Month: July 2018

Remember, the same level of thinking that created your problems will not solve them. Problems only become problems when you become aware of them. This awareness is today’s “Theme of the Day.”

We all understand our mortal nature, so seeking 100% control and security, and sacrificing happiness and contentment for it, is logically flawed. This truth is evident all around us. Can you see it for yourself, or do you need it to be shown? Reflect on this during those quiet, honest moments late at night. I believe this obsession with control is one of the main causes of our individual shortcomings. Trying to control all aspects of a temporary life not only robs you of your most valuable assets—happiness and contentment—but is also logically flawed.

Coming to terms with mortality through spirituality can help. Always remember, you can’t just will your way through life, death, and health. While lifestyle choices matter, the mortal nature of human life is beyond our control. To see the realities of mortality, we must accept it. As individuals, it is our duty to add happiness and contentment to our lives, regardless of their temporary nature.

From a broader perspective, an individual’s life may seem small, but to that individual, it is a personal project. Each person is the main character and manager of their personal project. As the CEO of your life, your actions primarily affect you and then those around you. If you were raised with love, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, trust, and basic social ethics, you understand the politics of belonging. However, if you were taught collective ego, pride, honor, customs, and traditions, you have been fed conflicting education. To have a positive life experience, you must learn to live a mortal life. This conflicting education can confuse even well-educated people. Imagine its impact on ordinary, uninformed individuals. If you consider yourself ordinary and need guidance, you must learn to take responsibility for your actions quickly. Misunderstanding can harm others and yourself, so it’s your responsibility to learn to see for yourself.

When your sense of belonging collides with your individual awareness of free will, it results in moral and ethical pain. The authority to make choices brings great responsibility, yet our belonging groups often blind us to this for political reasons.

Underestimating individual spirituality can cause personal pain and contribute to collective unhappiness. This must be understood by both individuals and groups, as unresolved personal and belonging-related issues can cause more than just financial grief.

You can’t gather human armies without emotional attachments. No nation or religion is willing to forgo this, as emotional connections are vital for group cohesion. Humanity, both individually and collectively, needs to evolve. Today’s world demands change, as evidenced by the internet, global warming awareness, and the need for justice based on equal human rights. Clinging to past political or religious glories will prevent happiness in our rapidly changing world. Refusing to adapt will label you as prejudiced and discriminatory.

There is a clear disconnection in human group politics, rooted in personal insecurities. Why do individuals seek security? A politically charged environment can create fear, leading people to seek like-minded individuals based on personal biases. This foundation of prejudice and discrimination is unfortunately widespread. We take pride in this prejudice, even if it conflicts with our sense of justice, humanity, God, and spirituality.

If you are spiritually connected to God and humanity, it is easy to see that group politics work against our nature. We must understand our mortal nature and live comfortably within our skin. Committing spiritual crimes against others leads to personal suffering due to our sense of justice. Our natural belonging should be towards humanity, avoiding spiritual crimes and living in harmony with ourselves.

Religions, nationalism, racism, and genderism cause individual spiritual erosion, leading to social crimes within belonging groups. To connect with real spirituality, each of us must evolve to withstand emotionally charged, politically inspired storms.

History shows that groupism has hurt humanity more than it has benefited it, as evidenced by the extreme death tolls. Societies that resist equal human rights need to evolve. The politics of belonging should not trump personal sense of justice. We are born with traits like a sense of justice and equal human rights.

We see clear evolution in warfare, science, technology, and medicine. Yet, if individuals can’t feel safe without group shelter and groups kill individuals based on appearance, we have a long way to go on the spiritual evolution highway.

Belief-related extremism underpins prejudice and discrimination, religious or otherwise. We must understand our inner demons. Spiritual crimes are felt internally. Personal sense of justice should guide us, not governing authorities. If you need guidance, you must evolve to learn to see for yourself. Powerful and politically savvy people may stand in your way, but you are connected to God and humanity. You must explore your potential, realizing you are born with the same abilities as everyone else. You are the CEO of your life, capable of making choices that even defy God’s will. This realization comes only when you understand yourself.

Spirituality transcends human biases. God does not favor one over another based on appearance or situation. Justice is foundational to creation. Human evolution helps us understand this wisdom. Nature balances life, ensuring survival for all species. Humans, with their differences, must learn to coexist. We must believe we are all part of one God and humanity.

Prayers transcend language. Spirituality is boundless, crossing all political and human boundaries. A good person is defined by spirituality, not politics. Claiming a language as God’s language is a political act, promoting a group’s identity.

Even in modern, civilized countries like Canada, identity politics persist, as seen in Quebec’s language preservation efforts. We are all human first, and must evolve beyond identity politics to embrace equal human rights. Language is for communication, but spirituality helps us overcome human shortcomings like discrimination and prejudice.

