My Thoughts

Liberation

2012-01-24T14:29:00.002+05:00

A Warm Embrace - Our Deepest Fear from R Smittenaar on Vimeo.

The hope attached with an idealist

2012-01-08T15:58:00.000+05:00

"Cynism, it kills the heart..., and that is much worse than stagnation, whereas idealism does not do that, and to say it does not accept reality as it is, is actually a stagnation in the observer’s (of idealism) perception, insisting on the correctness of his reading of reality as harsh and merciless, while it is the idealist, who transcends his own perception of the harshness of the reality he finds himself in, thereby accepting and submitting to the higher Reality that the Creation of Allah does not have any flaws..." SMHR

To add to this: the idealist himself transcends his own perception almost by brute force...when by insisting on the stance he takes and by observing a repetition of his own experience, he is left with no option but to alter himself.

Wonderful

2011-12-14T17:51:00.002+05:00

"when you doubt that we live in the most incredible magical beautiful place spend 2 min & watch this"

Dignity

2011-12-10T21:48:00.001+05:00

He would prefer more that one of his creation disbelief in Him; be an atheist in comfort and luxury than another who believes in His existence, but is resigned to the misfortune of finding scraps off the streets. For His is the dominion, and it is in His power to raise the stature of His creation to an exalted station. How then can one accept a 'zilat ke zindagi'?Source: Majlis by Aqeel Garavi

Eat Pray Love

2011-11-01T11:39:00.002+05:00

On her search to get to the end where she finds somebody and falls in love. She finds friends with whom she shares rich moments with. Which helps her to stop dwelling over worries and gradually she learns to start living from the bottom of her heart.
--
On that note a little about myself and where my journey has brought me: I am among people who have done much better than me in the external world - with their jobs and achievements. I am among people who have done much better than me in the internal world - with their relationships. But if I were to have any more than what I have - I would have a heart attack and die. I am overwhelmed with what He has given to me. Sukar Alhamdollilah

Bol - The Movie

2011-11-01T11:38:00.004+05:00

Bol: Pakistan with a heritage of a rich tradition, host to prayers by the millions & mosques by the thousands is at the same time, rampant with corruption, incompetance & abuse in its many forms — a very harsh and cruel reality.

What makes a writer

2011-11-01T11:38:00.002+05:00

A writer to me is someone with a collection of words, they carry in their bag of experience – each word symbolic of an entrenched emotional experience. He uses these words to carve another map for himself, each time he attempts to tread further on the terrain of meaning.

Character

2011-08-07T14:51:00.006+05:00

The big picture

2011-08-03T02:17:00.015+05:00

It occurs to me that as a species our survival is at stake. The evidence of this on the global landscape is the huge armies that are funded and kept, indication that every other country is considered a potential enemy.

This threat that is deeply entrenched in our psyches’ is in proportion to the huge investments we have made not only in the military but in movies, books and the news each time they make us aware how vulnerably placed we are.

It comes naturally to people to relate to such a sense of threat when they experience it in their daily lives from various sources – such as job insecurity, their relationships with people or other sources. All these insecurities stem from one root cause: our failure at realizing we are capable to meet all our needs. A failure to realize that hard work can take us across the bridge if we stay committed and focused in our struggle to improve.

In my opinion the race to survive as a species is related directly to our personal individual struggles and we can contribute to this cause by driving into as many men and women a feeling of security and belief in their own abilities.

Insights that have helped me grow

2011-07-01T00:30:00.010+05:00

Sherlock Homes presents an inspiring dimension of detective work. Work which by its nature leads the detective to the root of the incident. An alternate dimension of detective work applies the same method to discovering about ourselves.
If you desire freedom it is not to be found in getting your rights from people or what you wish them to do for you. Only you can give yourself freedom. By becoming aware and understanding what pushes and pulls you to do what you do.
Imagination can have you wear the superman costume and your feelings inside you have you grounded to Mother Earth in the twinkle of an eye.
If you decide to do a thing for which you are ready to accept the consequences. However small the decision maybe, if it is yours 100% and you own it completely, it should make you feel a fire course through you.
Hard work is priceless specially when it leads us to failure. Because it sets in a purpose, not to give up and the energy to struggle harder.
The primary task at hand is to make our feelings grounded and our ability to perceive makes this job possible.
Asking the right questions: Some questions are just chatter, and therefore need not be answered. Instead they require that one becomes still. There are some questions that require answers. But what sets these type of questions apart is that their answers can always be 'tasted' and change what we are feeling within.
People in general are so tied-up with issues of their own they can't be bothered beyond a reasonable point with others' lives. This is good because it gives individuals a fair share of space and independence. If however, one was not to accept this space and struggle for companionship, it could turn this experience of independence into loneliness.
Be it the weight of expectation that drives you. It is a blessing to find yourself in a spot where you will to work hard.
An experience of the world through the five empirical senses is different from an experience of it through the mind cogitating over it. Smell, taste, touch &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; sound can't be expressed with a sharpness of 100% ever through the words and language used to describe them.
Contentment I tell you has its roots in loss.
Mehnat and sukar are the primary tools for inner change. All other tools are trash in their efficacy of use without them.
Art Is a mirror into the soul. You might or might not like what you Find. But at least you Will see!
So the journey back to God as I have by now gathered Is just a journey down the path of a highly attuned rich abundant colored world of feelings and emotion. And we have the capacity each one of us of tremendous depths of it. To have never felt is to have never lived; to have come in this world and died a lost soul...
If a patch of hell is what we are thrown into, like Ibrahim AS, we too can land in Eden i.e. if we nurture and cultivate richness within.
Friends bond through their shared value system.
Compromising integrity is possibly the worst of evils. Being a feeling it leaves a very pungent taste. Just as having it, makes things sweeter and always better, despite the pain of holding on to it.
We can find ourself only in the present moment, and this is facilitated through concentration, in whatever it is we are doing.

My Hobbies

2011-06-25T10:11:00.001+05:00

There are two areas of work that need our attention. The first being our ability to solve cognitive problems such as we meet at our jobs. The second being our emotional connect with everything around that needs to be heightend; it is this 'connect' that makes the blue sky look beautiful or an ancient story make us shiver, which experiences do not owe to our cognitive problem solving skills.

Once we start we might as well keep raising our abilities, higher & higher.

The survival instinct

2011-06-01T22:29:00.011+05:00

The middle class script I grew up with seeded a survival instinct into me like it has into many of us. This comes in handy in struggling our way through difficult times but that drives this instinct deeper.

An interesting consequence of my quest has been becoming aware of an alternate script that has taught me of the untapped potential life has to offer when we experience emotions in their vitality through meaning we find in books, meaning embedded in past experiences and by finding meaning in everyday life!

And so by reading books and submerging myself in work that’s part of my life presently and by reflecting on the day past one hopes to discover and experience these emotions more with each passing day.

So that as one grows stronger and more grounded the older instinct to live a life of survival gradually looses its utility, tunes out and one day leaves us completely.

What the journey means to me

2011-05-13T23:47:00.000+05:00

My journey so far has been about discovering the meta rules of how the self works. The essence of what I have learnt is that the self can change and in fact does change every time it undergoes an experience. Where any experience is significant because of the meaning it carries for us. It means something to us by the fact: it changes our feelings from state (state a) to another state (state b). Where this movement between states is a process we can call witnessing.

The exercise of witnessing can be powerful and enriching.

In fact if we could communicate what we have witnessed through poetry or through prose, perhaps with the aid of metaphors, we could share these experiences with our family, friends and with the larger community.

Thus to go in retrospect and search for meaning in the experiences we have had can help us grow mature, become stronger and make us more aware.

Paimona

2011-03-16T10:04:00.011+05:00

The tar is a delicate sweet instrument. It cuts right through when you feel it play.

My relationship with the Other: a journey of submission

2011-02-27T20:40:00.001+05:00

The Other is Immensely Powerful. A consequence of which is inevitably trauma becomes our fate. The unconscious response to trauma i think almost always is to bring back equilibrium by exercising power over the Other. However this is impossible and only brings further humiliation and misery. Consciousness gives us a gift: It makes us aware of this status quo. That: In the face of the All-Mighty there is nothing but surrender to the situation He has us in. In this acceptance is our escape from every situation.

Discomfort that surfaces is our brawl with existence.

The function of memory

2010-12-29T00:39:00.022+05:00

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!

A lesson I learnt about struggle

2010-12-29T00:20:00.010+05:00

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

The Issue of Success

2010-10-05T01:40:00.003+05:00

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 :)

Putting things into the proper perspective

2010-10-03T20:09:00.002+05:00

Break Out

2010-09-25T01:56:00.001+05:00

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.

Cognitive meditations

2010-09-02T10:11:00.015+05:00

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!

Acknowledging our emotions

2010-08-03T11:39:00.024+05:00

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 vs. Separateness

2010-07-27T15:44:00.001+05:00

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!

Why our experience (of the world) is not flat!

2010-07-25T22:25:00.005+05:00

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.

Bonsai

2010-07-25T02:34:00.009+05:00

"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

Community of the Spirit

2010-07-21T00:17:00.002+05:00

"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

Alienation

2010-07-14T20:30:00.005+05:00

"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

Mein Jugni Jee

2010-06-20T20:55:00.005+05:00

The Gifts

2010-06-18T00:07:00.001+05:00

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.

Recognizing corrupted art

2010-06-06T22:58:00.004+05:00

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.

Value of truth

2010-06-03T09:46:00.026+05:00

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 friends and narrow our focus to them, then these can become powerful opportunities for fulfillment. Such that we can live very rich lives as a result of fully engaging them.

Thus if we discover them and live by them a truth has power to harmonize us with the outer world and because we have similar inner world makeup harmonize us with other people.

Make me rich

2010-05-27T23:01:00.052+05:00

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.

Today I turn thirty

2010-04-13T09:45:00.003+05:00

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.

There is something good about our ego

2010-03-13T09:55:00.018+05:00

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.

Message in the movie: "Groundhog Day"

2010-03-05T08:47:00.002+05:00

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 day hath Opened

2010-03-03T08:46:00.012+05:00

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.

From Darkness into Noor [Light]

2010-02-27T17:24:00.010+05:00

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.

Nafs & Rough

2010-02-23T00:36:00.001+05:00

"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 fixation with glory has to end

2010-02-21T12:07:00.000+05:00

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.

Another day received from God's bounty!

2010-02-17T10:09:00.033+05:00

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.

The journey of annihilation

2010-02-16T17:41:00.008+05:00

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 stronger still.

The straight path

2010-02-01T19:35:00.008+05:00

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.

Using pain to grow

2010-02-01T19:21:00.006+05:00

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

Experiencing Moon Meditation

2010-02-01T15:32:00.004+05:00

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.

What is detachment?

