Change and The Inside War

Usually we are inclined to form opinion about people. Some people, we think, are bad and some are good, some can be trusted while others can never be. These opinions may last longer than our lifetimes. However, have we ever asked ourselves, are we justified in doing so? If you feel the answer should be 'yes', you must be thinking that 'people never change', which I think eventually means that you don't want them to change or you will never accept if they ever change. On the contrary, analysis of human behaviour suggests that people are prone to change. There are two major reasons for that:

Firstly, every human is exposed to different circumstances. They teach lessons nobody can ever teach. Mistakes make people learn and improve. Circumstances can also affect people in negative ways, depending on different choices and perceptions of poeple which help them derive conclusions out of circumstances. These are really tests from God, He places human in different situations in which he/she has to make a choice, and depending on the choice, people change. So, it's irrational to assume that someone will never change.

Secondly, there is a war within ourselves, of good and evil, of selfishness and selflessness, of hope and despair, of happiness and pessimism, of everything that brings us to life and everything that keeps us away from it. I call it "The Inside War". Inside every person, this war goes on till he/she exists. Whenever, the 'good side' is dominant, person is inclined to do things and make choices that are more humane, and vice-versa. Here, religion plays a role, only blessings from God can make the 'good side' be always dominant. So, forming an opinion about someone means that you think that only one side will remain dominant in The Inside War, which itself is quite inhumane.

Every person is divine creature of God and deserves chance. It just depends on ourselves if we are able to see the good side dominating in the person or not. Whatever you may think about someone, you must ensure one thing always: the good side must never be disappointed due to lack of opportunity.

Patience

No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, there will always be hard times in life. Life is all about hardships and struggle. Even the most successful man on earth faces adverse circumstances. Whenever the wind blows against a person, there are two options left. One is to get depressed, which is off course not a solution. Second is to face the problem, which needs strength. But how can such strength be acquired? Answer is Patience.

Patience doesn't mean not to react at anything. It means doing the right things and wait for their effects to appear. When I say 'the right things', that means things which are prescribed by religion and universal moral values. For example, when someone starts shouting at you, you have a choice. Either you can make that person calm down, maybe by just submitting to what he says if possible, or else start shouting at him too. In the first case, you can try to make that person realize your point of view when he is in his right mind later on. Off course, chances of success in the argument are not cent percent, but at least it will make that person give due consideration to your point of view. This increases your chances to resolve the problem, instead of magnifying the problem by shouting.

But all this requires a little control on what you feel. This control is patience. If you can be patient, you may also be able to understand others and also, yourself. This understanding may give a solid environment for love to blossom. Love always needs patience, and maybe patience needs love to exist. Both 'love' and 'patience' come together in package, and never separate. So, to make this world more lovely, patience is a necessity !

The Need for Compassion

Human being is a mystery of God, something which He has created. Circumstances are also result of God's will. Whatever is the discretion of human being over the circumstances, the product of mysteries of human action and circumstances reflect the divine will. Whenever we see a human being, with all his colours, we see something divine.

Today when we don't hesitate to humiliate someone, to show our disrespect to someone, or even become enemies with someone, we need to ask ourselves how we look at this divine creation of God? Someone who is created and nurtured by God or someone who is devilish just because he or she doesn't belong to our religion or ethnicity? or perhaps, doesn't have the same perspective of looking at things as we do?

This mysterious creature of God is really difficult to understand. However, what we need is a try, a serious attempt to listen to others. Not just try to identify where the other is not similar to us, but to put ourselves in their shoes and think in their perspective, with knowledge of the biasness we already possess. Maybe then, we will start respecting others. Maybe then, we will start living a compassionate life.

Thanks Karren Armstrong for making me understand this.

Pessimism

Life has its twists and turns. Sometimes a person feels bad, sometimes good. But does that mean he should start thinking that life is not worth living? Many people will agree that he should not think like that. Many people will advise that problems occur in every individual's life but that doesn't mean he can't solve it. If he takes his failure as a step towards success, he will surely succeed someday in his life. We always advise people who are depressed this way, although somewhere in our mind we know that this might not come true always. But we console him that way as we know that only this approach can light the fire of hope.

