Hello kids.
I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to grow further spiritually cause I felt like I hit a brick wall. On what felt like the 48 hour trip back we decided to peep the Lauryn Hill unplugged album, which is always a amazing album to listen to (if you’ve never listened to it… you need to). It seems as if though every time I listen to it I always have a new thought pop up in my large sized dome piece. In the midst of these deep songs I’ll often zone out in my own thought and during one of these moments I came back to reality to hear Lauryn repeat “why don’t you rebel?”
This sent me off into another thought which really got me going off on my mental tangent which fit right into another idea that had been stuck in my head for the past few days: In order to grow the most we must detach ourselves from worldly things. Definitely a “duh” kind of moment cause one can just say “Ramadan” and its all right there in front of you. But what this really means to me is being able to let go of the attachments to all material things even people (to an extent). Often times we base our happiness on a person or a situation when really we just need to look within to find our true happiness. You can say that’s cheesy but you know it’s the truth. God created us out of His love and so we have a part of Him within us. Therefore if we are able to focus on that inner self then we will have our own divine happiness.
Of course this is easier said than done but one of the ways of going about doing this is through removing our ego. Ramadan is a blessing in itself that we often take for granted… rather that we don’t take at all. Many of us are often thinking about how hungry we are as opposed to how much closer to God we are getting. By taking away material things from our daily lives we are shown that we really have our own “remedies within us… if only we reflect”.
Back to the main discussion: So when I listened to this song I heard rebel over and over again and then she asked are you satisfied? It really made me think about my present connection with God. At that moment I knew I needed to change something… after meditating about it, I realized that I’ve grown to comfortable in my day-to-day life. Knowing that it’s when our soul is in the hardest of situations is when we grow the most.
I really don’t want to post this blog cause I think it sucks. However I get a feeling that I should.
Why don’t you rebel?
4 comments:
Thank you akbar. That was an important note on 'extricating' ourselves from our surroundings including friends. Also a good note on the emptying of the self during the fasts of Ramadhan being both literal emptying and a psychological emptying of "attachments to all material things" as you put it. Also you mentioned the happiness that should come after this emptying- and you hinted that this happiness should come naturally because of intrinsic "divine happiness" that is already within us, that is God. I loved your entry as always.
you can do it buddy
Great thoughts, great entry. I enjoyed starting my Ramadan with Suhoor, and then reading that. Thanks, Akbar.
It's interesting that you mention how we have a part of God within us. Actually, islamic theology deals with that topic in great detail. It's said that human beings are created in the image of God. There are attributes that are shared amongst mankind and God. I believe they are life, knowledge, speech, sight, and hearing. However, we bring these attributes are brought to mind along with their negating attributes. For example, God is not composite nor mixed up of parts. Nor is He confined to space. His sight and hearing is not dependant on anything. We live but He is also the living God, but He has no beginning and no end.
Getting back to your point, God created us to go back to Him. He knows us deeper than the greatest depth of our heart. There is a verse from the Quran, "Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find peace." Generally, as a rule of thumb, anytime our hearts deviate from that purpose they are in a state of agitation. If you are unhappy. Like you mentioned, true happiness comes when you detach your heart from worldly aspects
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