Tuesday, January 29, 2013

With the inquisition having arrived on American shores, twelve Jews were burnt in an auto de fe in Lima, Peru, on the 18th of Shevat 5399 (1639). Of the sixty-three Jews who were condemned at the time to various punishments, eleven were burnt alive at the stake, along with the body of a twelfth, who had committed suicide during the trial.

Amongst those burnt was Manuel Bautista Perez, reported to have been the richest man in Peru at the time, as well as Francisco Maldonado de Silva, a surgeon, poet, and philosopher who was seized in Chile in 1627, and remained in the dungeons of the Inquisition for nearly twelve years. His devotion to his faith never wavered; while in prison he even converted two Catholics to Judaism!

Mockery is the prime weapon of the dark impulses within Man. It is the prime obstacle to moving forward and upward --the thought that perhaps people will say, “Why are you behaving today differently than you did yesterday? Weren’t you good enough then? Are you really so great today?”

And the most powerful mocker is the one within your own self.

When you start something you know is good and right, and you hear a voice inside saying:

“Hold it! Who do you think you are to take on such a lofty noble path? Hypocrite! Don’t you remember what you were involved in just a moment ago?”

--know that what you did a moment ago is irrelevant.
All that matters is what you will do right now.

Any voice that holds you back from moving forward -no matter how justified it may sound
-any such voice is a voice of destruction and decay,
not of growth and life.