Quest for life

Rule no.11: The quest for love changes us. There is no seeker among those who search for love who has not matured on the way. The moment you start looking for love, you start to change within and without. It is very clear that a person requires love to experience life to the fullest and so Shamz asks you to look for love. However, why has Shamz urged people for embarking on a journey to find love outside? The question is; can anyone find love without first having it inside him/her to give it to the world. To me, if you do not have love inside you then you can't find it outside.  Here I mean to say two things; First is that love is an inherent feeling. You can feel unloved even when you are getting all the love in the world just because you have created barriers mental and emotional. The famous Persian poet and philosopher Rumi said, "Your task is not to seek love but merely to seek and find barriers within yourself that you have built against it". Let me expl...

Rule 6: Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely. But eventually it is best to find a person who will be your mirror. Remember only in another person’s heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you. There was a time when I hated to be alone. To a person who loves to be surrounded by friends, it was as if loneliness was a punishment. Acting as an agony aunt and giving a patient hearing to someone in need which is one part of me that I enjoy. I am such a chatterbox that I always desired company. So, whenever I was alone, I missed company and felt that I was cursed to be lonely. However, slowly I started enjoying my own company. I realised that I enjoyed doing my own things. I love not being answerable to anyone for my own actions. I get time to reflect upon myself an...

Rule 5: Most of problems of the world stem from linguistic mistakes and simple misunderstanding. Don’t ever take words at face value. When you step into the zone of love, language, as we know it becomes obsolete. That which cannot be put into words can only be grasped through silence. As per French born painter, sculptor and writer Marcel Duchamp “As soon as we start putting our thoughts into words and sentences everything gets distorted, language is just no damn good. The question comes up, “is language an adequate mean of communication". Language as a tool to communicate is insufficient when it comes to expressing intense emotions. It doesn't express how a person feels or sees the world. For eg. one cannot interpret love however hard one tries or one can't explain the feeling of elation one gets from listening to music. The degree of happiness, the depth and the understanding of each person varies and categorising everyone's experience into limited vocabula...

Rule 34: Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission a power that comes within. Those who submit to the divine essence of life will live in unperturbed tranquility and peace even the whole wide world goes through turbulence after turbulence. When we talk about submission people think of two opponents trying to establish supremacy over each other, where one party has to relinquish control or power over to the other. The act of giving up control is seen as submission and usually viewed as something which a person does involuntarily and under pressure. However, submission can be a voluntary act as well. It can be an act of love and surrender to someone or something willingly. When submission is involuntary one is forced to put his ego aside and then serve the other force but when one submits willingly it is an act of faith and putting aside ego is only a small part in this kind of su...

Rule no 13 of Shamz e Tabriz:  Try not to resist the changes, which come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come? They say change is the only constant. Everything is on the move. The whole universe, this earth and every atom on it, time and everything that seems to   move and not move with time is constantly changing. One thing transforms itself into another and the cycle of change keeps moving. Change is everywhere and we go through it every moment. As Greek philosopher  Heraclitus said that "you can't step into the same river twice"  and yet we all want our lives to be a constant.   We teach our kids that ending has to be happily ever after....We dream that happy times are going to last forever and we do everything in our hands to keep the things as they are even if present circumstances are pathetic and a change is ac...

Shamz E Tabriz's 4th rule of Love says " Intellect and love are made of different materials. Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything. Intellect is always cautious and advises, ‘Beware too much ecstasy’, whereas love says, ‘Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!’ Intellect does not easily break down, whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble. But treasures are hidden among ruins. A broken heart hides treasures" Love says, ‘Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!’ How can love be so reckless? Why does it think of only the immediate happiness and forgets about the later consequences? What drives it to be so reckless and risk-taking? If it is one's heart then why does one's heart only feels and doesn't think anything? Who needs a broken heart even if it hides treasures? These are the thoughts clouding my mind these days. I have been thinking of writing essays on these rules for quite some time now....

Someone recently told me that perception is mother of all f*** ups. That made me think; "what has perception got to do with 'F*** ups". As it turns out, perception has everything to do with it. We just perceive some things because we have those beliefs out of common knowledge, fleeting experiences and convenience, not only convenience but also fun to remain in the dark. When it comes to perception we mainly rely on our five senses and obviously perceive whatever is most convenient and enjoyable to the senses without bothering to find the reality. We make opinions based on these perceptions and some times completely forget how much it can harm others. Just today one of my colleague commented something jokingly which is enough to spoil my reputation. I am well aware that he knows the reality but it is always more fun to feed people's perception. Moreover why deviate from something which is more juicy gossip and have fun at some female's expense than be a gentlema...