An Apology

There is an old saying...

To err is human, to forgive, divine.

Forgiveness is an action that carries with it a great deal of meaning, a great deal of thought as well as some measure of divinity. When an individual errs, makes a mistake or needs to be forgiven, that person has done something which is human. We all err from time to time, we all make mistakes, and we all need to be forgiven... Now the other end of the equation, the forgiveness is what interests me.

When we are given the opportunity to forgive another person for their mistakes, we are given a great deal of power. Having the right to forgive someone is a powerful drive, it places the "ball" in the victim's court. It shifts the power balance so that the wronged becomes the one who can further perpetuate wrong, or who can make things right again.

This means that forgiveness has a great deal of power indeed. When a person is able to truly forgive another for any mistakes that were made, the victim ends the cycle of errors that makes up what has thus far composed our existence as humans. We continually make errors, and we continually seek forgiveness for these errors... Traditionally, we have found this forgiveness within organized religion, or within spiritual pursuits, or from our fellow humans.

When God gave us the power to live, to think, to reason - we received a multitude of gifts that accompany these basic building blocks. The ability to reason and think have enabled us to overcome many of our physical limitations... if you look back only a few thousand years, how many people would have lived lengthy lives without perfect sight? Nowadays many people live long lives even with terrible eyesight. This is not because the importance of vision has decreased over the past millenia, but rather because we have become able to use our other gifts to overcome a previous limitation.

Forgiveness is the same way. We are limited in ability, in our physical and spiritual lives. However, we have been granted the ability to overcome our limitations. Because when we truly forgive another... we gain forgiveness for ourselves.

We all do make mistakes, and when another person asks us for our forgivness, we are given a power that only God can truly delegate... and he has delegated it to us.

This may be why many victims of crime take so long to heal... because the power to forgive has not been given to them... if someone wrongs you, and they do not ask for your forgiveness... the power remains with them... The sins of their actions also remain with them, the spiritual burden also remains with them... but by remaining unrepentant, the victim loses their ability to touch the divine aspect of their existence.

So, remember to forgive others... if they ask for your forgiveness... It's what God would do.

Anger

A wise person once told me that all anger finds its roots in fear... (I may have also heard this from Star Wars - Yoda - but that is another story).

The more I think about this, the more I agree with it. Fear is an irrational emotion, much like anger. Fear debilitates an individual, much like anger. Fear is based in love... much like anger.

Love?

When I think of fear, I think of what causes my fear... A person can be afraid of many things, spiders, heights, other people, death, clowns and many more. All of these fears are intrinsically rooted in a few basic fears, fearing loss of life, fearing loss of control, fearing pain and harm and fearing loss of love.

These basic fears (and I am sure there are others I cannot think of right now) are the roots of all specific fears. One fears spiders and snakes because evolutionarily speaking these creatures posed a threat to human life due to their potentially venomous nature. One fears heights, the unknown and other people because these pose situations where control is no longer within the grasp of the one experiencing the fear. People fear coming to the Dentist because they fear the pain that they mentally believe they will experience during their visits. People fear harm to those they love because they don't wish to lose the bonds that they have created with others.

All of these basic fears tie back to love. We fear the loss of life because we have come to love living. Life has become important to us because it is all we know (in this way, this fear falls into the category of control). While we are alive, we have control over our destinies, after death... who knows?

Fear of losing control ties into our love for our intellect. We are all vain to some extent, because we can be. We have the ability to chose any path we wish over the course of our lives. Our ability to manipulate our surroundings is unparalleled... however, when we are shown the limits of our intellect, this great gift that is ours... we become uncomfortable, we become defensive, we become afraid.

Fear of pain and harm once again ties back to our concept of control, but harm is something that truly terrifies many people. Most people if asked would rather die a quick painless death then live in pain for a prolonged period of time. This fear of pain is a dramatic one for us because it links to two things we love. Our intellects and our lives. Pain debilitates a person, it drives a person crazy, it is a subjective feeling that each of us experiences differently, because our minds are the source of pain. Another source of pain, emotional pain is even more obviously linked to love. We feel pain because we love, we love because we feel pain.

