Friday, November 10, 2017

Friends Incarnate Alive

Friends Incarnate published by All Things That Matter Press—link to right, is producer’s dream come true./ Any producer interested in adapting this book to a movie please contact Phil Harris at his website: AllThingsThatMatterPress.com/ A little peek into the Story/ Gable the protagonist in this book, though no Don Juan, is lover incarnate in age of baby-boomers. /He is master of his own fate, reflecting mirror of his mind as some projection on TV screen, more like a restless spirit haunted by the demons of his own psyche. /His girlfriend Ethel gets married to his best friend Fabian, and thus begins the journey of his sinful passion and glorious madness. /Remaining true to his love lost and love unforgettable, he wades through the waters of a loveless marriage, then divorce and finally into the furnace of adultery with his own brother’s wife. /He himself tumbling down the rungs of depravity, clings to Ethel in his thoughts as one devotee to his patron saint. /His sister commits suicide, his brother dies and so does his friend Fabian, leaving open the gates of paradise for Gable and Ethel as Friends Incarnate./ Gable’s own villanelle below sums up this novel in all its entirety./ Let me sleep in peace, wake me up on Judgment Day/ My wearied and restless soul cries in plea/ All thoughts are dunes of sand, and mind a pot of clay/ Sorrows weep no more, aged grief has turned all gray/ Negation in nothingness dares to flee/ All thoughts are dunes of sand, and mind a pot of clay/ Spirit of agony has lost its power to slay/ The embittered heart in torments of glee/ All thoughts are dunes of sand, and mind a pot of clay/ Surcease has trodden all paths to pave the way/ Into the chambers of hope where blindness can see/ All thoughts are dunes of sand, and mind a pot of clay/ Lost youth at the altars of ruins need not pray/ The nemesis silent, sealed by God’s holy decree/ All thoughts are dunes of sand, and mind a pot of clay/ Roots of death in illusions have learnt to array/ The naked dreams in raiments of lies on life’s tree/ Let me sleep in peace, wake me up on Judgment Day/ All thoughts are dunes of sand, and mind a pot of clay/ Dialogue Excerpt/ “You are going to kill yourself, Gable, by shutting yourself off in your room all the time./ And pacing, if not writing.” Phoebe flung herself upon the crumpled bed, pouting her lips voluptuously./ “Are you really worried about your friend, Fabian, I mean, or thinking more about your friend Ethel, your beloved, your true love?” Her eyes were sparkling with a subtle challenge./ “You would never understand the meaning of true love, my evil temptress.” Gable’s look was feverish and incisive./ “Tempt me no more to sin, go away.”/ “You are a fool, Gable. An absolute fool to reject my love.” Phoebe scoffed./ “Your love for Ethel is a delusion, don’t you know that?/ Why can’t you forget her?”/ “Sin and lust are not love, Phoebe, you have succeeded in burying me alive inside the volcano of my own guilt and grief.” Gable murmured deliriously, resuming his pacing./ “What do you know about love?”/ “More than you do, my sinful lover.” Phoebe laughed seductively./ “At least, I absolve your sin with the gifts of joy and sweetness, which is me, each fiber in my flesh—since you tell me I have no soul, singing that love is not ever sinful.”/ “How I loathe you—and myself—” Gable pounced upon her with the fury of a man possessed, sealing her lips with kisses wild and terrible./ “Now leave, before I kill you.” He panted with rage and disgust./ “I have to go and see my sick friend.”/ ‘Love is the merchandise which all the world demands./If you store it in your heart, every soul will become your customer.’/ Hazrat Inayat Khan

Friday, August 18, 2017

Peace Prayer

Saint Francis of Assisi/ baptised as Giovanni di Bernadone/ b. 1182 -- d. 1226 A. D./ The Peace Prayer of Saint Francis/ "O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!/ Where there is hatred, let me sow love./ Where there is injury, pardon./ Where there is discord, harmony./ Where there is doubt, faith./ Where there is despair, hope./ Where there is darkness, light./ Where there is sorrow, joy./ Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not / so much seek to be consoled as to console;/ to be understood as to understand; / to be loved as to love; / for it is in giving that we receive; / it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; / and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life." / ________________________________________ This beautiful prayer, although often mistakenly attributed to St Francis, does not appear in any known writings of St Francis. / The prayer was apparently written in France during World War I, perhaps by a Catholic Priest, Father Bouquerel. / It is commonly known as the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis because it was often seen printed on a small card that had a picture of Saint Francis on one side and this prayer on the other side. /However, the card did not make any claim that the prayer was written by Saint Francis./ So, ironically, this beautiful prayer, which is so highly revered around the world, actually has nothing to do with St Francis. / The first known appearance of this inspiring prayer was in 1912 AD when it was published in the French magazine La Clochette. / It matters not who wrote these words./Divinely Inspired our world needs this prayer more than ever before to avert nuclear tragedies./ ‘Ignorance is the loneliness of isolation./The pain of discontent./The misery of being other./Misery is the pain of not realizing our true nature.’/Buddhist Saying.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Peace Ideal by Hazrat Inayat Khan

