The Theosophical Forum – July 1938

THE UNDERSTANDING HEART — Frances M. Dadd

"What do you want from life?" is a question asked of its readers by a well-known Sydney journal. The answers are thought-inspired, and therefore thought-provoking. The Theosophist is inclined to agree with one contributor who prefers to ask: "What can you give to Life?" But in this succession of episodes which we call Life there is one thing I would ask for above all else, and that is an Understanding Heart; a willingness to concede to others their point of view, a readiness to admit that I was not the sole possessor of truth upon any subject, be it religious, scientific, philosophic, educational, or what not.

This would not mean in any sense a condoning of wrong or a divergence from principle: that would not have place in my desire. Simply would I wish to be truly generous, much more than tolerant, even anxious to see in another's point of view some element of truth which I, from my necessary incompleteness as a mere human unit, had missed, but an understanding of which might be equally necessary in the pursuit of Knowledge for the sake of the welfare of Humanity.



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