on world peace

Ernesto “Che” Guevara said, “Let me say at the risk of sounding ridiculous that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.” The very model for which we perceive the world has become void of instances of love but filled with rigidity and firmness. We have compartmentalized our existence and our very identities by drawing boundaries along religion, gender, ethnicity, social class, or education. We choose to be kings in our own self-created worlds, because we refuse to be servants in someone else’s. This adoption of isolationism reaffirms absolutism of ideology within self-described circles. When these “bubble worlds” collide, the clash gives birth to the very evils plaguing this planet; racism, intolerance, sexism, a false sense of pride and self-righteousness, injustice, poverty, and apathy towards animals and the environment to name a few. If it does not affect us in our isolated bubble world, it is of no concern to us. We who have been blessed with opportunity, blessed with even the most basic necessities for living have chosen to detach ourselves from a world of calamity, pain, and suffering. Nothing is connected. World peace is impossible in this mindset. But if we could break down these walls that divide us, then world peace is possible. If we can transcend the aforementioned man-made dividing factors and remind ourselves that we are all human; that what we want and love for others is what we want for ourselves, then world peace is possible. If we could extend and recreate our compassion and love for the things that matter to us on an individual level back to God, humanity, and His creation, then world peace is definitely possible. We must then all struggle to get reconnected.

kurt vonnegut (1922-2007)

Kurt Vonnegut used to be on my list of people I really wanted to hang out with before I die. I sadly scratched him off two weeks ago when I found out that he passed away in his home in Manhattan, New York after suffering from a severe head injury several weeks before. He was 84.

This post is long overdue, being that he died on the 11th of April. But in memory of him, I have chosen and pasted some quotes attributed to him. Rest in Peace Kurt.

“People don’t come to church for preachments, of course, but to daydream about God.”

“A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.”
–from Sirens of Titan

“Take Care of the People, and God Almighty Will Take Care of Himself.”
–from Sirens of Titan

“There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too.”
–from Mother Night

“Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'”
–from Timequake

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”

“I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours.”

_________________________
“New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.”
–from Breakfast of Champions

“Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.”

a muslim is….[student]

A very wise teacher had a class of ten students. His students were all very intelligent, but there was one student whom he loved the most. This student happened to be an orphan. All the other students felt upset because they knew that the teacher loved this one student more than any of them so they complained to their parents. The parents of the students then came back to the teacher and asked him, “Why don’t you love our children as much as you love him? It’s not fair that you give him more love and attention than our children.” The teacher replied, “Come back tomorrow and I will tell you why I love him the most.”

So the next day, all ten students were in the class; nine of them with their parents. The teacher had brought ten chickens in ten cages; one for each student. “I will give each of you a chicken,” he said. “Your goal is to hide the chicken where no one can possibly see it or find it. Whoever does the best job will be my best student.” So the students ran over the village to find a good place to hide their chicken. And they came back one by one. The teacher asked one student, “Where did you hide your chicken?” The student replied, “Oh you would be so proud of me, I wrapped the chicken is cloth and hid it underneath my bed!” Another student replied “I put the chicken in a basket and then in a box under a stack of books!”

Nine of the students hid their chickens, but the one student still had the chicken in his hand. All of the students laughed at him, “You lose! You lose! We win! We win!” And the teacher asked him, “Ibn Khaldoun, why are you still holding the chicken in your hand? All of the other students hid their chickens.” The orphan replied, “No matter where I thought to go, Allah would always know where the chicken was. I’m sorry teacher but I could not find a suitable place where I could hide the chicken and He could not see it.” He quietly returned the chicken to his teacher. The teacher smiled. “This is why I love this student the most.”

God is everywhere, from the throne of the heavenly bodies to the blood in our eyes,

I am the first to admit that I am so far from where I want to be spiritually, but imagine the glowing behavior and positive attitude of a person who lives with God at their side,

That person is a Muslim.

–appears in Tadhkirat al-Auliya’ (Memorial of the Saints)