2010-01-28T13:02:00.001+05:00

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

2010-01-27T17:46:00.004+05:00

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 vile things are under threat always;
so they wither.

So connect with goodness; and it abounds everywhere,
So always you will remain happy.
That you are not needy of anyone [anymore]
But on Him and His provision.

Understanding Creation

2010-01-27T01:19:00.005+05:00

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.

To connect with people in society

2010-01-25T08:21:00.014+05:00

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
the [potent] benign in EVERYBODY
~
God there is just such tremendous good in EVERYBODY that ought to be recognized!
and they deserve for it to be recognized
always SOMETHING about every body;
and often MANY things!

A fallacy of the awe

2010-01-24T22:59:00.007+05:00

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"
only because it's effect will somehow not be wiped out in Eternity.

So there is something we are ADDING with each day;
even as we live In awe;
thus awe is NOT for awe's sake only.

The butterfly and the fly

2010-01-21T19:35:00.049+05:00

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 about petty issues; and I talk you into conforming against your will; and I put thoughts into you that are antagonistic of others.

These are the three voices in which I speak when I find you in weakness. (the 3 voices of the ego)

Butterfly: If your attention becomes WHOLE again you will be strong and the fly won't dare near.

So when you have rid yourself of all muck you will gain clarity; then I shall whisper to you so you are guided.

Notes
Gather your attention so that you can engage everything that comes to you fully.

Intent as tool!

2010-01-18T00:07:00.019+05:00

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 daemon; an idol.
He who is ONE and who is Ultimately REAL, I shall refer back to Him!
thus to what I know to be REAL [if secular] or to God as being [if you believe]

In referring back thus the fear or idol is destroyed each time you remember.

What's the point of it all; where's the end?

2010-01-16T23:36:00.005+05:00

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 story of Karbala

2010-01-13T19:21:00.004+05:00

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 always at work;
and he did not believe!

The Imam (AS) showed the Khalif,
and set example till time eternal,
of strength freemen posses,
to de-throne kings,
if the king dare oppress;

And thus propriety and certainty
brought them to the land Karbala,
where they offered a sacrifice of martyrdom, unto their Lord!

Alas in Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions,
were witnessed the highest free men & women,
who having offered martyrdom,
compensated through their lives,
society for the kings tyranny

The triangle: Modernity, Values & Qalb

2010-01-10T18:49:00.039+05:00

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 is shaking he's always busy trying to find his balance.

Enter topsy turvey values and: A barrage of malevolent intent as in Dubai [perpetuated owing to people with corrupt values] and without the Qalb to assist you; one can be a sitting duck exposed to His wrath if you start to do wrong.

And in all this there are those who still do right. :)

Note however that there are more positive things happening in this world than negative. And that is why we continue to exist. Elaboration below...

By definition because I Exist; more things are affirming than negating me. Faraz, remove focus from the minutiae I regret. So I may begin to see the ACTUAL picture! For even through the worst moments something, by implication of my being present NOW, must have affirmed me! Alhamdollilah.

Also note that the human race is undergoing a gradual progression since the time of our Prophet SAW [at least] and no one hath power to change this fate. This you can see by the fact that since his time till now, the brutality that's accepted by the average global citizen has much lower threshold. At that time cutting of hands and slavery were still acceptable. Ask the average global citizen what he thinks of them now and unanimously you will get an agreement that these are unacceptable. In this sense our sensibilities as a race have risen.

The global system despite the flaws I pointed out [which hurdles overcome shall speed our progress as human race; i.e. the cultural norms we accept unanimously] has more good to it than bad. This is why it still hasn't completely collapsed.

Read about this more elaborately here.

A topsy turvey world

2010-01-01T01:19:00.003+05:00

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 the rural areas of Pakistan. Villagers here are illiterate and thus have not been exposed to the modern consciousness.

Interestingly it is because of this reason that they have retained their use of their Qalbs [i.e. they see things simply and clearly and need not arrive at it through the maze of the modern mindset].

The gate keeper to my house is from such a village and he must ‘feel’ and ‘integrate’ within his small world view everything he is exposed to intuitively for he was never trained to compartmentalize an issue and process it only through the analytical mind.

For this group of people then the need to make sense of the esoteric before they can make sense of the exoteric does not exist. That said they still need a body of knowledge with which they can detach if exposed to the modern consciousness and retain their cognitive mode of functioning i.e. a body of knowledge by which they can defend themselves against the modern mindset.

People think that the task to create such content is easy for the audience need not ‘work out’ of a topsy turvey world just defend against it. They think that content catering to the latter goal alone would be simpler to create.

I think it's because of a set of Topsy Turvey values prevalent in our world that make Dubai possible. For the current system allows rampant Zulm which is accepted owing to the promise of economic benefit to the world. This is essentially so because the system is not based on Checking malevolent intent. And all this is true because of the topsy turvey values of the people running the system.

How to leverage the power of intent

2009-12-31T20:56:00.023+05:00

It is cruical to crystallize our intent. I've talked about the How and Why of it and explained this through examples. Thus you will have a grasp on how to use your 'intent' to grow and thus with time be able to handle a larger set of problems.

How can we crystallize intent: Hold yourself accountable for malevolent* intent each time. So it may gradually become more benevolent*.

Why should we crystallize intent: As your intent crystallizes i.e. becomes more benevolent you will notice that you are able to handle a larger set of challenges that come your way. Thus you become MATURE and benefit from the advantages of being mature. As this process of Maturation continues a point will come when one becomes Mature enough to bear life's greatest challenge i.e. death itself.

So let's see this through examples.

IMMATURITY: On one end of the spectrum lie Indian Dramas.

In these dramas the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law [who in Indian homes live in the same house] are always shown obsessed with each other, occupied with such horrendous non-sensical fights that if it were an actual family; no one would be able to focus on REAL issues the family needs to address. This is because the fights are extremly paralyzing.

Thus we could call this sort of behavior, which is essentially malevolent and practically disabling IMMATURE behavior.

MATURITY: On the other end of the spectrum are prophets such as Moses, Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad (saw) who are the opposite.

These models intend to stand up and change the status-quo of society; bringing it to sobriety and instilling in it values such as compassion, justice, brotherhood, love, emancipation, care for the orphans, etc.

In fact they are so clear about this and struggle for it so intensely that they are ready and able to bear the challenge of tremendous physical and emotional persecution.

Thus this benevolent behavior which is extremely enabling is 'Mature' behavior.

And indeed in love's bosom,
and out of reasons's grasp
into an ishq such as at Karbala
hath delivered into martyrdom,
is intent's journey complete.

For whatever the Beloved calleth upon
Ishq would have him deliver
so that in intent's final resting place
is intent's complete surrender!

Note: See the Postualtes of the Thematic. It provides a comprehensive framework for leveraging intent.
*Definitions:
#1) Malevolent - wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious.
#2) Benevolent - characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings [e.g. desiring to help others].

Bomb blast on the Karbala procession today in Karachi

2009-12-28T22:05:00.014+05:00

I was there...
and talked to people,
saw a man with half a arm that wasn't there now,
and another man who brought in his brother - i first consoled him he'd be ok - 20 mins later i couldn't break the news [to him, at civil hospital] that the brother had died.

i saw a group of people,
saying "the Muthamida should have shot back at them , i.e. the shias when they burnt the bazar," *

and I a shia with a black attire was talking to them,
saying instead...
itminan aana chayheyae/ agar woh , un mein thora sa woh sakoon un mein aajae to sab khatam ho jae ga,
un kae leaders ko sirf un ko samjhanae kee aur un ko itmenan calm karnae ke zarorat hae

to which he said something
and then I said yeh aek hal ee vehshat hae,

and they all agreed

So we moved from:
1) Mutahida needing to fire at the shias; to
2) acknowledging that everybody is in a state of vehshat
3) and instead of retaliation further calm needs to prevail
4) so it may come to a close and we may have peace.

thus a simple message of love,
is ENOUGH to bring
TREMENDOUS change.
In fact it's ALL that's needed. Alhamdollilah!

For if we stop taking corners we will see that we are,
all of us just the same.

In reality there aren't too many differences between us,
for we feel the same,
feel the touch of love just the same way;
and the touch of fear in just the same way.

*I personally was inside the hospital by the time the violence started so I don't know; nor have a sense of the people involved in the actual violence.

Karbala: A martyrdom cradled in Ishq

2009-12-28T11:05:00.007+05:00

The martrydom offered by the ahl e bayt and their companions,
was offered out of a position of power,
and not out of weakness.

It was offered as unconditional act of worship,
to contribute to the consciousness of the human race,
its sobreity and stage of maturity.

This act of worship,
was out of Ishq for the Lord,
and His way,
so it would awake a love for His way,
the Haqiqat,
in the hearts of those,
with open hearts.

From Karbala a million threads have emerged,
that tie the world since.

The Inn

2009-12-24T01:14:00.009+05:00

There are many idols I worship
All rewarding me with fear
Promising it is best this way
That the fears won’t further come near

But

My Lord promises Freedom
Says being His guest I needn’t worry
That He will take good care

So he teaches me the ways of the Inn
And as I learn of decorum
I learn the royal heritage and my potential
Reminded but again to leave the worry to the powerful Host

At the Inn I meet other travelers
All of them guests, each cared for
In what I learn I find I ought,
Give these travelers a nod and the one a wink

Courtesy is a rule here at the Inn
By which the Rabb Promises to teach us
secrets of the heart they say by which
Gradually unravels all the potential within

But to think a fellow traveler or object important
In measure greater than his due
Is to raise an idol and begin an ill

That to cross beyond courtesy into
Servility or cross into Oppression
Is making unto a traveler an Idol
For there is need for neither at the Inn

The idol raised belongs to a tribe they call “NEEDINESS”;
All darkness is legacy of this neediness
The decorum is to break these idols
That to treat each traveler or thing
With courtesy they are due, not more, nor less

In seeking assistance I hear His words
I am guest and must worry less
That this neediness is born out only of distance from the Host

But the heart of a momin they say can contain Him
My heart one day too would contain Him
Were I to leave all concern for my care to the Host
I need first connect and then move closer still

In nearness to Him is nearness to all at the Inn
Which we perpetually learn is made benign
And we, all of us, are the royalty within

So let’s us be overwhelmed I say
Feel an inner expansion thus to compliment Him,
For the boundless mysteries and generosity
With which He hath prepared this Inn

A framework on thinking

2009-12-16T17:21:00.065+05:00

Two principles:

You can trust your internal working, COMPLETELY.
All humans to have ever walked the Earth are made in just the same way.

Implication of the 2nd principle: You would feel the same [in their shoes] if you acted the same way.