An ideal is beyond explanation./ To analyze God is to dethrone God./ Belief is like a staircase./ Each step takes one higher, but when one remains standing on a certain step of the staircase one does not progress./ Belief may nail the feet to the ground and keep one there standing on a certain spot on a staircase. /As a person evolves so his belief evolves, until he comes to that stage where he harmonizes with all the different beliefs, where he is no longer against any belief./ Then he is not nailed down any more; he is above all the different beliefs. Very often a person says, 'I cannot understand what God is. /Can you explain God to me?/ But if God were to be explained He would not be God. /To explain God is to dethrone God./ God apart, can one explain anything fine and subtle such as gratitude, love, or devotion, in words? /How much can be explained? /Words are too inadequate to explain great feelings, so how can God be explained in words?/ Since to analyze God means to dethrone God, the less said on the subject the better. / Everyone has his own imagination of God. /It is best if everyone is left to his own imagination./ However religious or pious, he cannot explain God; not even a mystic or philosopher can explain Him./ The ideal of God is the first lesson that must be learnt; and it cannot be learnt by analysis. /Therefore the intellectual mind which seeks for an analysis of God is always sure to be disappointed. /The philosopher spoke truly when he said, 'To analyze God is to dethrone God.' /Analysis can never portray even the ideal of God. /That is why every messenger, Muhammad, Christ, Moses, Abraham, emphasized the one word: faith. / It is the same with every ideal, even with the ideal of God. /An ideal is beyond explanation./ Where the flame of love rises, the knowledge of God unfolds of itself./ In love abides all knowledge. /It is mankind's love and interest in the things that in time reveals their secret, and then man knows how to develop, control, and utilize them. /No one can know anybody, however much he may profess to know, except the lover, because in the absence of love the inner eyes are blind. /Only the outer eyes are open, which are merely the spectacles of the inner eyes. /If the sight is not keen, of what use are the spectacles? / It is for this reason that we admire all those whom we love, and are blind to the good qualities of those whom we do not love./ It is not always that these deserve our neglect, but our eyes, without love, cannot see their goodness. /Those whom we love may have bad points too, but as love sees beauty, so we see that alone in them./ Intelligence itself in its next step towards manifestation is love. /When the light of love has been lit, the heart becomes transparent, so that the intelligence of the soul can see through it./ But until the heart is kindled by the flame of love, the intelligence, which is constantly yearning to experience life on the surface, is groping in the dark. / Love is like the fire; its glow is devotion, its flame is wisdom, its smoke is attachment, and its ashes detachment. /Flame rises from glow, so it is with wisdom, which rises from devotion. /When love's fire produces its flame it illuminates the devotee's path in life like a torch, and all darkness vanishes. /If this love expands to embrace the whole creation of the Heavenly Father, it raises man to be among the chosen ones of God./ Peace is perfected activity; that is perfect which is complete in all its aspects, balanced in each direction and under complete control of the will./ It is useless to discuss the peace of the world. /What is necessary just now is to create peace in ourselves that we, ourselves, become examples of love, harmony and peace. /That is the only way of saving the world and ourselves. Peace is independently felt within oneself./ It is not dependent upon the outer sensation. /It is something that belongs to one, something that is one's own self. / Peace is not a knowledge, peace is not a power, peace is not a happiness, but peace is all these./ And besides, peace is productive of happiness. /Peace inspires one with knowledge of the seen and unseen, and in peace is to be found the divine Presence. /It is not the excited one who conquers in this continual battle of life. /It is the peaceful one who tolerates all, who forgives all, who understands all, who assimilates all things./ The one who lacks peace, with all his possessions, the property of this earth or quality of mind, is poor even with both. /He has not got that wealth which may be called divine and without which man's life is useless. /For true life is in peace, a life which will not be robbed by death. / The secret of mysticism, the mystery of philosophy, all is to be attained after the attainment of peace./You cannot refuse to recognize the divine in a person who is a person of peace. /It is not the talkative, it is not the argumentative one, who proves to be wise./ He may have intellect, worldly wisdom, and yet may not have pure intelligence, which is real wisdom. /True wisdom is to be found in the peaceful, for peacefulness is the sign of wisdom. /It is the peaceful one who is observant. /It is peace that gives him the power to observe keenly. /It is the peaceful one, therefore, who can conceive, for peace helps him to conceive. /It is the peaceful who can contemplate; one who has no peace cannot contemplate properly./ Therefore, all things pertaining to spiritual progress in life depend upon peace./ And now the question is what makes one lack peace?/ The answer is, love of sensation./ A person who is always seeking to experience life in movement, in activity, in whatever form, wants more and more of that experience./ In the end he becomes dependent upon the life which is outside, and so he loses in the end his peace, the peace which is his real self. / The first thing is to seek the kingdom of God within ourselves, in which there is our peace. /As soon as we have found that, we have found our support, we have found our self. /And in spite of all the activity and movement on the surface, we shall be able to keep that peace undisturbed if only we hold it fast by becoming conscious of it./ Do not limit God to your virtue. /He is beyond your virtues, O pious ones!/ There is no such thing as impossible. /All is possible./ Impossible is made by the limitation of our capacity of understanding. /Man, blinded by the law of nature's working, by the law of consequences which he has known through his few years life on earth, begins to say, 'This is possible and that is impossible.' /If he were to rise beyond limitations, his soul would see nothing but possible./ And when the soul has risen high enough to see all possibility, that soul certainly has caught a glimpse of God./ Many have been resentful towards God for having sent them misery in their lives, but misery is always part of life's experience. /Some may become very angry and say, 'This is not just', or 'This is not right, for how could God who is just and good allow unjust things to happen?'/ But our sight is very limited, and our conception of right and wrong and good and evil is only our own, and not according to God's plan./ It is true that as long as we see it as such, it is so for us and for those who look at it from our point of view; but when it comes to God the whole dimension is changed, the whole point of view is changed./ It is for this reason that the wise in all ages, instead of trying to judge the action of God, have so to speak put aside their sense of justice for the time being; and they have tried to learn one thing only, and that was resignation to the will of God. / The Being of God is recognized by His attributes. /Therefore man speaks of God as the just God./ He sees all power, all goodness in God; but when the situation is changed, when he sees God as injustice, he begins to think that God is powerless, and to judge the action of God. /But one must look at this from a different point of view. /Human beings are limited, imperfect, and yet we try to judge the perfect Being, or His perfect action, from our own imperfect standpoint./ In order to judge, our vision must become as wide as the universe; then we might have a slight glimpse of the justice, which is perfect in itself./ A man's inclination is the root of the tree of his life./ The real inclination of every life is to attain to something which cannot be touched or comprehended or understood. /The hidden blessing of this knowledge is the first step to perfection. /Once awake to this fact, man sees there is something in life that will make him really happy and give him his heart's desire./ He can say, 'Though there are many things in life which I need for the moment, and for which I shall certainly work, yet there is only that one thing, around which life centers, that will satisfy me: the spiritual attainment, the religious attainment, or, as one may even call it, the attainment of God.'/ Such a one has found the key to all happiness, and has found that all the things he needs will be reached because he has the key to all. /'Seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. /Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.' /This kingdom of God is the silent life; the life inseparable, eternal, self-sufficient, and all-powerful. /This is the life of the wise, whatever be the name given to it; this is the life which the wise contemplate./ It is the face of this life that they long to see; it is the ocean of this life that they long to swim in; as it is written: 'In Him we live and have our being.'/ Yes, teach your principles of good, but do not think to limit God within them. /The goodness of each man is peculiar to himself./ What is man to judge the doings of God from his limited standard of good and bad? /He knows not beyond what he knows. /He says he knows if he knows one cause, but there is cause after cause, hidden one behind another; and when once the soul perceives the Cause of all causes, he then realizes that all other causes are as illusions./ There is one single Cause behind all things./ One sees different desires in different people, yet when one studies them keenly one finds they are all different paths leading to one common goal. /When one realizes this one's accusations, complaints, and grudges cease at once. /However, there is also a natural tendency in man to find the easiest and quickest path to reach the desired goal, and there is also the tendency to share his pleasure, happiness, or comfort with others, and it is this that prompted the prophets and reformers to help mankind on its journey to the goal./ Those that follow in their footsteps, forgetting that moral, drag people by the neck to make them follow them, and this has brought about the degeneration of religions./ Christ said, 'In my Father's house are many mansions.' /The Prophet has said, 'Every soul has its peculiar religion.' /There is a Sanskrit saying, which perhaps deludes those who do not understand it, but which yet means the same thing: 'As many souls as there are, so many gods are there.'