My Thoughts

Our memories are stored in our body as feelings we can reawaken. The function of memory is to give us access to these feelings. People, places and other stimuli can trigger them and we can consciously bring them to life as well. To me a feeling is a pulse of energy that flows through our body as a result of an experience that we have. Sometimes an experience we have is so overwhelming that our body entrenches it deep within. So that in response to a similar stimuli a feeling may reawaken. We may not know why, or where it is coming from and logically it may even appear irrational for the time and place it occurs, but our body Remembers! Fortunately, just like cells in our body store bad experiences they store good experiences as well. Some of these being quite powerful! So that if we take ourselves back to those moments we can reawaken our body and rejuvenate ourselves with that same ENERGY!

The struggle is good for him. Unfortunately, he is not able to find contentment in the process.

A mentor  put the issue of success vs. failure into a very practical perspective. And a saying of the Prophet (saw) summarizes it very well. The saying is "all action is judged by intention". And to me it corroborates his statement below. He said that if we give everything of our self to a cause, then even when the cause is in error we come out to be winners, just because we gave it our best! If I may, Aunt Connie raised the issue in the context of World Peace. So here goes, We may never see and perhaps it is impossible to ever have the Utopian peace we wish for. Even so the struggle for it provides grounds for our escape from our own pettiness and misery. And that alone is the point of this journey we all are making! So, struggle forth but be sincere, lest you truly lose! World Peace! Can come another day :)

The degree to which we are predictable is so exact that those who can see us can predict everything about us. That is the degree to which we are locked into our pattern of habits. So that it was said if we wake up for a few moments in the middle of the night only to go back to sleep, this small disruption too is healthy. Imagine, how healthy it is to come across a more disruptive encounter. For the discourse each one of us are stuck with, clearly WORK, WORK and WORK, is an immensely healthy recourse to Break Out. So, if you do have a tough day, it's actually more healthy than the usual, ordinary day you or I have.

You are the essence O Allah and everything ends into You. In your company lies an intoxication and safety from it. O Allah, make me a witness to more of Your beauty that I enter into comfort. And save me, O Compeller from your justice and the severity by which you deliver it. Be one with; the wonders this world has to offer. The vast Oceans and the depth to which they can take a vessel plunged into them. The planets, each in their solitude rotating within the dark cold region we know as Space - there thousands of lanterns lit that bring perpetual energy and life into our existence!

Clearly it is important to let out our emotions; to find some means to express and release them. It was suggested that we allow ourself to feel whatever feeling comes toward us in the moment before us such that we submerge in that feeling. Once we connect with the feeling we ought to express it and thereby release it. One method to give expression to feeling that I read online was through movement. So that we move spontaneously synchronized with feeling and it said doing this releases couped up emotions. Yoga too is an extremely powerful tool to enable emotional catharsis. As is writing poetry. It is important to remember though that the goal of catharsis is a healthier self and therefore movement toward a stronger character. Therefore it should not lead to a compromise of (our) intent.

Oneness: at once it's important to be at the core of our Self which is where we don't exist separately from others and therefore there is no conflict; here there is just ONE all-encompassing Reality...caste, creed, nationality, religion, etc are definitions that don't have meaning; so they naturally cannot separate us from others... Separateness: (and) at the same time it's important to evolve and become cognitively aware of things that we encounter and become so extremely articulate - that the tiniest thing offers it's unique individual identity, its meaning to us! and so I think Oneness & Separateness have a yin/yang relationship!

Every book we read or movie we watch; each event we visit and relationship we have; has a tangibility to it and it is this very tangibility through which we know that it even Exists (in the outside world). But behind all these tangible Forms that we come across each carries a unique Meaning within. Then meeting a person is different from meeting another; the experience alternates between the meaning we give to the first person to the meaning we give to the second (person). In fact each book and movie holds an alternate meaning. Each visit, each relationship carries its unique specific meaning. That is why our experience when engaging the world isn't flat...different Forms deliver different experiences because of the Meaning they carry. To become aware of these Meanings would help us understand our different experiences in our engagement with the world.