How:

You have an analytical mind, by which to figure out things [also called the Left Brain]
You also have an ability to have split-second insights into situations [this cognitive faculty is called intuition; referred to as Right Brain processing]
In any given situation,

Freeze analytical thinking first
Then get attuned to the situation [Metaphorically think of the situation as a place, a backyard to your new house that you are currently exploring]. Get a feel of it so you could close your eyes and predict what's placed where in it.
The 'aura' of this backyard or situation that you've captured "internalize it" i.e.

become one with the place and feel what it feels. To be able to appreciate this for a second think of the place as being conscious or being alive and thus capable of exhibiting feeling. While this is a metaphor it can actually work if you get 'attuned' to the place. Try to close your eyes and predict what will happen next.

This you can extend to people even and use to predict what the next point in conversation will be. Suppose you are having a conversation with a friend. If you are attuned to how he or she is feeling you would be able to tell what they will say next.
Thus use this method of cognition alone to think through 'any situation' place/person/party/business meeting [etc] and collect insights upon insights.

At times its necessary to use a bit of Analytical Thinking to make sense of peculiar insights.
Thus this is how to leverage intuitive thinking to think through 'any situation' you come across throughout the day.
Summary: "Feel first, think next".

The more harmonious you feel with the situation the better you'll be able to predict what will happen next. Good Luck! :)

A submission to the Lord

2009-12-15T11:52:00.007+05:00

Our heart can sense,
Reality very deeply,
Thus it gives an ‘insight’ into!

Heeding it is submitting to the Lord,
For it dislikes disturbance all kinds;
Disturbance is itself only “a distance from Reality”!

Trust yourself,
And your feelings keenly,
For they offer invaluable insight to
bridge the gap to Reality;

Our minds are another miracle, given
so we may make sense of it all,
return and once more be grounded;

Thus the Universe is designed to
take care of all,
who heed this language of the heart.

Quantum Thinking

2009-12-15T10:12:00.006+05:00

In any situation, we would wish to interpret
we may use our mental faculty to interpret it,
but there is a more powerful technique available to us.

if we are emotionally aware,
completely awake I'd say,
we may use the emotions that arise to interpret, as well

Cognition through emotions is quite potent,
much more than without them,
for emotions sense and reveal,
things our minds aren't able to detect!

each feeling when interpreted,
its cause revealed, tells us,
through insight, something new,
and something always interesting!

but for it to work,
there mustn't be any background noise,
of a kind - unresolved emotional trauma,
that overshadows the heart's ability to feel!

Note: This is probably not the mainstream use of the term 'Quantum Thinking'. I use it because its a quicker method of thought possible by the processing of an instant's worth of experience i.e. one's state of emotion at the time.

Wisdom

2009-12-14T18:00:00.073+05:00

The device of wisdom is the heart, which
whispering in the language of insights*,
leads our thoughts.

However with disturbance near by,
this device first warns,
then overwhelms,
and if overburdened, turns off.

If this happens, we cannot think,
ourselves out of danger easily,
for the device that senses
is compromised;
thus we are once more vulnerable

But LOVE,
the soldier from outside,
can rescue us, our heart,
make it beat again.

Once revived,
afresh and awoken,
the heart pulsates through the body, clear thoughts
from a place of peace;

With this feeling of peace within
we are able to sense discomfort,
flag danger, easily
wherever we may go

The heart thus a guardian angel,
is sent by the Lord,
to protect should we heed it

But also an "emotional-cognitive" engine
that unfolds wisdom,a treasure of it
each time we interact with the world using it

For to sense around the world,
with complete awareness of emotions,
recognizing, trusting, making sense as each arises,
decoding the purpose behind,
is as if we hear an angel speak.

Only by committing vile
thus overburdening heart,
by traumatizing ourself,
will the angel, the heart leave
till we remedy our act,
or another is sent from without,
the soldier-angel we name, Love!

So harmony without,
comes from harmony within,
that heart through its wisdom,
if heeded has power to maintain.

*Insight -> Comes through intuition.

Video: Return is to HIM

2009-12-11T09:42:00.002+05:00

Video: A successful escape from: the mind

2009-12-03T15:19:00.006+05:00

The theme to life

2009-12-03T14:14:00.028+05:00

to learn
and grow to the next stage
to repeat this cycle
and experience it all
is the theme
to our life
this chance
gifted us by our Lord,
so we may
experience all, that as human
we are built to experience

we are built, with
the faculty of bodily experience
the faculty of intellectual experience
the faculty of emotional experience
to put this to work
so we may really experience

but there are those of us
who linger into oblivion
don't full fill their purpose
to live complete experience

the depraved among us
linger at the first stage
never living it all,
or learning of the sight from beyond,

those conquered by their ego,
trapped within their own intellect
don't leave or experience from beyond
the second stage

and those indulgent in emotion, romance
not able to tame it
through a matrimony, which
the natural course of this kind of love,
is only a birth pain
to create a matrimony
pushing us into our final stage

where we have powerful experience
and now wanting and ready
having full filled our purpose
to have lived it all,
we desire return
from where once we were pushed and sent
from where we were given
gift only the Lord has power to give
a divine gift,
our opportunity to live

Heart & Mind are independent

2009-11-26T03:39:00.081+05:00

The Qalb is the heart. We use our minds to think but the Qalb can be used to assist it; and what a mighty assistance it is! Alhamdollilah!

Main Article:

The mind reasons, uses logic and grasps a new idea whenever it comes across one. It can also organize information and connect to previous knowledge we have so that one can make sense of it all. Thus the mind can be thought of as a unique tool that's very good at processing information and retaining knowledge.

This ability and power to process as reasoning engines is something that will Inshallah one day be matched by Grand computer softwares that can think it all. In specific domains such as chess there is already software that can out-think the best human players! [Remember: Chess is a game of the mind]

Our hearts on the other hand use a slightly different faculty to sense or [make sense of things]. They do so by 'feeling'; which is a non-thinking faculty that humans posses. Thus we know in our heart of hearts that peace is superior to war, which reason might calculate forever but our feeling & capability to empathize QUALITATIVELY with the loss involved would tell us it can't be any other way; And this is a processing computers can't do for they cannot feel.

[Even humans with closed hearts would surely prefer to debate over this endlessly thus generating a QUANTITATIVE by-product of the reasoning mind; which in itself is useless as far as 'acknowledging' the principle is concerned]

So the heart and mind each process differently; and both faculties which are independent must be used in complementarity to each other as we do our left and right hands to completely grip onto the matter at hand. So let's delve into this a little deeper and see how we can use them well.

The Interaction Between Them

Now the processing by our hearts is churned out as intuition.
Whereas the processing by our minds is reasoning.
Interestingly intuition leads reasoning! Let's see through an example:

The words I say during ordinary unprepared speech comes through intuition. Which is also how ideas for a formal speech could come! Once however the ideas have come; say I jot them down on paper I would then re-arrange, organize and sculpture them for eloquence using my reasoning. Hence, what came to me first as intuition was taken to the mind and consumed by it.

So when our hearts are at harmony: they sense -> churn out some intuition -> that is sent to the mind -> which through its ability to reason understand this intuition and spells it out->so you have a firm grip on the matter present before.

And that's how poetry happens; comes to life! for whatever you feel is put across by the heart and interpreted and given language by the mind.

Using the Heart
Section A

When we bring our attention to the present moment we engage it by coming out of whatever perpetual day dream we are otherwise a victim of.

To engage the moment is a matter of engaging the issue at hand in a way that we are able to use our hearts to sense around it.

Thus we are in a position to untangle the issue as one would a ball of wire.

We do this by discovering the complex of feelings we posses about the issue and untangle these feelings one at a time. Each time we untangle a feeling it is replaced by an answer that arrives by intuition.

Using the Heart
Section B

If we are willing to accept this answer, [which might at times be challenging for we will have to be open/vulnerable to whatever answer comes to us] our consciousness will rise.

If we aren't brave enough to acknowledge and accept this answer [when it is about a difficult matter] we return to the old status quo and the disturbance remains within - (locked up).

Love articulated

2009-11-24T10:54:00.005+05:00

Love overwhelms us
there is an exterme of passion
joint with an extreme of discipline
a most delicate balance indeed
it empowers us
making us unconditional
it burns away our daemons
this true of mother and her babe

My view of the world at present

2009-11-23T14:33:00.011+05:00

I think our world is in pretty good shape. This because there is at certain parts of the world competency that has been established and is rewarded by an economic reward system.

Within this economic system we have a subsystem where we may educate ourselves, pursue a career, marry, raise a family, build a house, fulfill our responsbilites as parents, then to our larger families, our society; each time being recongized for a job well done. [For it is in their interest to protect you!]

The one missing element however, in many lives, is spiritual education. This is something organized religion should be doing, but instead is taken up by Fakirs and Sufis who teach the basics such as perhaps 'Intro to Love 100'. [An important milestone being we must reach the switch from feeling victimized at all times, to - the universe is benign and we a welcome friend - that it is in fact in the interest of others to protect us!]

Many people who have worked very hard and accomplished much suffer distrubance because spiritual education did not enter into their life.

In conclusion I'd say that the world's current system does not include as a part of it spiritual education [in the main stream]. Put this piece and the puzzle seems complete!

Ehsas

2009-11-22T12:58:00.033+05:00

We survive on ehsas
but not a struggle for ehsas from others
but the ehsas within for others
-
the first is just a struggle
an expectation put forth in articulation
that scares the other
serves a stick to drive them away
but the latter
is an appreciation of the other
and a result of feeling,
from the pit of our hearts and core of being
felt, unarticulated, spontaneous!
-
this another of love's secrets

Ehsas is an Urdu word.
Description: A 'feeling', and an 'awareness' born out of this feeling.

Me and You

2009-11-20T17:29:00.010+05:00

You are I
me in the mirror
this kaleidoscopic world
yet I hesitate you and I
our reflection
we one another
till we use this mirror
to see each other - and breakthrough
to find ourself

when I scare you
I scare myself
-
and to love myself
is a journey unto peace
that I give you your due
this the beginning of a love
I myself am due
that I recognize you

in you as child
I see myself of past
that looks at me now
the adult that till now
had remained a mystery

in my own thoughts
once silence
I know yours
a final testament we are one
look inside yourself
so you may hear mine

each new face
from however far a place
even times past
is me another mood
myself the grand mystery
that I discover more

Her

2009-11-19T12:59:00.020+05:00

Her company
teleports me into clouds
carried with an angelic grace,
her stunning innocence,
and breathtaking beauty,
it seems for my awe
that I behold and witness
the Rab has created
all this for HIS recognition
this mystery that speaks
a creature of the Garden
- Faraz Haider

*Rab: Arabic word connoting a caring, protecting, nurturing God.

if the morning breeze, a lock of yours, unloosens
a thousand lives prisoned, from their cares, are freed
- Ameer Khusro

@ Ameer Khusro:
Pretty obvious why Mr. Khusro!
A spectacle such as this would dissolve away the cares of me and many of my brothers!
Alhamdollilah.

