What ails you, and what remedies

 

"Your remedy is within you, but you do not sense it. Your sickness is from you, but you do not perceive it. You presume you are a small entity, but within you is enfolded the entire Universe. You are indeed the Evident Book, by whose alphabet the Hidden becomes Manifest. Therefore you have no need to look beyond yourself. What you seek is within you, if only you reflect."

- Imam Ali Ibne Abu Talib, May Allah be pleased with him

Courtesy: Hamza J.
 

10 Rules For Being Human

A very interesting consultant shared this set of funny, true-to-the-bone wisdom with me. It answers so so many question - hits you right in the heart.

1. YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY
   You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period you're around.

2. YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS
   You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, ONLY LESSONS 
   Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The "Failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

4. A LESSON IS REPEATED UNTIL LEARNED
   A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. LEARNING LESSONS DOES NOT END
   There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you
   are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "THERE" IS NO BETTER THAN "HERE"
   When your "There" has become a "Here", you will simply obtain another "There" that will, again, look better than "Here".

7. OTHERS ARE MERELY MIRRORS OF YOU
   You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE IS UP TO YOU
   You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. YOUR ANSWERS LIE INSIDE YOU
   The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. YOU WILL FORGET ALL OF THIS
    Unless you consistently stay focused on the goals you have set for yourself, everything you've just read won't mean a thing.

    ~Author Unknown~

Original source: The e-Minute, April 2007, by Bob Uruchick Management

My Secretive Friend

My Friend does not like the secrets revealed - or even hinted at. Yet I do it in search of - what is it? Approval?

Who approves us?

Only we approve or disapprove ourselves, or give others that authority on our behalf. The task at hand is to concentrate our power within us.

Come true

Is it true that if you keep thinking of something, it comes true?

Yes; that, indeed, is how creation (or destruction, which is just another form of creation), comes into being.

Then I must not think what I have been thinking.

Justice

... And to finish my previous thoughts... Prophecy, never make your heart tender for wrong-doers. Remember they intentionally take advantage of this.

What you truly need is to know the intention of your own action. If you are selfish, and want to appease yourself, stop yourself.

If you have been harmed, stop the one who harms you.

Remember, you are only the master of your Self, not the Owner of your Self - that right is of Allah alone and no one shares ownership with Allah to Whom all things return.

Therefore it's your duty to protect your Self. Do it with courage and character, and do not be afraid or tender. If you do not stop a person from doing ill to you, tomorrow they will harm another. Remember what the sages said: A dog can differentiate between Good and Bad. Only a refined human can differentiate between a good and a lesser good, or a bad, and a lesser bad.

Hmmm...

I don't like the sound of my own anger. Why am I feeling it?

But my heart never, never agrees to injustice. Once you've exhausted all "nice" options, it's time for action. No second thinking at that time.

However - I should always know that the greatest challenge is to master one's own ego and never let that interfere with dispensing justice.

When it gets personal, that is when one must stop.

Do you remember the stories of the great sages, Prophecy? They never attack when personally angry. They only take action against general ill. That requires a great deal of mastery and a very selfless understanding of what's right and what's wrong.

What comes round, when it comes round

Zodiac-wise, I am a Sagittarius. It takes a good deal of time and effort for anything to ruffle me. But when it does!

*Fire!!!*

Often the cool that I can keep surprises people - and God knows why most of us humans have this tendency to keep pushing to see how far things will go. So I know folks who, surprised and curious by the cool, will check to see if indeed I am dead, trying to act alive?

No, dude, I've got my six senses all right. I just master my impulse. But don't think I wasn't making a note while I was sitting and watching.

I am angry at a few folks, finally. Beyond finally, actually. I don't like my own anger because I completely understand my capability to inflict harm. And I mean no active harm to anyone. Therefore my anger has to be earned - I don't expend my energy for free. Which means, once again, that my calm is because of my strength, not weakness. If I decide not to keep a reign on my strength any longer - don't be surprised!

Anyway. You, poor Bloggie, should know that I have reached that level where I am going to give some folks accurate feedback and also let manifest the consequences of their deliberate actions. What you give around, you get around.

You know what Bloggie - are you thinking that I will go out and harm someone? No; I don't do that kind of thing. What I do, however, is that I let go of the control that I have been putting on the consequences of people's harmful actions. I do my best to make sure people are adequately warned.

In this case, I know of a certain ill-treating bunch of people whose secrets were safe with me and others they were serving poorly. I warned again and again and again that wronging people will make them retaliate - make them walk away - but so they listen? Now I am simply going to take long overdue actions. You can only return the harm that's been done to you, which is your right. Even in anger, dear Bloggie, you cannot transgress.

And what are you thinking? I will not jump on anyone's throats not hurt them behind their back. Whatever people do, you are only liable for your own character and grace, not theirs. I will, however, angered and hurt as I am myself, will try the last yet the most powerful recourse that I have: I will pray to Allah, Bloggie.

Were you sacred that I was going to give some kind of violent threat? No. I am not violent, Bloggie though I have completely normal impulses and I feel violence from time to time. It's inevitable in this day & age, you know!