We, somewhere, know that where pessimism starts, hope ends and ultimately chances for success are much lesser.

Then why we never adopt this approach for our nation? Yes, our nation has problems. But should we start thinking that these problems will never end? Or we should take it as a step towards future success? Media portrays Pakistan as a hopeless country having ever-increasing problems. Our so-called intellectuals have dug out so much in history which they can use in arguments against the formation of Pakistan. Excessive criticism and pessimism have collaborated in making them lose trust on the country. Will this loss of trust benefit us in any way? If we agree that an individual can benefit from hope and trust on himself, then we should agree that only hope and trust on our collective self can benefit us.

Many of us will assert that they are not pessimist. That maybe the case, but first we must analyze ourselves and our thinking patterns before jumping to conclusions. Pessimism maybe present in its most dangerous form, its unconscious form. Often people who have pessimistic approach are not even aware that they are pessimistic. This goes for our intellectuals too.

Pessimism leads us to nowhere. It’s a force of friction against our individual and national goals. This force must be identified and must be destroyed with hope and patience.

To the people of Pakistan

Hey you!... Yes you Mr. Pakistani... I want to say something to you:

Surprised that someone called you Pakistani? Have you ever felt like being a "Pakistani" instead of being Punjabi, Pushtun, Balochi, Sindhi? Do you know how does it feel when you consider yourself a Pakistani? You must learn that.

I know you will ask, Why?

I've been examining your actions and thoughts since years now and I must comment that there is much incongruity in what you wish and what you do.

You wish that law and order situation should be stable, then why don't you just respect law? Why do you break that traffic signal almost every day when you drive? Why do you bribe officials to get your work done? Why you never vote honestly?

You wish that poverty should end, then why do you want to accumulate wealth for yourself? Why you never try to help people? If you think that people of Pakistan should do that then why just you don't play your own part?

You wish to be independent of any foreign influence, then why do you just improve yourself so that you don't have to beg for help?

You wish that the problems which Pakistan is facing must end, then why you don't solve them? or just at least try? Why you always complain? Why never you complain for your own inaction?

I know why, and I can tell you the secret.

This is because, you never feel like Pakistani. You never feel that Pakistan is your nation. You never talk to yourself like I'm talking to myself right now.

Just once, feel the nation we are !!

Excessive Criticism

Criticising is seen as a tool for improvement. When someone criticises, you try to take it positively and build upon his observations. But should there be any limit to criticism?

While reading history, I found out that East has been excessively criticised. By this, the "positive" side of the history of East faded away. Take the history of Islam, there are many western writers who would make you feel that Islam is some kind of "evil tendency". Even, atheists have criticised God so much that they deprived themselves of religion. Off course, attitude of criticising excessively makes you feel like "This world is false".

I am not against criticism, but I don't agree with criticising something so much that it loses grains of truth. The thing being criticised should not become the mythical "absolute villain". An honest analysis must acknowledge both positive and negative sides of the picture.

Trade and Spirituality

Commercialism has become notorious among many people nowadays. Poeple have started associating negative conotations with the term "commercial". But is doing trade and being commercial really something bad?

Answer lies in our perception of business. Since ancient world, it is in the basic nature of man to try everything he can to fulfill his needs. Man has been doing trade since ages and we all know that he will continue, because he has to satisfy what he considers as basic need of his life. Here, we all have to agree that trade and business will continue with the existence of man. Should we assign negative connotations with something very basic to human?

If we reflect on this, then there remains only one reason for attaching negative connotations to commercialism: The way business is done is questionable. But, can't we improve it?

A businessman is very central person for a nation. As, he's the one who supplies oil for the machinery of a nation. Concept of collective self should be introduced to businessmen first, so that he can trade for nation rather than himself.

Alas! our corporate businessmen have become selfish and greedy. Exploitation of nation and its resources have become something normal. They can do anything to keep their pockets filled, even depriving someone from his/her life.

When we trade it's obvious that the objective is to earn. Can't we do it in interest of our nation? Isn't there spirituality in such a trade in which interest of collective self is taken into account rather than individual self?

If there is spirituality in serving humanity, then there is spirituality also in business which serves humanity.