/ The God of each is the God of all, but in order to comprehend that God we each have to make our own God. /Some of us seek justice, we can seek for God Who is just. Some of us look for beauty, we must find it in the God of beauty. /Some of us seek for love, we must find it in the God of mercy and compassion./ Some of us wish for strength and power, we must find it in the God Almighty. /The seeking of every soul in this world is different, distinct and peculiar to himself, and he can best attain to it by finding the object of his search in God./ To learn to adopt the standard of God, and to cease to wish to make the world conform to one's own standard of good, is the chief lesson of religion./ When people came to Christ accusing a person of doing wrong, the Master could not think of anything else but forgiveness./ For he did not see in the wrongdoer what the others saw. /To distinguish between right and wrong is not the work of an ordinary mind, and the curious thing is that the more ignorant a person is, the more ready he is to do so./ The religious man full of dogmas is often apt to make these too rigid and he expects the godly or God-conscious to fit in with his standard of goodness. /If they do not fit in with his particular idea of piety he is ready to criticize them. /But the thought and life of Krishna were used by the artist, the poet and the musician; and out of this came a new religion, a religion of recognizing the divine in natural human life./ Every mind has its particular standard of good and bad, and of right and wrong. /This standard is made by what one has experienced through life, by what one has seen or heard; it also depends upon one's belief in a certain religion, one's birth in a certain nation and origin in a certain race./ But what can really be called good or bad, right or wrong, is what comforts the mind and what causes it discomfort. /It is not true, although it appears so, that it is discomfort that causes wrongdoing./ In reality, it is wrongdoing which causes discomfort, and it is right-doing which gives comfort./ The discrimination between good and evil is in man's soul. /Every man can judge that for himself, because in every man is the sense of admiration of beauty. /Happiness only lies in thinking or doing that which one considers beautiful. /Such an act becomes a virtue or goodness./ Thought draws the line of fate./ As mind is naturally impressionable, that means that man is naturally impressionable too./ Most often his illness, health, prosperity, failure, all depends upon the impressions on his mind. /They say 'Lines of fate and death are on the head and palm,' but I would say that it is the impressions man has on his mind which decide his destiny./ A person thinks, 'Someday I should like to build a factory.' /At this time he has no money, no knowledge, no capability; but a thought came, 'Someday I should like to build a factory.'/Then he thinks of something else. /Perhaps years pass, but that thought has been working constantly through a thousand minds, and a thousand sources prepare for him that which he once desired./ If we could look back to all we have thought of at different times, we would find that the line of fate or destiny, Kismet as it is called in the East, is formed by our thought. /Thoughts have prepared for us that happiness or unhappiness which we experience. /The whole of mysticism is founded on this./ One must always say every word with consideration, and should not say what one does not wish to happen. /Those who do not understand the value of suggestion walk after their own fate with a whip in their hand, and those who understand its value and control their word and use it rightly, they are a bliss to themselves and a source of happiness to others./ Misbelief alone misleads; singlemindedness always leads to the goal./ He who sincerely seeks his real purpose in life is himself sought by that purpose. /As he concentrates on that search a light begins to clear his confusion, call it revelation, call it inspiration, call it what you will. /It is mistrust that misleads. /Sincerity leads straight to the goal./ Many are the paths that lead to success. /The difficulty lies in keeping strictly to the chosen path, or in other words in retaining singleness of mind. /There is one means only by which man can attain to a realization of the religious ideal of the Godhead, and that is through sincerity and singlemindedness in the conduct of everyday life./ A person with the tendency to respond will succeed in all walks of life; a person who is not responsive will become disappointed in all affairs of life./ Responsiveness comes by interest, also by concentration, also by power of one's mind. /Responsiveness may be explained as faith, trust, concentration, singlemindedness, a living interest, contemplation, and love. /To respond means to give full attention and not divided attention but single attention./ Responsiveness is focusing one's whole being to something of interest. /When a person, even in his interest in worldly affairs, has so developed his faculty of responsiveness, then it becomes easy for him to respond to the call of the Spirit./ The mystery of responsiveness is that the responsive one must forget himself in order to respond; and the same mystery may be called the path to perfection. /A person who is not capable of forgetting himself, however good, pious, or spiritual, will always prove imperfect in his life. /All misery comes from the consciousness of the self. /The one who does not forget is constantly called by his own limited life, which enslaves him constantly. The one who forgets himself receives the call of God./ A king is ever a king, be he crowned with a jeweled crown or clad in beggar's garb./ Those crowned with beauty are always kings, even if they are in rags or sold as slaves. /A true king is always a king, with or without a throne./ I arrived at a cemetery where a group of dervishes sat on the green grass, chattering together. /They were all poorly clad, some without shoes and others without coats; one had a shirt with only one sleeve and another lacked them both./ One wore a robe with a thousand patches and the next a hat without a crown./ This strange group attracted my attention and I sat there for some time, noticing all that was going on yet feigning to be utterly indifferent. / When the Murshid arrived at the assembly of his disciples each one greeted the other, saying, 'Ishq Allah, Ma'bud Allah!—God is love and God is the beloved! . /The solemnity of the sacred words they uttered found their echo in my soul, thereupon I watched their ceremonial with still greater attention. /The queer patches on their garments reminded me of the words of Hafiz, 'Do not befool thyself by short sleeves full of patches, for most powerful arms are hidden under them.'/ The dervishes first sat lost in contemplation, reciting charms one after the other, and then they began their music. /I forgot all my science and technique while listening to their simple melodies, as they sang to the accompaniment of sitar and dholok the deathless words of the Sufi Masters such as Rumi, Jami, Hafiz, and Shams-i Tabriz. / The most amazing part of the proceedings came when the assembly was about to disperse./ For one of the dervishes arose and, while announcing Bhandara or dinner, addressed them in the following terms, 'O Kings of Kings! O Emperors of Emperors!' /This amused me greatly at the time, while I regarded their outward appearance. /My first thought made them merely kings of imagination, without throne or crown, treasury, courtiers, or dominions—those natural possessions and temporal powers of kingship./ But the more I brooded upon the matter, the more I questioned whether environment or imagination made a king. /The answer came at last: the king is never conscious of his kingship and all its attributes of luxury and might unless his imagination is reflected in them and thus proves his true sovereignty./ And it also reveals how fleeting time and the changes of matter make all the kings of the earth but transitory kings, ruling over transitory kingdoms; this is because of their dependence upon their environment instead of their imagination./ But the kingship of the dervish, independent of all external influences, based purely on his mental perception and strengthened by the forces of his will, is much truer and at once unlimited and everlasting. /Yet in the materialistic view his kingdom would appear as nothing, while in the spiritual conception it is an immortal and exquisite realm of joy./ Verily, they are the possessors of the kingdom of God and all His seen and unseen treasure is in their own possession, since they have lost themselves in God. / Thus I compared our deluded life with the real, and our artificial with their natural being, as one might compare the false dawn with the true. /I realized our folly in attaching undue weight to matters wholly unimportant. /I felt that we were losing the most precious moments and opportunities of life for transitory dross and tinsel, at the sacrifice of all that is enduring and eternal./ To treat every human being as a shrine of God is to fulfill all religion./ Where is the shrine of God?/ It is in the heart of man. /As soon as one begins to consider the feelings of another, one begins to worship God. /There is a story of a murshid who was going with his mureeds to visit some village, and he was keeping a fast. /The mureeds also had taken a vow of fasting. /They arrived at the peasants' home where there was great enthusiasm and happiness and where a dinner was arranged for them./ When they were invited to the table, the murshid went and sat down; but the mureeds did not dare because they had taken a vow of fasting. /Yet they would never mention it to the murshid./ They thought, 'Murshid is forgetful; Murshid has forgotten the vow.' /After dinner was over and they went out the pupils asked, 'Did you not forget the vow of fasting?' /'No,' was the murshid's answer, 'I had not forgotten./ But I preferred breaking the fast rather than the heart of that man who with all his enthusiasm had prepared the food.'/ The thirst for life makes us overlook little opportunities of doing good./ Every moment of life brings an opportunity for being conscious of human feeling, in prosperity, in adversity, in all conditions. /It costs very little; only a little thought is necessary. / There is no greater religion than love./ God is love; and the best form of love is to be conscientious regarding the feelings of those with whom we come in contact in everyday life./ How beautiful are the words of the Prophet: 'The shrine of God is the heart of man.' How true that is! . /He who understands this can worship God even in man. /For when he abides by this philosophy he will always be aware that in every aspect and at every moment he may be injuring or hurting the feelings of God, that he is in danger of breaking the shrine of God in breaking the heart of his fellow man. / What does all this teach us?/ It is all a lesson in sympathy for one's fellow man, to teach us to share in his troubles, in his despair. /For whoever really experiences this joy of life, finds that it becomes so great that it fills his heart and his soul./ It does not matter if he has fewer comforts or an inferior position than many in this world, because the light of his kindness, of his sympathy, of the love that is growing, the virtue that is springing up in his heart, all fill the soul with light. /There is nothing now that he lacks in life, for he has become the king of it./ ~~~ Hijrat Day (Departure Day) -- The day that Inayat Khan departed from India, headed for America, September 13, 1910./ ‘Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above them.’ Washington Irving