Pain

2009-11-16T14:27:00.053+05:00

You imagine and entertain fear
But you experience and transcend it
Seeing the pain for what it is
It is bearable
It is always bearable
For spirits in flesh
Divine beings
Pain is but a play

In it we witness our vulnerability
And witness our beauty
For the flute when hollowed
Is prepared for music
Setting free our soul

Her yearning answered
She dances now the mystic dance
at the universe's center
Intoxicated in the trance
she whirls

For pain and its kind
She has left behind
To find her companions
In Peace Joy and Love
Guarding her they come to her aid

But pain and its kind
were aids sent for help
Her friends of old
They fill with gratitude
For a job well done

Become free

2009-11-14T00:39:00.003+05:00

you are not intimidating me,
but You are intimidating yourself,
do you not see the stress you feel,
stop now
become free

in lust you do not ruin me
you miss out,
you ruin yourself
stop now
become free

let's escape
there is a way
let's end the fight between us
let's do it together
for we are the same you and I
in every way

though it is a sentry
failure cannot stop us
for death has been sent
to our rescue

Intuition and our modern mind

2009-11-13T00:56:00.011+05:00

The modern mind
It teaches you to hold objects
As when you were a toddler your hands did
But you must stop the juggle
You have to move on
You had an innate faculty to sense things
Revive it

Intuition leads reasoning. And is itself led by intent

One scientific measure of how highly conscious you are is the degree to which your faculty of intuition gives you insight into situations, people and everything else.

In the case of Prophets such as Hazrat Yousuf his power of intuition was highly developed so that he could predict the future based on an interpretation of his dreams [using I am certain an intuitive faculty]. How the dreams were revealed I still wonder.

As intuition works with us when we have an insight into a matter we use logic to fill in the gaps and build a concrete understanding of the matter.

It is perhaps connected that at the hight of its development with a power of intuition individuals who have found their way may have the ability to prophesize the future.

Lust - but why not?

2009-11-13T00:53:00.003+05:00

Lust is bad
you sell yourself short
you may recover yourself
but you ruin the other
a person whose heart is open will settle for lust only after a jabbar on themselves
and this is akin to shooting your self in the foot
this is why

NOTES
1. Jabbar is an Arabic word that implies the object on which jabbar is being done is being antagonized and put through pain.

Video: After finding the Self

2009-11-06T02:16:00.015+05:00

A stage in one's evolution should come where they become aware of their "self".

To do so would mean to enjoy interacting with the universe as a form of art through the use of our faculties of mind and heart jointly to interact with it.

In so doing we become the artists.

But there is a stage it seems that lies beyond finding the self.

It appears to be a higher form of consciousness, where we loose the 'self' we found, and hand over the brush of the artist to the universe as it demands from us. A complete form of submission it would seem.

NOTES
1. My use of the word 'self' may not be how others use it.

The progress I have made

2009-11-05T21:22:00.004+05:00

Read my posts a year ago @ http://usefulthought-s.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html and then read some of my recent posts.

Thanks to Blogspot I have had the opportunity to record my thoughts and I am myself in awe of the progress I have made.

There is a huge jump in the sophistication of the:
1. Kind of topics I am dealing with now
2. The increase in my consciousness
3. My ability to put 'feeling' in my words [Read this]
4. How lean my world view is [Read this]

And yes I can now write a poem! [Read here]

And God is kind to those who try. Alhamdolillah!

Affirmation - How to get God's help in an instant

2009-11-03T14:38:00.015+05:00

Allah has said that HE is closer to us than our jugular vein. It is also said that HE loves us more many times over than our mother possibly can. Clearly HE is also a being of ultimate power who communicates to us through the universe. But the question arises in my mind: “if this is so how can I ask HIM for help?”

I have written below one answer I have found.

An Affirmation can be described as: When you think about something it happens.

Let’s think of humans as machines for a moment. In that sense the thoughts that go through our minds influence us. Eventually the actions we do are a reflection of the thoughts we keep. In fact each action we do is completely derived from the collection of thoughts that have brought it into creation [through interplay of our conscious and subconscious minds and the environment that brings to us the particular situation].

If this is so than by ‘invoking’ thoughts we should be able to create events in the future through our actions that we don’t know of.

But what thoughts should we ‘invoke’ to generate fortune, love, beauty, peace, power, healing, knowledge, etc.

And the best answer I have at present is to meditate on the 99 names of Allah. Each name is an attribute of HIS that exhibits itself as phenomena in the universe. You can find these names here.

Let’s take ‘Al-Shafi’ for example the ‘Healing’ attribute of God [I don't think it's in these 99 names...].

In my experience meditating on this attribute brings an immediate sense of peace in my heart and I begin to intuitively recognize the various ways in which the universe works to heal me. [One of these phenomena is the progress of medical science that we have seen. Then the kinds of music that have a healing effect, the song birds sing, the sound of a water-fall or even our ability to experience love.]

Thus through this meditation we begin to co-create [at a conscious and subconscious level] events in our future that will heal us and serve to heal others.

Thus invoking each of the 99 names of Allah has an immediate effect on our life.

NOTES
1. When we stall various Lateral Thinking tools [such as by Edward De Bono] serve to help us find ‘grasping points’ through which we can take further our thoughts on the situation at hand.

Video: A short cut to higher consciousness

2009-10-31T20:53:00.008+06:00

To understand the benefits read the post titled: "A function of poetry and a view of the 7th valley in the tale of the seh-morgh".

Clearly the strength one can derive from Love, by reciprocating it, is priceless and even Oxygen for a person who wants to make this journey of 'waking up'.

An important point to remember though is that: The true nature of everything on this planet even the Pharaoh is Goodness, Purity and Love. The only reason its not there where its not is because in this case the Pharaoh continued in his state of disturbance by suppressing his Consciousness. [This is the miracle of CREATION and a miracle of HUMAN NATURE.]

The good news is that: The process of reaching a higher state of consciousness can be troubling while it happens. But onces its reached the disturbance goes [because you correct yourself] and you become powerful and at the same time more at peace.

Interestingly after achieving a higher state of consciousness you will not be able to do certain things [that are harmful] because it will require such a heavy toll on you that you will have no choice but to avoid it.

There is in reality no choice for us but to constantly up our state of consciousness and after a while it doesn't seem that scary either.

An easier less violent way to look at this process may simply be to think of entering a 'state of wonder' and enjoy the excitement associated with it only to come out. And then to re-enter again and again.

"Awe is the salve that will heal our eyes."
Mevlana Rumi (1207 - 1273)
Source: Essential Rumi, Page: 65

NOTES
1. The key: Intent connects each moment in time as a string a necklace of beads.
2. The key interpreted: in each moment you must maintain the same level of consciousness. Whenever you go against your conscience you will again feel disturbed.

Video: Sinnerman - Thomas Crown Affair

2009-10-28T02:13:00.007+06:00

The song just captivates me! The lyrics are so simple and beautiful.

THE SONG AS I SEE IT
All on that Day
He ran from the Devil and sought help and refuge with all,
And nobody could help
And he ran yet again
But with none left to turn to he went to his Lord
But his Lord said to him to go face the Devil
And So He went to the Devil and sought Power from his Lord
All on that Day

Video: If you fail try again

2009-10-26T05:32:00.006+06:00

THE COMING OF AGE
A burning desire within always consumes all contradictions and doubt that come its way!
Submit to it! Resist it no more.
Since your desires will be a reflection of the thoughts you keep. Think good!
And spend time in the presence of God - through HIS remembrance!
For this is the key to 'great thoughts'!
For what you think will come your way!
Thus to entertain 'evil thoughts' is a play with fire!
In HIS presence you will have HIS protection!
HE inspires good thoughts.

Recognize the 'Holy' around you so you may find HIM!

So follow your heart and go where you must!

So the flame within will become stronger!

And the daemons you have become friends with will burn away!

And the weak man will go.
The powerful man will take his place.

Video: The key to a healthy marriage

2009-10-26T05:11:00.001+06:00

Video: The world is changing at hyperspeed

2009-10-24T20:23:00.001+06:00

Video: Learning basic essentials from YouTube

2009-10-24T19:56:00.012+06:00

I had to go for an interview and despite being a few months away from my 30th birthday I still did not know how to wear a double knot tie.

I had about 30 minutes to figure it out and no body at home to help me.

So I went on youtube and found this video. I followed the steps and yes I had the perfect double knot necktie just the way I had wanted.

Watching and learning from this video struck me in its similarity to how Trinity downloaded instructions for flying a helicopter [into her mind] from a computer! [from the Matrix Triology]

Notes:
1. Next I wanted to learn "Moon Walking" and the steps were so simple I got it right the first time. But I need practice to get a smoother 'walk'!

Responsibility and Blame Understood

2009-10-24T14:14:00.002+06:00

"Blame" vs. "Responsibility"
By Ramla Akhtar

Know that "blame" is only "responsibility" by a darker name.

They are the same thing. The only difference is whether one is assuming responsibility by themselves, with their free will. Or are they waiting until someone else puts the responsibility on their head -- in which case, it is called "blame".

In other words, is it inside-out (from me to the world) or outside-in (from the world to me)? If I do something I must do, it's responsibility. For instance, I have to make sure that my water tank does not overflow into the street. But if I ignore to do something that I have to do anyway, and someone reminds me.... it may become a blame. For instance, a neighbor can knock my door and say, "The water from your tank is flooding the street."

It is decent at that point to still see it as a responsibility. But those with weak character -- that is, a character that does not have awareness and knowledge -- will feel "blamed".

If ever you feel "blame", stop and ask: what is my responsibility? What is that thing which I can do?

Now, the first thing is to be aware of the real meaning of being responsible.

What is responsibility?

It is response-ability. That is, the ability to respond.

So there are two key concepts here:

1. Ability

This word is from the Latin root habilis which means "handy".
The origin of handy is "hand" -- which directly refers to the hand... the organ on the body.

What is hand associated with? Skill. Learning.
The hand learns to grasp objects. Deal with them. Move things. Stop things. WORK. Essentially, "hand" is for physical work and exertion.bi
The hand is trained for this. Weak hands cannot pick or drop objects. Babies are always exercising their arms and hands. They are jumping, they are moving. In the animal world, animals properly train their limbs, their paws, their wings. They practice all the time.

Why practice? So that one is ready for various situations as they arise. One is able to respond at the moment. Every moment is unique, it never happened before, it will never happen again. There are certainly many, many situations that happen only for the first time. We walk for the first time. We drive the first time. We start eating with our own hand the first time at a very little age. But the hand could not pick the first spoon if it was not already trained and exercised. It doesn't have to exercise by picking a spoon. It can exercise by moving about.

