Tag: tumblr

  • Farewell

    cynicallyjaded:

    After much thought and restlessness, I’ve decided to stop actively maintaining my Tumblr blog. I’ve imported all my posts to my WordPress blog, and for now, I intend to bleed on that site instead. I suspect that my Tumblr blog will evolve into being a place for me to reblog things that I like, but I doubt I’ll return to share my thoughts/views/rants on here in future. 

    If you’d like to keep in touch, I’ll continue to respond to Tumblr asks, but I’d prefer if we maintained contact via my WordPress blog or email instead. 

    You can find me at http://cynicaljaded.wordpress.com

    And my email address is cynicallyjaded@hotmail.com

  • Unfollow if you wish

    As expected, after those last few posts in response to questions I received, the followers have started trickling away. Good riddance if you’re that fickle. Fortunately I wasn’t whoring for your attention, otherwise I would be devastated right now. 

    Frustration and a desperate need to be understood is what influences the tone and focus of what I write. But each time I think I’m one step closer to that goal, something happens that convinces me yet again that being understood is most likely a foolish endeavour in this lifetime. 

    It’s easier to make assumptions than to engage meaningfully. Engaging meaningfully requires effort and sincerity, and it often acquires a sense of responsibility that is too taxing for most. 

  • Consolidating my blogs

    cynicallyjaded:

    After some thought, and considering the feedback I received from a whole three followers to my previous post about this, I’ve decided to go with consolidating my two blogs. On the one hand, keeping them separate allowed me to share my views about universal themes without triggering the prejudices of those that will feel repulsed by any Islamic undertones in what I say.

    The truth is, my views about the world have been very strongly influenced by the philosophy that Islam engenders towards leading a balanced life. This is evident in the posts that I have shared on the72sects regarding my disagreement with the way in which Muslims conduct themselves relative to what Islam requires of us. 

    One of the reasons I’ve decided to consolidate the two blogs is because by keeping them separate, it may give the impression that I am suggesting that Islam and universal issues of my daily life belong in two different domains. That’s not true. The two are inextricably interwoven. However, when we approach Islam, or any religion for that matter, as a spiritual guide independent of life itself, it ends up being practised as a set of rituals with the principles being lost in translation.

    The numerous debates that rage between Muslims of differing schools of thought bears testament to this unhealthy separation of the two. Someone once asked me what my view was regarding a specific issue that had religious connotations. I can’t recall the specific issue at hand, but what I said was that being a Muslim, the Islamic view is my view. If I try to divorce the two, then I would be guilty of being selective in what I practised based on personal preferences. This is not as ‘extremist’ as it may sound.

    Too many times we go on the defensive and try to justify our actions when those actions fall short of the prescribed behaviour. However, in accepting that we’re human, and therefore flawed by nature, we need to accept that our actions may not always be in line with what is required. Accepting that we’re wrong, and acknowledging that improvement is required in some spheres of our lives will automatically keep us grounded and sufficiently introspective to dissuade us from focusing on judging the actions of others. 

    With these, and so many other thoughts in mind, I’ll stop publishing new content to the72sects with immediate effect and will share my views on everything in this blog only. I look forward to reading the views of my Muslim and non-Muslims followers alike about any and all the posts I may share in future. 

    Does this mean that I need to change my blog title to ‘Ramblings of a Mad Muslim’ instead? 🙂

  • What to do…?

    My first thought this evening when I had a quiet moment was that I should consolidate my two blogs. But I’m not sure. This blog (Ramblings of a Madman) is intended to be my ventlet about how I see the world, and what I think of people…most of the time it’s focused on people that suck! But seriously, it’s my philosophical musings about life, my experiences and all that morbid stuff, usually with a universal theme, since most of life is like that, isn’t it?

    Then there’s my other blog (The 72 Sects) that I use as a channel to share my views about Islam, and my personal struggles, challenges and frustrations as a Muslim, but often venture into expressing my appreciation for the simplicity that Islam has entrenched in my life. However, that blog is deliberately focused on Islamic matters only. 

    So I’m wondering if there’s merit in combining the two into this blog, or is it more purposeful and effective to keep them separate? 

    Someone help me figure this out please? 🙁

  • Question – To Blog or Reblog?

    seinedoll replied to your post: runesofthedead answered your question: I think…

    Maybe some of us don’t write because they can’t.

    :p 

    Look who’s talking!

    It’s not the writing style only that appeals to me. And I definitely don’t consider myself a writer. It’s just the insight that is offered into how someone may view the world so that I have an opportunity to either relate, or to obtain a fresh perspective. In a strange way, it affords me a connection with others that has been rare in my real life. So I guess it’s a selfish indulgence. Me wanting to connect with others in a way that isn’t normally possible given the social prejudices and constraints that prevent it otherwise. 

  • To Blog, or Reblog?

    cynicallyjaded:

    Seriously considering becoming a re-blogger. No one appreciates original material any longer. People mostly like things only if they see other people liking things, and the number of people that like originality rather than fads are few and far between.

    I agree with all the comments, and I appreciate the compliments, but I guess deep down inside, every single one of us has a hint of attention-whoring that we can’t always dismiss, right? Seriously though, like someone once told me something along the lines of ‘words flow easier if there are hearts that are willingly receiving them’, posting on Tumblr, no matter how sincerely introspective, there is an expectation of either acknowledgement, or engagement.

    What’s most disconcerting is finding that when I re-blog something that is totally inane and it gets dozens of notes, I immediately wonder if I’m just annoying people with my endless rants and rambles about issues that most hardly appear to relate to. Which leads me to question whether I should be posting these thoughts here, or would it be more appropriate to establish a private blog or diary to store them?

    I’ve also often toyed with the idea of creating an email account for my daughters, and just emailing all these thoughts to them at random. Like little notes about what to look out for in life in case I’m not around to annoy them with fatherly advice. When they eventually reach the age of 16 or so, I would give them the details to access their respective email accounts as a gift to help them step into the adult world that awaits them.

    I’m rambling again. I guess the gist of it all is simply this. I tend to engage often with the bloggers that I follow on Tumblr, and I’m still naive enough to believe that I should expect the same in return. But when it doesn’t happen, I wonder if I’m just an annoyance factor that they’re tolerating for follower counts, or should I really stop behaving like a troll and just get the message that they’re not interested in engaging.

    Either way, it sucks. Needing, being needed, being needy…it all smacks of desperation that everyone feels but no one is willing to own up to. So I guess it’s official then. I’m a Tumblr-whore that has just come out of the closet. 

  • Question – Trigger Warning

    be1ieve replied to your photo: That little red bastard should come with a trigger…

    haha yesss! i did the same thing and right away your post came along.

    Don’t you feel so helpless when that happens? I mean, that need to click…especially when you’re about to walk away from your laptop and just as you’re about to stand up it appears! And then you have this internal struggle, and you think, but…but…but maybe it’s something important…and it starts all over again! 🙁

  • Trigger Warning

    That little red bastard should come with a trigger warning cos it almost always provokes an OCD reaction in any serious Tumblrer. click…click…click…