Fear of losing love is perhaps the most obvious fear to link to love. When a mother refuses to let her child out of her sight for a moment... it is because she is scared of harm befalling the one she loves. When a child insists on sleeping with their blanket every night, a part of the reason is because they are frightened that when they wake up, the blanket will no longer be there.

These basic fears are closely tied to anger. When a person gets angry, it is almost always a direct response to a fear being realized. When a couple argues, it is often because one feels threatened by something the other said. When a father yells at his child for arriving home late, it is usually because he was worried that they would not get home safely. When a child yells at their parents, it is often because the child wishes to have more autonomy, more control over their lives and their affairs.

At the end of the day, anger, fear - these negative emotions... are all rooted in a positive emotion, in love.

We would not feel angry or afraid if we did not love, if we did not cherish our lives, the people within our lives, the material possessions we have, our intellects and our souls.

Maybe that's how the universe works? Maybe there exists a God who is completely good (positive), however, when looked at in a certain manner, it can be viewed as a negative.

Love, the strongest of emotions, leads to bad and good, yet, love itself is good.
God is good, yet God created a world and a universe with a great deal of bad within it... it's all in the angle with which one looks at it.
So, what's your angle?

Trust

How do you know you can trust someone?

The question is more an oxymoron than most realize... Once you know, it isn't trust, it is knowledge.

Trust is a blessing, we trust others who are close to us, we trust others who are distant from us with regards to ideology, morality, status and location. However, the important thing is that we are able to trust others.

This concept of trust relates to another concept... altruism. The ability to help another, even if that action does not benefit one and may in fact cause harm. With very few exceptions in nature, human beings are amongst the only creatures that actually can act altruistically. This means that we can do something completely selfless, we can go so far as to sacrifice our own lives for a stranger if we choose to do so.

Why?

Because we love others? That no doubt plays a role, however I feel that trust is another key component. We can trust... we have been given this gift of being able to trust and to keep our trusts, to keep our promises and to act in a selfless manner to further these trusts.

How do you know you can trust me? You don't, you have to believe that you can... and that belief has another synonym... faith.

No one can prove that God exists, no one can disprove God's existence (or state of non-existence if you subscribe to the theory of double-negation). However, one can have faith, one can trust that no matter what happens, there will be someone or something out there to hold your hand.

In the Holy Qur'an it is written that those who believe should keep their trusts... I know that I have violated many trusts in my life, however I pray that I can keep praying, and that you can too.

Time

Time is such a strange thing.

It has been entirely created by human beings, yet all things are subject to it (well, unless if you really get into the whole relativity thing). We live by clocks and hours and days. We measure our lives out in small increments that for all intents and purposes, we have created ourselves... Why?

I believe that the reason why time is so important to us is that it is a measure of change. Without time, we wouldn't be able to measure the rate at which things change... in fact, without a discrete measurement of time we would never be able to gauge any change at all. I believe time is the primary indicator of change that we have as human beings.
The thing that strikes me as odd is this - if we did not "invent" time as human beings, would the concept exist? That may not make sense at first, but this is what I mean.

Although things would still move and have velocity (therefore time would exist), without humanity, there would be no one to measure the velocity, as such the velocity would have no relevance. So, wouldn't time be a subjective construct? Without someone watching a clock, time wouldn't really exist - at least not in a practical sense... time would still pass, but it wouldn't hold any relevance or importance.

So, does this not mean that time depends on us for it's very survival? When looked at in this light, perhaps we are not as defenseless against the ravages of time as we may believe, perhaps the human intellect, the human thought, the idea is something that is even more powerful than time.

Another aspect of time that strikes me as unusual lies in the relationship that time has with God. Time being a human concept lies purely within our domain of existence... however, God would (possibly) be exempt from any effects of time... logically speaking this means that God does not care about time, and why would He? God lies above and far beyond the notion of time... so, how would this affect our prayers? If I ask for something next year that I want today, do my prayers "still count" towards my goal? It is a facetious question of course, but an interesting thought experiment nonetheless. Our primary interaction for many of us lies in prayers. Whenever we ask for something in our prayers, it can often be limited in time (eg, "please help me with my exams," "help so-and-so person get better," etc...). This means that when I ask for things, oftentimes I want those things to occur shortly after I ask for them... but if God is not limited in time, if God is omniscient and omnipotent, and if God is not bound by the constraints of time, then what does it matter when I ask? If I was to pray for something today that I wanted a year ago, will these prayers be heard?