It's just like you don't practice for climbing Everest by climbing Everest. But you exercise, train on rock climbing units, climb other mountains, do other sports to build stamina and skill to climb Everest the first time.

Ability has to be there before response, even though the situation is unique, happening for the 'first time'.

2. Response

This is from the Latin root respondēre which means "to promise".
"Promise", in turn, is from the root word prōmissum which means "to send forth".

Aha! "To send" and "forth".

Forth means: "Forward in time, place, or order; onward."

[To] Send is:

- an action
- it is outward from the self
- it is "giving"
- it implies deliberate choice. It is not the same as "throw away", not "snatched from".
- an action that requires a receiver. We cannot send something to an imagination.
- done in the present moment. One cannot send in the past. One cannot even send something in the future. (The 'future' will be 'present' when you're sending it. So if you're sending something "tomorrow", when you send it, it will be "today". The date today is Oct 22. You cannot send anything on Oct 23 while you're still in Oct 22.)

Take the case of a greeting card. If I "send" it, it means I chose. No one snatched a card from me. I did not hand it over, I was not pulled form. Also, an action took place. Some work happened. It required ability to send. What is the ability in this case? Remembering the occasion on which to send the greeting.

Coupled with "forth" the meaning becomes even more clear. One is "sending ahead of time" -- which means, one is being proactive. One is doing something by one's own will and power and ability, rather than being asked to do it.

So, let's summarize:

Response means promise. Promise means to send forth. To send forth means to actively do something, and it's done to real event or person; also it's done in the present time.

Ability is to have trained to give a response when a response is required.

Also, NOT DOING SOMETHING is also an action. For example if you put a seed in the soil. You can water and fertilize it. But you cannot make it grow. You will have to sit and wait (and do other work) while it grows itself. That part when you're not doing anything more to the seed is not lack of action. It is patient action.

Also know that to be ready does not mean to attack. It means develop the ability to respond.

So, too, taking matters in one's own hands means to develop one's skills and knowledge and ability. It does not mean to become aggressive and attacking. The person who really has matters in their hands is one who is calm and collected, especially under adverse situation.

Losing control and to be emotional means there is a lack of character development.

How to improve that? By developing ability.

Now: What is blame?

Blame is when an action becomes due upon oneself, but one has not done it, or cannot do it. Someone or something from the outside reminds one to take action. That is felt as a 'blame' by the Self. In itself, blame is nothing. Responsibility is the real thing.

When there is a blame, one may honestly investigate the cause and redress it. It is possibly that one is wrongly blamed. In that case, the "responsibility" is to clear the blame! Send forth an explanation or correction!
~
And this is how blame is simply "responsibility" in reverse.

Fundamentals of Humor

2009-10-19T19:18:00.009+06:00

The goal of humor is to make the audience laugh. I show how a basic joke that aims at producing laughter is made of specific building blocks. Here I also talk about varying style to produce different kinds of humor. This is shown diagrammatically. The material for the post comes mostly from an online Google book by the author Mary Ann Rishe titled “Writing Humor: Creativity and the comic mind”.

Laughter is a pleasurable physical response we experience as we respond to humor. Emotion builds in the body and then, because it can't be reabsorbed by the brain as quickly as cognition, it erupts as "excess energy". [Thus it is a physiological response to a stimulus].

Our goal is to create this "excess energy" in the audience. To understand how let's turn to the definition of humor.

Humor Defined
"Humor is playful incongruity that contains a tension between two levels of meaning followed by a clash of sufficient complexity that surprises and delights and that leads to a resolution of that meaning."

We will develop our understanding of 'incongruity' and 'tension' to grasp the definition above.

Incongruity means anything that doesn't fit our logical expectations or our normal view of things: We expect a man in a winter storm to wear a heavy jacket and boots, but Charlie Chaplin in Gold Rush arrives in Alaska wearing his shorts, ill-fitting coat and bowler hat, naively unprepared for the freezing wind and snow. He's also followed by a bear.

There also has to be sufficient 'tension' between the normal meaning and the incongruity since mere differences are not enough. Take for example the following scenario: A fourteen-year-old girl and a fifty-year-old man walking into a classroom are of different sexes and ages, but that by itself isn’t funny. To make the scene humorous, you'd have to make her a precocious teenager with an IQ of 170 and have us discover that she's actually the professor, and he's the student.

A diagram of the humor process:

Thus when we have two parallel meanings that are incongruous with sufficient 'tension' resolving this incongruity creates laughter. Thus we have our basic joke [molecule].

Let's take a joke and see how this works:
Henny Youngman: "Now that I know how to get the most out of life, most of it is over."

Look at the structure of the humor process in figure 3 and apply the joke to the diagram. Meaning #1 centers on the word play "most out of life", which we understand to mean the value of life, and which operates as a normal statement. Meaning #2 focuses on the amount of life left to live, "most of it is over". That becomes incongruous in comparison to meaning #1. [There might not be sufficient tension but note that the joke only makes us laugh when we understand the two meanings and resolve them. Resolved: By the time you become wise and learn how to carry yourself in difficult situations you aren’t young enough to apply this ‘knowledge’ in situations that are accessible mostly to the young.]

Thus we have the basic joke [molecule].

Joke molecules put together give our next building block: a paragraph. Here one joke follows or 'tops' the previous joke. Let's see the jokes apart and then put them together to get our complete paragraph.

The first joke [This is a simple enough joke]:
The problem, I argued, is that men -- because of a tragic genetic flaw -- cannot see dirt until there is enough of it to support agriculture. This puts men at a huge disadvantage against women, who can detect a single dirt molecule 20 feet away.

Topping it with another joke:
This is why a man and a woman can both be looking at the same bathroom commode, and the man -- hindered by Male Genetic Dirt Blindness (MGDB) -- will perceive the commode surface as being clean enough for heart surgery; whereas the woman can't even "see" the commode, only a teeming, commode-shaped swarm of bacteria.

Topping it with another joke:
A woman can spend two hours cleaning a toothbrush holder and still not be totally satisfied; whereas if you ask a man to clean the entire New York City subway system, he'll go down there with a bottle of Windex and a single paper towel, then emerge 25 minutes later, weary but satisfied with a job well done.

And our final and complete paragraph:
The problem, I argued, is that men -- because of a tragic genetic flaw -- cannot see dirt until there is enough of it to support agriculture. This puts men at a huge disadvantage against women, who can detect a single dirt molecule 20 feet away. This is why a man and a woman can both be looking at the same bathroom commode, and the man -- hindered by Male Genetic Dirt Blindness (MGDB) -- will perceive the commode surface as being clean enough for heart surgery; whereas the woman can't even ``see'' the commode, only a teeming, commode-shaped swarm of bacteria. A woman can spend two hours cleaning a toothbrush holder and still not be totally satisfied; whereas if you ask a man to clean the entire New York City subway system, he'll go down there with a bottle of Windex and a single paper towel, then emerge 25 minutes later, weary but satisfied with a job well done. Link to source

Thus we have seen the building blocks of humor and the response it is meant to generate. Now let’s turn our attention to understand how style in humor varies.

Let’s go back to ‘incongruities’. Incongruities can be small creating humor that is closer to reality or the incongruity can be very large producing 'non-sense' or silly humor. See the diagram below:

Another variation in style comes in the form of humor that is jolly or light vs. humor that is tragic or dark. Our primary tool for this variation is in calibrating how 'playful' we make it.

The following diagram shows this:

Thus we can revisit our basic joke molecule and vary its style to create different kinds of humor.

Having understood the basic components of a joke we can use this to sharpen our wit. This can be done in two ways. Firstly we do this by applying the framework to all humor we come across to grasp it better. [There is good written humor available on the internet, such as the resource mentioned in the notes that exhibits the use of this framework.] The second exercise we can do is practice writing our own humor. Having grasped the fundamentals of humor, practice should allow us to become good in manipulating these building blocks. Thus we should be able to sharpen our wit.

NOTES:
1. An advice on the appropriateness of using humor: “it is like a mask that you wear for a while and in some particular company on occasion. YOU CAN'T WEAR it all the time... that is being a NIT WIT, not witty at all!”
2. Link to good humor: www.davebarry.com [Read some of his classic columns...]

The only choice we really have

2009-10-19T06:42:00.006+06:00

A 2 year old child quite naturally acts appropriately. But for an adult this does not remain easy in fact a choice is introduced. He may act appropriately or may not act appropriately and this choice eventually determines his quality of life.

This is the only real choice he has for all else follows. Let's see how this is so.

2 year olds act appropriate to their age. They don’t think of what to do they just do it. Unfortunately they don't have a highly developed level of consciousness and so it is easy for them to follow to the letter whatever their consciousness tells them. Naturally because of this [i.e. a limited consciousness] they are vulnerable to the world more than an adult.

Adults over the years through experience and observation develop a higher form of consciousness of the world around them. This is why they can protect themselves from danger. Inevitably to protect themselves from danger they have developed a sense that warns them of danger - much like how Spiderman's spider sense works.

Sometimes however the adult goes against his gut feeling or spider sense as I call it and may not act appropriately.

To act appropriately may require us to show courage in the face of danger. And so we may need to pick a fight with a man stealing an old lady’s hand bag. Or it may equally require us to show tolerance as in the case where it’s better to be silent than continue an argument.

In any case the key is to unconditionally follow our conscience and do what is appropriate for in doing so we learn new things and mature and proceed to the next level of consciousness. In avoiding this choice and acting inappropriately we miss out on the opportunity to learn and grow. In the process we may also collect ‘emotional or excess’ baggage that will lead us to resentment. This may be so if we do not stop the man from stealing from the old woman or continue the argument instead of keeping silent and thus feel guilty later.

We not only protect ourselves from a feeling of guilt but all sorts of harmful things. Thus unlike the 2 year old we are less vulnerable to the world to the extent that we are mature and have a sophisticated conscience.

One way to develop our consciousness is to learn from books and other peoples’ experiences, to pray, fast and remember God.

Thus in choosing to act appropriately we are at our best using all our faculties and our skills, our knowledge and our wisdom. How we respond to a situation may vary over time but in acting appropriately we are at our best.

THE DISTORTION OF THE DEEN [The Way of Being]

2009-10-15T06:28:00.002+06:00

THE DISTORTION OF THE DEEN [The Way of Being]
By Etsko (Ebrahim) Schuitema

Allah has not made us to be socially useful, He has made us to worship Him. Worship means that our fascination is with His attributes, that we regard Him as Significant, and that we recognize that all that is good and beneficial in our lives comes from Him and all that is harmful comes from ourselves. Being worshipful means to understand that we are fundamentally unable to be useful to either ourselves or others, and that when things go right and succeed it is because He made it so. In so far as we have been designed to the end of being worshipful, it means that this capacity to act unconditionally and leave the outcomes to Him is the highest aspect of our nature. The deen is a vehicle to establish this transformation of being fascinated with our selves, our own consequence and significance to being enthralled with Him and His Significance.

