Page 372 - https://ia800806.us.archive.org/12/items/mwk-eng-book/Leading-a-Spiritual-Life.pdf

The Greatest Good

The case of adjustment is completely different. In
this case there is no rival, no other party. You are the
only player. When you opt for adjustment, you instantly
find the starting point; and if justice in practice leads to
confrontation, adjustment always leads to peace.
There is a well-known saying: Politics is the art of
the possible. This saying pertains not only to political
affairs, but also to all the affairs of human life. This
being so, the best way to proceed in all aspects of human
existence is to adopt a realistic approach. You have to
differentiate between which target is possible and which
is not; between what is achievable and what is not.

All men and women have to strike a balance between
their own desires and the external situation. Simply by
running after one’s own desires, one does not necessarily
achieve one’s goals. One must fully comprehend the
external situation, the external circumstances and the
external opportunities. One can achieve one’s personal
target only by taking into consideration what lies
beyond oneself. That is the only realistic approach and
is therefore the wisest approach

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