If you can’t see the politics behind enforcing one language, you’re missing the boundlessness of spirituality. Failing in such efforts means stepping off the spiritual path. Any group can fall victim to prejudice if belonging overpowers true identity. Our real identity is in humanity and spirituality, not the identities presented to us. The language you speak has no bearing on your spiritual destiny. A successful life requires speaking the universal language of spirituality, which surpasses political boundaries, allowing you to live guilt-free and in inner peace.

You can’t mix spirituality and politics. Politics allows for lies and injustices; spirituality is pure. A wise CEO chooses spirituality over political belonging. In the spiritual realm, actions matter, not language or religion. Your actions are heard by your inner self, a spiritual entity that suffers when following a political path instead of a spiritual one. By choosing spirituality, you connect directly to humanity and God, regardless of your prayer language. Believing you will go to heaven only by following religious rules is insufficient. The person within you determines your experience of heaven or hell in your living years.

Your actions and their consequences will determine whether you live in heaven or hell during your life. If you blindly follow your group’s beliefs, where is your personal free will and sense of justice? We are born with an innate sense of justice and human rights, not merely taught them.

Like a perfectly functioning computer, our bodies can handle immense knowledge. However, we are the operators, not the machines or data. Believing your identity is limited to your group can restrict and burden you. Issues like body image, religion, nationality, and other identity crises arise from within. You must judge what is right and wrong using your knowledge. This requires crossing identity lines to embrace your true identity as a human and spiritual being. You must address the root causes of your problems by transcending the boundaries of belonging. Humanity comes before any group.

Evolving our thinking and embracing our mortal nature, guided by spirituality, can lead to a life of happiness and contentment. Recognizing our true identity as part of humanity and God helps us navigate life’s challenges and avoid the pitfalls of prejudice and discrimination. By fostering spirituality over politics, we can create a more just, compassionate, and united world.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

If you are an idealist like me, your wingspan may feel a little shorter than necessary for the heights you aspire to reach. I often tell myself and others like me: either you must adapt to living within your limits, become a realist, and stop dreaming, or you must break free from all sense of belonging-related boundaries and personally evolve to step into a new paradigm. To achieve the wingspan to fly higher according to your God-given potential, you have to evolve individually. In a nutshell, if you don’t put effort into life, you just can’t evolve. It’s as simple as that—nothing is meant for humanity other than evolution. We all have a journey to reach our potential, both individually and collectively. Are you up to it, or are you bogged down by the overwhelming politics of your sense of belonging to your groups?

Let me show you your personal potential. Always remember, you are not a drop in the ocean as your religions have led you to believe; you are an ocean in a drop. You just have to dig in to expand your wings to fly. Just look at us—we fly in spaces where no winged bird can, we dig deeper than any creature with claws, and we swim in the ocean’s depths without gills. Where did the boundaries come from? Just look at politics, and you will find all the reasons you need.

If you feel you are someone who sits at a table with a plate full of food in front of you but with your arms crossed, desiring the food to get into your hungry stomach without effort, you will have to become a realist quickly, or you will starve. You may believe that God will feed you. But look at it this way: God has done a godly job by providing you a body with all the perks and abilities. You are blessed with a brain to think and reason, which you will use to make choices.

It is plain and simple—in order to eat, one has to use personal effort. This is just the nature of the beast. You can’t blame God for not helping you. If God doesn’t show up, you lose your faith, which is not a good situation for God. If you don’t put in your efforts, God can easily say, “I have given everything to you, but you didn’t use any of your tools.”

Believing without putting personal effort into life is not for human beings. If everyone becomes a monk, what happens to humanity? Who will seek to evolve in all areas, including science and technology? Since God has blessed us all with an able body, brain, and the individual being inside capable of doing godly things, not using your brain and body is like not appreciating God’s blessings. In Pakistan, there is a term called “kufraan-e-naimat,” which fits just right for this topic. I thought about that as a title for this blog, but since I wanted to talk about evolution and responsibility, I chose “The Wingspan of Humanity.”

Muslims in Pakistan have a lot of respect for a visionary intellectual and revolutionary poet who gave the idea of Pakistan, Doctor Allama Iqbal. When I read his material, I feel inspired, but my interpretation may differ from the general population. When he says:

“Khudi ko kar bulan itna kay her taqdeer say pehlay,

Khuda banday say khud pucha btaa tary raza kya hey.”

The translation is: “Bring your ego so high that before God writes your fate, God comes down to you to ask what your will is.”

Another place Allama Iqbal states, and I quote: “Why are you falling on a piece of grain like a sparrow? Keep your flight so high that you can become an eagle.” This message is similar, inspiring the human individual to take charge, imagine, dream, and put more effort into flying higher. Remember, all the progress of humanity has come from individuals who imagined that there is more to be, regardless of their knowledge of being mortal. We don’t only live for ourselves; that’s why I call humanity a coral reef. It has many colors, yet functions and survives the same way.

Our individual life may be a personal project, but the connection with humanity and God is undeniable. I use humanity and God together because I believe we are connected spiritually with God and physically with humanity. Living with either one exclusively is an incomplete mortal life. Both sides are legitimate parts of the human individual, so ignoring one can have consequences like emotional, mental, and physical health. An unfulfilled and discontent life is not good, especially if you are a mortal being.