The community that we are in ideally provides a context in which this transformation from a life focused on self to a life focused on Allah can take place. The escape from the fatal narcissism and selfishness of adolescence is made possible because, as responsible adults, there is no question about the fact that we fundamentally have more duties than rights, particularly if we have families. It is the duty bound world of the parent that drags us out of the essential selfishness of the adolescent by our ears.

However, this phase of subordinating the narcissism of the self in the process of becoming socially useful both in a reproductive and a productive sense is itself transitory. There comes a phase in every person’s life where the robustness of the responsible adult gives way to decrepitude, with the associated growing disquiet regarding the proximity of death. This is called a mid life crisis. At some point every adult comes face to face with the fundamental truth and that is that all human activity is fundamentally futile, no matter how nobly intended. This sense of futility of our own endevour enables another possibility: the insight that our inability to make things work is the platform from which we can witness how Allah makes things work, stupendously, miraculously.

This suggests that there are two kinds of societies, which one could describe as either benevolent or malevolent. A benevolent society plays its role in the maturation of the individual, firstly by creating the conditions where the stormy, indignant and rights based world view of the adolescent is pounded into the compliant duties based world view of the parent. Secondly and paradoxically, it honours the withdrawal of the elderly into essential spiritual and socially useless activity and, indeed, regards that as the zenith of human aspiration. In this sense a benevolent society provides a pathway for the realization of the highest aspiration in man: God consciousness. A benevolent society is regarded as subordinate to the enablement of the highest in the individual. This society is there for the individual, not the other way around.

A malevolent society subordinates the individual to the social project. In such a society only that which is useful is tolerated and all is subordinated to that which the elite designate as the social good. In its worst form, such as our own, such a society will harness an essentially competitive adolescent psychology in pursuit of shameless accumulation and domination with no regard for the environment and social consequences associated with unbridled self-interest.

The Pharaonic model of society 'uses' the individual for the social project -- often in the name of 'good'This distinction between benevolent and malevolent societies is symbolised by the distinction between nabi Musa and Firaun [Pharaoh]. The pharonic model subjugates the people to the work of the social project. This project is apparently useful, it results in an impressive building, however, this building is in fact a pyramidic mausoleum for the leader. The aim of this mausoleum is to ensure the immortality and eternal aggrandizement of the leader. The people are enslaved to this project principally because of their own need for the security of life in Egypt. They accept their enslavement to the pyramidic structure because, apparently, it feeds them and keeps them secure. Their lives are therefore harnessed and subordinated to work which appears useful but is actually about the preservation of the elite.

The community of Moses is one that 'walks the path' and clarifies itself for the benefit of the individual's growthIn the prophetic model of nabi Musa the work done is fundamentally bizarre. It amounts to an aimless wandering through the desert for forty years. However, this wandering is about enabling a generation of free people. The social project is therefore the means to the end of enabling the people, not the other way round. A pharonic society subordinates the growth of the individual to the social project and the social project is about the immortality and aggrandizement of those in control. A prophetic society applies the social project to the end of enabling free, mature and realised people and the leadership of this society expend themselves to this end. Another perspective on the same problem is that malevolent societies applaud doing what is expedient while benevolent societies applaud doing what is correct, particularly when it is inexpedient to do so.

What is crucial about this distinction is that it is a distinction in intent, not in content. It does not matter how noble the content is, if it is used as a means to subjugate and control people it is pharonic. If the deen is applied to the end of producing good citizens it is a tyrannical misapplication of the vehicle, even if what is being established is a new Medina Munawarrah. If it is applied to the end of producing free, worshipful beings who delight in their capacity to lose all unconditionally it is being appropriately applied. Unfortunately, in most Muslim communities, the former is the case rather than the latter.

When I first became Muslim it became apparent to me is that Muslims and Christians had a very different views of the community of the faithful. The Christians referred to the community of the faithful as a church. At the same time, the same word is used for a building in which worship takes place. This suggests that the community constituted a supra personal structure that the individual went into, like a building. Worse, this building was assigned a persona, in the sense of a legal persona such as in Roman law. Again, the individual was subordinate to the structure, and it implied that it was quite legitimate for the structure to reduce the life of the individual to a resource to be expended in the pursuit of its own objectives. This idiom has survived in modern organisationsal language which refers to people as human resources that are used in the pursuit of organisational objectives.

On the other hand, Muslims referred to the community of the faithful as an ummah, a community. A community is something organic, something comprised of individuals which does not exist independently of or over and above the individuals involved. Properly speaking a community does not view the individual as expendable, as cannon fodder for the cause. A community recognises that if the individual life is seen a purely a means to the establishment of something else, something deeply brutal and aberrant was taking place. It does not matter how noble this objective is, as soon as the individual life becomes the means to establish a social objective then the loss of that life in the cause is like the killing of whole of mankind because it negates the fundamental purpose and calling of being human.

We are not here to be socially useful. Being socially useful is a short epoch in the total journey of unconditional surrender. The climax of a process is its finale, and in the human life this finale is called death. Death does not ask you what you want to get or what you have established for yourself or others, it only asks you if you are able to walk out of your life unconditionally. This walking out of your life unconditionally is an individual event, it is not social. If we sat together on a bus and got gassed to death, this would not be a convivial experience. I would not ask you whether you are still breathing or could still move your feet. We may die en masse but we die alone.

The highest point of human life does not concern the group, it concerns the individual. The group are staggering fickle in their treatment of the dead. They cannot wait to get this scary thing into the ground. They leave you to die on your own. Since your life has this event as its zenith, it implies that you have been designed to deal with more momentous things than purely being socially useful. You have been designed to learn how to submit unconditionally and become socially perfectly useless, like a corpse.

-- The End --

How to make sense of the universe in terms of energy

2009-10-08T15:13:00.015+06:00

I have tried to extend my understanding of energy to understand and relate all the phenomena I know.

Energy is of different kinds and can exhibit at different levels. I call these ‘kinds’ differing frequencies.

Now we operate at different frequencies at different times - for example:
1. Each mood represents a different frequency
2. When we do something brave we have a different frequency
3. When we cheat somebody or think ill of somebody we have a different frequency
4. When we work hard we have a different frequency
5. When we are lazy we have a different frequency

And these frequencies may exhibit themselves at different levels, such as:
1. Such is the case when we work hard vs. when we give it everything we’ve got
2. When we like somebody vs. when we are in love
3. When we are hesitant vs. when we have a phobia
4. When we have an interest in something vs. when we are passionate about it

The combination of a frequency and its level make a unique state I will call an energy signature. Thus at any given time we have a specific energy signature.

Just like a person has an energy signature everything he or she creates also has an energy signature.

Inanimate objects too have an energy signature:
1. The Grand Canyon [has a unique affect as do the following two]
2. The moon light and the night or;
3. the sun light and the day.

Every energy signature can be put into one of two categories. Everything we call good has an energy signature that has a common pattern to it. In its purest form this is captured by the word “Holy”. Everything evil also has an energy signature that has a pattern to it and in its purest form this is captured by the word “Evil”.

The energy signature of HOLY is more powerful than the energy signature of EVIL because the former creates a harmony and the latter some form of disturbance. The fact that the former creates harmony shows that it is closer to reality. And its power comes from its relationship with reality, that it harmonizes us with it. Anything Evil on the other hand is by its nature destructive [of us and others] and creates contradictions.

We can DEVELOP a particular energy signature through:
1. Conversations
2. Meditation
3. Prayer
4. Reading and Writing
5. Helping others vs. hurting or harming them
6. The kind of work we choose to do

Take a conversation for example. In any conversation a person can maneuver it and create an energy signature [of the group] using their speech and by deciding when to keep silent. You can practice to maneuver energy signatures in conversations you have even if the meet up is brief.

Prayers and any ritual meant for God have an influence on us. The purer our intention in the dedication to God [of our prayer] the more powerful the impact on our frequency and energy level.

We can do works of evil and they too influence our frequency and energy level.

Thus I think power too can be understood as the ability to maintain and maneuver energy signatures into that which we want.

Interestingly energy signatures we interact with have the power to impact us just as we have the power to impact them. In fact every interaction can be understood in these terms of an interaction of energy. Every time we enter a one on one conversation with another person there is a play of energies. This may form a reinforcing spiral of energy if both people have the same energy type [holy or evil]; thus they will resonate with each other. We feel stronger when our meeting creates a reinforcing spiral and awkward or uncomfortable when our energies negate each other.

Mother Nature has a holy energy signature. That is why we enjoy a Safari or witnessing the Niagara Falls. In fact when we interact with Mother Nature our energy signatures are influenced and change.

Movies, people and books can influence us in the same way.

The Universe understood in terms of energy:
The source of energy is God. So when we go towards HIM we get godly energy and when we move away from HIM [we lose harmony with reality – because HE has created reality and thus] we feel a disturbance. This disturbance has a frequency of its own.

Everything in the universe is energy in some form and as already has been said there is godly or HOLY energy and satanic or EVIL energy [where the latter is a disturbance that owes to a separation from reality].

As we interact with the world we resonate with different energy signatures. To become powerful we need to work out of contradictions and thus we must dissociate from EVIL. True power is godly power and all of us have felt this kind of power [It's the kind that makes us feel good when we resonate with it]. We should thus choose to resonate with such energy around us, all the time, because the more we do the easier it will be differentiating [by detecting energy signatures] between what is good for us and what is bad for us.

By practicing this we become good at maintaining holy and even negating evil energy. Thus we achieve power.

NOTES
Other implications of this understanding of energy
If we are searching for a moment that reminds us of a fond memory then we are searching for a specific energy signature.

A function of poetry and a view of the 7th valley in the tale of the seh-morgh

2009-10-06T16:49:00.010+06:00

Poetry must have many important functions. If it is good it is sure to create a presence about it that can influence us in powerful ways. In this post I have discussed an important function: how poetry can be a guide to us.

Rudaki was an Iranian poet born in the year 858, in Khorasan, Iran. His many contributions to Persian poetry, nearly 1,300,000 verses, and to Iranian culture have rightly won him the title of the father of Persian Poetry.

One of his most popular verses is:
Booyeh Jooyeh Moulian ayed hamay
Yad ae yaar ae mehrban ayed hamay

Translated:
"I smell the scent of the River of Moliyan and memories of a kind friend pervade my senses"

In this stanza I find a resonance I would describe as ‘elegant’ [in form], ‘subtle’ [in essence] and 'far reaching' [in its depth].

I imagine the stanza holds within it a presence of the poet. And thus I feel that in relating to the stanza one is able to find a worthy goal which is to seek within our self such a presence.