I fear myself, Bloggie, the power of a curse. As much as one can, they should neither curse nor stand in the way of a curse and certainly, certainly, not earn a curse. But you know what Bloggie? A heart that is hurt is a living curse. Only a heart that truly loves is more powerful than the heart that is hurt.

I have hurt people too; very rarely, but when I did, I felt the curse. You can feel such things Bloggie - they are tangible. And when they start happening, you know readily where they came from. There's no way to describe this except to experience this. You can feel in your heart that the ill that suddenly came in your life was not sudden at all. If you can hear anywhere in your heart a guilty whisper, then you are your own judge. Doesn't Allah say that each person keeps the best eye on their own actions? Only we know.

So what I did was to ask forgiveness - in real words Bloggie, not just roundabout ways - ask forgiveness. I said, "I am sorry - I am aware that I have hurt you and though I know you are not the kind of person who will wish me ill, I know your heart has been hurt - and Allah never forgives that. It's because our hearts belong to Allah and not to us - and it's Allah Who deals with this matter directly. That's why we can't willfully stop a heart from aching. I know the ill that ails me will go only if you forgive me and you pray."

Only when I was forgiven, Bloggie, did my pain disappear. I have only done this rarely; and you have to discern between those you hurt and those who are just hurting themselves because you are not acting on their scripts. But you must never, never earn an ill will.

You know for the past some time, I have been forgiving a few people who I thought deserved (or not) to be let off the hook. Even if they don't deserve it, I don't care. I could be a better human if I could learn to forgive. And I certainly owed it because I have been forgiven myself too - we do too much wrong without keeping a count of it, Bloggie, so one should always be aware. There is Great Judge Who's always settling the scores and there's no escaping that justice.

Anyway - sigh! I like to forgive - but right now, my heart is completely not in the mood. Forgiveness has to be real and forever, one can't go back on it. I cannot take unfairness any longer. I am afraid I have made an ill will - and I am afraid ever more that I wish sincerely for it to come true.

Because you know what Bloggie? One more thing that I have learned is that you cannot - you should not - prevent the consequences of a person's bad action from reaching them all the time. Nature has its own way, you cannot prevent a fool's actions from getting back at them. Get out of the way whether you love them or not. They will only learn through the experience of getting back the results of their actions, or never learn the lesson.

Take it Slow

I've got some relationship advice to give: People, take it slow!

Yes yes I believe in all those charm and first look and first intuition and impression and electricity - oh wait, aura - things. But take it slow. There are times when you can click-click-click but you got to take time to: click-click-click and be sure... and to progress.

This advice is true from personal relationships whether of blood or marriage or friendship - or business relationships. Don't bring everything from your past to the table and avoid wish-listing.

I often see this happening on projects where even before the project #1 kicks off, wish-listing starts. In fact, it's also some kind of Pakistanism. Before one can roll up discussion on one idea and start implementing, there comes another.

And I absolutely don't get that "let's make Pakistan better" thing. You know once upon a short time I got afraid of thinking my congenital dream of "changing the world." That's because I actually started picturing myself as a huge Atlas-esque giant who took the world in its hands, and spun and shook it. No wonder when I looked at my hands - I knew I must immediately give up or suffer a huge disillusionment.

That is NOT how the world is changed - you can't spin it all at one time! The word "world" here means the chunk of world around you, assigned to you. The kind of world that makes sense when dudes sing, "Ooh baby, you rock my world!" DOES-NOT-MEAN-PLANET-EARTH!

In my attempts to "help people," I am so damned annoyed by these change-the-world-means-planetary-shakeup types. And I absolutely can hear Presidential tones in the voices of the let's-change-Pakistan types.

No. How about - let's get our street cleaned up for a start? How about, reach a slum of kids? How about just do our job honestly and make sure we have our system in order?

If you can't take the first step - why talk about the journey of a thousand miles?

Whether it's business, do-goodism (with which I have lots of problems even though I often find myself doing it - I'll tell some time exactly what's wrong with this do-good thingy too), or personal tender love and care - limit the agenda to THE NOW. Let life unroll over time. Don't stuff the start, particularly, with promises, dreams, a thousand wishes, and plans.

Dude - evaluate who you are working with. And by all means, take the time to understand where they're coming from and where they're going to. Save yourself lots of nasty surprises. And actually - if you're blindfolding yourself and wishing-washing, don't be surprised when the other person doesn't end up being aligned with you.

Keep your eyes open - give others room. And by all means, WALK if you sense the other party is leading you on. If you think so, they are doing so.

Take it slow. Not in terms of speeeeeeeddddd, but evolving. One step at a time. You'll love it!

What I didn't lose in the Shipwreck

Driven myself to overwork again.

Prophecy, Prophecy! What does it take for you to internalize the word R-E-L-A-X?

Ah - anyway - on the other hand, I have developed (or regained?) that certain level of cool. In some ways I am back to what I call my "older self" or more brand-wise, "A-level Self" ('cos I was at my personality best during A-level days) but I think it's more than being back to old.