Friday, June 30, 2017

Hijabis Persist

This play below to be produced is open for further productions./ Any Artistic Director interested please leave info in comment box on this blog and you will be contacted ASAP Hijabis Persist/ Cast of Characters:/ Sadiqa/ Rehana/ Character Breakdown:/ Sadiqa/ Pakistani born US citizen./ She is a Muslim in her twenties, studying American History in Portland University. /Medium height, petite looking, pale complexion. Brown eyes, same color hair cut to shoulder length./ Rehana/ American African classmate of Sadiqa, also Muslim, studying Computer Information Systems. /Tall, athletic looking, large, dark eyes, dark complexion. /In her twenties, wears hijab./ Scene:/ A dorm room scantily furnished with two twin beds and a couple of writing desks. /When the curtain opens, Sadiqa and Rehana are seen lounging on their separate beds with pillows propped behind their backs./ Sadiqa/ Don’t you feel guilty, Rehana, that two men died and one wounded just because you were wearing a hijab./ Rehana/ I only feel anger, that’s all. /How can you say such a thing, Sadiqa? /Have you forgotten those racial slurs thrown at us? /You don’t wear hijab though you claim to be a Muslim. Sadiqa/ True Muslim is one who curbs his or her anger, no matter how harsh the provocation, Prophet Muhammad said./ As to hijab, it has nothing to do with Islam. /Clerics and zealots have concocted this manmade edict to control and oppress Muslim women./ Rehana (Shocked)/ How can you malign your own faith?/ I am proud to be a Muslim and wear hijab to protect my faith./ Sadiqa/ Islam is not about what you wear or how you cover your head, but loving, caring, sharing./ Besides there is not a single verse in the Quran which says Muslim women need to cover their heads./ Rehana (Scoffing)/ I never thought you could be so ignorant./ Don’t you know this verse: And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display their adornments only that which is apparent, and to draw their scarves over their bosoms. 24:31 Quran./ Sadiqa (Smiling)/ Sure!/ Clerics succeeding in distorting Quranic verses and seducing Muslim girls to cover their heads, who cares about the bosom part, just look like penguins by wearing hijab, maybe that tickles the fancy of Cleric’s zeal, who knows. /That verse was revealed in response to pagan women going around Kaaba wearing low-neck dresses with their bosoms revealed./ Rehana (Frowning)/ I have never heard you talk like this before. /I guess we never discussed religion. How about this verse in the Quran: / O ye who believe! Enter not the dwellings of the Prophet for a meal without waiting for the proper time, unless permission is granted you. /But if you are invited, enter, and when your meal is ended, disperse. /Lingering not for conversation. /Lo, that would cause annoyance to the Prophet and he would be shy of asking you to go, but Allah is not shy of truth. /And when you ask of the wives of the Prophet anything, ask it from them behind a curtain. 33:53 Quran./ Sadiqa/ Another tool of tyranny and distortion in the hands of zealots. /This verse has nothing to do with hijab or veiling. It was revealed right after Prophet’s marriage to Zainab. /The wedding guests lingered over the food and didn’t leave until it was very late in the night./ Rehana (Desperately)/ How come then that so many Muslim girls wear hijab?/ Sadiqa/ How come that countless more who don’t wear hijab, yet they are devout Muslims./ Rehana (Confused)/ I don’t know./ Sadiqa/ I will tell you why, because they believe in living Islam by the example of Prophet’s own life and by his Message of love, peace and harmony. /Not by touting unIslamic hijab as a symbol of Islam. /It’s like shouting: Look at me, I am a Muslim!/ Rehana (Persistently)/ I don’t think that way./ Hijab is part of my faith and I want to preserve it against these sudden tides of hate and Islamophobia./ Sadiqa/ Extremists are cause of this Islamophobia and they are very happy to see the symbols of their zeal over the heads of the young girls. /Saudi Arabia funneling money into mosques to make zealots of Muslims and luring them to their dens of hate for killing. /Suicide bombers are promised reward of houris in heaven, though suicide is forbidden in Islam, not allowed under any condition./ Rehana/ How do you know that mosques are breeding zealots since you don’t even go to the mosque?/ Sadiqa/ Because my friends tell me so. /They also tell their parents they don’t want to go to the mosque because mulla teaches hatred./ Rehana/ I don’t know which mosque they go to? /Our Maulvi is nice. He teaches us to love one another, how to dress, what to eat, say our prayers and stay away from sins. /Somehow I feel hijab is holy. /It’s my fight against all this hate and prejudice which many Muslims suffer silently. /If I took it off I would feel naked. /Yes, it’s my fight against bigotry and hate-mongering./ Sadiqa (Laughing)/ You are steering this fight in the wrong direction. /Fight the bigotry and hypocrisy of the zealots. /Discard all symbols of zeal and anger, and hatred and prejudice will melt away./ Rehana/ You don’t understand the sanctity of hijab./ You have never worn one./ Sadiqa (Laughing again)/ Yes, I have!/ Our mulla at the mosque, when I did go to the mosque, convinced me that hijab is Islamic and I must wear it to become a good Muslim. /My mom was so upset, exclaiming: /I would never get a good husband looking like a penguin. /Yet I persisted for two years until I went to Egypt to study Arabic./ My teacher over there, I discovered, was a great Islamic scholar and she told me that hijab has nothing to do with Islam, no mention of such a thing in the Quran or Sunnah. /She also told me that by not wearing hijab and teaching my friends to do so might help the plight of the oppressed Saudi women who are forced to wear niqab, abeya./When I returned to US without hijab, my mom teased: /How could you not believe your own mother but only your Islamic teacher in Egypt./ Rehana/ Amazing! What’s niqab or abeya?/ Sadiqa/ Wahhabi version of unIslamic hijab, niqab is a veil with only two slits for eyes. /Abeya is black, more like a death-shroud covering Muslim women from head to toe, and they must wear it if they leave their home. /Also they are not allowed to be alone on the streets unless accompanied by a male chaperone./ Rehana/ Awful! What is Wahhabi?/ Sadiqa/ Rather, Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia which has replaced Islam with its distorted version of manmade laws. /Oppressing women, breeding extremists, killing Muslims and non-Muslims in the name of Islam./ Rehana/ Can’t imagine such a dark country could still exist in this century twenty-one./ I feel I have been sleepwalking all my life. /How are the conditions in Pakistan? Do girls wear hijab?/ Sadiqa/ Not when I was growing up, I had never seen anyone wear hijab./ I didn’t even know what hijab was until I migrated to US./ At one of the Muslim gatherings I noticed one woman with this kind of head-covering. /I asked someone seated next to me why she was covering her head. I was told she was from India and what she was wearing was called hijab. /A decade later when I visited my hometown Lahore in Pakistan I thought I had entered a hijabi city. /Forty percent of the girls wore hijabs. /My aunts told me that Saudis were funding Islamic schools and their Wahhabi teachings were making Pakistani girls hijabis and boys zealots if not suicide bombers./ Rehana/ It’s frightening! /And I thought I knew everything about Islam. / Now that I am beginning to learn I can’t explain this sudden need inside me to help others./ How can I help?/ Sadiqa/ Take first step of feeling guilty, no matter how innocently you became instrument of the tragic deaths of Ricky Best and Taliesen Namkai-Meche./ This will jumpstart the rite of atonement and you will feel cleansed of all anger. /Simultaneously, look within you and start feeling truly and eternally grateful to Micah Fletcher, the wounded survivor of racially charged Jeremy Joseph Christian./ Rehana/ Oh, I feel so stupid and miserable. /Even now my anger for Christian is more than my guilt in wearing hijab which became the cause of tragic deaths./ I can feel this wild impulse in me goading me to hit Christian over and over again if it could make America Great Again. /As if that would avenge the deaths of two innocent angels who stood up to defend me against the barrage of racial slurs./ Sadiqa (Sadly)/ This impulse of yours reminds me of Christ’s saying: Resist not Evil. /Hazrat Inayat Khan, one of the Sufi teachers explains that Resist not Evil means, when there is resistance to evil of the other person, do not become angry with him./ When you foster the same emotion, you add to his, and you increase the same fire in yourself. /It is like infecting yourself with a contagious disease instead of curing it. /Anger and bitterness will die in time./ Rehana/ I need to learn more, about Christians too, and from learned Muslims, it is becoming obvious. /With no fault of my own and perhaps ignorantly, I became the instrument of two tragic deaths. /I need to do something, to help, to atone, what can I do?/ Sadiqa/ After the completion of first step, the second in line is to take off your hijab and reach out to as many Muslim girls as you can to educate them in the true precepts of Islam. /Convince them to challenge the manmade edicts of zealots by making a pile of discarded hijabs and feed those symbols of zeal to the flames./ Rehana (Peeling off her hijab)/ What’s next?/ Sadiqa/ Continue reaching out to young Muslim girls till centuries-old lies of the zealots are replaced with the purity of Islamic truth./ Rehana/ And what is the truth?/ Sadiqa/ Truth is a relative term, yet during the lifetime of the Prophet, Muslim women participated in public life and didn’t wear hijabs. /The pagan women as well as women from Judo-Christian background wore veil and hijab as mark of wealth, status and distinction. /To instill the virtue of equality amongst Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad forbade the Muslim women to wear veils./ Rehana/ I think I will reach out as far as Saudi Arabia till the oppressed women over there are not forced to wear those death-shrouds while still living. /What do say those dark gowns are, abeyas, I guess./ Sadiqa (Cheerfully)/ What about Afghanistan where Taliban love to imprison all women in burqas./ Rehana/ What is burqas?/ Sadiqa/ Burqa, twin of Saudi abeya, you might say, white death-shroud, but it can be of any color with only mesh around the eyes to look at the world, breath almost choked. /When Taliban ruled Afghanistan, they used to flog women even if their one toe was visible from under the burqa./ Rehana/ So much cruelty in the world, unbelievable! /And women oppression worst of all in many countries./ Sadiqa/ Not as brutal as in Saudi Arabia. /Their Religious Police oppressing women on the streets and at home./Yet, Muslim girls themselves in other countries inventing their own zeal and mode of self-oppression or glorification, don’t know which one? Have you heard, burkinis?/ Rehana/ Yes, in France, those Muslim girls fashioning their own swimwear, even hijabis look down upon. /They do look ridiculous, even looking like penguins doesn’t look that bad. /Yet, now it makes sense why they call it burkini, sort of combination of burqa and bikini./ Sadiqa/ Saddest part is even name-brand companies are portraying hijabi girls as young Islamic models to promote their shoes, jewelry and clothing./ As to burkini, covered from head to toe, they seem to be proclaiming: Look at me, I am a Muslim./ Didn’t I say that before?/ Rehana/ At times I too thought it sad, but now the thought itself depresses me./ I am beginning to see that Muslim girls like me are going through identity crisis. /Our parents too feel threatened as if their religion is being swallowed by Western ideology of feminism, if not by Christian way of living. /I have not much thought about it, since the thought itself is gloomy./ Sadiqa/ Let’s discard our own present gloom too, and think of cheerful living in hope of a better future. /Together, we will stand against the hurdles of bigotry. /And even without our help, many more like Micah Fletcher will stay alive to make America proud as the land of Liberty, chivalry and compassion./ Rehana (Thoughtfully getting down from the bed)/ Not yet time to sleep. So, let’s find some halal place to eat in Portland./ Sadiqa (Sprinting down her own bed and laughing)/ In Pakistan they say:/All zealots go searching for halal meat in the market with haram money in their pockets. /Haram in this context meaning money obtained as bribery, extortion, drug-dealing./ The Curtain/ ‘What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.’ /Henry S. Haskins

