Yes, absolutely. At times we find ourselves at crossroads, on the one side there is what's rationally right, morally acceptable, and allowed by our conscience, and on the other is the dark dangerous rocky road of what-ifs? the questionable path? Reason knows its wrong, but the heart knows that reason doesn't want to know what's wrong or right.
What is one to do then? which road does one take? Or does one stand at the fork - spellbound, paralyzed, stuck and mute? What to do when your heart pulls you in one direction while duty in another? In this mechanistic world of today, we have become too disconnected with our spirits, with our bodies, our souls and hearts... all we are concerned about is material acquisition and the race to get to the end, an end which isn't defined for any of us. If asked why we work so hard most people would be quite confused, for they have no clue themselves. Most would answer 'for a better life and a better future for their children'. But do they ever sit back and think and analyse what is 'better'? Is it a big house a good, well paying job or something else? Do they consider the health of their minds, their souls, their emotions as an important or even a relevant factor? I think not. I don't suppose many people think to themselves that let my son or daughter study and get good careers so they can be spiritually in a more peaceful and happier state, perhaps they assume that once they have reached a certain level of material wealth and status they will be automatically blessed with happiness and contentment. How very wrong are they! It is only when we grow older and understand our surroundings and ourselves a little better do we (at times only) realize the futility of all the planning and racing -trying to reach a place which always somehow keeps receding like a mirage the more closer you think you are getting to it. For most of us start to experience a queer unrecognisable and nagging feeling of emptiness inside us, as though nothing we did was ever worth the effort we put into it, and we gave importance all our lives to things and issues that were so not significant in the long run. I remember watching the movie Australia with Nicole Kidman, it is about a courageous woman who sets her aims high, but here I am thinking of it for different reasons. The aboriginal boy (who is so cute) and his grandfather who lives out in the bush and appears only at times to help his grandson and his friends is in touch with the spirits of his ancestors and the sense of nature around us. Everything, from the wind, to the dust, to the thumping on the ground, the clouds talk to him and tell him what's to come. He is not disconnected with his spiritual side, he is not just a body but above and beyond that, an intelligence and a being which is one with the larger being in the universe. It is the god of Spinoza, in fact it is the God of Islam, for Allah tells us again and again that in he is in everything around you, he isn't his creation but they manifest him and his supremacy. How do we develop our spiritual sides? How do we in the commercial concrete jungles that we live in get a glimpse of God and a reflection of our inner being. We have to go beyond reason, and here I don't mean do crazy things, what I mean is let go of control, of trying to control all, of trying to win and be one up, to merely submit and succumb which is the true meaning of Islam.
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