Monthly Archives: July 2015

Richness of soul and spirit

Leave a comment

RICHNESS OF SOUL AND SPIRIT 

 

  1. Question number one: what is spirit and soul?
  2. The second: is my spirit rich and soul fertile?
  3. Is my body well-connected with my spirit and soul?

 

I don’t know the exact answer, but my gut feel is that it is the summary of all good that I have felt, experienced, seen, observed and done. All the good intentions that I carry in my heart and mind, translated or un-translated — my spirit absorbed all this and shaped itself.

 

Thus, if now I have to feel my spirit is very light and fulfilled, as whatever I experienced and achieved is embedded in the will of God and as he is only kind and giving, my spirit too is nothing more than a microcosm of the infinite mercy and energy of kindness and giving that it receives from the source of all that is visible and invisible.

 

Defining spirit is not easy, as it is converted to the infinite and eternity.

 

But this small note does direct me towards the answer and I cannot put it into words or visible explanations, but I can feel the richness of my spirit via the infinite source.

 

Another way to understand the reply to the question is, if I ask myself if I do love my loved ones, and just how much I really do love them.

 

If the answer is that I love my loved ones infinitely and will do everything for them, I can then surely say that my spirit is full of love, care and concern, and thus I do live in the spirit of love and care. A short metaphor can explain this. If a container, which is made of plastic, is full of pure water, people will generally not be too concerned with the type and quality of plastic. They will, however, be very focused on the purity levels of the water. The soul and spirit to me are like the water quality in a human being’s existence and not the body, which is like the plastic container: it has a lower significance in the hierarchy.

 

As soon as I write this, my spirit lifts to a high, I am in loving spirits that can made me do everything — large or small— on a path of love, care and compassion.

 

This small experiment with my own feelings of love and care reignites my spirit, which in turn prepares my brain and heart to respond to challenges that will have to be undertaken as I, in the spirit of my love for my loved ones, can reshape the strength of my head, heart and body and achieve the call of the soul and spirit. It is about creating the right intent to make positive action possible.

 

In same spirit of love, care and compassion, my head will guide me to keep myself fit and fine. If I am not fit and fine, I cannot serve my spirit of love and will not be able to positively serve and nurture the purpose of my spirit.

 

I hope this indirect very small explanation shed some light on the questions as to what is spirit? It’s role in my life?

 

It also makes me go through the simulated experiment and experience the depth and purpose of the spirit. Once we are in harmony with our spirit and our self, we are much more well-aligned with Allah and his purpose as to why he created us.

richness of spirit and soul
richness of spirit and soul

On a difficult day at crossroads in Norwich

Leave a comment
Cross roads horizon representing different choices that are made
Cross roads horizon representing different choices that are made.

ON A DIFFICULT DAY AT A CROSSROADS IN NORWICH

What do I want to do?

Where do I want to go?

How do I achieve what I plan to achieve?

What are the most valuable visible, material, tangible or other items I like?

What are the most valuable invisible or intangible values I like?

If I like tangible things, do I want them? Or do I just like to be around them? Or do I wish to possess them and pass them on the next generation?

If I like intangible things ideas, concepts and moral values, how do I identify the ones dearest to me? Do I want to have those intangible values as a part of me, or do I like to see these in others? Do I like them to be a part of me and would I want to see them in others as well?

If I have those intangible values identified, then do I wish to inculcate them in my psyche such that I practice them as well and set an example by practicing them for others to follow?

If I have a good idea of what intangible values and attributes I need in myself, do I get upset if I don’t get them in me, and if I don’t practice them, what happens?

If I have the idea of the good values and virtues, am I pushing them too brutally onto others to practice, or do I just softly keep trying so that others realise these values and their depth and breadth and that they too practice them regularly? What if I see very bleak situations – do I give up fast or do I persevere? Should I keep pushing myself and others, or choose to encourage or punish myself and others?

How do I get the blame in myself and my surroundings such that I feel generally more effective, more in control and generally happier?

If the questions I have raised are very important and meaningful, what next?

I must try to understand the depth and breadth of these questions just to understand the questions themselves. I need time as well as thoughtful activities, a good body, a good mind, a good routine, a good atmosphere, a good inner balance and good company.

Immediately after getting angry with myself and the whole world, I stumbled upon an essay by Schopenhauser that was even more difficult than the above questions, as it challenged some of my standard thinking. To me, it felt abnormal.

I was mostly struck by his extremely pessimistic thinking and attitude, which reflected deeply in his writing and commentary.

I did not like the male chauvinism. After all, I have seen how mothers persevere to bring up their kids and how irresponsible generally men can be.

His philosophy was almost opposite to mine. I must deeply re-visit my own feelings and thoughts to see how I can defend women from such extreme, misogynist and disrespectful treatment. After all, what one’s experiences are cannot be ignored, and one cannot overcome them. It somehow comes in the way and reflects in one’s vocal and written expressions.

My only take from the whole story is that one should keep raising the relevant questions to the point that you can handle it. If the excessive enquiry becomes a source of anger and conflict, stop. Don’t spoil your life, as everything comes from infinity and goes into infinity.