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Muslim Teens in US

Since decades zealots have wreaked havoc worldwide/ Killing God’s creatures in name of Islam/ Wandering in daze without a divine guide/ Tilling earth with swords of hate causing much harm/ Blaspheming against Allah and His Prophet/ Murdering Muslims and non-Muslims by feverish resolve/ Inciting anger against Muslims in whole world/ Rosary of evil in their hearts Around their bloody thoughts revolve/ Yet never in history of America before/ Muslim girl killed by zealot of another kind/ Till Trump’s rhetoric of hate left open wide door/ To volcanic anger for his supporters to easily find/ Their victims close to the precincts of a mosque/ Brutal murder most craven/ Will US injustice let them in glory bask/ For beating to death of NABRA HASSANEN/ Yet one might ask why one life more lamented than millions more/ While daily countless are massacred/ Yet again if US is caught in storm of lies galore/ Each life most precious with hate slaughtered/ Again and again harsh reminder for Muslims to contemplate/ Truth in their hearts where what went wrong/ Still opportunity for Muslim parents to educate/ Their teens to sing life’s song/ God dwells in loving hearts/ Not in mosques of marble coldness/ When zeal in favor of wisdom departs/ Ignorance melts against light of goodness/ Untimely death of teens is saddest of all/ When tragedy hits home with knife of hate/ Zeal rises to witness truth’s fall/ Balm to grief if we can blame all on fate/ Tragedy of all tragedies/ When mother loses young daughter/ To ravages of hate maladies/ Heart weeps eyes only see blood and slaughter/ Zeal of one Faith or Other Faith is no less brutal/ To kill God’s creatures is to malign Creator/ Anger stems from hate to acts cruel/ Murder becomes game as well as Creed of hater/ TO GRIEVING WORLD A BRIEF NOTE OF HOPE/ In tides of highs and lows/ Life coasts along/ River of love in hearts smoothly flows/ To this knowledge of universal truth we all belong/ AND A QUOTE FROM ELEANOR ROOSEVELT/ ‘It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself’ MAY ALL SUFFERED AND SUFFERING FIND LOVE AND PEACE

