mixed paths

when all you see are good folks with wasting lives, what are you to do? even those who know the path towards success don't seem to pay attention to staying heading in the right direction.

so you've got them imitating the ones who've gone astray, and where does that leave them? hasnt all this been said before?

the man who's walking straight, or hopes to be in any case , this is the man who is looked upon as the strangest, that guy with all the hair on his face, 'what's wroong with him?' a social deadweight, a madman, an extremist, insert insult here - it's all been heard. (it's clear to him, of course, what the path is, of that he has no doubt - rather his doubts are centred around his own inability to avoid any type of mistaken self-assurance that he and only he is right, and something like that can lead him astray. however, in general, his way is the way, and his faults are his own, as everyone needs to deal with their own doings, so it is negligible compared to the bigger picture)

but here we step into a social conundrum, where everything turns head over tail, and one of the wandering ones decides to approach one of the guided men, and simply ask from a curiosity and a will to know, 'who are you?'

of course the man obliges, as he's not ashamed of who he is, indeed why should he be - (many of the guided ones should take note here, lest they have any apologetic tendencies!) he will answer truthfully (or at least truth-halfedly, because too much truth at any one time can be difficult to swallow - think about david icke and his lizard-people, and how not many can digest the truths he reveals because of his 'all-at-once' delivery), and more often than not his word will strike such a chord with the unexpecting questioner, that all their preconceptions readily fall by the wayside.

now, this in itself can shock them, as to how willing their inner essence is to immediately and openly trust this bearded wise person, and this throws up inside them a type of resistance, and an inner voice will say, 'don't listen to him - he's mad', 'he's talking about ancient things, of no relevance today, in our modern times'. then comes the crux for them - if their original question was asked from a perspective of willingness to know, with sincerity, then perhaps that first openness and purity will win over, and both can benefit from the other, in a 'symbiosis of gnosis' for want of a better term. however, if that vicious, cynical voice wins over, and the questioner didnt have that sincerity required, their conversation will bear no fruits, and deepen prejudices, and lead to a quagmire of tangled misconceptions.

we all are plagued by these thoughts - they come from a part of the psyche which lives according to reliance on the status quo, an unwillingness for change. if someone brings up a concept that you've never heard of, but that quiet, 'good' part of you knows it to be true, then very usually you will face resistance from another part of yourself which doesn't want things as they are to become any different, unless animalistic desires can be fulfilled in doing so.

so it is this which we need to ask ourselves. how many times has one of these situations happened to us, where our inner voice is inclined towards the truth in another's words, but we have allowed our desire to cause us to ignore it?
Have we ever passed by a sincere advisor's advice before? simply because we didn't want to change our own state?

we have all been tried with this scenario, so it forces us to think,

'how honestly am i seeking for truth?'

'how many times have i ignored a truth that i knew to be true, only to further my own cause or to fulfill a desire?'

why dont we look again at the strange man, trying to tell us truths. maybe if we ask him the right questions, with the right sincerity, and eagerness for truth, that we might actually attain it, and then we can become strange just like him...

imagination

Isn't the imagination a fickle thing?

when one wants to churn out ideas they don't come, and when one's not concentrating on having good ideas they flow, and there's no reservoir to catch them, so they drift into that endless sea of lost opportunities..

is it a testament to one's abilities; that they oscillate over time, that they depend on other things in one's life, or that there are certain actions one can perform which increase one's imaginative powers - that one can overcome the burdens of reality and produce pearls of wisdom, or perhaps filter them into a palpable, and digestible form? perhaps that sentence was too long..

does each and every person's imagination differ, and the extent to which one's imagination flows is directly related to the free-reign you give it?, or does it depend on one's 'intelligence'? perhaps both are the same thing?

there are academics everywhere who could perhaps explain this away simply, but for amateur imagineers like your author, we attempt to probe these concepts in our own fashion, not caring too much for conformity or the perceived norm (in this topic, as in most aspects of life).

and it is this quality which leads us to uncompromisingly seek truth, where-ever it may be, and to aim to overcome our urges to pre-judge a possible truth by all the flavours surrounding it. if everyone was prepared to do the same perhaps the world would become a much nicer place to be in.