"When we want to understand something, we cannot just stand outside and observe it. We have to enter deeply into it and be one with it in order to really understand it.... In Buddhism, we call this kind of understanding non-duality - not two." - Thich Nhat Hanh Bonsai tree art seems to be like that; it must take a life time of meticulous work to prune a growing tree and turn it into perfection. Somebody said "...a bonsai truly represents the fusion of nature and human wisdom; it is an art that at once pursues the spirits of both nature and beauty." We ought to find such an occupation that we dissolve in it; all our worries and all our woes. So when we emerge from it we have garnered enough strength to recognize many of our woes to be the illusion that they are. "If seeing things as they are is not enough for you, then you are not seeing things as they are!" - Etsko Schuitema

"There is a community of the spirit. Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and being the noise. Drink all your passion and be a disgrace. Close both eyes to see with the other eye. Open your hands, if you want to be held. Sit down in this circle. Quit acting like a wolf, and feel the shepherd's love filling you. At night, your beloved wanders. Don't accept consolations. Close your mouth against food. Taste love's mouth in yours. Be empty of worrying. Think who created thought! Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open? Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence. Flow down and down in always widening rings of being." Rumi

"Those who are “here to get”, seek fulfillment, but experience exactly the opposite. They want power, but are always weak, because it depends on what “Other” is giving to them, and that is never in their control. They crave security but are driven by fear of loss of what they have. They need significance , but need to subdue and suppress, wrest it out of those not wanting to give it. They seek harmony, but if they are out to get everyone else, beat everyone else, they are always in the midst of stress, disharmony, competition. If we think about it, the ones we love are the ones, who care for and love us, who give to us. So, the inevitable outcome of this state is the exact opposite of what is sought, an alienation." -ZM

Ya Rabbee, everything I have is from You the body, mind, intelligence, ability to feel, this home, my family, friends, this city, its facilities, my nation and the entire human fellowship, these fruits & magnificent greenery, the mountains, the deserts & the oceans, the co-habitat that lives in the seas and on land. And the most beautiful gift - Consciousness itself which forms the bed-rock of my senses, has been given to me by You. None of it is debt for nothing is mine own to give but that I recognize You.

Art may belong to one of two categories. The first is where it is healthy and the second is where it is corrupt. The question that worries me is how to tell good art apart from corrupt art. The two attributes of corrupt art that I know of are 1. It glorifies malevolence 2. It is not popular among the masses; where the first is the cause of the second. So if I can tell malevolence apart from what is benign I should be able to tell when I come across art that is corrupt. The ability therefore to articulate malevolence ought to be useful, and not malevolent itself, since it helps in recognizing malevolence. Thus art that contains a discourse on malevolence must be corrupt when it glorifies it instead of articulating the fault in it.

When we try to define ourselves or define others around us in order to predict things about ourselves and others we refer only to certain moments from our lives and take them to represent our entire life. But as time passes new moments come that change the way we perceive the world. Owing to this change a question then comes to mind which is "is anything predictable"? The answer to the question is that there are "truths" in the external and our (inner) internal world that don't change and therefore allow for things to be predictable. Discovering them is therefore unquestionably an important task. An example of one of these truths is in an earlier post titled "Gratitude and the Abyss" where I realized that anything that draws you in and becomes insatiable should be avoided. And that the way to avoid it is to appreciate what we already have of it. I then discovered another truth which was that if we give a depth of attention to our work, family and

To the work we have contribute in small steps and give it our all To our family contribute in small steps and give our all To our friends, in small steps contribute and give them our all - is more than we need for a rich life.

For these twists and turns I have gone through - the beautiful moments and the more beautiful reality checks - I am privileged that I have been given a full twenties to live. There is a divine plan which leads us into the future. This plan is greater than ourselves. And I leave it to Allah to decide for me - my thirties. I realize that instead of trying to crack the System [this world we live in] it's wiser to just be genuine and kind and let this divinely crafted System respond of its own. My resolution for my thirties is to engage these beautiful divine hearts that surround me and just WITNESS how the System responds. These hearts each one of them, nothing is more powerful [of that which is made] in the universe.