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Russia Play4Putin Act4

Act Four Scene: The same as in Act One. When the curtain opens, Hillary and Michelle are seen seated on the right side of the stage, facing the mantelpiece with TV screen on mute, yet displaying commercials and programs. Hillary Can’t believe Russia unleashed another time bomb of Wiki Leaks to literally hit me on the head. My supporters vacillating between shock and disbelief. This is the final blow they had intended since the beginning of elections, I am sure. And now both Russia and Republicans are gloating. Michelle And to think that elite members of the GOP had distanced themselves from Trump, now they are flocking around him like bees from the hornet’s nest. It’s tragic but true, Republicans are corrupt inside out, always flying high on the wings of arrogance. For eight years they have tried to undermine the presidency of my husband blocking every bill that he proposed. But that’s insignificant now, I hope America is not swayed by Russia’s deceit and evil meddling in US elections. Hillary I hope so too, there is so much at stake. Hate and violence are on the rise. Racism is awakening afresh to pitch whites against blacks. So much religious intolerance. White supremacists lurking somewhere to pounce on minorities. Michelle This is not the America I know. Every time I turn on the TV and watch the raging, insulting tirade of Trump, it makes me sick to my stomach. It has increased since Russia’s double-edged sword of Wiki Leaks which have no substance. Hillary America is wading through the waters of unrest and anarchy. Hateful, violent, belligerent, enveloped in fear, clouded by confusion. Michelle So much has happened in this past week, fake news, betrayal of trust, rise and fall of confidence. No one knows who to believe, media uncertain and frustrated. Hillary All we can do is to wait and hope for the best. My heart goes out to the kids, the ailing and the underprivileged. Michelle I wonder why we sound so depressed. We are winning, we got to win, for the sake of our great USA. Let’s be cheerful, think of bright, healthy America. Hillary That’s right! The first thing I am going to do as President is to purge America of all soot of hate, prejudice, hypocrisy and— [Putin enters, his look bright and gleaming.] Putin Good evening, Ladies. A night of great surprises and victory whoever can claim this prize. Michelle Of course, Hillary will claim that prize of victory! Everyone knows that, despite the scandalous attempts of culprits trying their best to malign the character of our First Woman President of USA. Putin (Lowering himself thoughtfully on a chair on the left side of the stage.) No need to reach to such hasty conclusion. Americans have not decided until the votes are counted. Hillary And they will be counted fairly, not rigged as Mr. Trump suggests. Putin He might be right no matter who wins or loses. Michelle He will claim to be right when he loses. [Enters Trump hugging a large package to his chest.] Trump Good evening. I am glad all the hoopla of election season is over. Now I can relax and gloat over my winnings. Michelle I admire your optimism, though you stand on the verge of losing. Trump (Lowering his package reverently on the glass table and claiming a chair beside Putin.) I have never for once lost in my life as long as I can keep my will power alight with the fire of ambition. Putin Make sure that fire doesn’t singe you, Mr. Trump. What do you have in that package? Trump A gift from me to me I am going to unwrap it after I win. Michelle Pity that you won’t be able to. Have you looked at the polls lately? Media is all abuzz showing Hillary in the lead in all Key States. Trump Media is useless. When I am president I will shut them off. They are bad, terrible. They will eat their own words, suffering the worst of gripes. Hillary Gripes of lies are the worst, and I am talking about the brains, not of the bowels, Nathaniel Hawthorne would say that if he were alive. Putin A charlatan by any name. Hawthorne was no Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. Michelle A great American author even Russians admire. We are proud of our authors and heritage, yet we don’t look down upon the talent of other nations with contempt. Putin I didn’t mean to offend, I am not particularly fond of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Trump I am not fond of reading, yet I can read the fates miles ahead of me. Right now they are smiling at me, I can see me winning. Hillary Can you see Russia drowning in a puddle of shame and guilt? Michelle History would brand Russia as the great enemy of great America. Putin Why do I feel I am invisible? Now, now, let’s not be harsh and judgmental. Hillary Yes, Wiki Leaks so benign and innocent. Russia of course would never admit that it is meddling in our elections boldly and shamelessly to disrupt the very fabric of our great values. Trump If Russia made you win, you would say it is the greatest nation on earth. Hillary Such a preposterous thought I leave that intact in your head. As it stands you are in awe of great Russia. Michelle And you love their Wiki Leaks. Especially this last volcanic release since you kept goading them to find more and more. Putin It seems like I am not only invisible but I am not even here the way you ladies keep talking about Russia. Well, well. Election Day is here, let the voters decide. Hillary If voters ever get a chance to use their own minds. [TV starts flashing results of polling in different states.] Trump (Leaping to his feet.) Five Key States, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, mine, mine. I am the winner. Michelle What do I see? Shock and despair in the eyes of the reporters. Hillary Why is the world so dark all of a sudden, Dante’s hell. Putin I expected this much, right on the mark. Trump (Lost in his own world of elation.) Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Wyoming, West Virginia, Oklahoma. That’s it, what else do I want. I am the president of USA, it is obvious now. Michelle This is a nightmare, it will pass. Hillary I see ruin and devastation everywhere. Putin Now Pennsylvania is yours, Mr. Trump. Election is over. You are the president. [TV is flashing news, Donald Trump the projected winner.] Hillary (Swaying to her feet.) God help us for the safety and health of all Americans. I pray that for once Trump doesn’t mean what he says. Michelle (Lumbering to her feet.) God help America. I have heard when God wants to punish a nation, he sends rogues and rascals and ignorant rulers to rule its people. Hillary Please, O God, no. Michelle America is resilient. It has been beaten several times before. It had always brushed off the dust of deceit and had sought glory. But never before it was betrayed by a Russian Dog. Prayerfully US would learn a precious lesson. Never again, never again! [Exit both Hillary and Michelle hand in hand.] Trump (Capering on his toes.) I alone did it! I alone did it! Putin No, you didn’t, Donald. You got secret help from Russia. Don’t ever deceive yourself that you can do anything, anything at all, alone. Trump Well I got help from my Hindu friends too. They worship me like a god you have seen already. Now you see before you the god incarnate. You want to see my gift to me. [Canters over to the glass table, tearing open the package. His picture in gold frame is revealed with red tilak on his forehead and a yellow garland around his neck, much like the depiction of Hindu gods in the temples. He takes the picture to the mantelpiece and places it in front of the American flag. [Then swirling back he joins Putin who has risen to his feet.] Putin You are no god, be assured. Trump Shall we dance? [Both Putin and Trump start dancing while rapping together.] Chorus:/ Trump child Trump wild/ Make America white again/ Skate board water board/ Replace gun with naked sword/ Cut Muslim’s jugular vein/ Make America white again/ Honor thy wall of hate/ Punch insult prate/ Erase name of faith profane/ Make America white again/ Latinos Muslims Mexicans/ Terrorist trashy neighbors/ All our enemies in great domain/ Make America white again/ Sing dance and proclaim/ Trump the emperor in gold frame/ Fortunes of world we will gain/ Make America white again/ Life Matters in parchment white/ Soar aloft, in ether glide/ We know world has gone insane/ Make America Great Again/ I have a secret plan/ Don’t you get it, Man/ We are here to entertain/ Make America white again/ The End https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj1dHlegPWM http://farzanamoon.blogspot.com ‘Beliefs and opinions can answer the questions. But only Truth can solve the mystery.’ Zen saying

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Quran Justice

Quran & Quotes of Hazrat Inayat Khan Surah Eighty-Five/ Al Buruj/ True justice cannot be perceived until the veil of selfishness has been removed from the eyes./ The development of the sense of justice lies in unselfishness; one cannot be just and selfish at the same time./ The selfish person can be just, but only for himself./ He has his own law most suited to himself, and he can change it, and his reason will help him to do so, in order to suit his own requirements in life./ A spark of justice is to be found in every heart, in every person, whatever be his stage of evolution in life; but the one who loves fairness, so to speak blows on that spark, thus raising it to a flame, in the light of which life becomes more clear to him./ We cannot be a judge of the action of another until we ourselves are selfless./ Only then will justice come to us; only then will we understand the nature of justice./ Self is the wall between us and justice. There is only one thing that is truly just, and that is to say, 'I must not do this.'/ Real justice cannot be perceived until the veil of selfishness has been removed from his eyes./ The least spark of selfishness will prevent man from being just./ He will continue to have a partial interest, because he will be looking after his own interest./ Whatever furthers his own interests, he will call his right and his justice./ The prophets and the holy ones have all recognized the justice of God as the only real justice./ What is the nature of the justice of God?/ It can only be learned from the self within after selfishness has been removed./ Our limited self is like a wall separating us from the Self of God./ God is as far away from us as that wall is thick./ The wisdom and justice of God are within us, and yet they are far away under the covering of the veil of the limited self./ Whoever has arrived at that realization of the nature of God's justice is able to see things in a different way from others./ His whole outlook on life becomes different. Hazrat Inayat Khan/ In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful/ By the heaven holding mansions of stars. (85:1 Quran)/ And by the Promised Day. (85:2 Quran)/ And by the witness of that whereunto he beareth testimony. (85:3 Quran)/ Lo! He it is Who produceth, then reproduceth. (85:13 Quran)/ And He is the Forgiving, the Loving. (85:14 Quran)/ Lord of the Throne of Glory. (85:15 Quran)/ Doer of What He will. (85:16 Quran)/ Hath there come unto thee the story of the hosts. (85:17 Quran)/ The Pharaoh and the tribe of Thamud? (85:18 Quran)/ Nay, but those who disbelieve live in denial. (85:19 Quran)/ And Allah, all unseen, surroundeth them. (85:20 Quran)/ Nay, but it is a glorious Quran. (85:21 Quran)/ On a guarded tablet. (85:22 Quran)/ The God Ideal (4) Hazrat Inayat Khan/ There are different conceptions of God existing in various periods and known to different people./ The people, in all ages, seeking for the Deity have pictured Him in some form or other./ It is natural with man./ If he is told about someone he has never seen or known, he makes a conception of that person and he holds his conception as his knowledge of that person until he sees him./ There are some who make a conception in their mind of a person they have not seen, almost as real as the person./ The human heart is an accommodation which conceives the idea of God and pictures Him according to man's mentality./ The Buddha of China has Chinese features, and that of Japan has the eyes of Japan, the Buddha of India has the Indian likeness./ Man cannot conceive of an angel being any different from a human being, except that he attaches two wings to the angel in order to make it a little different./ If the angel were not pictured as man it would not be an attraction to a human being./ Therefore it is natural that in every period people have conceived the personality of God as a human personality./ And no better conception could they have given, for there is nothing in the world which is a more finished personality than the human personality./ People have called God He, recognizing the might and power of the Deity./ People have called God She, recognizing in the Deity that Mother-principle and beauty./ And it is the differences of conception from which have come the many gods and goddesses./ And it is true, too; for as many conceptions, so many gods./ And yet many gods means many conceptions of the One Only God./ By ignorance of this truth many have fought over their different gods; and yet the wise man in every period of the world has understood God to be the One and Only Being./ For the ordinary mind, to feel the existence of someone in the idea is not sufficient./ It is too vague./ One wants to feel the existence of someone with his own hands, then only he can acknowledge something to be existent./ The wise, therefore, have given different objects to such mentalities, and pointed them out to the people as gods./ Some said: see God in the sun, and the person understood./ He was not satisfied to think that God was in the idea; he was much more pleased to know now that God is seen by him, and God is incomparably even as the sun, and that God is not reachable./ Some wise men have said: He is in the fire. Some said, to a simpleton who asked to see God: Go in the forest and find out a certain tree, and that tree is God./ The search for that tree gave something for that man to do, which was the first essential thing./ And the patience with which he sought the tree also did something in his soul./ And the joy of finding a rare tree was also a pleasure, and in the end he found, for God is everywhere./ ‘The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion.’ /Thomas Paine/ ‘It is shame to let ignorance and complacency be stronger than wisdom’/Marcus Aurelius/ ‘One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life./That word is Love.’/Sophocles