I don't know the true limits and boundaries of time, I don't know the effects of these limits and boundaries, however the one thing I do know is that, although we define time, it governs us. So enjoy every moment, and live every day.

The pursuit of happiness

I read a spiritual story with it's roots in the sufi tradition recently. It really made me think.

In this story a man finds a garden with Hazrat Khidr, a mystical figure in the Qu'ran. Hazrat Khidr shows him two groups of people, one that's unhappy, the other is happy. The unhappy group say the typical thing - we followed falsehoods in our lives and that's why we are unhappy... but the eye-opening part was what the happy people said.

The happy group in this story said that they were happy because they pursued happiness in their lives, and that's what they received... They were good to others because it made them happy, they were kind because it made them happy, they didn't cheat, didn't deceive... and so they were happy... however...

They said that they didn't have "the truth"... they had happiness, but that was all. If one pursues happiness, that is what one finds, but it is ALL that one finds. Rather, one who searches for the truth can be anything they want to be.

In this way, happiness is also a part of the illusion, just as sadness, anger, pain are all a part of the illusion of this world.

The story is accurate in a lot of ways, and I never really thought about the trap that happiness can be. We are spiritual beings having a physical experience... that's what I believe life is, the physical experience of a spiritual entity. Over the course of this physical experience we change, we experience emotions, feelings, thoughts, interactions and other phenomena, of which happiness is just one.

Many of us make happiness our goal in life, and there is nothing wrong with that... but it does limit your potential. Rather if we make acquisition of the truth of the universe, of the self, of God our true goal in life, our potential becomes limitless. Emotions will mean nothing as we will be happy and sad at the same time, and not at all.

The main character in the above story, upon hearing of the plight of the happy and unhappy groups, decided that he wanted to seek out the truth... and when Hazrat Khidr heard this he left the protagonist, because he had found the truth... or at least had begun the journey.

I pray that someday I will be able to look past the veils of illusion that hide the truth. Happiness, sadness, despair, peace. All of these are important to human life, but hide the truth.

The one question I would have would be this. Is the best path to the truth to travel through the emotional montage that hides it, or is the best way to skirt around?
Is it best to insulate oneself from all emotions and live life seeking, or is it best to experience love, happiness, sadness, despair to the fullest that they can be experienced, and through this experience find the truth within?

Both will work, but which one is the best?

On Perfection

Aristotle proposed that everything has a perfect version... a perfect form. What we see, everything that exists, is simply a ... shadow of a perfect form. He made very interesting arguments for this paradigm, and as with the concept of God, it isn't possible to prove or to disprove Aristotle effectively, because we simply don't know if this concept is plausible.

It makes me wonder on what it means to be perfect though.

Specifically, is perfection static or dynamic?

When I think of the concept of perfect, I think of something that is still, unchanging and remains static, because if it is perfect, why does it need to change?

I think that may be a fallacy however. How can something remain perfect if it is limited to never change? Or is it possible that if something is perfect, it is unlimited in potential but limited in form?

The reason I ask is because of the simple fact that I believe firmly that the faith of Islam, when interpreted correctly is perfect. However, does this mean that the way that Islam was interpreted a thousand years ago, is the same way in which it should be interpreted today? I would vehemently argue that this is not true, that the faith requires a new lens, it changes in it's practice, in it's interpretation over the years... but the essence... does that change? Can it change? Or is the question, must it change for it to be perfect?

Thinking carefully on it, I would say that the practice of the faith can and must change, however the ethical foundations underlying it cannot change, because they are perfect... so is the practice imperfect or are the practitioners?

Let's not forget God.

God is eternal, God is good, mercy, compassion, love - all spring from God. All of these characteristics change based on the situation... compassion is not a static concept, neither is love. However, God is perfect... so, is God static, is God fixed or is God a cosmic power that is always dynamic?

I know this last is a futile question because I think I suspect the answer. God is both and neither. Static and dynamic... for these terms are very physical expressions. God is beyond both. He does not need to express Himself as a static or as a dynamic.

