Favourite Quote

" I want to be fully used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch that I have got hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations..."
- George Bernard Shaw

A Cup of your Love

In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the protagonists and antagonists are after the holy grail - believed to be the cup that Christ drank from. The movie takes it one step further and claims the cup will endow eternal life upon whomever drinks from it. Eternal life? Really? Would you really want to live in this world forever? Not me. I embrace the moment of one day confidently venturing into ' the unknown country to whose bourne no traveler returns'. I think this world is purgatory guised in the illusion that it isn't. Anyway that's another 5-hour university lecture. I digress.

Our heroes in the hollywood movie reached a scene where they had all the cups lined up on a platform in front of them, each with different shapes, sizes and colours. They had to guess which was the holy grail. The 'bad guy' had first pick. He picked a golden, glowing, jewel-crested chalice - fit for a king! Within a few moments of drinking from it, the baddie started choking, convulsing, aging ridiculously fast (I'm talking seconds) and transforming into a skeleton before disappearing into a plume of ashes and smoke. I think it's safe to say he drank from the wrong cup...Next came Indy. He carefully analyzed each cup - one by one. Eventually, he picked a very dull-looking, small, inconspicuous mug. A friggin mug. That was the one! That friggin dull mug was the holy grail!

Now allow me jump in with a quick squeeze of metaphorical juice. Let us substitute these cups lined before the movie's characters, for the women that a man is presented with in his life time (or vice versa). In this purgatory of a life time. Let us also add the assumption that the holy grail is the love of his life, the soul mate, the one. A cup of her love will feel as if it is giving him eternal life. The question then remains: Which cup is she?

I don't believe in love at first sight. It would be nice to believe in it but I think you're only fooling yourself if you do. So I don't. Now I could be wrong and it could have happened to others. I tend to subscribe to the above analogy of falling in love. That is not to say that your soul mate will be an ugly, dull cup of a woman or man. At least I hope not. But then again even if he or she is, so the f**ck what? Falling in love that's the key. Falling. Not being shot by a red fluffy arrow through the chest by a freaky-looking flying baby one sunny day then telling yourself in a daze of euphoric confusion.."I love her man...it's been 10 seconds but she's definitely the one!" The preceding sentence is obviously a fictional exaggeration. My point is that I believe in the power of love. It's power to transform one's life for the better.Anything that is capable of doing that will take time to take hold of your system and values. It's not an overnight thing. If it is, then you're just very shallow or easily swayed or both.

(Just out of curiosity why does the saying use the word 'falling'? Why not rising? Is love not supposed to be a Utopian sensation that involves walking on the clouds, feeling like you're in heaven, being naturally high etc. So why falling? Think about that one Mr. English language)

I believe love, like a tree, is cultivated, cared for and grown with time.If it is rooted in a strong and firm foundation its powerful trunk will weather even the most destructive storms. Otherwise if poisonous fluids and external influences are allowed (key term: ALLOWED) to infiltrate its inner system its potential is withered away and the tree will be up-ended directly from its roots. Timber! The best thing is knowing that, on any given day, the love for your lover is the greatest it has been than on any previous day. In other words, the love is growing.

People, these days, use the L-Word (that is love, not lesbian) too freely. They say it to cover up for feelings of insecurity. They use it to manipulate, to white lie, to sugar coat genuine feelings. Don't ever do that. You're only harming yourself. Say it when you mean it..and say what you need to say. If you pour any liquid into a cup too quickly or recklessly, the carelessness will just induce things to get messy. A cup of your love is filled ever so delicately - ever so perfectly. Salut.

I don't care no more so don't you worry

My sister was recently reading "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". She pointed out an interesting piece of insight from the book. One of the analogies was that, in relationships, men are like rubber bands: the longer they remain attached to the lady the more they feel like they are being stretched. In order for them to not snap (pun intended), they need some sort of time-out (whatever the nature) to get back in touch with themselves. It could be anything - fishing, reading, writing, night with the boys, sports - you name it! Once that's done, then let the cycle of stretching and contracting continue - with a giant cup of love of course!

This song, by my favourite band, is music for thought for all women to decipher (especially ex-es simply because of the attitude) and is dedicated to all men who feel like they have reached that stage where they need to shift back into neutral. Cheers!

Knowledge

There is no greater gift from God than knowledge. In every facet of our lives it is those who have the knowledge, the know-how, the thing, the 'whatever you want to call it' whom we look up to. From a mundane material perspective it is what will help us build up the bank account. On a more spiritual octane, it is a certain ray of light that strokes the cheek of its student and emanates an aura of hope and liberty over its very being.