Having an ego is not all bad and below I share with you the good side to it. An ego I understand is our identity. So it gives us a scaffolding emerging from the pattern of our habits, thoughts and values. Now this identity might or might not be healthy but it affirms our existence as an individual. While it is important to grow and change by aspiring toward Oneness with the rest of existence it is important to return to this identity. This grounds us and helps in engaging the world using the habits, thoughts and values we have collected. Break a pattern and establish a new pattern but we should be grounded all the time. So yes the ego is not real because it's changing all the time towards Oneness which is real but to not affirm our ego would mean that we let go of the structure it offers to us and that is very disorienting.

All our errant habits are a set of patterns we haven't yet left. With enough time; all such habits will be purely a bore! What will be left is what makes us happy. The things that make us happy are simple things we do for others that are genuinely done; and elicit a genuine and heart felt 'thankyou!' With eternal time EVERYBODY would learn this lesson. The test is who learns it in the limited life given to them in this world! The movie on Wikipedia.

The sun is shining down, its rays settling on these dew drops that collected through the night. this morning's full with that pleasant breeze caressing those red and yellow flower petals, as it passes by over them *This was my morning experience after yoga.

What is the Purpose? O Allah Protect me! Terror surrounds me, from the sides. O Malik, Make this simple for me, O Rabb Sweeten this for me. O most Powerful! make this terror apart from me, You hath created me! You have designed me! You hath built my soul, made it into, one which receives from Noor. O Lord of Creation, O Overwhelmer of that which overwhelms; O King of kings, O Architect, Architect Of the mightiest architects! Harmonize me into this surrounding. I come from You, so each challenge I faceth hath a solution within, so no challenge shall persist; each answer shall come to me, as words You place in me. Take this terror, O Lord! turn it to a beautiful sweetness so I see the world like your beloveds do; just as one ought to. Is the purpose not but to simply witness? ~ See each piece of coal turn from dust into jewel.

"We are spiritual beings in a material body not material beings seeking spirituality" - Anon What matters is how conscious we are of this, of the Rough that we are; which rough is connected to everything and unlike the nafs which is our identity, it doesn't exist as a separateness.

Our mind unfortunately, has the habit and ability to take each situation and glorify it completely; for us. It sensationalizes it so much, we loose clarity completely. One way to reverse this is to expose this; and witness our own chatter, while promising to keep away from glory. I do this by writing it down; a catharsis for my diseased heart. Now leaving the death-bed we share with glory, can we begin to witness this world; it's wonders as they truly are! But glory beguiles me, weakening my power to witness; distracting me chews on my attention. It's a bit like those games where we had to count the number of deers that are hidden in the picture somehow; in a picture that's right before us. When we're distracted it's difficult to pinpoint them. These many myriad wonders of creation put in this world in plain view.

In the journey of mine, this day given as a gift from Your infinite generosity and inextinguishable bounty O Lord, may I be able to do honour to this day; of incomprehensible worth and unfathomable wonder and keep my pledges, and learn more of the secrets that remain hidden and from them gain the invaluable boon of clarity and commit not gross sins requiring retribution severe that with such termendous catharsis I am taught a new lesson beautiful still and enable me to do good so its effects are carried through time; benefiting others, preserved by Your mighty system and not annihilated by it.