That still doesn't solve the problem at the base of it all. In our human conception of the matter can something that is static meet the standards of perfection? Can something that is dynamic be perfect? Or is perfection beyond both, in which case - how can a religion that a billion people practice be perfect?

On Meditation

Meditation or "Bandagi" as it is known in my faith tradition is an essential spiritual exercise.

It helps one to grow, to bond with and interact with a greater power, it is also very difficult. I have attempted to meditate many times throughout my life with differing levels of success, so I thought that for this one post, I would discuss things that have seemed to work for me. It must be noted however, that some of these things worked for me, they may not work for anyone else because meditation is such a private thing. So, in a way, this post is for me to look back on years from now if needed... and hopefully it inspires someone to try something different that may work.

One of the interesting things I have learnt about meditating is that anything goes. When I was young, I used to be very confused about the concept of meditation. What exactly was it? What was I supposed to do? I knew that I was supposed to close my eyes - any doubts regarding that were assuaged when my parents saw me with my eyes open and pointedly told me to shut them, or else... So, my eyes were to be shut, but what then? Was I meant to pray? To ask for things that I wanted? Was I meant to not think? Was I supposed to think about problems afflicting the world and my family? It was all very confusing - eventually I settled on prayer. I would close my eyes and I would simply say a few rote prayers again and again.

I began experimenting with various prayers, and I found that saying certain ones leads me to feel... happier after meditation. Over the years I have come to define success and power in meditative experiences based on how in touch with my own self they make me. How happy I become after my personal prayers and search have ended. So, one way to improve the search was to try different prayers and remember the ones that seemed to give results that I was pleased with. It must be noted though that there is no true success in meditation or bandagi. Success is not within one's abilities to gain, as even the true definition of success in personal search lies beyond our respective imaginations. When I speak of success throughout this entry, I refer to that physical happiness that follows meditation.

Recently, I have discovered the power of the senses in meditation. I remember a few years ago, I had a powerful meditative experience when I simply began to imagine a room full of thousands of people praying with me, saying the same prayers as I was saying. The chorus of voices, although slightly out of sync with each other built upon my prayers and I felt as though everything I was saying was being magnified. The experience was quite eye opening as I hadn't even thought of using my senses before.

Over the past few weeks I have also incorporated "visual aids." My eyes remain closed during meditation, however in my mind's eye I still visualize what I perceive as my internal self. When I close my eyes and view what I believe lies within myself - I see a particular vine that snakes it's way within. When I try to follow this vine to it's source I am transported to a garden. I know it is a garden, but it does not appear to be one - it appears wild and untamed. Weeds are growing everywhere and in every free patch of soil lies a different shade of verdant green. When I look at this garden within I see beauty, but I also see a great deal of ugliness. These weeds are not beautiful. The green shade is lovely, but what about the other colours? What about the flowers that one expects to be within the garden? What about this large tree off to the side of the garden?

Then, as I was within this garden I began to think about the lack of beauty in the garden... how could I change this? There were 2 solutions that I could find. I could begin to plow the garden, to remove the weeds and plant flowers. To clear the land away and organize the vegetation in a manner that was pleasing to me, or... I could change what I saw as beauty.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I could not change the garden. This garden within me was not mine to change. This garden was not simply a construct of my physical mind, it was a part of a spiritual manifestation. The only feasible way to alter the beauty of the garden, would be to change what I saw as beautiful.

If the weeds had to remain, let them stay. If the garden needed to be disorderly, so be it. If the colour green was to be the only colour found within my garden - I would have to learn to love that colour. My perceptions, my own mind and the limitations that it placed upon me, were the only things that I could alter, which would let me truly see the beauty of this garden...

Then the trance ended... and the garden was gone... maybe to never return... maybe the next time I visit my inner self I will see a desert. Maybe it will be a forest or a jungle or a city. Whatever the result, I hope that I can change my perceptions of my inner self, so that instead of looking at the thorns on the weeds, I look at the flowers.

I Promise...

A promise...

an interesting word, with multiple meanings. An individual can show promise, a person can promise something to another, another can promise to never do something again...

whatever the context, the underlying principle behind a promise is that of hope.

