Wednesday 20 April 2016

Disagreements and Binaries




Disagreements and Binaries Sometimes it appears that we create and then refuse to see past mutually exclusive binaries. If you identify with X then all X is good/right, and all Y is bad/wrong. If I don't agree with X then it must mean that I hate all X and must prove X to be bad and wish X ill. We may dress up our arguments with complicated words, concepts and lots of references and data, but at its core, this is a childish and immature way of regarding and dealing with the world. Reality and human beings are much more complex and nuanced and cannot be forced into binaries. All of existence, including ourselves, are mysterious, subtle and contain unlimited, hidden potential. One of the things we desperately need to learn as a species is to disagree without anger, hatred, ill-will and judgment -- the kind of judgement which presumes and does violence to the other. This requires us to suspend our need to be right, to be good, to be important. It requires us to give up our need to defend ourselves, our views, our beliefs, our politics, our identities. It requires us to listen with the intent to understand. It requires us to be open to the possibility that we may be wrong, misinformed, misguided or ignorant, or at least to the possibility that we have not considered all details, thought about all aspects of the issue. It requires us to keep our minds, hearts and ears open. It requires us to be humble, generous and courageous. Allah's world is vast and generous enough to accommodate all of us - saints and sinners, kings and beggars. Our hearts have the capacity to be this vast and generous as well. May Allah grant us this humility, generosity and courage. and Allah knows best. photo: with thanks via Maarten Maarten Appel

Tuesday 19 April 2016

Benevolence and Gratitude




Benevolence and Malevolence have nothing to do with outward circumstances. Unconditional benevolent intent is the intent to serve or benefit the other without any regard to self-interest. Malevolent intent is to use, abuse, manipulate or consume the other in order to serve the self’s interest.

Malevolent intent is not based on outward circumstances but on arrogance and a victim identity, on resentment and a sense of entitlement. The victim feels done in and bears no accountability for his life or actions. He blames the other and holds the other accountable. He is here to get from the world because he feels he hasn’t gotten his due. So, he engages in malevolence without a second thought. He claims he cannot give because he has not received anything from the other. He is focused on his illness, pain, misfortune, loss, goal or ambition; on what he wants to get. He does not focus on what makes his life work – all that is given to and done for him by other than him. Instead of gratitude, he looks at his life and the world with judgment and resentment.

Similarly, benevolent intent does not depend on outward circumstances. You do not need money, a PhD degree or even perfect health to serve the other unconditionally. Listening and accepting, affirming and encouraging with sincerity – just allowing someone to be fully who they are without judging them or trying to fix them – are acts of great generosity that don’t require money, literacy or good health. Telling the truth, being fair and being honest when it is beneficial to the other but is not in our interest, are acts of great courage that don’t require money, literacy or good health. Unconditional benevolence springs from gratitude, from a realization that the self has received in excess of its due. Anyone of us can be unconditionally benevolent if we are grateful for what we have.


photo with thanks via Iraj Jahanshahi

Thursday 14 April 2016

THE CURSE IS THE BLESSING




The difference between a curse and blessing is not the outward circumstances of your life, but the degree of your inward surrender, patience and trust in Allah.
If you are faced with a problem and you resist it by going into a cycle of self pity -- why is this happening to me? this is so unfair! why am i being punished? -- the problem will seem arbitrary and punitive. You will increase your pain and suffering by the degree to which you resist, complain and question.
If you accept the problem and surrender to Allah with patience and trust that whatever comes to you from Him is a blessing -- even if it is not evident immediately -- then the problem will eventually reveal its purpose to you. You will realize its meaning, learn and grow. You will see how it is a blessing.
photo: with thanks via Iraj Jahanshahi

Saturday 9 April 2016

CHANGING THE PAST




CHANGING THE PAST

When you begin to see and deal correctly with the present, first it appears that only the present changes. Over time you realize, however, that when you see and deal correctly with the present, your perception of the past also changes; your past also changes. What you had previously seen as curse you now see as blessing.


When you see the blessing in everything, you are no longer concerned about the future because if everything up until this point in your life has been a blessing then what could the future bring except more blessing?


photo: with thanks via Ozcan Erturk on facebook