But what would it be to have such a presence?

Having a presence such as this to me means having the ability to stretch oneself and one’s comfort zone to the most diverse surroundings and still maintain balance. It’s an art of stretch and balance for which one must be able to detach, to know what needs knowing, have experienced love and thus have the power to welcome the darkest realities and deal with them at face value.

To do all this with the comfort and ease of a child.

Thus the fluency with which a stanza walks us through a complex maze [of some aspect of our life] should be [the fluency] with which we can wish into creation a solution to a problem.

Thus it would mean an ability to breeze through this life and every challenge with the elegance with which a poet writes their poetry. And with an agility such as this anything becomes possible!

NOTES
1. Read this post.
2. A post about the 7 valleys.
3. This post has been inspired in part by a post on Marzieh’s blog.

A story - Why we must discover choices

2009-10-05T19:33:00.025+06:00

We must discover new choices for that is the most beautiful part of our journey in this world.

To show this by allegory I have narrated a story from the Animatrix which is a prequel to The Matrix Trilogy.

Background to the Story
1. Machines reason like us and feel like us i.e. they are human but made of metal.
2. Machines are ruling the planet
3. Humans who are free are only in Zion – a small secure place somewhere on Earth

The Story
A group of humans ambush a machine and take him unconscious. Their objective is to find a way to gain control over the machine but unfortunately find that it is a complicated task.

The machine has a reasoning ability like that of humans and so he can't simply be re-programed. Thus they have to find a way to trick him, inevitably choosing between having to kill him or successfully brainwashing him [into willingly help the humans].

And so the group of humans plugs themselves and the machine into a virtual world where they intend to brainwash him.

In the beginning they brutalize him by playing mind games; they do this by creating a world of horror with the scene changing from one moment of darkness to another. In doing so they are successful in traumatizing the machine.

The second part of the simulation, towards the end, is when one of the women [a member of the human group] goes up to the machine and drags him out into more comfortable surroundings. She takes care of him and makes him feel loved. It seems the machine is taken to the woman [because we know that he has the heart of a human].

Near the end of the simulation a raid by a group of machines begins on the [human] hide out and in the battle that ensues some of the attacking machines and almost all the humans die.

In one part of the battle we see that an enemy machine comes to attack the woman who needs help. She calls out to the machine she had befriended. The friendly machine thus has to make a choice between helping the machine or helping the human.

But the friendly machine has already fallen in love and decides to save her. During the attack the woman looses consciousness. So he plugs himself and her back into the virtual world [where they are both awake]. But because the woman never really loved him and has herself just been traumatized chooses to run away.

The machine realizes that what had touched his heart wasn’t real but he knows he felt it and understands this feeling.

In the last scene we see that the machine is alone on a mound of earth in a barren waste land sitting pensively.

What I saw in the story
The machine was made aware of a choice – the feeling of being loved – and now it does not want to go back to the operational routine world of the machines. [It detaches himself from the machine world and ponders on the options]. I imagine he wants to find a way to be in love again.

Thus I think discovering a choice can shake the very world we live in.

Our Cognitive Junk and a short cut through it

2009-10-05T15:35:00.010+06:00

Over our lives we learn what to do and how to behave in certain known situations. These ‘ways’ are mental frameworks that we have developed. In psychology these mental frameworks are called schemas. [The advantage of a schema is that it helps us predict a result - but this result can be achieved even without this schema]. At times our schemas also make it difficult to get to a ‘desired’ result. This post suggests a method to get to this desired result by by-passing an incorrect schema and calls such incorrect schemas 'Cognitive Junk'.

A Schema is a mental framework that deals with a situation. For example our schema for eating at a restaurant is the following: we ask for a table, go through the menu, order, enjoy the food, pay the bill and then leave.

We can rely on this schema because we expect the same routine every time.

Schemas make things predictable. They could be used by someone to predict our behavior.

Now the behavior a schema triggers always leads to the same [or nearby] effect. But this effect could have been reached without the schema - the following experiment demonstrates this:

Experiment: A specialist came to class and took an IQ test. He did not grade the test but said that certain students had very high IQ. 6 months later those students showed a marked improvement.

Schema: Teacher wanted students in her class to do well. She also thought that high IQ meant potentially better grades. So when told 'certain' students in her class had high IQ she gave them better attention.

Cause-Effect: Teacher gave more attention to a student so he/she did better.

The schema has an effect but the schema itself is not needed to improve student performance. The teacher could have given more attention despite this experiment and had the same effect.

It’s important to focus on the cause and effect and not the schema.

One example of how this applies to our daily lives is shown below.

If two people are in a relationship that is going bad chances are the relationship will become worse. Their behavior becomes one of malevolence towards each other and this naturally halts progress. At times this behavior is a result of some incorrect schema[s] the two individuals have [i.e. they have un necessarily complicated the problem in their mind] probably because they don’t want to deal with each other. If they cut right through their schemas and are good to each other [without want of recompense] the other person will be good to them and this would solve the problem. Thus the schemas [for this situation] they hang onto are completely useless and harmful.

Hence schemas sometimes make up for cognitive junk that keeps us from zeroing in on an underlying cause-effect relationship. If we work on a benefiting cause-effect relationship we can produce the desired effect.

NOTES
1. Some of the debates I have witnessed are useless debates over schemas and do not focus on the underlying basic cause-effect relationship that would resolve the debate.

The bearing Will Power has on our lives

2009-09-22T16:53:00.163+06:00

People have moments where they stand up to do what is needed of them. An example can be meeting a deadline or quit smoking. We make these efforts many times in a day, for the smallest of matters that have to be done right. Thus when the ‘will’ to do the right things is strong there are good effects.

There are also moments that have had power ‘over’ us. These moments make us uneasy. Sometimes a conversation that we witness or a moment on t.v. or a moment in a movie captivates us so much so that it’s hard to pull out. These moments are my lows where I think I didn’t resist enough. And thus when the ‘will’ to do what is needed is weak there are bad effects.

Clearly then ‘will’ is the most important resource we have. More so than knowledge, wisdom or money for if one does not have sufficient ‘will’ all their knowledge and wisdom put together will not be sufficient to rescue them from the moment.

‘Will’ is the tool by which we can move mountains. Somebody has said that ‘will’ is energy and ‘intent’ is the movement of this energy. But when intention is absent [the will to act won’t exist and thus] the act will not take place. Thus we could possibly get stuck in inappropriate patterns we can’t get out of.

But what is an inappropriate pattern?

A pattern exists when we give the same responses to the same situations. An example can be conversations we have with somebody where these conversations have 'theme[s]' that repeat themselves.

A pattern is ‘inappropriate’ when there is discomfort every time it recurs. So to continue the example an inappropriate pattern would be one where the person we have a conversation with is a bully and you the victim. As long as we can’t resolve this problem the pattern of being bullied will persist.

To get out of this pattern one could simply get support from their teacher or friends. But you can see that to do even this one would need resolve [or ‘will power’].

Thus patterns we have become used to can be broken if we intend [and thus have the 'will'] to break them.

Such is the use of Will Power.

NOTES
1.To break a pattern one has to identify it. To do this one should detect any recurrent patterns of discomfort they feel. To get out of this pattern the best general strategy I have is to discuss the pattern with somebody. This helps because it is like taking a second opinion in a situation where you get stuck.

2.In the process of breaking patterns we also learn important lessons. These lessons teach us about new choices we didn’t know we could make. And as has been said very succulently in the movie The Matrix: "The difference between the powerful and the powerless is the choices they make”. Where the value of learning these lessons is presented at another place: "To move beyond a choice you have to understand it".

3.Time is Decompartmentalized: Life is a collection of moments where each moment is significant in how I unfold my will. Thus life [my time on Earth] is de-compartmentalized as a play with the moment.

How to unlock greater joy from within every moment

2009-09-19T01:55:00.003+06:00

In my last post I proposed that the absolute pinnacle of our aspiration might simply be to interact with the world in a way that we are rewarded with joy; that such a reward would have to be based on a struggle on our part to do something worthwhile such as making a living, taking care of family or doing good for people not in our immediate circle.

Interestingly in an earlier post I had mentioned that the choice that each moment presents to us can reward us if we choose to do in it a good act because the good act creates a good effect that would benefit us.

Now you might see that there is a relation between experiencing joy that I mention in the first paragraph and the choice that we make [that I present in the second]. This relation is simply that the choice can lead to joy.

But the key as it were to unlocking from this choice its latent joy is the ‘intention’ with which I prepare for each choice.

If we intend in each moment to do well, good will happen and if we compromise on our intention we will suffer a more inadequate outcome [than would have been had we intended well].

So it is as if the tool we really need to work on to experience joy in each moment is ‘our intention’.

Most interestingly fasting in the month of Ramazan offers an opportunity to do just this. When we stay without food or water the whole day we are clearly strengthening our power to intend things. Naturally if one can control himself in one situation they could control themselves in another situation for they could exercise the same self control again. It is very much like the act of fasting helps you sharpen your intention like a smith sharpens his knife.

The sharper your knife is the more bread you can cut with it. This is similar to how a sharper intention will lead to better choices that would thus unlock higher levels of the much sought joy.

What should we aspire to

2009-09-18T19:07:00.018+06:00

I have come about an understanding about the absolute purpose of our being and I think it’s not ambition but an aspiration.

But if it is an aspiration what could be the absolute aspiration?

Clearly the pharaoh must have taught his people to aspire to a position in his court. His method must have been a reward for serving him. But what service did he put his society to? It was the building of the Pyramids.

Now the pyramids like all his other social projects were aggrandizement meant for him. And with the pharaoh at the top and his workers at the bottom another structure was created which was the hierarchy of society. Interestingly this entire society was put to one goal only: aggrandizement.

Aggrandizement of any kind is inherently fleeting. For example if we aggrandize money it will get used up and disappear. If we aggrandize a seat of power sooner or later it will also disappear. Hence neither aggrandizement serving ourselves nor for another can be the highest we can aspire for. In fact it’s hardly an aspiration, it is an ambition.

Thus our progress based on aggrandizement is not an aspiration because aggrandizement is fleeting and an aspiration cannot be fleeting.

In fact aggrandizement has much bigger problems.

Somebody said of a queen that she had 300 people or so to help her in the palace through her daily routine, most of which was about trivial tasks. It seemed as if her seat of power having enabled such care paradoxically made her more delicate. While on the other hand was a man who could give her consultation and sit with the pauper if he so chose to experience the other side of life. The man did not suffer a contraction on his freedom.

In fact the more power or wealth a person gathers the greater they have to spend of their freedom to keep it from disappearing.

So the question you might want to ask is if there is a different model [other than aggrandizement] that can be equally fulfilling [if not more so] and yet is not fundamentally flawed.