Perhaps that is why a promise is considered sacred? For, promises, words given to another with faith and hope behind them carry a great deal of weight. In my interpretation of Islam, a promise is an important thing. When you promise someone something you should do your very best to fulfill that. Because your promise is the hope that you give to that other person... regardless of whether they need that hope or not, by promising another, you become a conduit for hope.

But, where does it end? When I was far younger, I learnt that a close friend had been sexually abused by a family friend. I was devastated and I solemnly looked at the sky and promised God that if that individual who abused my friend got into heaven, then heaven was not a place where I wanted to be. The crazy words of a crazy child. Over the years my conception of heaven has changed as has my belief that looking skywards signifies a place where God is. However, if that promise had been about something else, should it "count"? Is it valid and legitimate?

At the time I made my vow, I meant it with every fibre of my being, It was so important to me that years later, I still remember where I was when I made the promise. Does meaning something at a certain point in time mean that you are bound by it? We all age, we all mature, we all grow older, and wiser with time. With these gifts given by aging, we also gain a disproportionate amount of hindsight. Being able to see where we went wrong, and things that we said at a certain point in time that may not hold as much weight as they do today, or they may hold even more weight.

A promise holds a great deal of weight and importance, but it does not encapsulate the most basic of human traits... dynamism. We do not stay the same, not for an hour, a minute or even a second. We are always changing, which means that a static promise cannot hold sway over our actions for an indefinite period of time.

Which leads to those promises that have to (ideally) hold for the rest of our lives, such as marriage and deep friendship. These relationships need to last, by their nature they negate the earlier statement regarding the importance of dynamism to human nature.

That is the most beautiful thing about human nature, it's contradictory manner.

Certain promises need to exceed a human being's ability to stay the same, because these promises, these relationships are bonds that exceed humanity.

I believe that bonds such as familial bonds, deep friendship and true love are bonds that are not created by us. They are bonds created by God. They are formed to last.

In the context of these bonds, a promise gains even more meaning. In this context a promise becomes something that can last "forever."

So, how do you know whether a promise you make today is one that is going to last or one that cannot last? Treat every promise as though it will last forever, and pray that it does. This, I can promise... is true.

Perfect Faith

Religion is an interesting phenomenon. I am an Isma'ili Muslim, a small community of interpretation in a wider Muslim Ummah, which in turn makes up the wider human race with a myriad of religions, faiths, belief systems and even the lack of any belief at all.

However, one aspect of religion, specifically Islam in general has always made me think about the purpose of religious belief... In Islam we believe that God has revealed His message to Mankind over several millenia, with each message successively bringing Mankind closer to the truth until finally Islam was revealed - the religion of submission, of peace, of tolerance. This is Islam... and when God revealed this faith to Mankind, He completed His favours upon Mankind as religion had finally been perfected in the form of Islam.

... Why perfect it?

That's the question that has stuck with me. Why make it perfect?

Mankind isn't perfect, we make mistakes all the time, we err, we correct some errors, we don't correct others. If it was so important to perfect faith, why is it so fragmented in the first place? Why do we have so many splits and divides in the interpretations of Islam if it was supposed to be perfect? Why are there so many religions in the world today if one is enough?

Many have argued that each interpretation of Islam is relevant and is correct, which is admirable. If this is the case however, why even create Islam in the first place? Why not stick to what was correct about the other faiths that were already extant at the time?

Faith and religion to me represent a pathway to moral behaviour for society and people... however if this was the only purpose for them there would be no reason to lay down hundreds of pathways. Most faiths have similar tenets and encourage people to be good, and often-times the definition of what is "good" is similar if not the same.

To me, this seems to imply that faith and religion occupy a position within the human psyche that extends beyond simple morality. They must have a role that extends beyond something as common as morality, to simply account for the differences in each faith. The more I think about it, the more I believe that religion is needed for people to experience God while alive.

What is the significance behind this? If God cannot be seen, only experienced, there must be different ways in which an individual can experience God. God is infinite and beyond infinite. This means that the number of pathways to reach God must likewise be infinite and beyond infinite. The experience of God is only limited by the experiencer's limitations.

Every faith in the world can lead one to God in some way, and this is the reason for perfection in faith.

