto. He wanted men to understand such ideas as love, friendship, duty, patriotism, honor, and justice really meant to them. Each man must find his own answers to these problems. This way of teaching is known as the Socratic Method.

Socrates inspired great love among his followers, but he also gained many enemies among the Sophists and conservative people. Many people disliked having their accepted beliefs questioned. It makes them think. This makes them uncomfortable and makes them resentful for thinking is hard work. Socrates and many of his followers had come to believe that there was only one God, and that the soul was immortal. His enemies brought him to trial as a subversive, as a man who denied the existence of the gods, and who corrupted youth. At the trial he said that his conscience, which he considered to be the voice of God, made him teach. If he were allowed to live, he would continue to teach because his conscience would compel him to. He was condemned to die by drinking a poisonous liquid made from the hemlock plant.

Today when we read about him, I adore him. He was a martyr for his honesty and he is a very, very good example for me. My history book tells me that Socrates was too busy teaching so he had no time to write. That is why we don’t have his writings. He had a very devoted student, Plato. He was the greatest of Socrates’ disciples.

Stoic Zeno was the other leading Greek philosopher. He believed that the whole world was full of divine spirit, and that there was some of it in the soul of every man. At death, the soul rejoined the universal spirit. All men were therefore brothers. The best life was spent in working for the welfare of others. Reason, not emotion, should be the guide to conduct.

The Greek philosophy meant love of wisdom. They tried to find the meaning of good life, to learn how to gain the greatest happiness here and now.

They believed that true happiness was something more than just having food, worldly goods, and security. Sheep could have those things. To the Greek thinkers true happiness was in the mind, in mental activities, and such activities are possible only by reasoning human beings. The great idea was moderation of all things in proportion.

A sound mind in a sound body. The ideas of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and Epicureans are not dead things, to be found only in the books. They live today in the minds of men. We all give much thought to the question of what makes a good life.

Whether we know it or not, our thinking is still influenced by these ideas. Marcus Aurelius, the last of the good Roman emperors, was as famous as a Stoic philosopher. His book, The Meditation of Marcus Aurelius, is considered a fine statement of Stoic to accept whatever the law of nature brings, and the duty to work for the welfare of others. He also put his idea into practice.

Then there was the Epicurean’s thought that the aim of life was to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Pleasure to him was intellectual, not the physical pleasure of the senses. After his death however, his followers came to seek the pleasure of senses and appetites. Their motto was, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Today the Epicurean means a person who indulges his senses and appetites.

EARLY RELIGION

These various philosophers give us quite a bit to think about. But I like to write about different kinds of people. There are just a few religious men that also call themselves philosophers.

From early attempts to designate various attributes of the Supreme Power, there developed distinctive groupings of faith and creed. The term sect designates a body of men who have espoused the opinions or teachings of some theologian or philosopher.

The beliefs of primitive races may be called nature worship, one form of which is animism; ascribing soul and personality to all objects are likewise natural religion, in that they are not based on revelations or law.

Primitive polytheism (more than one god) was an extension of animism. This with their pantheistic effect of identifying the object with the supernatural power, were superseded in higher culture by monotheistic (one god) religion that made the spiritual life man’s eternal purpose, through faith in one god, who will emanate through all things toward it.

There are a lot of men that have had spiritual experiences. By the way they interpret them; we have the understanding of their motives and their sincerity of the truth.

HINDUISM

In the Indian Peninsula there are people of every race, color, and creed. They have invaded India in the course of her long history. All of them have lefty their imprint on the language, customs and religious beliefs. The main races, white, yellow, and black, have mingled freely. Traces of all three are found in many people. There are fifteen major languages, and no less than 720 dialects. In religion, two thirds of the population follows Hinduism. About one fourth is Mohammedan. Some scientists think that this high civilization in India was in Hinduism. It says that Hinduism is not really a religion, because Braham is a principle of God, and the Caste of Brahmas is the Priests. It is sometimes called Brahmanism.