We never get back to old. We merely retain bits of our previous selves. But we are always new. I know some folks never change - but are they noting or not that the world around them keeps spinning and changing and it's never the same any two moments? So if they don't choose to adapt, they are left behind. Some are comfortable by extending their complacency beyond them - but oh oh oh - no one can control the larger picture. Ever.

I thought over this - once again, after prayers, as has become my habit - and I see that I am not my old self. I am merely bringing out the best of whoever I was to begin with. I have shed off a lot of the old self. I don't have many longings and desires and wishes and wants that I used to have.

Got to clear something up - you have got to DREAM and hold on to YOUR DREAM - but it's different from what we know will never happen. Desires, wants, etc. Some things are just fairly meant to be. Those that are and can be - we ought to dream about them - keep challenging our boundaries - give more. OK I just wrote, "ask for more" but realized that's not it. You extend beyond yourself by GIVING (which is always represented by an arrow going outwards) ----> rather than TAKING which will forever point inwards <---. Give to grow.

Anyway. I feel cool about life because I have given up the need to depend on many things. I can prolly live without the Internet too - though I am not going to wish that upon myself. But I'm OK - I'm really OK.

Remember what they say - you only own what you can't lose in a shipwreck.

I am glad that I have lived beyond the wreck that my life was brought to. I am on the other side, and I know exactly the value of things. It was hard for me, a few months ago, to get back to what I realized could mean nothing nothing at the time of death - but now I understand that the art of life is walk in the world without entangling with it. It's mastery is when neither having something, nor losing it make you a hero. It is when nothing matters.


+++
Having said that, sleep well and full. And don't miss on the prayers that brought you back to life safe, Prophecy. Never take for granted those who love you, no matter how vast the reservoir of their love is. It matters not what they have, what matters is how you take it for that, truly, shows you who you are.

Eff off!

Been seeing more of these strange strange strange practical dreams.

Oh I loved the one I saw this morning. I was given a piece of paper with some info by someone who meant to annoy me. I tore it into half, write "F*** Off!" on one half, and passed it back on. It's the dream version of a real-life plan. I am glad that I achieved some kind of resolution in the dream. Oh really - some folks deserve to be kicked wherever we see them - even if in a dream.

Don't worry my dear Bloggie! I'm not a foul soul - I've got a big big heart and if I *am* angry at someone, they must more than deserve. They have certainly earned it. Could you believe, Bloggie, that there are folks out there who do this kind of stuff? Nah... don't believe in such things. They exist, but to believe in them is to validate them. Right? I dunno - that's the spiritual conundrum.

Well, Bloggie ma dear - you should *know*. At least you should be trained to deal with novel situations. Our minds ought to be prepared!

But I'll tell you about my dreams, again. I must say - usually - my dreams are very dramatic. Beautiful. Fantastic. On a very large scale. I see entire cities, visit strange places, get information, do reflection. I've seen ornately decorated palaces, seen amusement parks, traveled in time, and found myself in fanciful landscapes. I've seen thematic hotels (with a Volkswagon hanging at the front) while I stood by the road that seemed to be self-controlling traffic by shape-shifting, shopped at desolate-looking malls full of fantastic merchandise, and seen myself in a wonderful lab of radios buzzing. I've got warnings and alerts about relationships, been in monasteries on sun-drenched mountains, been directed by holy figures. I've been interrupted during a stroll in the ancient bazaar of Baghdad to get a flip-chart presentation on my dental pain. I've attended the pre-partition (of the Indian subcontinent) wedding of a Parsi family, where all women were dressed in gold-embroided saris. I've driven trucks and fanciful vehicles in remote, haunting landscapes.

 I generally see people-less dreams - or do not get in contact with people.

Yet it appears this is no longer my dream world - but something from the past. Of late, my dreams have come down to earth - they are immensely practical and solution-oriented. For one, I have been receiving a lot of e-mail. And design solutions. There's someone who keeps sending me stuff and discussing about it. I meet people about whom I keep "getting" strategies. If my sixth sense is tingling about a person in real-world, the dream world actually takes me around to show what they are up to.

So anyway - Bloggie - this other day, rather MONTH - I was writing a post about the function of dreams which I lost in the mountains of stuff I keep writing. I'll share more later.
 
Just gotta tell you I am so entirely satisfied about telling that "F*** off!" thing! Aren't you happy, too?

Careful what you wish for

Oh dear me. My weirdest wishes come true at such top speed I am scared of wishing.

Nah, just kidding; I am learning to master the art of wishing. Ironically - at least for me - this mastery comes after much denial. Hmmm, I really don't expect much out of my life, and though that occasionally makes me rather sad [I mean when I sense that lotsa people are wishing lotsa things so what's cranky wrong with ME!?] -- dude, I am happy the way I am.

Well, well.

++++

It's maddeningly hot. But but. The Sun's just doing it's job. It says, "Excuse me, why did you people kill the ozone!?" OMG I am puttig full throttle on my environment-friendly practices. Though we already run a fully-mad house recycling every micron of plastic and egg shells and tea and paper and clothes that come our way. My mom doesn't permit a microwave. We heat our food the old-fashioned way.

I have seen it all.