Islam as it is practiced today in the world may not be perfect, but the underlying message is. The underlying message of deep submission, of peace, of giving up the very self... Because the self is the key that must be given up to open the door that is God. That's the perfection that needs to be shown to the world. That by it's very name, Islam gives one the answer to what to do to "find" God.

Where is the love?

If you look at many legends and myths that speak of the End of Mankind - many of them state that near the end we lose many things that are what make us human.

It is a bit scary when you contrast these things to our world today...

What are things that make us human? These 'things' are traits, values, actions and characteristics which require a sense of "humanity" to exist. Love, generosity, forgiveness, mercy, faith, charity, justice, patience, honour, etc... These are amongst the things that we need to be human, as they are what give us our humanity.

It saddens me when I look at the world (and to be honest at myself and those around me) where I see these traits losing their relevance. There was a time not too long ago when honour and modesty were amongst the most important traits one could exhibit. They were coveted and given a place of importance in society as those who were seen as being honourable were also those who were the wise, venerable members of society. Nowadays, the wise, venerable members of society are oftentimes relegated to nursing homes or long-term care facilities even when they really don't need to be.

Love is another interesting feature of humanity. When I think of love, I think of the love that existed hundreds if not thousands of years ago. I think of Romeo and Juliet, of Laila and Majnun, of Heer and Ranjha, of Radha and Krishna. I sadly don't see a similar comparison today. It feels as though the more technologically capable we become as a society, the less important emotions such as love become. I worry that the reason why I don't see the classic love story in today's society is not because these stories were fictitious to begin with, but because that calibre of love is simply not possible today... that is a scary and sad thought. If the greatest emotion we can exhibit is love (and I truly believe that statement to be correct), and gradually the love we have for each other is changing into a less cohesive emotion, then the logic indicates that human emotions in general are likely being sublimated by the human intellect. I see a society with more gadgets but less happiness. I see a civilization that has infinite potential and vast amounts of information but less knowledge and wisdom. I see a world filled with lust and greed but losing it's love... or maybe substituting that love for something that is more... convenient.

But, even after looking at the importance of love, the one characteristic that I feel we cannot lose at any cost is patience.

Surprising isn't it? I would have expected myself to say faith, especially considering how essential faith is to my life. The relevance of patience is seen in the story of Pandora's box - an ancient Greek myth where a "perfect woman" is created and given a final gift - a box - she is told to never open it, but her curiosity overcomes her and she opens the box only to let out all the ills that inflict mankind - disease, famine, greed, etc... However Pandora manages to shut the box before the final demon can escape - the demon of despondency, of hopelessness.

Patience is essential to our humanity, for patience is hope. When we are patient, we live expecting better things in the future. We are able to overcome the trials and tribulations of today believing in tomorrow bringing us something better. Now, I am not saying that all of our troubles will be solved by simply being patient, but I do believe that patience plays a key role in our ability to hope - and this hope leads us onwards. There are so many difficulties that face us in our lives, death, heartbreak, disability, pain, etc... yet all of these things can be remedied by one thing alone - time. How to get this time? ... By being patient, by having hope.

I want to hope, I want to believe in our humanity. I want mankind to overcome the trials and tribulations facing us as a species and as individuals. I pray that this hope, magnified many times over by all of you will help us find our tomorrow.

Ethical Decisions

One of the more difficult tasks we as human beings are given is the making of ethical decisions.

Is it better to hurt someone beloved now, or later? Is it best to grow in a selfish manner (albeit spiritually) or is it best to stay behind as a group? Which side is correct when looking at any problem or dilemma?

The answer depends on your perspective to a certain extent, but looking in further, these answers lie within a set of ideals.

Ethics are a set of ideals which form values. To my limited understanding, an ethical principle would be a higher order way of looking at the world. Now being a high-order perspective, ethical principles are not always used actively in the actual decision making process. Yes, an individual can rank ethical principles based on their own experiences, however a person is more likely to use their values to actually make decisions in their daily lives.

Values, to me, would be the manifestation of ethical principles. Values when grouped together within a framework, be it cultural, religious or otherwise form a phenomenon known as a value system.