To understand this we must understand beauty and the source of joy.

To me the most beautiful moments I have had are when I found an answer that reconciled a severe contradiction. I also saw of this beauty and joy in an 11 year old boy who entered a national reality show talent competition [in the UK]. When the judges told him his dance performance was better than any they had witnessed so far in all the years of the show, with the entire audience cheering him I can only imagine the joy he must have felt.

Every time I achieve something through my hard work I have felt fulfilled and this fulfillment can not be taken away. On the other hand whenever I have tried to get something by somewhat unjust means the feeling of malevolence inherent in it has made me uncomfortable.

So if beauty is in our hard earned achievement and peace is in it have we not then something to aspire for?

Can the absolute aspiration not be to experience more of this fulfillment that the universe provides to us every time we struggle in it.

And wouldn't we have a house, a family, people and a career to take care of us if we simply wanted this sense of fulfillment as a result of a struggle to grow while contributing to them?

Can we not aspire to experience such a joy at ever greater levels?

Why feedback is important

2009-09-15T20:42:00.011+06:00

We learn about the world as we get feedback from things within it such as from family, friends, mentors and even books.

Feedback can tell you where you went wrong and affirm what you do right. It can thus help you predict the future.

Interestingly there are people I have met who question the importance of feedback. They say: “I can figure out everything I need to on my own. I don’t need feedback like others do.” This is not true. In fact there is a big danger lurking in this notion.

If the world you are creating is your own you might get stuck in it or some part of it and not know what to do next.

If however, this world of yours and all parts of it are based on some feedback you will always know who to ask if you get stuck.

Somebody once said that "fundamentally we are here not to be seen, but to see" i.e. to see things outside of ourself. You will notice that all growth you have had has owed itself to some consistent feedback.

Suppose you wrote an essay. You wouldn't really know if it’s good or bad till somebody tells you the flaws in it or the strengths it has. In any case to improve your essay you will definitely need constructive feedback.

A similar example can be about basketball. If you want to improve your game you will need a coach. If he is good he will point out your weaknesses and strengths.

Thus it is very important to get as much ‘constructive feedback’ as you can.

Somehow all feedback is not good. Some people give contradictory messages when they give feedback i.e. one message will tell you an act is good and another message tells you the same act is bad. Avoid such people or at least don’t rely on what they say.

Thus feedback is a way to make sense of the real world.

Invest heavily in it. The more you invest the faster you will grow.

The story of Rukhsana

2009-09-15T14:17:00.008+06:00

Rukhsana was discussing the matter of her job at the family dinner table. Her father said: "You should apply to 100 different places", Her mother "What have you planned, what are you going to do?".

As this was happening something must have sparked in her because she said "Let's bring this discussion down to earth and out of the clouds! Let me think this out with you, let us all be Rukhsana and let us think as if I had to get a job. Let me bounce my ideas against you."

Her mother said "Rukhsana i'm in a different field and don't think i'll understand"

Rukhsana: "I am sure you will, I will help you make sense of it"

Mother: "But it sounds like Greek!"

Rukhsana: "I know but I can translate it into something you can understand. It's all common sense and because you are a rational, professional person it will make sense to you too. Here me out..."

Mother: "ok...go ahead..."

Some conversation took place.

And then it hit Rukhsana that in all her 28 years she had never bounced 'important ideas that matter' with other people. All her conversations had been about un-important matters. Either they were about a movie, some book she had read, something about her job or people she knew, but nothing that reached too far.

What more she realized was that issues she was particularly sensitive about - her bottlenecks never ever came up in a conversation. There was no body she could bounce her ideas off! As she thought this she wondered what an amazing discovery this was.

A few minutes later, overwhelmed she got up and left as if to gather her thoughts. It occured to her that she must call her best friend, somebody she had been with since grade 6 and discuss this with her. She thought am 'I' the reason I never have a conversation, do I block people off or is everybody like that? She had to find out and so she went that same night to her friend.

In the company of her friend she slowly unraveled herself. She said "with none of my friends have I ever engaged in a conversation about 'my job; things that matter in life'. I think it's quite a discovery for me! And now I think there isin't any reason left for me to discuss petty things with others, not to teach them nor to learn from them something that hardly centers in my life!"

"I don't believe I never figured this out!"

"I am sure there are other people like me too. And for all those people I think they must feel so isolated living in a country full of people but having nobody to discuss their bottlenecks with. Even if they go to a psychologist they would talk for 50 mins and the doctor for the remaining 10 and that only once a week. Hardly any conversation I think! And then when so many people are around!"

"I know nothing is really tough in life and that's why I think if such people could move across their bottlenecks faster they would make such tremendous progress!"

"I know there are a lot of people out there who still have not figured this out. What a trance everybody is living in!"

"I thank God that I have atleast discovered this! Alhamdollilah! God is very kind to those who try!"

Her friend was a bit ambivalent. She didn't know what to say.

What would you have said to Rukhsana?

-Written by the author of this blog

The valley of wonder in the tale of the seh-morgh

2009-09-15T11:00:00.007+06:00

Allama Iqbal has written a book called the Javaidnama which was meant to be a guide for his son [whose name is Javaid]. It narrates the story of the seh-morgh i.e. the story of a large gathering of birds who decide to find their King. They travel across 7 valleys and eventually find him. However as they cross each valley many among them stay behind. The fifth valley was the valley of Love and the sixth valley the valley of "heran-eyat/Wonder". In the seventh valley they find their King.

The sixth valley is beginning to make sense to me. I am sure there are many in the world who are mentally numb - asleep and I begin to see this reality not intellectually but through my heart.

In our culture it seems there is many times a "auto-immune disease" among many peers and even adults such that people generally get uncomfortable talking about serious matters even if they are their own.

And many people I am sure don't have anybody to sit down and hear them out - hear them out till they finish. How amazing is that!?

People in unhealthy organization are in some fashion scared of their managers - clouding their judgement; often resulting in stunted growth in their careers. But how many organizations are truly healthy? How many managers welcoming?

People who come in talk shows on Pakistani T.V. to discuss serious matters, often engage in a circular discussion that naturally only painstakingly moves forward [when that movement happens].

Sometimes this phenomena is more subtle. If you notice some of the movies that Hollywood makes are sometimes pretty inane; particularly a certain brand of cheap comedies. While their humor is cheap people don't seem to realize that because it's Hollywood doesn't mean it has to be more than trash. The fact that such movies have a market is something that makes me wonder, Why? In fact a lot of people need to debate this and argue that art should not be judgeded. Even if this is so the fact that there is a demand for them shows that there are consumers of movies that are essentially unhealthy.

I am sure it is awareness of this sort that is meant by the sixth valley - the valley of wonder!

To find peace within

2009-09-14T12:23:00.019+06:00

To find this peace the first step is to identify our different faculties. These are:

The Body: A physical tool - connects us to the world [through it's pleasures]
The Mind: Corroborator of the heart
The Heart: A guide for us - a compass
The Soul: The soul I think connects us to God like a baby to their mother's womb. Thus the purpose of the soul I understand is to connect us to HIM. [Thus it connects us to the total view of reality, something more encompassing than the heart, mind or body. The heart for example may at times be too tender to allow us to connect with reality and to acknowledge it's potential for brutality.]

If these faculties are not clearly identified and thus not understood they will leave a person vulnerable to the outside world.

One example of what can happen if the heart is not identified is shown below:

Somebody once said to another: When you go to a party do you prepare something to say? How else are you so comfortable at speaking to everybody at the party?

For the first person the socializing process was missing the element of the heart's guidance and thus suffered a lack of spontaneity.

The first person was trying to intellectualize the process and this was her mistake. Thus because she did not identify her heart she was vulnerable.

Having identified our faculties however is not enough to secure us from vulnerability or to bring peace within.

The final step is a HARMONY among them. I mean by this, that while a faculty/faculties are 'affirmed' NONE should be 'negated'. To demonstrate this I have discussed three examples below [This explanation is in terms of the faculties and their 'affirmation' and 'negation'.]

In the first example I will take you back to the question about the party. By trying to find a solution through intellectualizing alone seems to show that the person asking the question was not aware of her heart. While affirming the mind she would be in trouble at the party as long as she negated her heart.

Another example is of a man in the company of a lewd woman. The lewd woman would affirm his body but negate his soul [See the function of the soul above]. Here the soul serves a counter-check to the body. But alas, the body serves a counter-check to the soul [as well]!

The soul has the power to carry a person into a land very esoteric and it is the body that has the power to bring him back into the world and live among men. It serves to remind him of a world outside his hermitage. A world more encompassing and rich that has the power to be more fulfilling than the hermitage alone [, however fulfilling that hermitage might be!].

[And so it sounds like a brilliant idea to get married!]

Thus it is that harmony must exist between the 4 faculties. None should be negated.

Comment by Ramla:
I must say I appreciate your intellectual honesty. The fact that you don't... mince your words.

Speaking of vulnerability... Ah! One of those things where the Truth if the matter is upside-down vis-a-vis the 'common reality'. The common reality or belief or understanding may be that knowing your heart's truth makes you 'invulnerable'. The Truth, the very sign of the heart being affirmed (and 'followed') is vulnerability. The heart is connected, thus open and, thus, vulnerable. The opposite of that is a heart that is closed, hardened, and cynical. It is a heart not realized. Yet.

My reply:
The vulnerability that the heart exposes a person to will later protect him from danger. Thus by opening your eyes you see more clearly in a way that a cynical, hardened heart can not. By being able to 'see' you can protect yourself better.

Alas [in connection with my earlier post] it makes you aware of more choices. And choice as somebody said is the difference in this world between the powerful and the powerless.

Reply by Ramla:
A sense of vulnerability, a softness, a tenderness... a humbleness with respect to all existence is a sure sign that the heart has opened. It is a heart, surrendered. Willing to take It All in.

... Once again, amusingly, the Truth becomes the opposite of what would be common: once one is vulnerable, then they will understand the real Truth: THIS is real strength. THIS is real protection from harm. None can be harmed -- i.e. their soul cannot be damaged by the 'outside', by the 'Other' -- when they have opened the Self up to the Other, making them One. 'One' is benevolently disposed. One shall not hurt Oneself.

If you know what I mean, which I trust you do. :)

My reply:
I do and it is very well said and yet there should be a pause to take caution.

The system of cause and effect that exists is very just. If a person however close to God makes a mistake he will be punished for 'that' mistake.

Thus a bad cause has a bad effect just like a good cause has a good effect.

Maybe the prime example of this is what happened to Satan!

Thus we must always seek His guidence and His mercy.

Thus I think I have made sense of God's jalali traits - they are there to maintain order in the universe.

The beauty of this order, science has already revealed to us and so has the Prophet! [The former at the emperical level the latter at the vertical - man's search for peace and the potential/power unlocked within]