15 Ramadhan, 1439
The astonishing, egotistical, manic ambition of John Donne can still take one's breath away, some forty-six years after first encountering it: Let us love nobly, and live, and add again / Years and years unto years... In a poem that begins All kings, and is riven through with images of the poet and his beloved as royal beings, there's not much doubt about how JD imagines loving, and living, nobly.
I'm not sure either myself or the Missus imagine ourselves as any kind of royalty. But we have managed to keep things going for some fair few years now, as this day of days serves to remind us, and that's enough - indeed, more than enough.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Out Of Step
14 Ramadhan, 1439
When fasting your body tells you things should slow down; unfortunately, life and its various business generally doesn't get the message. So you find yourself straddling two worlds, with one foot in either, as it were. Funnily enough, this isn't necessarily a bad place to be; it's certainly a reminder that the one world we think we know is just a narrow fraction of all that there is.
When fasting your body tells you things should slow down; unfortunately, life and its various business generally doesn't get the message. So you find yourself straddling two worlds, with one foot in either, as it were. Funnily enough, this isn't necessarily a bad place to be; it's certainly a reminder that the one world we think we know is just a narrow fraction of all that there is.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Testing Times
13 Ramadhan, 1439
Happened to glance at the comments following an on-line article related to fasting in Ramadhan the other day, and rather wished I hadn't. There was a bit of a back-and-forth between adherents to the faith and folks who were more than a little sceptical as to the value of Islam - in fact, a fair few (as usual) who were aggressively anti- in pretty much every way you can imagine - and the tone overall was not exactly positive. I don't want to get into any big debate on this (thankfully having no one to debate with) but it did seem to me that quite a few of the nay-sayers with regard to the fast were missing the point, and spectacularly so.
They generally assumed the whole business was a kind of imposition upon Muslims and that we are somehow forced into an extremity of self-denial. The notion that the fast might be something to welcome, something entirely positive from which there is much to gain, didn't get much traction. And, of course, in terms of a world view focussed on grasping as many easy rewards as possible from our time on the planet, such a positive view would appear deeply absurd.
Once you come to glimpse being tested as something written into the fabric of things in a way that helps us read the book of the world, the world and your place in it changes. Just a little. But enough.
Happened to glance at the comments following an on-line article related to fasting in Ramadhan the other day, and rather wished I hadn't. There was a bit of a back-and-forth between adherents to the faith and folks who were more than a little sceptical as to the value of Islam - in fact, a fair few (as usual) who were aggressively anti- in pretty much every way you can imagine - and the tone overall was not exactly positive. I don't want to get into any big debate on this (thankfully having no one to debate with) but it did seem to me that quite a few of the nay-sayers with regard to the fast were missing the point, and spectacularly so.
They generally assumed the whole business was a kind of imposition upon Muslims and that we are somehow forced into an extremity of self-denial. The notion that the fast might be something to welcome, something entirely positive from which there is much to gain, didn't get much traction. And, of course, in terms of a world view focussed on grasping as many easy rewards as possible from our time on the planet, such a positive view would appear deeply absurd.
Once you come to glimpse being tested as something written into the fabric of things in a way that helps us read the book of the world, the world and your place in it changes. Just a little. But enough.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Making An Effort
12 Ramadhan, 1439
It's easy to forget the tiredness that is attendant upon this month of months. Except, that is, when that tiredness is being directly experienced, at which point it becomes distinctly unforgettable. The great thing about the feeling is the way in which it makes everything count. A simple trip to the shop becomes a bit less than simple when you need to get yourself into the right frame of mind to make it.
It's as if everything becomes that bit more memorable, that bit more meaningful, that bit richer - for being that little bit more difficult.
It's easy to forget the tiredness that is attendant upon this month of months. Except, that is, when that tiredness is being directly experienced, at which point it becomes distinctly unforgettable. The great thing about the feeling is the way in which it makes everything count. A simple trip to the shop becomes a bit less than simple when you need to get yourself into the right frame of mind to make it.
It's as if everything becomes that bit more memorable, that bit more meaningful, that bit richer - for being that little bit more difficult.
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Finished
11 Ramadhan, 1439
Finished Hobbes's Leviathan yesterday. I don't think I've ever taken quite so long to read a book of equivalent length before. Not sure that the effort was worth it, but very happy to get to the last page. And, ironically, this was an abridged edition.
In contrast, the effort required to fast results in complete fulfilment.