There are three supreme gods in Hinduism, Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; and Siva, the Destroyer. Below these come a host of other gods: the spirit of trees, animals, and persons. Various groups of Hindus pay special reverence to certain animals, monkeys, snakes, and dogs. Cows are especially sacred. No Hindu will eat the flesh of cows, although milk, cheese, and butter are eaten.

The principle doctrine of Hinduism is reincarnation or transmigration of soul. According to this belief, the soul does not die with the body. At death, the soul enters the body of another being, either human or animal. Karma the Hindu law of life, teaches that the progress of the soul depends on the life one lives. The good are rewarded, the evil are punished. Being rewarded means that the soul enters the body of someone of a higher caste. A person of evil life is punished by having his soul reborn as a person of lower life, or an animal. Hindus take this belief so seriously that they will not kill any animal, even a poisonous snake, a tiger, or even an insect, because it may be a bearer of a human soul. You can see how caste is woven into the religion. The belief is that med were divided into caste at creation. The Soul moves upward or downward thorough the castes according to the sort of life its bearer leads. The good life, of course, means acceptance of caste and observance of all caste rules. The goal of the progress of the soul is nirvana, where the soul is united with that of Brahma and personal existence ceases altogether.

Civilization in India reached a great peak in 800 years (from 300 BC to 500 AD). During that time the greatest literature of India was created. Its poetic, religious, and philosophic writings have influenced western as well as oriental thinkers, and writers. Architecture, painting, music, and sculpture flourished. Handicrafts of beautiful works in weaving, pottery, and Indian cotton textiles were highly desired in the Mediterranean world.

BUDDHISM

During this great period of civilization a new religion appeared in India. Buddhism was an offshoot of Hinduism. It was the fifth century BC as this movement started to reform Hinduism. It was about 565 BC. There was a son of a wealthy Indian prince, Gautama. He lived the life and enjoyed all the pleasures of a man in his position until, at age 29, he became deeply troubled by an age-old problem. He asked himself why life brought joy to a few and poverty and suffering to so many. He asked himself why there must be misery and death. The problem troubled him so much that he resolved to spend the rest of his life searching for answers to his questions. He put aside all possessions, left his wife and infant son, and traveled as a beggar in search of the truth. Gautama followed all the paths which were recommended as leading to wisdom. He lived as a hermit and a scholar. He tried fasting and self-torture. Nothing brought him the answer he sought. Then one day, as he sat meditating under the Gonyon tree, light came to him and he found truth, the way of life. In that moment, according to his followers, he ceased to be Gautama, and became Buddha, The Enlightened One.

Buddha accepted the Hindu doctrine of Karma, that good comes from good and evil from evil. Men must seek the good and avoid the evil, since only deeds, good or bad, are important. Salvation cannot come through self-torture or from animal sacrifice as some Hindus thought. Salvation comes from knowing and following the four truths. They are as follows:

All human life is full of suffering and sorrow.

Sufferings and sorrow are the result of sin. Evil and sin come from man’s cravings and desires.

Nirvana is the perfect peace, in which the soul is released from having to be born again.

Nirvana can be reached by moderation in conduct in eight ways:

Right views

Right intentions

Right speech

Right actions

Right livelihood

Right effort

Right mindfulness

Right concentration

Buddha made unselfishness the key to his religion and he gave very definite rules for unselfish behavior. Not to kill, steal, or to commit adultery, not to lie, to gossip, to indulge in faultfinding, not to use profanity, to abstain from covetousness (greed) or hatred, and to avoid ignorance.

As you see, Buddhism is closely related to Hinduism, but there are differences. For example, Buddha accepted the Hindu ideas of karma and Nirvana, but did not accept the Hindu gods as sacred. According to Buddha, man alone could do the supreme thing to change good to evil and evil to good. He could do it by following the Way of Life on the Path for Truth. He did not need the help of gods or priests, temples or idols.

Buddha thought that there are only two kinds of people, the good and the bad. Thus, although he did not attack the caste system openly, he did accept it.

Buddha did not claim to be a divine being. He claimed to be only a philosopher, and teacher who pointed out to men the way they should follow for right conduct and salvation. Buddha gained some followers, but did not make much headway for several centuries. The Brahmas naturally opposed it.