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Peace Memorial

Happy Super Bowl/Today Super Bowl is on the same day as the death anniversary of Hazrat Inayat Khan and his teachings are being shared all over world as a mark of reverence and celebration/He came to America Year 1910 with a message of peace, unity and harmony in all religions/ Even after more than a century ago his message of love still resounds fresh and inspiring/Below is an excerpt form his teachings which is so pertinent to our times in throes of uncertainty/ Memorial Note:/ Hazrat Inayat Khan - July 5, 1882 - February 5, 1927/ Following a bout with pneumonia, Inayat Khan departed from this world on February 5, 1927, at the Tilak Lodge, located along the river Yamuna near Delhi, India./ His burial tomb is in the Basti Nizamuddin neighborhood of Delhi./ Inayat Khan described the essence of his spiritual message with the following words, which are offered here to commemorate his life and teachings:/ Our sacred task is to awaken among those around us and among those whom we can reach in the first place the spirit of tolerance for the religion, scripture, and the ideal of devotion of one another; our next task is to make man understand people of different nations, races and communities, also of different classes./ By this we do not mean to say that all races and nations must become one, nor that all classes must become one; only what we have to say is that whatever be our religion, nation, race or class, our most sacred duty is to work for one another, in one another's interest, and to consider that as the service of God. .../ The central theme of the Sufi Message is one simple thing, and yet most difficult, and that is to bring about in the world the realization of the divinity of the human soul, which hitherto has been overlooked, for the reason that the time had not come./ The principal thing that the Message has to accomplish in this era is to create the realization of the divine spark in every soul, that every soul according to its progress may begin to realize for itself the spark of divinity within./ This is the task that is before us./ Now you may ask, what is the Message?/ The Message is this: that the whole humanity is as one single body, and all nations and communities and races as the different organs, and the happiness and well-being of each of them is the happiness and well-being of the whole body./ If there is one organ of the body in pain, the whole body has to sustain a share of the strain of it./ That by this Message mankind may begin to think that his welfare and his well-being is not in looking after himself, but it is in looking after others, and when in all there will be reciprocity, love and goodness towards another, the better time will come./ The need of the world today is not learning, but how to become considerate towards one another./ To try and find out in what way happiness can be brought about, and in this way to realize that peace which is the longing of every soul; and to impart it to others, thereby attaining our life's goal, the sublimity of life./ 'People kill each other for idols/Wonder makes us fall to our knees'/Gregory of Nyssa

