1.20.2009

- in the name of Allah -


At times, the greatest obstacle to progress is one's own self. The hardest fight to overcome is a wall that is self-created, a barrier to fresh ideas, action, and acceptance that change is sometimes necessary.

In the course of life, the most important thing one can do to overcome these obstacles is to reflect on everything, upon life, upon death, upon the course of one's life from the earliest days of recollection. What has my purpose been? For what have I been known? What kind of person do I truly wish to be? At times, voices inside your head (sometimes known as the Shaitaan, the Devil) will remind you of the allure of darkness. How inviting it is to keep only one's ego and id as rulers to dethrone the superego from ever raising its voice, to negate conscience and guilt, to become whatever we want to become whenever we want to become simply to find another source of pleasure or another way to avoid pain. However, life is all about dealing/coping with not enough happiness and being dosed with apparently unbearable pain/sadness. The best of us are those who remember that all of this does serve a purpose, it is not all in vain, and one day, everything will be accounted for, and we will find our recompense in line with our deeds.

1 comment:

yumyumna said...

I like what you said because this is all true. It's not just in present times when the only changes one can make are due to oneself, but also when the day comes in the future, the only one responsible and accountable for one's actions will also be oneself.
It's really hard to change :( but as you suffer and fight your nafs, you know that there is a goal you are working towards. I've stopped listening to music and now I find myself singing to myself the songs I want to listen to :P It's kind of pathetic. But one thing I've realized is my capacity for memorization ;D since I remember those lyrics perfectly, I can put those skills towards memorization of more Quran. Yay! Already I see the benefits of trying to change one bad habit.

also, more synonyms for 'Devil': Shaitaan, Satan, Beelzebub, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, 'Iblees', A-Streetcar-Named-Desire, and Dick Cheney.

(my sense of humor is surely dying, I'm sorry)

Ma'salaam