Month: October 2016

The Nature of Spirituality and Individual Actions

kizkhalifa123 on

forest_scenery_by_lunox_baik-d4gg21y

Moving Water

When  you do things from your soul, you feel a river

moving in you, a joy.

 

When actions come from another section, the feeling

disappears.  Don’t let others lead you.

They may be blind or, worse, vultures.

 

Reach for the rope of God.

And what is that?  Putting aside self-will.

 

Because of willfulness people sit in jail, the trapped bird’s wings are tied,

fish sizzle in the skillet.

 

The anger of police is willfulness.  You’ve seen a magistrate

inflict visible punishment.

 

Now see the invisible.  If you could leave your selfishness, you

would see how you’ve been torturing your soul.

 

We are born, and live inside black water in a well.

 

How could we know what an open field of sunlight is? Don’t

insist on going where you think you want to go.

 

Ask the way to the spring.

Your living pieces will form a harmony.

 

There is a moving palace that floats in the air

with balconies and clear water flowing through,

infinity everywhere, yet contained

under a single tent.

Rumi. “Moving Water.” Poem.org. Steven Boyd, June-July 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Seth. “Water Flow.” Google Images. Tumblr.com, May-June 2011. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

In many of Rumi’s famous poems one can find a great wealth of righteous knowledge that not only intends to give purpose to his poetic literature but to also give practical, beneficial advice to its readers.  Collectively this piece describes two interconnected aspects of beauty that are found within human essence and likewise the absence of these characteristics causes individuals of a society to deviate from their pure human nature. The path of true righteousness is found when one submits themselves to the divine Creator  in which they are retracing their body and soul to the initial instructions of God that had been placed upon the human being. This inevitably instills one with the ability to accept their own faults whilst simultaneously becoming obedient to religious law. These aspects are what Rumi defines as properties that successful, righteous individuals possess and therefore they are better enabled into rediscovering the true path of guidance as shown by God. Although the message presented is one of great virtue it is not yet complete as it entails that servants of the Most-Merciful will receive a reward for their sacrifices. Specifically they will be given spiritual ecstasy that will flow through their hearts in which will fill them with unexplainable happiness in this physical world and in the afterlife they will inhabit an unimaginable paradise. Alongside paradise the equivalent opposite, which is also known as hell, is a place of constant torment and punishment. The individuals who continue to linger in evil and cause their hearts to dwell in darkened, murky water will face a visible punishment in this materialistic world and also a physical consequence for their actions after death. Continuous balance of both reward and pain in this poem are parallel to that of the characteristics of good and evil. This entails that either result is with certainty present but it is not a fixed destination; therefore,  an individual’s free will in the worldly life can in actuality change the outcome of their fate after death.

Rumi describes a general yet large understanding of the Islamic belief of the afterlife and it is by doing so that he impacts the reader into begin thinking for themselves. This is because he causing individuals to question the world around them in order to allow them to acknowledge the truth of this world: human beings are meant to be subservient to the Creator. If one is to become successful they must be willing to stand firm to their belief systems and must overcome the pressures that surround their social environment.

Blood Drops

kizkhalifa123 on

WKYD. “Rain.” Google. Tumblr, Feb.-Mar. 2011. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

I laid there, still and without movement. The drops of rain slowly moving from my forehead to the lobes of my ears and lightly dripping into the small puddles near my shoulders. Hands covered in blood, fingers broken and deep flesh wounds; this would be my final breath.

I laid there, in pain and agony. My lungs were collapsing under the increased pressure of broken ribs and deteriorating thoracic cavity. Heart aching with every pump of blood, legs no longer able to feel any sensations and eyes beginning to weep its final tears; this would be my last moment.

I laid there, waiting in sadness. My clothes dampened by the continuous rainfall and my hair was slowly falling strand by strand, with no one to aid me from this torment. The woman, the family and the friends I held dear neither came to help me nor did they come to ease my worries.

I laid there, being instilled with rage and apprehension. The brain that I had once learned to control was now, finally, acting on its own. Emotions fluctuated, limbs disconnected and deception uplifted; my fate was clear and visible. The seconds felt like hours and minutes felt like days slowly passing by in synchronization with the flow of deteriorating cells and damaged internal organs.

I stopped there, fallen and destroyed. The soul that once held internal warmth inevitably began to spill self righteous appearances and egotistical mentalities. Loneliness crept on my heart slowly but its ever growing presence was simply, overwhelming. Dark clouds pulled closer and closer to the Earth prepared to flood its inhabitants with the tears that fell from heaven not to nourish the fields or grow vegetation but to mourn a fallen soul.

I looked there, distraught and powerless. A shadow with long dark clothes, stood in front of my very eyes wielding a scythe in one arm and in the other held the book of life. With much strength, I attempted to take the book but to no avail and as my hand fell towards the ground my eyelids slowly shut for the last time.

I left, unaccomplished. There were dreams, goals and aspirations that I had still wanted to achieve but time had come to its final conclusion. The years I spent wasting, the days I spent stalling and the moments I spent in complete disregard came back all at once, as regret. I never valued what I was given and was never grateful towards the blessings God had bestowed upon me. I would finally be held accountable.

I fell, into a never ending abyss of darkness for this was the end.

The circumstances leading to one’s death is a mysterious component to the after life and likewise can not be directly interpreted. In this particular situation the individual underwent an intense amount of physical and emotional pain, having bones broken and sadness cloud their mind, which entails that darkness will follow the individual after death. Defined by regret and fear the individual is filled with apprehension when contemplating past actions and therefore reflects how they will be treated in regards to divine questioning. At this specific moment in an individual’s life they inevitably will realize the heaviness of their actions and in turn will want to live a few more moments longer to complete unfulfilled deeds of righteousness, but in actuality will bear no reward. It is at this period of time that one recognizes the worthlessness of materialism and begins to be engulfed by an overwhelming presence of loneliness. Taken from this evidence it is clear that when one is suffering at the stages of death, it is in fact a torment that they have reaped by their own evil deeds.

Setting and atmosphere also contribute to the overall mood of the tale as it not only is filled with melancholy but also an increasingly more negative and depressing environment develops with the progression of the story. This further emphasizes the fate of the character as one can assume that the events to come will be of greater intensity in terms of torment and agony. The setting is completed by the darkening clouds bringing forth rain that pours down and the blood that stains the cement. The inclusion of this type of setting strengthens the evil surrounding this character’s case and in turn achieves in completing the theme of true sadness.