Finished Hobbes's Leviathan yesterday. I don't think I've ever taken quite so long to read a book of equivalent length before. Not sure that the effort was worth it, but very happy to get to the last page. And, ironically, this was an abridged edition.
In contrast, the effort required to fast results in complete fulfilment.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Familiarity
10 Ramadhan, 1439
Gosh, we're a third of the way through the fasting month already. It feels like it only started yesterday, but also that it's been going on for quite some time. I'm not sure how this double-awareness is achieved, but it's somehow always the same. I suppose the mixture of familiarity and strangeness is similar. A sense of finding out new things that are already known.
Gosh, we're a third of the way through the fasting month already. It feels like it only started yesterday, but also that it's been going on for quite some time. I'm not sure how this double-awareness is achieved, but it's somehow always the same. I suppose the mixture of familiarity and strangeness is similar. A sense of finding out new things that are already known.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Togetherness
9 Ramadhan, 1439
Broke the fast in a sizable company for the first time this year. The company in question comprised some of my Muslim colleagues, and a jolly time was had by all. We dined at an eatery along Bussorah Street, just along from Mesjid Sultan, and I enjoyed doing the Maghrib Prayer there, after eating plentifully.
A notable feature of Islamic thought is the notion that doing prayers in congregation makes them more valuable than doing them alone. The emphasis in our faith is always on community, a keen sense of others. For someone who's a bit of a loner like myself this is a powerful and necessary corrective.
Broke the fast in a sizable company for the first time this year. The company in question comprised some of my Muslim colleagues, and a jolly time was had by all. We dined at an eatery along Bussorah Street, just along from Mesjid Sultan, and I enjoyed doing the Maghrib Prayer there, after eating plentifully.
A notable feature of Islamic thought is the notion that doing prayers in congregation makes them more valuable than doing them alone. The emphasis in our faith is always on community, a keen sense of others. For someone who's a bit of a loner like myself this is a powerful and necessary corrective.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
A Very Very Very Good Thing
8 Ramadhan, 1439
Most of us would agree that food is a good thing, even when the particular food might not be terribly good for you. And certainly very good food, like that provided by the Missus, is a very good thing.
But it takes going without food for a few hours to truly grasp just what a surpassingly good thing food is. And don't get me started on the virtues of tea. Or just plain water, when you've been doing without it.
In our super-saturated world it's increasingly difficult to focus on quality. Finding ways to do so lies at the heart of grasping that world and the goodness it has to offer us.
Most of us would agree that food is a good thing, even when the particular food might not be terribly good for you. And certainly very good food, like that provided by the Missus, is a very good thing.
But it takes going without food for a few hours to truly grasp just what a surpassingly good thing food is. And don't get me started on the virtues of tea. Or just plain water, when you've been doing without it.
In our super-saturated world it's increasingly difficult to focus on quality. Finding ways to do so lies at the heart of grasping that world and the goodness it has to offer us.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Opportunities
7 Ramadhan, 1439
Fasting month brings with it a number of opportunities to part with money. It's the time of year when one's Zakat needs to be paid, but there are no shortage of requests for donations from various worthy organisations. As with so many other counter-intuitive features of the month, it's odd how good it feels to be giving away some of the green stuff. I don't think I'm a charitable person by nature; so often I need to be prompted to do the right thing. So having a time of year when doing this particular right thing is part and parcel of the experience is a blessing in itself.
Fasting month brings with it a number of opportunities to part with money. It's the time of year when one's Zakat needs to be paid, but there are no shortage of requests for donations from various worthy organisations. As with so many other counter-intuitive features of the month, it's odd how good it feels to be giving away some of the green stuff. I don't think I'm a charitable person by nature; so often I need to be prompted to do the right thing. So having a time of year when doing this particular right thing is part and parcel of the experience is a blessing in itself.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Losing Count
6 Ramadhan, 1439
At one point this evening I was trying to remember how long we've been fasting this year, in order to answer a question from someone related to this, and I realised that I couldn't give a precise answer. Some years ago I would have known the exact number of days. Thankfully, now the days begin to blur into each other.
I'm hoping for more imprecision as the month moves on. More forgetfulness. More living in acceptance in the moment.
At one point this evening I was trying to remember how long we've been fasting this year, in order to answer a question from someone related to this, and I realised that I couldn't give a precise answer. Some years ago I would have known the exact number of days. Thankfully, now the days begin to blur into each other.
I'm hoping for more imprecision as the month moves on. More forgetfulness. More living in acceptance in the moment.
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