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.