What's this guy smoking you're wondering? The occasional Dunhill but that's not the point. Why would students sit there in front of books for hours on end like lifeless fish if reading did not serve some higher purpose? If it did not satisfy a need from within? The brain is the most powerful processor on the face of this earth and should be cherished and protected throughout one's whole life - the same way a mother should cherish her own new-born baby. It is through knowledge that humans are able to become super-human - to fly across continents, to run at record-breaking speeds, to save lives in hopeless situations and to create masterpieces of film, literature and art and hence touch the souls of countless others without ever meeting them.

I am a firm believer that every person is born equal and in addition has a unique portfolio of hidden gifts and talents. The greatest tragedy is when a person wastes these gifts. Nobody would ever know or even care because those inner jewels never bore fruit to the public eye. The greatest victory is when one taps into this talent and through his or her own instinctive sense of will and clarity charts the journey of its development until it blossoms and envelopes the very being of one's existence. Talent is the invisible force we are uniquely born with. It is our duty to discover and apply it rather than simply allow it to blow in the wind.

The amazing thing is that everything mankind has ever needed for survival has always been provided for on the domains of this earth throughout all the ages. The same raw materials that were used by cave men to hunt and gather were used by NASA technicians to send a human being thousands of miles outside the very planet in which those raw materials existed! What was the link? Knowledge. And it bothers me to hear shallow sayings like 'knowledge is power' because if history has taught us anything absolute power corrupts absolutely. And knowledge in its purest form should not and cannot corrupt absolutely because it is closely related to its divine cousin - truth. Hence, with regard to knowledge, power should not be the end. The power to liberate the minds of others and further conduct the flow of knowledge should be the end - as paradoxical as that may sound.

It is said in Islam that the first time the angel Gabriel approached Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), to deliver God's words, they were: "Read. Read in the name of your Lord who has created. Created mankind from a clot of blood. Read. And your Lord is the Most Generous. Who has taught by the pen. Has taught man that which he knew not."

Serenity Now!

Many times in our lives we are put in situations where we have to deal with people from different walks of life. Ideally, we should never judge these people because we never know what their walk was like. However, on a day to day basis it is only natural to forget the skeletons of the past and just focus on the matter at hand. Here is a situation where the former ideology is made difficult. This is the story of an individual I have to work with.

This person is the pinnacle of negativity. He makes Darth Vader from Star Wars seem like Tinker Bell. Sometimes when I pass by him I get a chill from the coldness of the air around him. And do you know what baffles me the most? He acts like he cannot do anything about it.

He has been working at this institution for almost a decade now and unfortunately has never received a lump-sum end of year compensation (fancy lingo for an annual bonus). So, in a scenario such as this the individual with some shred of common sense would:
A) Change their attitude, work harder and make themselves and their achievements more visible to upper management so that they are remembered when bonus time comes around next year
B) Seek greener pastures elsewhere if that person feels they are being unfairly treated.
The decision? He decided to not commit to learning anything new. To not make the extra push or effort. On top of that he decided to be a total dick of a human being in general. The Archbishop of negativity. The nemesis of positive thought. The martyr for all those who hold a grudge. Add on to that an addiction to cigarettes and you get a pretty unhealthy outlook on life wouldn’t you say? Any comment is a negative one. Any story ends with someone getting hurt – comically or tragically.

Just the other day in the office he was sitting in his chair and I was typing away obliviously. “Jamil, Jamil”, his voice gruff and abrupt. The office was very peaceful and quiet.

“Don’t you just hate this shit?” he blurted out. Trying not to lose total focus from typing I peered from the corner of my eyes and asked calmly “hate what, buddy?" He continued, “this place, these people, the corporate mafia mentality, everyone fingering everyone else, akhh, blakhh, raaakhh! Don’t you just hate your life!?”

Now, despite how dire circumstances may be I prefer to adopt a positive spin on things. I always thought I had a fixed view when it came to matters of attitude and self-esteem but this guy was something else. Imagine you are a cliff and are constantly being bombarded by the treacherous waves from sea of dullness every day for over two years. Eventually, you’re going to crack! He remained there just looking at me. And I continued typing. And he remained there still intensely focused on the moment when I would give him an answer. I turned to him and he was just staring at me. He looked repulsed – the way someone would look after they had just swallowed a sandwich filled with poop and a lot of lemon juice. I thought about how almost every conversation initiated by this person revolved around a complaint, a quarrel, a twisted mind game, a friendly gesture with subliminal underpinnings or anything that just sucked in general. As I looked at his face which was now suspended in a state of disgust, I felt the sparks of life, benevolence and optimism fade away into the blackness of this human vortex. “Yes”, I replied. “Right now, I f****g hate my life.”

