(Clearwisdom.net) It is not easy to walk righteously every step of our cultivation path. I would like to share my understandings at my level.

We are practicing cultivation in the society of everyday people and we still have the mentality of everyday people, so if our righteous thoughts are not strong enough, human notions will be in control of our mind, and the things and tasks we perform will not meet the standards of Dafa (1) required of practitioners. Under such conditions, the tasks we do for sure will not meet the standards of Dafa, and to a certain extent, they will bring a negative impact and loss to Dafa. For everyday people, our words and deeds do not simply represent ourselves; instead they assume that our actions represent what Falun Gong teaches. Therefore, we will be unknowingly damaging Dafa to different extents and levels if our actions are not righteous. As a Dafa disciple, we have to guard our deeds and words, and we have to demand ourselves to behave according to strict standards. Cultivation practice is very serious and we have to walk every step of our cultivation path righteously. This is the path we have to take to cultivate ourselves, safeguard Dafa, validate Dafa and assimilate to Dafa.

Some practitioners have been doing a good job in studying the Fa (2), clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts. However, they did not let their non-practitioner spouses know that they are clarifying the truth, lest their spouses not allow them to do so. Doesn't this indicate a mentality of fear? What is the root cause? As practitioners, we have to search inward. I think that if a practitioner can do a good job in all the three tasks, then that practitioner's spouse will definitely be very supportive. In order to do a good job in all the three things, we will use much of the time in our daily life. We could study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts beside our spouses everyday. We could go out to clarify the facts of the persecution to the public if there are no chores at home to help with. After a certain period of time, they would know for sure what we have been doing; then if they do not oppose us, aren't they supporting us? Sometimes, triggered by external factors, your spouse might say a few words that you do not like to hear, or your spouse might not agree to some of our approaches - we should understand their reaction. Out of affection for you, and since your spouse is an everyday person after all, he or she will be afraid that you will be arrested by bad people. Although their attitudes and manner may sometimes be strong and intense, we should temper ourselves and patiently hear them out.

Some practitioners did not do so, rather they became angry before their spouses had finished speaking and said things like "I am rectifying the Fa and by no means will I let you say such nonsense. I should safeguard Dafa." They then start to yell and shout at their spouses. In this case, it seems that you are safeguarding Dafa, but in reality you have been taken advantage of by the demonic nature of everyday people. The evil will incite your spouse to oppose and interfere with the Fa-rectification tasks that you need to accomplish. You then build a wall blocking your cultivation path and consequently you always have to work around those walls and are afraid that your spouse will know. Doesn't this increase the difficulties to perform Fa-rectification tasks? How can you claim that you are doing things with righteous thoughts and in a righteous manner? How can you claim that you do not have the mentality of fear? Such practitioners should rectify themselves as soon as possible, search inward, treat others kindly, correct themselves, and assimilate to Dafa. It is because how everyday people do certain things are ever-changing, and when we cultivate to certain levels, our thoughts and our words carry energy which will restrain all the matter below our levels. Therefore, we have to pay close attention to our words and deeds to resolve this issue with compassion. We need to walk our cultivation paths righteously. From another perspective, your spouse is an everyday person and you are a Dafa practitioner, how could you develop a mentality of fear towards your spouse? How could you view yourself as so trivial and view everyday people as so significant and intimidating? You did not stand on the basis of righteousness. You have to genuinely believe in Teacher's words:

"with an air of supremacy and of destroying all evil in the cosmos." ("Righteous Thoughts")

When you have such a thought in your mind, you would not have any mentality of fear and you would rectify yourself at the same time, and that wall will disappear and dissolve without you having to push it out of the way.

Recently I heard practitioners say that someone advised us to cultivate our speech. I felt confused upon hearing this suggestion. After thinking it over, I thought that we must have some problems in ourselves and we should search inward. When I returned home, I examined myself and found the problem in my mentality and my heart. This problem showed up twice when three other practitioners and myself got together to discuss matters. Sometimes we touched upon specific tasks and specific people, yet we did not strictly demand ourselves to keep it confidential. I consider this my insufficiency and hope that other practitioners will learn from this lesson. What we also need to pay attention to is that when other practitioners ask you to do something and do not mention the [names of the] other practitioners who are involved, we had better not ask out of curiosity. This is because if that practitioner does tell you, then he or she did not observe cultivation of speech, and if he or she does not tell you, then it appears as though he or she does not trust you. The best thing for everyone is not to ask. When we want to clarify the truth, sometimes these tasks cannot be accomplished by any single individual. We should be able to cooperate without becoming vulnerable to persecution as long as we can reach the state of "not panicking in a tribulation" and "not fearing danger in a dangerous environment." When you feel that there is no more need to talk about a certain matter, you should not bring up that matter any more. When other practitioners want to mention a certain practitioner, you can remind him or her that there is no need to mention them and that one does not need to know. If we can all do this, we will avoid a lot of problems.

We must do well the three things, let go of the mentality of everyday people, understand the Fa based on the Fa, walk righteously every step on our cultivation path and fully realize our avowed hopes and wishes from a pre-historical period.

Notes:

1. Dafa: The Great Fa or the Great Law
2. Fa: Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.