Be kind to your own self to begin with; don't start a war with yourself, a raging battle all the time. I ought to be friends with the Self, Because the Self is hidden deep within; waiting to be discovered; I will find him when this journey within completes. In annihlation I will have destroyed myself only the Self shall remain; taking over from me complete control of the heart, body and soul; protecting me from harm through its sharp wisdom; privy to the virtues of God's beloved. This self is the Rough and I am the nafs, brought here to this joureny of annhilation. Take every chance; don't waste it; annhilate the nafs; so near the beautiful rogh. My nafs is fraught with fears in multitude the rogh is fearless; a drill put to his teeth would only drive into him; to an ecstasy emerging from the gratitude of a moment given by Him. *In this post we go through a catharsis while dropping our psychological baggage so we are made through this channel stro

Tread the straight path so take decisions moment by moment that carry you to place that gets better with each step taking you closer to the Garden, as you follow a trail of scent.

Do things when they're painful, for they will sculpture/mature your intent, so they are sweet; and for this reason priceless!

As I pondered over the moon and water it lit I began connecting to Him for as my energy rose so did my consciousness becoming aware of Him and His essence present everywhere; in everything.

To detach from malevolence is wisdom; And God's grace is we don't detach from things benign, since we don't need to for they give us strength; so we have a natural tendency to [even gradually] detach from malevolent situations & malevolence; and to equally run towards, attach and re-attach with the benign.

Happiness is a state of being connected. A moment perhaps when you played as a child; fully in-tuned with the game, carefree; A moment where you connected emotionally with what you were doing; enjoying the game; the PEAK of joy; you were there, nowhere else; your mind present & your heart beating as if never wanting the game, that moment to end: is connecting ; And whenever we connect; even now; To whatever we connect; the feeling of happiness is revived. If the work you do gives that connection Or people around you, give it; Then you are ideally placed For you remain needy no more Hence you are protected from harm; vulnerable no more. If you can connect with small things; such as Hobbies like writing; pets, painting, Or reading even single page; that connects being well written; Each connection will revive the feeling But connect with things that stay; Benign and good things have “permanence”; Protected; because they provide benefit to all; Malevolent and vi

The universe is divided into La and Hayy; La is subject to change whereas Hayy is eternal. Everything that exists even now has a Reality to it; thus it still has an element of Hayy. if you see the Hayy in things, you see the Haqiqat in them; otherwise you are in darkness! if the Hayy goes, the Reality goes, and the thing is annihilated. and Hayy is the goodness in it [the benign in it] by affirming the Hayy, and negating the La; you increase your chances of survival, and the chances of survival of the race. A Note on Power By negating the La And affirming the Hayy You are made powerful, For you yield power.

And what are investments? They are emotional or other kind of memory, that DRAG us down. ~ Everybody has good to them and bad to them; but the bad is something that keeps them weak; so it is unsustainable and subject to change; for eventually suffering because of it; they change it, when they find a way! [thus it is metaphorically an illusion] ~ The good everybody possess is not subject to change; for being beneficial to others they protect it, by protecting you because of it and so it stays with you forever. [thus it is Real] ~ When we meet somebody, we may push buttons, that bring out the bad in them; or brings out goodness; so we connect with them. ~ But for us to be ABLE to connect with them through the good we first have to deal with the investments we've made, so we SEE clearly WHAT it is THEY posses; that IS benign & good in them, that which is REAL. ~ And so, I AM RICH because I have very little investments left; so I am begining to SEE

Fallacy: To experience awe is an END in itself. Thus we should experience awe for awe's sake only. Thus a teacher said: all we may do is to live in awe; and just be; But to the implication: "nothing is significant"; I answer: Reality IS significant One of THE most prime messages of the prophets was that there is a permanence to our world; thus everything is NOT a subject to time & change; everything connected to the REAL will remain and by virtue of it's connection contributes to the Permanent. And what is the Permanent? The Permanent is [only] goodness which is benign for; everything good that you start will be taken over by Him; so it will be taken over by others who continue it because it is something that creates benefit. Whereas all that you do; that is malevolent is going to be pulverized by others in time for it creates harm; so somebody will work against it and they will succeed. And only the good that we do; well, "it is significant&q

