Spider-Man, a Radioactive Saint, Mickey Mouse, Hope and Gratitude - some thoughts to chew on...

11. Calamitous you

This world is not a calamity,

And if you are world-weary and pine for death,

Verily it is you that is calamitous,

Not the world.

................

This short terse prose was recorded more than 7 years ago, and I guess it still rings true. For Man (or Woman) changes places where he enters by his sheer presence. This is no magic trick, this is no genetic mutant superpowers or gained by being bitten by a radioactive spider (or saint? He he he).

Yes he can shoot spider webs from his wrist and climb walls, but
Peter Parker would have gained much more if a radioactive saint bit him.
He would have gained a new world.

ADAM CHANGED EARTH. We are simply following the traditions of the Prophet Adam when he landed on Earth, and changed this barren planet into a lush green paradise. Not many people can do that, to generate an entire eco-system of a planet by their mere presence.

Yea, poor Adam and Eve were banished from Heaven. But had they not been exiled,
there would be no green Earth, and no you, no me.

RAPUNZEL NEEDS A HAIRCUT. But in a small way, we can change the places that we gain entry into. For good or bad. For if we enter Disneyland with a despairing hate-ridden spirit, no Cinderella, no Rapunzel, no Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck would count to make this world better. In fact we would probably look at Cinderella and think her a blonde bimbo, Rapunzel a hippy who badly needs a haircut, Micky Mouse a giant disease-infested rodent and Donald Duck a spiteful hateful fowl. And Disneyland becomes nothing but an odious temple to pop culture and rampant consumerism.

This is Shaykh Nazim or simply
referred to as 'The Mawlana'. Well,
I call him The Radioactive Mawlana and
I hope that he will one day bite you!
Or are you bitten already?

HOPE AND GRATITUDE. But if we enter a house or even a room of people, with a joyous heart and a light shining from within, suddenly humanity ain't so bad after all. The world ain't so bad after all. And indeed, we have much to be grateful for and have hope. You need both you see - hope and gratitude to make this magic work. To make you work. For if you have no gratitude, what you count as hope is in fact a desperate anticipation that things MAY work your way. Hope is a bit more complex than that. Hope relies in submission to another being, a state of surrender to the state of love of another, that 'another' is of course our common Creator, aka God.

THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN... And in this spiritual syllabus, there is no teacher better and greater than the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh), and no heirs more loyal and true to him than the Saints. To find one, or to be found by one (the latter is more likely) is the greatest gift that Providence may leave at the threshold of your soul. From there, you may learn the beautiful truth and interplay between Hope and Gratitude.

God bless you, sunshine. Always love your company.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way