The Brahmas were the priests; they ruled the temples and performed the religious ceremonies. Buddha made these things unnecessary. Brahmas were the highest Caste; their position depended on people accepting the idea of reincarnation, rebirth into a higher or lower caste, according to the life they lived.

Buddha taught that everyone could reach Nirvana regardless of caste if he were good. After Buddha’s death, Buddhism became and organized religion with temples, monasteries, priests, monks, elaborate ceremonies, holy shrines, and sacred places which attracted a host of pilgrims. Buddha had condemned idol worship, but his own image was worshiped by his followers.

At the end of the fifth century AD, the great period of civilization ended. India entered a decline, much like the middle age of Europe. The land was invaded by many people including the Huns, the Moslem Arabs and Turks, and the Mongolians. The country broke up into small states. The learning and the arts declined. Religious beliefs were taken over, adopted, and pitted in just as Buddhism had been. This was true of everyone but the Moslems.

MOSLEMS

At the end of the Fifth Century AD, the great period of civilization ended. India entered a period of decline, much like the middle ages in Europe. The land was invaded by many people. They each had their own religion: the Huns, the Moslem Arabs, Turks, and Mongols. The country broke up into small states. Learning declined and religious beliefs were taken over, adapted and fitted in, just as Buddhism had been. This was true of every one but the Moslems. But the time keeps moving from one period of time to the other period of time, so did the religious movements. The Moslem’s invasion of India happened. But one religion that Hinduism could not absorb was Islam, the faith of Moslems.

Mohammed said that he had a spiritual experience and that a divine angel, Gabriel, dictated to him pure religion. Through meditation and prayer, he became convinced that the worship of many gods and idols was wrong. He learned to think that there was but one Supreme Being—one God and his name in Arabic was Allah. Mohammed, like the Jews and Christians, came to believe in one God. As he had his great religious experience, he believed that the angel Gabriel commanded him to preach to the Arabs, to bring them religions purity. He did not claim to have any supernatural powers. He is considered to be a prophet and teacher like Moses. So, Mohammed started to preach in Mecca where he was born. His tribesmen, the Kurdish, ridiculed him. Mohammed became successful and reached all the Arabs, saying they could keep their religions, but would not need to pay taxes if they joined Mohammed’s religion. Mohammed made his rules like Buddha and Hinduism. He knew the Jews had the Koran, so he his book the Koran. There were Jewish and Christina teachings.

The formal name of the Mohammedan religion is Islam, which means submission to God. One who makes this submission is called a Muslim. The creed, or central belief, is simple: there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet. The Moslems have rules like Buddha had for his people. They must meet four chief obligations. He must pray at certain fixed hours of the day facing Mecca. He must, if possible, make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in his lifetime. He must give alms to the needy. He must fast from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan—the ninth month of the Mohammedan year. This is sacred because it was the month in which Mohammed had his vision.

In contrast to Christian teaching, Mohammed praised what he called the Holy War. He said, The sword is the key of heaven and hell. A drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is more avail than two months of fasting and prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven. Islam has no images, no elaborate ceremonies, and no priesthood. There are men learned in Islam faith and law, but no formal priesthood. A service in a Moslem temple or mosque is merely praying together under guidance of a leader.

After Mohammed died, the Moslem Empire left much to be desired. At the top was Caliph, supreme head of both government and religion. He was not allowed to make laws because the law of the Koran

Reviews for Delight to You

[websilk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Grilled Cheese Please! is not a book that you even want to glance at when you're hungry! The multitude of sandwich combinations has something for every palate. The cheese variations alone will have you standing at your local deli counter getting samples and discovering the various ways that cheese will taste on different breads and with different condiments added. The book explains which sandwiches work well with sandwich makers and on the stove top. If you have a bread maker, this book will trigger that creativity also.If you are looking for ideas for a brunch, potluck, or get together, this book has tons of easy ideas. Your idea of a grilled cheese sandwich will be forever changed.

[dms02 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

it was okay...just okay.