When I read Allama Iqbal’s poetry, I don’t see boundaries for the individual. I see everything contrary to popular beliefs. All I see is that he is encouraging the individual not to be bound by limitations of any kind, not to be inferior to anyone or any entity. That means he is saying that we should all take charge to fly higher, not only individually but collectively as humanity. I find it strange that some people strongly believe in religious boundaries and follow strict rules, yet like Allama Iqbal’s messages as well. Anyone straying from the rules of religion can be called an infidel and shunned. But when it comes to the politics of belonging, things can become confusing.

It is always about how one can politically choose interpretations of knowledge as we understand it. The difference is not in the knowledge but in the interpretation of individuals or even groups, leading to conflicts in religious beliefs and even within sects of religions.

Anyway, my interpretation is that a poet stands against the limitations of the individual, which I wholeheartedly believe in. God needs individuals’ reciprocation, not to help God but to help humanity evolve.

My logic is, if I feel that God is doing everything for me, I should, in appreciation, be bowing down and be subservient and meaningless without any self-esteem. What does this do to me personally? It means that if I don’t take responsibility for my actions, I don’t need to excel and evolve because things are done by God and everything is as it is meant to be. All I have to do as my duty is pray and fast; otherwise, I am a sinner and should always ask for forgiveness to go to heaven after I die. Personally, I feel this clips the wings of not only the ordinary individual but also humanity, stopping the evolutionary process. People are robbed of self-esteem so they can be controlled by governing authorities in their living years. They even want us all to live with the greed of heaven and fear of hell. When a group of people believes that they can’t fly to their potential heights, they are likely to keep all of humanity behind with their clipped wings. Where did this wing clipping come from? It certainly did not come from God! Just look at the human body’s abilities to heal itself, grow bigger muscles, adapt to changes in climate, and survive on less or more food. We get a stronger immune system from certain infections, and on and on, we are discovering something new daily.

If you still don’t believe that God has done his job, politically, your wings have been clipped. So learn to regrow them and evolve. It is not only your personal responsibility but a collective responsibility as well. Religions and the politics of belonging have been holding you back with the carrot of heaven or hell. It even goes so far as to say you are going to burn in hell if you don’t listen to them or be subservient to their rules.

The ball is in your court. If you want to live a smaller life, do so, but remember, it is your choice and not coming from God. It is from politically tainted religions. Spiritually, you are directly connected to God, which should logically solve all your self-esteem-related issues.

Humanity is like a mother, father, community, nation, or God, and an individual is like a child. As we grow up and can fly solo, our role in society changes to a caregiver instead of a care receiver.

Parents or humanity as a whole should have strategies to raise their children to fly solo. They will learn to survive and help others to keep that natural balance of evolution. If everyone is in life for themselves or believes in dog-eat-dog business-like politics, they are destined to self-destruct. From individual to community level, humanity can’t or doesn’t work without spirituality-related compassion.

If you look at raising a child from a business point of view, how much does it cost? You can’t see or feel your personal emotional needs being fulfilled if you raise your child using this method. A human individual is not just an intellectual entity nor exclusively a bundle of emotions. We are intertwined in such a way that we must respect and create balance in both sides of the equation. We are the ones who judge if we know God’s blessings are good, and we are the ones who suffer from the bad. If human beings are not there, the judgment is not there; thus, good and bad do not exist.

If you choose one, you choose the extreme, and remember, extremes always bring consequences. From personal sufferings to politics-related religious wars or bad relationships with loved ones and everything in between. Remember, as mortals, we can’t afford to live a miserable and unfulfilled life. We should at least try as individuals to become moderate in our choices because of our mortality. A life fully lived in extremes can’t be fulfilling, so we need to learn something from our mortal nature. In extremes, we usually cross the lines to commit spiritual crimes against each other. Being a spiritual entity with memory leaves scars on our soul. It is essential to leave room for evolution by not being extremists. This can teach us to live a life without regrets, making our departure easier. When the time comes, you don’t want to go because you want to deal with your regrets, but you don’t have any time left.

Some examples of the consequences of extreme choices are:

In the business world, focusing on profits alone without concern for environmental impact can lead to ecological disasters.

In personal health, excessive exercise without rest can cause injuries, while neglecting physical activity leads to health issues.

In relationships, always compromising can lead to resentment, while never compromising can result in isolation.

In politics, extreme ideologies can polarize societies and lead to conflicts.

We are here to live a mortal life and evolve with time by learning from our experiences. It’s not about one individual’s superiority or inferiority; it’s about collective progress. We should strive for a balance that allows personal growth while contributing positively to humanity.

Remember, your wingspan is as vast as you make it, and the heights you reach are determined by your efforts and the balance you maintain in your life. Let’s evolve together, individually and collectively, to create a better world for ourselves and future generations.