Tag: true purpose

  • There was a time when I didn’t care about the title of my post, or if it even had a title. It was more reflective of the understated life I lead. Over time I seem to have grown too familiar with the attention from strangers, or admiring critics to the point where I’ve lost touch with myself, or even what the purpose of my bleeding at the keyboard is supposed to be. The purge it used to offer is now just a constipated grumble of a system in a state of angst.

    My focus on providing, or at least feeling a need to express my opinion on the issues plaguing others has led to me being distanced from my own. It has always been easier to formulate an opinion on the challenges faced by others because it leaves me feeling somewhat smugly deluded into believing that I have a handle on this life thing that’s happening to me. That thing that goes on at an ever more rapid pace than before often leaving me overwhelmed with the realisation of how little I’ve achieved relative to what I know needs to be done.

    I look around these days wondering why the world seems to be so alluring when the reality that has proven itself billions of times before confirms that it’s nothing but the blink of an eye when compared to the true nature of our being. The cycles we go through on a daily basis become more contaminated with responsibility and its associated distractions, even though the allotment of time remains the same. We constantly try to master the art of productivity, and in so doing, we’re distracted from what we should be doing, yet still believing that in achieving a higher level of productivity it will free up some of that time for the important things. It never does.

    The important things are often set aside because of the compelling nature of responsibility. Responsibility compels us to act in a worldly manner, while…while we type away some meaningless post believing that the very effort brings us closer to our true purpose. I used to be able to close my eyes in the middle of writing one of these things, take a long drawn breath that wasn’t deep but wasn’t shallow either, and without having to apply my mind to it, more thoughts would tumble out of my mind without me summoning them. That doesn’t happen any longer. Now when I close my eyes, the movie in my head simply shifts into 3D and the noises from around me, including the cooing of the doves outside my window, serve to distract me from any sense of serenity, even though their morning serenades were often a source of comfort and wonder before.

    Perhaps there is a comfort in labels after all. At times like these, when faced with a vacuous sense of purpose or focus, holding on to a label may very well be therapeutic, albeit in a deceptive way. Perhaps all these delusions collude to give us a sense of peace and purpose while we’re distracting ourselves from the truth that we’re destined not to achieve anything of significance in this world except that by which others may be collectively distracted. When we achieve things that are not communally subscribed to, we assume that it lacks purpose or value. This sense of exclusion that I’ve felt for most, no, all of my life has led to what currently seems to be my saving grace of delusions. Perhaps my writing, as insignificant and pedestrian as it may seem, will influence a handful of those that have the natural ability to relate to the collective delusions of the world, and in so doing, I would be influential beyond my immediate sphere of influence without being celebrated, while being pleasantly surprised on the day of reckoning to be presented with a record of beneficence that would be completely unattested to by my mediocre life.

    Perhaps these ramblings have finally evolved into the delusions of a madman, and thereby becoming what it was always intended to be.

  • When Prayer Becomes Worship

    Quite inadvertently I realised this week that we only apply our minds and our hearts to those things from which we hope to acquire good. At first I thought it was just another superfluous thought, but it seemed to resonate in most things I did that day, especially prayer. Being a Muslim, there is never a shortage of emphasis by others on my need to comply with religious injunctions, especially those related to prayer.

    I’ve always taken exception to people who do things for the sake of compliance, because that is rarely sustainable and almost never fulfilling, with prayer being at the top of that list. Compliance and its promised rewards cannot be the only good that can be obtained through such submission, and this is not limited to religious submission only. In everything that we do in our lives, those things that have little or no identifiable reward often results in half-hearted attempts to do something with the intention of pleasing others, or to avoid ridicule or reprimand or worse, to avoid punishment. That just seems like such a waste of life.

    When I observe others, I find that the ones that do things with the most conviction are those that realise the benefits or the impact of what it is that they’re doing. For the same reason, you would find a janitor that would take more pride in their work than a qualified surgeon. It’s not the prestige of the job that drives that passion for detail and excellence, it’s the realisation of the contribution of what you’re doing relative to the greater good that drives us to want to do more than the bare minimum to accomplish the task at hand. For this reason you will find that two identically skilled and qualified individuals will produce a very different quality of result simply because of the personal perspectives and convictions that drive their actions.

    Complacency is only subscribed to when we lose sight of the true purpose of our servitude. In everything that we do, be it spiritual or physical, there must be a benefit for ourselves first before there can be a benefit for others in order for us to apply ourselves sufficiently to the task at hand. That personal benefit is often not material in nature and could take the form of fulfilling deeply held needs that we’re rarely consciously aware of. However, in serving others, we fulfil our need to be significant and to matter in a reality beyond just our own. In the spiritual realm this translates into finding personal benefit in our submission to the object of our worship.

    When prayer becomes a grounding point, a point of reflection, and a means towards attaining a clarity of thought and purpose let alone appreciation for what we have, that is when prayer becomes more than just a ritual. Understanding how that moment of submission balances the clutter with the sublime that leads to a more wholesome life is what turns it into an act of worship, rather than an act of obedience, or need. When all these realisations come together in our minds when we set ourselves down to pray, that moment becomes a cherished moment that cannot be rushed or compromised, but instead it will demand a level of mindfulness and conviction that will reflect in everything else that we do. It’s no wonder then that we are taught that if the prayer is sound, then everything else will be sound as well.

    Even if a ritualised form of prayer is not something that you subscribe to, the reality of being human will drive you to points of deep reflection on the purpose of life, creation, and what lies beyond. Perhaps that is the moments of true prayer on your part, regardless of your religious persuasion, and perhaps the conviction with which we meet those moments has a far greater bearing on the rest of our lives than we could ever imagine.