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Russian Roulette

First Happy New Year to World At Large/ Happy happy New Year/Garlands strewn with love wear/Herald music from ether sublime/Live in symphonic peace of time/ Second/ Act Two of full length play Russian Roulette/Excerpt Act Two Scene: The same as in Act One. As the curtain opens, Putin is seen standing in utter immobility, talking to himself. Putin These sons of piety, arrogance, debauchery will lick their own wounds from the blood bath of evil they are going to spill in fever of hate, racism and bigotry. It would be such a delight to see America brutally crushed. It will be their firsthand experience in empathy how USSR felt after being partitioned into hordes of warring hatemongers. No USA but US of Asinine Senility Underdog. [Trump straggles in haggard and distraught.] Trump What were you saying, my Friend? I thought I heard you speak. Putin I was saying how great America would be under your presidency. You would rule the world as it had not ever been ruled before. You would cut ISIS into thin slices of meat and feed them to the dogs. Oh, such a spectacle worth witnessing to watch the smelly swine devoured by dogs! Trump You have to help me in this, Putin. Crooked Hillary is gathering millions of followers. Everyone is against me, the slobbering media, the sycophantic republicans, the heathen priests in moldy frocks of self-righteous dignity. I want to choke them all with my bare hands. Putin Save your breath, Donald, believe you in me. I will make sure you are the next president of the United States. It’s easy for me. US underestimates the strength of Russia. Trump Russia, its limbs hacked off, can it save me. I am in deep trouble. Stinking Muslims at my heels, black apes snarling at me, dirty Latinos raising a dirt-storm and filthy Mexicans screaming horrible insults. Disgusting, I say, disgusting. Putin Don’t pay any attention to those slithering worms. Just concentrate on the scandal of Hillary’s emails. That’s your mantra to success. Keep repeating it, till it begins to resound with the frequency of hypnotic trance. Emails alone will become part of US psyche, nothing will matter and they will be blind to everything. Americans will become the living, breathing emails themselves, seeing, hearing, tasting emails, emails, emails. Trump Is that all you have to— [Trump’s despair is truncated as he notices the leisurely approach of Hillary and Michelle.] Putin (With a gallant sweep of his arm.) Welcome, Ladies. You both look radiant. Hillary We are in no mood of social encounter. Michelle Just snatching a few moments of quiet and sanity. Trump We could be civil to each other when away from the glaring lights of the cameras. Putin (Indicating the welcoming depths of the soft couch) It would be such a pleasant reprieve. Come, join us. Hillary (Lowering herself on the couch reluctantly) A challenge to discover what civility means? Michelle (Joining Hillary on the couch.) When humanity can graduate from being civil to becoming civilized society we all can be friends. Trump (Claiming a chair opposite the ladies.) I thought I had friends, but they have moved from being civil to hostile. Putin (Seating himself beside Trump in the matching gold chair.) Hostility has its own charm. It awakens its victims to the lure of vengeance. Hillary What dark analogy? Vengeance is God’s alone. The people who hurt us the most are the best of our teachers. Michelle Vengeful spirits are the dark ones with low self-esteem. Trump I can never forgive anyone who attacks me personally. Putin To err is human, forgiveness divine? So very difficult to practice though. Hillary (To Trump) What about the ones you attack, do you want them to forgive you? Trump I don’t intend to offend. I have done nothing to seek forgiveness. Michelle In your vocabulary, Mr. Trump, offending is not offensive. Low energy Jeb Bush, Lying Ted, Little Rubio. To naked ear, they don’t sound like endearments, or do they? Putin Now, now, let’s not get into dirty politics. Trump On the chessboard of life the king has to sweep away all the rooks lest they put the king in check. Hillary So that’s how you knock out your opponents with insults vile and appalling. Trump Only when it is necessary. Hillary Is it necessary to call women pigs, blobs, not to mention calling me crooked Hillary in you speeches and email letters to millions of Republicans who think your fiery rhetoric is neither rude nor hateful, only bombastic? Putin As I say to myself, Mr. Trump doesn’t mean what he says. Michelle Why say something which is outright lie, odious and hurtful. Mr. Trump screaming before his loud supporters: Muslims are terrorists, Latinos robbers, Mexicans rapists, alien criminals. Very presidential I must say. Trump That’s my way of removing dirty immigrants from our sacred soil, my kind of Clean Energy Bill. Hillary Even middle school kids know Climate Change is not a Chinese Hoax. Aside from that, we all are immigrants. The only true Americans are the Native Indian Americans who are neglected in their poor Reservations. Michelle We can’t even leave their little patches of sacred land alone, pushing hard to dig under their sacred river for our own selfish reasons. Putin Selfishness is man’s legacy from Biblical rivalry between Cain and Abel to Quranic jihad between Infidel and Believer. Trump Theology makes me dull, only fear of God can keep one alive. Hillary Love for God makes one live, truly live. Michelle Strange how faith binds us together and also pulls us apart. Putin Wonder why women put so much weight on faith. Hillary Great wonder still preachers are mostly men with the exception of a handful of women. Men decide what women should do or not do. Even in this century twenty-one women are struggling in some parts of the world for the basic rights of freedom, education, working conditions. Trump Women are their own worst enemies, they don’t know what they want. Michelle Women want to be healthy and independent. Free to choose their lifestyle in health, education, workforce, Family-planning. Trump Yes, your husband’s disastrous plan, Obamacare! I am going to throw it out of the window of the Oval Office the first day of my presidency. It is bad, bad, very bad. Hillary How presumptuous of you, talking as if you already are the president. Americans would really love you if you dissolve Obamacare! Poor patients with terminal ailments without insurance, not being able to be admitted to hospitals, left alone to die in their homes if not on the streets. Putin Now that’s what I call pretty picture of America, but Mr. Trump is going to fix it I am sure. Michelle He loves breaking—laws, leaving fixing to others who are duped into believing in claiming a chunk of his wealth. Trump That’s a harsh judgment from the lips of the First Lady whom I have always held in great respect. I have nothing against President Obama either. Michelle For sure, still maintaining this grand lie, my husband was not born in America? Putin Mr. Trump told me the other day, that claim was just a teaser. He was just having fun with it, now that it has blown out of proportion, he is going to clear this misconception. Hillary Misconception! Defaming the character of the incumbent President, challenging his status with grand lies, demanding birth certificate? A teaser, you say? Trump Today, in front of all Americans I am going to confess, President Obama was born in USA Michelle Many thanks for breaking this great wall of hate with your abrupt confession, how gracious! Trump Talking of walls. I am going to build a great wall across the Mexican border to keep the thieves and robbers out of our great country USA. Hillary Wisdom has no walls, only ignorance creates barriers with walls which crumble before the noble hands of humanity who have compassion in their hearts. Putin Wisdom has nothing to do with politics. Politics is garbage and one has to dig out precious wares out of this stinking filth with enough courage to display them, hoping for admiration, not revulsion. Michelle What a revolting thought. When wall of ignorance rises to the heights of absurdity, volcano of wisdom from somewhere erupts forth to crumble it to volcanic ashes. Hillary True. There are two kinds of walls. Wall of self-defense built on the foundations of wisdom and wall of ignorance on sand-dunes of false fear. Trump Fear of Americans is very genuine as we see the rise of ISIS. I have a solution for that. Not only I am going to destroy those ugly Muslim raccoons, but if we capture some alive I will make them scream under waterboarding until I devise more horrible method of torture. Putin Now, now. We don’t have to adopt such extreme measures as long as they humble themselves with penance and servitude. Michelle And we think we live in a civilized world? If we keep walking in the footsteps of the savages and barbarians of old times, we would fail in our moral obligation to evolve as human beings. Trump Those Radical Muslims are not human but beasts. They can’t live with human beings unless tamed. Hillary Aside from ISIS, Radical Muslims, alien criminals like Latinos and Mexicans, what is your real plan to make America stronger and more prosperous? Trump Total ban on Muslims to enter the United States is first step to make our country safe. I am going to deport all illegal aliens to make jobs available for real Americans. It’s disgusting how Americans live in inner cities, very, very bad. Michelle How would you know, you have never been to the inner cities? Always accustomed to the comforts of your palaces in gold and glitter. Unemployment rate is the lowest in history right now, can’t imagine how you can create more jobs without any real plan? Putin With the wand of gold and glitter which made him a successful businessman Hillary No one sees gold and glitter these days, but dark smudges of scandal and hateful rhetoric on the rungs of violence. Hate, anger and volley of insults. Fake news and false accusations. Michelle Not to mention, odious WikiLeaks and the rise of fear, slander and bitterness. Trump Fear is genuine. Bad, corrupt government. Rise of ISIS. Terrible, terrible. America is in real danger, Muslim extremists waiting in ambush to attack and destroy. Putin US must be vigilant I agree. Foreign forces are covertly planning the ruin of America. Hillary No doubt, Russia foremost in this race for ruin. Day by day it looks more like Russian election than US. Openly meddling in US elections, and we all seem to be blind. Michelle The greatest tragedy for US if we can’t stop this vicious wave of meddling. Trump Great tragedy that US refuses to admit the real threat, which is ISIS. We let them breed in Iraq, and now they are all over Europe. Disgusting, disgusting. Hillary Pounding fear into the minds and hearts of Americans is not only tragic, but utterly unfortunate. ISIS is on decline. No one can go unpunished if they attack America. We got Bin Laden, didn’t we? Extremism by any name, form and ideology is bound to perish. Without fail, it is bound to be consumed by its own fires of hate, zeal, brutality. History stands witness to such facts. Michelle Yes, even if it takes the whole world to stand against bigotry, injustice, hatred and fever of dementia. Tragedies of WW11 are not too far to be forgotten. May God protect us from the fires of evil and from dark forces beyond our powers to fathom? Putin History repeats itself, not that I am a great believer of this adage. And I don’t see any shadow of vast tragedies lurking somewhere in the future. Trump This whole country is a great tragedy as I see it. A great disaster, no jobs, poverty, healthcare stinks. Education is terrible. Terrible, terrible! US is falling apart, sinking in the black hole of disaster upon disaster. I am the only one who is going to fix it. Michelle (Getting to her feet.) Mr. Trump, what my husband has done for US, no other president has even come close to it. Securing our borders, getting us out of the worst recession. More Americans can afford health care under Obamacare. Unemployment rate is down. More Americans are seeking higher education. These are just a few benefits amongst many countless ones, for which my husband doesn’t get any credit, because he doesn’t like to boast. I am getting sick and tired of all these lies and insults. [Stops in an act of leaving as Hillary gets to her feet too.] Hillary Hoping, Donald, you will be able to glean a glimmer of truth out of the puddles of your lies before this night is over. Good night. [Hillary and Michelle exit.] Putin Well, well, Donald! You must remain true to yourself. Angry, insulting, outlandish, outrageous. That’s your nature and your ticket to success. People love it, media can’t have enough of it. You get prime time coverage twenty-four hours a day, seven hours a week without spending a penny. So very gratifying to know that. Just keep tossing juicy insults as meat to the dogs and media will come flocking around it, fighting for even the least scrap. Trump You take me for my worth of who I am, a demon, should I be flattered? Putin Only demons win, a few exceptions of course, but the angels don’t succeed after all even if they win. Like President Obama, he won, but GOP didn’t let him succeed in most of his good proposals. You might—win, I mean, if you get GOP majority in House and Senate, then you can make America white again, and become the king of the demons. Trump How well you know me. Only a demon can know a demon. Yet I am not sure of myself. I have always won by the power of my will and by the brute power of my wealth, but this is different. I have no plan. I don’t know what the hell I am doing, or where I am going. All I know is that those brutes out there love me, chanting, lock Hillary up. Whipping my own passion of vengeance to frenzy with their own frenzied need for white supremacy. Putin And white supremacy it would be, believe you in me. I have a trail of WikiLeaks planted as time-bombs at the right place at the right time. Hillary will be crushed in ignominious defeat while still basking in the glorious dream of her sweeping victory. Trump Such a hell-of-a fantastic feeling to see a woman grovel in the mud of her defeat! A beauty, real beauty, that’s what I call happiness. With this bright note, let me wish you goodbye. I need rest, my head is spinning to have more rallies in as many states as possible. [Exit Trump] Putin And my head is shining like a crystal ball. What do I see? Alt-right, white supremacists, KKK, pious Evangelists rising out of the shadows of yesteryears. America torn into bloody chunks of rivalry, racism, bigotry, hypocrisy! Pitiful spectacle of awful doom and destruction. A mighty nation knee-deep in its own rivers of blood and carnage. Now, that’s what I call real beauty! Yet, God is mysterious, in his great mercy, he would place America next to another great nation in place and history, Fall of Rome. The curtain/ 'Morning haze/ As in a painting of a dream/ Men go their ways'/Buson/ “When we remember we are all mad, the mystery disappears and life stands explained.”/Mark Twain