Turning back to my screen and brushing that cobweb of a conversation off my shoulders, I told myself 'this too shall pass'.

Keep Walking

I'd hate to sound like one of those movie junkies who has had 12 cups of coffee in 2 hours and just finished watching the matrix trilogy for the seventh time this month BUT we are being duped. Duped damn it! By this corrupt system called the material world. "Uh oh he's lost it", you're thinking. I haven't. Trust me. I'm just thinking. The kind of thought that is somewhere between Hamlet and the main guy in a Brave New World (i forgot his name).

For 22 years of our lives we are put in institutions that instruct us to think a certain way. To have to understand certain things in order to survive. Without that certificate of proof you are screwed. If you do not get those companies on your CV you are screwed. It's a rat race to just see the world and what it has to offer. Visas and politics and boundaries serve nothing but division. When I was a child I always wanted to explore the new. To find out what else there was. To just see and experience. Why should I or anyone have to be restricted by boundaries? Why do we have to pay to travel? I think it should be mandatory for kids in school to travel all the time, meet people their age from different cultures and backgrounds. Interact. Speak. Fight. Love. It would be like the revolution of the internet where information was unlocked to flow seamlessly around the world - only with people. Bringing people together. The same way Islam does. "Oh no he didn't bring up religion". Okay let me steer another direction. The same way respectable heads of state do (and there are very few who do!).

There should be a class in school called.."whatever the hell you want". I read in an article recently that when kids are allowed to play by themselves (doing their own weird things), their sense of creativity is tapped and as odd as it may appear to us adults it is actually a very strong sign of intelligence. Industry was developed from a single wacky idea that nobody at the time thought would make any sense. I'm sure when Mr. Inventor showed Mrs. Inventor the first 'wheel' he designed she probably laughed in his face..and so did the townsfolk. Fast forward x years and BOOM! The world revolves around it - literally and figuratively.

My point is be yourself. Be free. Have your morals and uphold your principles. Run like Forrest did just because he wanted to. Make a mistake you know is going to be a mistake just so you really know why you initially thought it was a mistake. Live a little. Love a lot. Get your heart broken. Mend it. Become stronger. Get knocked the f**k out. Get right back up again. Keep walking. Never lose faith. If you are naive then be yourself. When you get screwed-over, learn. Never stop learning. If you are an optimist and you get screwed-over understand the pessimist but remain the optimist. Always live with that awesome quote from Coach Carter in mind:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Questions

• Why do we have a soul?
• Why do people manipulate others?
• Why do they kill others?
• We are all born from the womb and are buried in the ground after death. Hence, we are all one and the same. Why does life divide us all through status and class?
• Why are humans so inherently greedy? Why can most of us never have enough?
• Why do we hate? Is it because we have loved? Or our love was not returned?
• What would the world be without money? Would it me more peaceful or destructive? Would the context of human activity and function change?
• Why is a trader of electric money paid more than a teacher of young souls?
• Why is the goal of every corporation to grow indefinitely? Why can’t the goal be to just get by and be fine?
• Why do we destroy what we need?
• Why can’t we learn to live with nature rather than isolate it to vacations and getaways?
• Why do eclipses occur?
• What is the meaning behind the stars?
• What is love?
• Does romantic love exist or is it a cinematic illusion?
• Is there such thing as a soul mate? If no, so be it. If yes, is it worth waiting for?
• Why does a lie sting more than a punch in the face?
• Why does love enable us to feel on top of the world?
• Why does the colour of the world change with a small change in attitude?
• Why is the sunset so beautiful?
• Why is a sun rise magical?
• Why is the moon so mystical?
• Why is a kiss emotional?
• Why is there disease?
• What exactly happens at the time of death?
• Are dreams real?
• Is reality a dream?
• What happens to the body when one cries?
• What triggers a deep laugh?
• What chemicals paint a smile?
• What’s the point in animals?
• Why is the human brain such a mystery?
• Why does time cease to exist when we are asleep?
• Why are we so moved by music?
• What is inspiration?
• How can someone not believe in God?