Winter

A short one. Darkness, Grit, Oppression and the Ultimate Goal.

I miss the mornings where the sun rays would filter through my window. I miss the feeling of sunlight. It’s winter again and all I can think of is how dark it is. There’s lessons to be learned from it too, don’t get me wrong. It’s a time for inward reflection, for seeing your own inner darkness, and finding an inner light despite the outer dark. But it’s still freaking gloomy.

I’ve started journaling again. I didn’t really want to but it felt necessary. Winter does that to you. I realised one thing though, a lot of the way we see the world is filtered heavily, heavily, heavily through our emotions. I mean, I knew it before, but experiencing and realising it is always a jolt.

There’s been a couple of books I’ve been reading on the side also, one of them is all about Grit, and how grit is the more important factor, over intelligence and passion etc. It’s definitely a good read. Though I do feel a bit guilty realising I’m maybe not putting as much effort or grit in places I could be.

And it’s not like I can go without mentioning the oppression the Palestinians are facing every day, day in and day out. It’s actually insane, and a terrifying sign that we’re reaching the end of times. Not to be dramatic.

For us though, the responsibility is to do what is in our human capacity to prevent this oppression.

For most of us that means giving in Sadaqah (Revive are on the ground right now, and have a 100% donation policy), it means making Du’a (e.g. Dua Nasiri), demanding ceasefire from your local MP if you’re in the UK (you can do that with this excellent tool) and protesting, and boycotting as you can.

The state of the world as it is right now, with oppression on one side, while saudi’s building their disgusting ‘new murabba’, is a stark reminder that this world is certainly not the goal or aim. It is just a means. It is a means for the akhira.

We’ve got to go back to first principles. You and God. Everything else is secondary.