The Road, the Journey, the Fence and the Garden - Prose of Ramadhan Part 61

75. Beauty III

I am addressing

Seekers of Love and Beauty.

You are seeking neither, you say?

Oh seekers of religion,

Think! Reflect! Contemplate!

How will you ever find a garden

If you don’t even know how it looks like,

Nor are you familiar with its blooms and perfume?

I say this to you because

If the world is a garden wonderous,

It is also crawling with weed,

Clawing and twisting vines,

And berries black and poisonous.

So know that which you desire

Before you start clambering around here.

Have you found religion? I hope that if you have, it shall not stand in the way in your pursuit of love, beauty and happiness. In the course of my short existence I have tried looking for religion about three times, if my memory serves me right. And each time was an abysmal failure. Too much of a sinner, I guess. A never-do-well in the rating posted weekly by the Celestial Billboard 100.

For some, religion is working from within then outwards. Or shall we say that spirituality is growing its religious borders bigger and bigger, so that religion is encompassing more and more of your perception of the Universe. It makes sense when you believe that religion is not a heavenly oddity, a mere alien visitor to earth from heaven. It makes sense when you accept that religion-spirituality is part of nature. To quote some grand old men of mysticism when they describes Islam thus - "The syaria (the law of the religion) is the road while the tariqa (the spiritual way) is the journey itself. Alternatively, the syaria is the fence/border that encompasses the tariqa."  That works too. There are many, many other analogies which you can use.

So look for religion by all means. But know what you are looking for. Do you want the fence or do you want the garden? You can have the fence alone, if that is what you desire. But I think you want the garden too, and the journey. Isn't that why you are reading this?

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.