John Babin, a retired engineer from Minnesota, recently came across NTD article “How Humankind Came To Be,” by Mr. Li Hongzhi. He said it stood out to him and resonated very much with his own mindset and beliefs of being good and kind.
John is a practicing Christian who was raised a Catholic. He says that he felt that he had found “enlightenment” in reading Mr. Li’s article, reinforcing his belief that there is a path to happiness and hope.
“He does give me some enlightenment [about] the spiritual aspect of life. And he talks about karma, which isn’t talked [about] in the Christian religion but … I think it’s applicable here for me,” John said during an interview with NTD.
Doubts About the State of the World
John believes that anyone who has doubts about the current state of the world or is lacking hope can benefit from reading the article.
“If there are people out there that lean in the wrong direction, or don’t think there’s hope or anything and everything’s evil, I think they should read this to make a difference in their lives,” he said.
His conviction is that its peoples’ religious or spiritual beliefs that ultimately provide them with a sense of happiness because they teach people to be good, kind, and virtuous.
John feels that all of humanity goes through hardship. As a Christian, he sees many similarities between the Eastern faiths and Christianity in the West. One thing that stood out to him, in particular, was the teaching of how to be a good person.
He says that the similarities, in his view, lie in the fact that deep down we are all the same, and that we all just have different interpretations of the same thing.
‘A Very Kind Gentleman’
He was left with the impression that Mr. Li and his teachings of Falun Gong are honest and compassionate.
“He’s a very kind gentleman. He’s honest, compassionate. I would like to read the book. I have seen it advertised in The Epoch Times. I would like to read his book and just learn more about the practice and who this gentleman is,” he asserted.
Falun Gong is a cultivation practice based on the core tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. The practice incorporates five sets of exercises with gentle movements, including a sitting meditation.
First publicly taught in 1992, Falun Gong grew massively in China throughout the 1990s. It gained tens of millions of followers within just a few years.
John explains how he found it interesting how the article talks about how our current lives interrelate with our previous incarnations, and how good deeds are ultimately a ticket to heaven or a higher place.
“You’re given another opportunity to, you know, to be a good person, to be virtuous. So then you can move on, eventually, to heaven, if you want to call heaven or, you know, you move on to the higher place,” he said in the interview.
John alludes to the fact that many in society, especially in the entertainment industry, are inadvertently worshipping evil. He says that this is one major factor that is leading society in the wrong direction.
“I didn’t watch the Grammys, but I heard and I saw the clips … and they were worshipping the devil,” he continued.
‘We All Can Be Kind’
Beyond our physical and cultural differences, which make us unique, we are all the same, and this should be reflected in how we treat each other, John said.
Mr. Li’s article reaffirmed for him that there is a Creator who has created “the situation that we’re in,” he said.
The thing that stood out to John as specifically uplifting is that there is still hope for mankind.
“I think it’s an article everybody should read regardless of your faith and your beliefs because I think, this article, what he’s trying to convey is that we’ve got to all … be good and kind,” he said.