Value systems and values are what allow us to use our logical, reasoning minds to make ethical decisions. If you really think about it, a logical entity would not necessarily care about ethical principles, unless these principles resulted in more benefit than harm. So, the way in which our logical minds interact with these principles are through values and value systems.

Being the manifestation of ethical principles, our values form the backbone of society in a lot of ways. When looking at what is valued in a given society, you have to take into account the history of the society, the identity of the society, choices made within the society and problems facing it. So, looking at the values of a society tells us more than simply the ethical ideals that society holds dear.

At the end though, ethical actions, values, value systems... they are different but they are all expressed in the same way. Through our daily lives, through every action we take.

Which is the best way - no one knows, all we can do is pray for guidance, and think on the problems that face us... and I believe that this is a part of the solution, for when we think on the problem, at least we are engaging our values, and this engagement is the purpose of having these values in the first place isn't it?

The soul

I've been thinking of what will happen after I die.

A grim thing for most people to think of, but it is something that any "spiritual" individual must try at least once.

I believe that I have a soul, that everything that exists actually has a soul, whatever the true definition of said "soul" may be. Furthermore, I believe that this soul that is contained within everything in creation is a gift from The Almighty, from God, from Allah. This gift of a soul is what links us to the eternal, what brings our present into the past and the future. However, when I think about it, I don't believe that Rahim Shivji will live forever in any way, shape or form. My identity, my sense of self, everything that is ME will only exist for as long as I am alive. It's a bit sad to think of, but each one of us is a unique piece of creation. From eternity until eternity, there will never be another me, there may be an individual with similar or even identical DNA, there may be individuals who look the same, who think in a similar manner, but there will never be a second me. This is because "I" am comprised of biological matter, ideas, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and all of these things are multiplied in their complexity because every person who has interacted with me has contributed a small piece to who I am.

My soul is eternal, there is something within me that is pure, holy, and beautiful that will exist for all time... but my persona, is definitely not the same thing.

Now having said this, I do feel that the soul is definitely impacted and influenced by me. My actions play a role on my soul's existence, but what role could this possibly be?

I am unable to interact with my soul, my true interactions with the spiritual lie in meditation, prayer and thought, but physical interaction is impossible. However, I know that I will be held accountable for my actions during my life. There is to be a reckoning at some period in time with the All-Merciful, (see how I bring up the "Mercy" trait when I mention judgment? Well played Rahim). What will this judgment entail? How can my eternal soul be held accountable for these actions when said soul is not truly mine to begin with?

The soul doesn't belong to you... this is one reason why I chuckle whenever I hear or watch a story about someone "selling their soul." The notion is preposterous, how can you bring the esoteric to the material level in such a way... and how can you sell something that isn't yours?

Now I'm not sure how ownership of a soul would really work, but I do believe that I have no true claim over my soul. It is my humble opinion that the soul belongs only to God, and to God only will my soul one day return if that be His will.

When I die... I truly will be no more. I will cease to exist, because my "I" will only live as long as my thoughts, my ideas, my life.

So, here's to eternity... May it be blissful for all.

Suffering

Suffering?

When I think of the word, I think of hardships and pain and sorrow, but mostly I think of justice, or at least a lack thereof. I don't think very many things in all of creation deserve to suffer, regardless of how heinous one's actions, I personally don't feel that suffering is an appropriate punishment.

So, why does it happen? Why does God send suffering on mankind... and does God send this?

I have been thinking of this question, particularly after the horrific events that have happened in Japan this past week. When I think of the lives that have been lost and those that have been irrevocably changed, I wonder where the justice lies in all of this, because at the end God is just... and everything happens only with God's leave. How is it just for thousands of innocents to die, millions to suffer? The worst part about all of this is that the event that directly caused all of this was likely not caused by human activity... This is as close to a so-called "Act of God," as one can get.

I have no answers, only more questions - but I have been thinking on the nature of suffering.

There is a story told in many holy scriptures about Prophet Job, and the suffering he had to endure... and when he finally asks God, "WHY?" God asks him, "Where were you when I created the heavens, the earth and the stars?" I am paraphrasing so please don't quote that.