not that our world is bad, rather there are many aspects of our world which have had bad effects on humanity's imagination; influences which serve to dull the minds, and trap the mass perception under a veil of acceptance - acceptance that what is is the norm, and anything other than that is a mistake, that to think outside the box is a sign that one has stepped beyond the bounds of what is commonly perceived (and agreed) to be sanity.

where does that leave us - treading the fine line between genius and insanity? rather the lines only exist if one 'imagines' that they do, therefore any limitations are only what you've placed upon yourself (perhaps with more than a little goading-on from those who seem to have that edge in influencing mass opinion).

what is the purpose of our discussion? well, on the surface, and topically it focuses on each and every one of humanity's need to utilise their power of imagination - not to live in a dream-world, because that is the realm of fools, and it is only another side to the coin of mass-control (think about all that TV you are encouraged to watch, and the products you are expected to buy - the stupider the better), but here we are talking about awareness - to open one's mind by using the power to see what is beyond the apparent, to the real over-arching truth , by using the God-given power of imagination.

Allah has created us differently than the animal, because the animal doesn't have the power to contemplate what is beyond the senses, the unseen. it can be argued that many humans have given up that right (perhaps through compulsion, but we cannot say), and so leave themselves in a state worse than the animal, because at least the animal by its very existence is fulfilling it's purpose.

So what is the crux of our little piece of advice? the over-arching truth that we speak of... - it becomes apparent when your turn your mind to the real purpose of life - that the certainty of death is one truth that there is no escape from, that there is undoubtedly an eternity waiting after death, and that you will meet your Lord.

then life becomes a time and place for contemplating your Lord and preparing for the meeting with Him, to be in the best state of awareness that you can be in before death comes, so that there will be a glimmer of a chance that you will rest in His favour. you owe this to yourself, and more importantly, you owe it to your Lord, who has blessed you with so many things, not least that amazing power of imagination.

so use it my friends. we are all in the same boat.

as has been said, 'come on people now, smile, i'm your brother, everybody get together - try to love one another right now...'

home

'home is where the heart is', it is said.

home, that ethereal, unpalpable thing, is it a place or a feeling?
if your heart is in a place then does that place become your home?

some say, 'where i lay my head is home' -
so perhaps somewhere in between is where we should aim to be.

the blessed Prophet (May Allah's peace and blessing be upon him) was forced to leave Makkah after three years of continuous persecution by the unbelievers in the city, and as he left the city for al-Madinah in Yathrib he looked back and expressed how dear the place was to his heart.

yet, after ten years, when the muslims re-entered Makkah as victors, and the Ka'bah became the centre of Islam, Muhammad (May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) decided to return to live out his days in Madinah.

once you live anywhere for a period of time it becomes a home, but the place of origin always holds a special place in the heart. Allah (exalted is He) made the earth to be travelled over, and nowadays it is so easy to get anywhere (apart from visa restrictions and such in some places which of course is one of the wrongs in our world). then He made some places more special than others, like Makkah of course, being centre of the world, then Sham (Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon) and Yemen. (this has been related through our blessed Prophet (the Peace of Allah and His blessings be upon him)).

so obviously there is merit in being in these lands, but to travel to other lands is also beneficial, especially in carrying light from place to place, and fulfilling the whole purpose of Islam - to show others the way of Truth, and the path to success and happiness in this life and in the Hereafter, and the means to attain the love of Allah, both coming from the Almighty and in one's ownself.

because the real home is the place your heart yearns for most, and the people of understanding exert their yearning towards that home in the Paradise, firdaus-ul-'ala, and to be brought near to Allah (exalted is He) is their goal. and what a goal. there is nothing higher than that.

so lets exert ourselves - be in our lives among those who live as if they are travellers, and strangers - people seeking their true home, and that palpable safety of everlasting peace and happiness. our life here is like a man who was travelling, and for a while he rested in the shade of a tree, then to continue on his journey..

let's follow Muhammad's way (May Allah bless him and give him peace), and take him as our guide on the way home.