In the early years in Taiwan, Brother Lee focused on the matter of character. He led everyone to exercise 30 aspects of good character, such as the qualities of being genuine, exact, strict, diligent, broad, and fine. Later, however, he felt it was of no use to speak about character, so he began to emphasize disposition and to focus on developing what is of the natural constitution.
According to my understanding, it is hard to acquire a good character merely through teaching, but you must have the awareness of what is proper; such an awareness will become a scale of measurement to guide you throughout your life. If you are hypocritical, the aspect of genuineness will be there to remind you; if you are careless, the necessity of being exact will be there to warn you; and if you are loose, the ideal of being strict will be there to caution you.
Adapted from Being One with the Ministry to Speak the Healthy Words, page 22.
Tomorrow: “Disposition, Character, and Personality” (3)