Peace and tranquility

Leave a comment

peace and tranquility

ON PEACE AND TRANQUILITY

For most of my life I have been searching for ‘peace’. I have tried to find ways to avoid conflicts – in both my personal and professional lives – but I failed, and failed, and failed again.

Then I stumbled upon a book by Will Durant, written in 1926, called The Story of Philosophy.

In this book, I have found some history, some context and some wisdom that helped me understand the circumstances in which human desires for peace, and the reasons why we pursue it, generally land the human race in paths of seeking pleasure, that are usually self-destructive.

The root, according to the recorded history of philosophy, theology and culture, starts from the journey that Alexander the Great undertook from Greece to Asia in his quest for conquering the world and spreading Greek religion, culture and trade into the orient, mostly all countries located in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Funnily, when I tried to find the history of humanity’s pursuit for peace and tranquillity, I landed up mostly in eras which were post-conflict that saw humans trying to make sense of life, even when they were in a state of enslavement, such as when Greek and Roman empires fell and the ways people suffered under the rule of tyrants and cruel armies.

I always found superstitious rituals unnecessary and time wasting. However, after going through what happened when Alexander tried to push Greek thought into Asia, a reverse flood of oriental rituals and cults entered Europe, and some Europeans somehow started to find peace and tranquillity in the oriental practices of religion and ritual.

Quoting some very powerful lines by different thinkers may shed some light on the subject of searching for peace.

As Schopenhauer deemed it useless for the individual will to fight the universal will, so the Stoics argued that philosophical indifference was the only reasonable attitude to a life in which the struggle for existence is unfairly doomed to inevitable defeat. If victory is quite impossible it should be scorned. The secret of peace is not to make an achievement equal to our desires, but to lower our desires to the level of our achievements.

Seneca (65AD) said, “If what you have seems insufficient to you, then though you may possess the world, you will yet be miserable”.

Books after books, in the form of poetry, prose, essays, and theories upon theories lie buried in the shelves of libraries and archives on the subject of searching for peace and tranquillity. I have just realized how foolish it is to waste readers’ time on throwing some light on this over-written, and widely discussed topic, regarding both its visible and invisible aspects.

However, the simple law of attraction confirms that if you desire and pray for well-deserved peace and pleasure, it will come to you. Better choose smartly, otherwise you will land up accumulating debts and physical and habitual abnormalities, instead of peace.

Keep working and praying for them, and someday you will find them touching your soul as occasionally as one feels the whiff of fresh fragranced air that comes from the earth after the rainfall has stopped. One small happiness and moment of peace equals millions of tears shed and pains suffered in this mysterious yet fruitful existence. What an unfair proportion.

By John Kingz

Past, present and future

Leave a comment

FuturePresentPast

PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE

What is the right balance between nurturing past relations and assets vs. focus on present and future-related pursuits?

This question comes to my mind every day.

I move between the present and past extremely frequently and always try to stay loyal to it, while simultaneously doing maximum justice to present responsibilities. But inside myself I harbor a deep guilt which keeps raising its head inside my psychic ocean. It tells me I must care more for my past relations and find out where the old friends and relatives with whom I spent some of the most beautiful parts of life are, and what can I do for them.

There are some characters who have passed away, and I just hold on to the beauty of the time spent with them, as well as the high and lows I enjoyed with them in my soul and spirit .

I feel that keeping a good balance between the past and present is vital for a smooth inner being and a balanced personality.

What do I mean by inner being?

Let me dig a little here. I mean that sometimes I have a multiple persona — whoever John Kingz (JKZ) in the past, is not the same JKZ at present. To me, this logically means that there is more than one being in any individual. However a bridge does exist upon which both past and present JKZ both travel on. What I mean by this refers to the smoothness of the inner being as the strength of the connection between the past and current self. The smoother the bridge, the more coherent and stronger the character of the person.

I will always remember the three lines of my grandfather:

“If wealth is lost, nothing is lost.”

“If health is lost, something is lost.”

“If character is lost, everything is lost.”

When I now link this to the past-and present-self concept, I feel the above three lines mean that the two tangible items (wealth and health) are less significant while the invisible, intangible attribute of character carries far more weight-age. Therefore I feel the link between past and present selves is the strength of character required to have a good balance, where past relations and the character feel the same closeness to the past as to the present and future. Once that is established, the soul, spirit and happiness levels lift inside the present self, which then acquires the right values and leadership traits to not only do justice to the past and present, but also for the uneven and uncertain roads of the future.

Thus, love your past and loved ones from their. Keep the fragrance of friendship alive, no matter how those characters from the past treat you. Sometimes you aren’t treated well, or at least not as well as you expect, but still — persevere on the road of one-way care and one-way love. You will deposit values that you may not even realise, but one day the only saving in your mortal and after-life bank are those gestures of love and care that will stand by you, while everything else — wealth, health, beauty, etc. — will all be consigned to the dustbin of eternity.