Butterfly : And I am the voice inside your head that speaks to you of goodness and commands you like the angels of God are commanded. Fly : Lo, I am the voice that speaks to you of a bickering and I confuse you so at times I put you to fight. Me : But the voices in my head can they be compartmentalized; a good apart from the bad? Yes they answered and the division is as sharp as between fresh water and spilled oil that is on top. Me : But beautiful butterfly you come so seldom; You have left me to be attended by the fly, so I am in it's company always. Why do you do so? Butterfly : if you keep yourself in muck then flies will come and it cannot be any other way! Me : and what is the muck, how would I know? Fly : the muck is a thing that engages your attention into a thousand parts; and it keeps it from staying WHOLE. So with your attention divided you are weak and I the voice of your ego gain in strength. I become the voice within that holds a dialog with you abou

Intent is a tool you posses for worldly success; and salvation, - each person or thing feared fear cradles, it generates within malevolence! so take the intent, this malevolence, and crush it, grind; so you feel the crushing, the intent strain; till it ceases! a malevolence crushed, crushes fear another malevolence crushed, crushes greed some malevolence crushed, is vile crushed; is weakness, crushed! so the end of fear; and the crushing of an intent malevolent, so turn it into gold and aim for Benign intent; which intent IS power, so it gives of it so you may succeed by it, and enjoy benign beautiful salvation! Intent as tool: engage each fear I have by crushing a malevolence that maps to it and sits within. In transforming it benign the fear; the problem will go away! Another psychological tool to ACTUALLY do the above is: "La Hayy" Which means: "there are no idols that exist" and "only my Lord exits" Implied: Each fear is a daem

You, yourself are not the means to an end, but yourself ARE the end sought; so He is Lateef, He has made you to explore, so you relish! so explore your OWN beauty; the pool of it hath limited only by time; the hour appointed so He will MATCH each effort, Nay He matches with more than you fathom, such is His Grace, and the beauty of what He created!

The battle of Karbala, within its intent lies its beauty. The khalif Yazid was a man, who was corrupt and thus not bound by the dictates of principles, instilling these corrupt values into his rule he desired whatever he willed onto whoever he willed. He was not free of desire, indeed blinded by it he did not know of the power of God's men, those whose actions mirror truth, whose hearts speak to them of beauty, love, fidelity and other good, taking those who heed it into God's Grace and into peace. For the heart rejects misery, depravity, greed, etc. guiding us helping us find a way out. Imam Hussain(AS) was a freeman, who was gifted with such enormous strength, he could carry out His will, at odds to an emperor; his entire army. He fought a battle of freedom, for men and women who, under the fist of a tyrannical & whimsical ruler, subjected to a king's oppression; who in his vanity and ignorance did not realize God's principles are alway

To understand this article you may need to read-up on Modernity, Values and Qalb. Please read them in the order that follows below, thankyou. Read about Qalb here Read about Values here Read about Modernity here The relation of these three is given here A diseased Qalb is an internal problem whereas Modernity and Values are external problems; these afflict us from without. These make 3 points on a triangle. To gain stability one approach would be to tackle each point on the triangle; so that with each point conquered you experience less volatility. To show you how all three relate with one another I present this analogy: The Qalb is how you 'see' ahead of you. If you can't see you are BLIND. Modernity makes the ground on which you stand so shaky that you are always dis-balanced. These two combined create this problem: some body who is blind won't have much time or attention to give to fixing his 'blindness' since the very ground he is standing on i

It is literature that affects the consciousness of a people in the most powerful way. Thus it was that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the messenger of God through the Quran introduced into the human race a consciousness that brought about as a milestone culmination - the Renaissance itself. In the recent past however a new post-renaissance literature has emerged that is dark and elitist. It is called ‘high literature’. The difference in character between the former and the latter types of literature is that while the former is popular among the masses the latter is accepted only by the few. High literature has affected the consciousness of the human race in a tremendous way making our world topsy turvey. Thus it is that in our world we now need to make sense of the esoteric before we can make sense of the exoteric. However it is interesting that there are groups of people who owing to poverty are isolated from this global mind set and such is the case with a number of villages in t