So, where were we? My belief is this. When God created what exists, I was a part of God... I was not a separate entity... this was my place. So how could I have suffered? Which leads to the crux of the problem. I don't think we truly understand what suffering is... Suffering of the material body is limited in time and in place, for regardless of the harm that has occurred, eventually time will heal it. I feel that what we experience as suffering in our material world is simply a part of our journey. Our spirit, that infinite link between our consciousness and the Divine needs to do certain things, experience certain things in order to truly understand it's own exalted status. This means that there must be suffering, there must be hardship. Without these 2 forges our spirit would never regain it's lost luster.

Additionally, I don't think any one truly understands why we are here, what we are here to do. Loss of life while being tragic and horrific is a natural aspect of life. Eventually all of us are destined to die, and how this occurs is not within our hands. This also means that life may not be what we think it is. What if this state of existence that I consider life is not the positive experience I expect it to be? What if in the final analysis, death is truly "life," and life as we know it is simply a shadow or a reflection of death?

It is possible that these are simply the wild musings of a bruised and hurt heart but I for one am not content with hypothesizing. At the end, what purpose is life if you do not know the purpose of life?

Why Tradition?

What place do Traditions have in our world, and why do we cling to these remnants of the past? Traditions serve as a link to our past, and this does go a long way towards explaining our attachment to them. A typical human being easily gets attached to almost anything - be it a blanket, a toy, a gadget, an individual, or even a ritual. We tend to hold on tightly to things we care for and mourn their departure. This is one of the biggest reasons why many people lament when a species goes extinct. Millions of species have died out forever over the course of the existence of life on Earth, however if we see a species die out that we have become familiar with, we really feel that loss on a personal level. This same principle can apply to death. In some way, when someone we know and love dies, we mourn for ourselves, for what we have lost, for the irrevocable change in our state that results.

Traditions are rituals, actions, beliefs that have persisted, and the slow loss of these from our world is something that should be mourned. However, many times, we do not perceive that these pieces of our past are in danger of being lost...

Why should we care? Traditions give us a sense of identity... yes, but so do many other things. I can identify myself as a user of an iPhone or an Android for example... but these "identifiers" serve only to further materialistic purposes. Oftentimes in our world today identity is tied to the material, to the possessions we have (or can potentially have). I dislike this greatly. For me identity is integrally tied to Tradition. Our Traditions give spiritual insight into ourselves. They provide an esoteric window through which we can view our present world. This is the true beauty of Tradition - not the preservation of the past (although this is a great role of Tradition), I would venture that the greatest relevance of Tradition in any time or place is the balance Tradition provides between the worldly and the spiritual.

The voice of Tradition is the past in the present, guiding the future.

A Thought

I have wondered recently on the nature of a thought.

It's something that exists for an indeterminate period of time, has no real end and no real beginning, but also no duration for it's existence. Very curious... If I have a thought today, I don't really know for sure if this thought stems from another thought I may have had in the past (or if it is influenced by ideas, thoughts and words that others have spoken or written in the past). The only thing I can say about thoughts is that they come from my brain... but even that is suspect.

Is a brain all that is required to have a thought? If that is the case, then thoughts must exist within the brain, but how can a thought be localized? Are thoughts "found" in the frontal cortex? The temporal lobe? If one was to systemically remove portions of another's brain, would they eventually lose the ability to think? When would that happen? Would it be based on a percentage of brain matter existing, or would it depend on specific structures? Would it vary from person to person, or would it be the same for all humans?

I don't know how to answer any of these questions, but the one thing I do know is that a thought seems to be beyond the physical structure responsible for it's generation. I believe that our thoughts are an interface with the metaphysical. The fact that our mind is able to comprehend the abstract, the esoteric (to some extent), and the metaphysical points to it's metaphysical nature. Many say that the brain/mind dichotomy is a fallacy, that the mind exists simply because the brain does. I don't think this is the case. Maybe consciousness does simply require a certain amount of "processor power" to manifest itself, but I still feel that the ability to think, the internal monologues we are able to pursue, the gift of comprehension we have, is not one that is tied purely to the physical realm.

How to go about proving, or disproving this? I do not know. I do not know if it is even possible to use scientific principles on something that may extend beyond the realms of science today, but I do know that the ability to look for the answer is a part of both the question, and the ultimate answer.