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Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 9:34 pm
(This post was last modified: March 17, 2013 at 9:36 pm by Mystic.)
This was a book that integrated works/lectures/books of three major Shiite Muslim Scholars.
Light within me
What I find inspiring now is the following, which to me translates to following the praiseworthy path even if it's mocked and belittled by everyone around you.
Quote:As soon as the spiritual traveler begins his spiritual exercises, he is bound to face many unpleasant events. He is criticized by his friends and acquaintances who are interested only in their selfish desires and current social customs. They taunt and unbraid the spiritual traveler in order to bring a change in his behaviour and to turn him away from his objective. When these worldly people find that the spiritual traveler has a new style of life and his ways and manners have become different from their own, they feel upset and try their best to remove him by means of mockery and taunt from the line recently chosen by him. Thus at every stage of his spiritual journey the devotee has to face fresh difficulties which he can resolve only by means of his determination, perseverance, will power and trust in Allah. Let the believers place their trust in Allah. (Surah Ali Imran, 3:122)
If we lived in Ancient society and were the type to follow what people follow and succumb to their praise...we would be all the sheep we mock today.
But a lot people move from one group to another.
If we are to follow an objectively praiseworthy path, we might need to be able to go against the praise of society and what they heighten and lower, and shift through the propaganda and realize the truth about the system we are under.
Even if we are mocked or must walk alone, it's a path worth taking.
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 9:47 pm
(This post was last modified: March 17, 2013 at 9:47 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
I believe our atheist friends would see themselves as the enlightened minority who are misunderstood by traditionally religious societies in which they live.
But in direct response to your post, it seems to me that the USA has a pretty shameless anything goes culture rather than a monolithic one. The end result is the same though. Religious people are mocked and criticized for daring to strive for righteousness and suggesting that one day everyone will be judged and held to account.
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 9:55 pm
That's how it felt for me as well when I was religious. Right now, I am having an identity crisis. I don't know who I should be exactly. Should I take life easy and go have fun and make that the priority? Should I be obsessed with quest for knowledge and wisdom? Should I do neither and focus my life to better help the oppressed and stop the corruption of secret societies? Or should I find more balanced approach? Should I be still devoted to spirituality? What about promiscuity and sex before marriage? I'm trying to decide who to be, without joining a group or a crowd.
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 9:59 pm
(This post was last modified: March 17, 2013 at 10:00 pm by Autumnlicious.)
(March 17, 2013 at 9:55 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: That's how it felt for me as well when I was religious. Right now, I am having an identity crisis. I don't know who I should be exactly. Should I take life easy and go have fun and make that the priority? Should I be obsessed with quest for knowledge and wisdom? Should I do neither and focus my life to better help the oppressed and stop the corruption of secret societies? Or should I find more balanced approach? Should I be still devoted to spirituality? What about promiscuity and sex before marriage? I'm trying to decide who to be, without joining a group or a crowd.
Be your own man.
Be honorable and to the best of your ideals.
Past that, I can only offer mockery for people offering snake oil solutions.
If your path convinces you to believe in a form of cosmic creator, then so be it.
But let that path be your own, not one offered by someone else to satisfy a momentary lust.
Else you're simply going to rip out one heart and replace it with another.
(March 17, 2013 at 9:34 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Even if we are mocked or must walk alone, it's a path worth taking.
That we can agree upon
Slave to the Patriarchy no more
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 10:05 pm
Thank you. Wise words.
I just haven't really chosen my "ideals" so to say or my "own" person. It use to be easy, follow Mohammad and the 12 Imams. That was it. Now it's so complicated.
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 10:07 pm
(March 17, 2013 at 9:47 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: I believe our atheist friends would see themselves as the enlightened minority who are misunderstood by traditionally religious societies in which they live.
Yes, you have a lot of weird beliefs don't you? 
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 10:10 pm
Quote:Religious people are mocked and criticized for daring to strive for righteousness and suggesting that one day everyone will be judged and held to account.
They must do that when they aren't ass-raping little kids or covering up for their pervert pals who do, huh?
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 11:00 pm
(March 17, 2013 at 9:55 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Right now, I am having an identity crisis. I don't know who I should be exactly. I don't believe our identity crisis ever really go away. I've had mine for more than 30 years and I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up.
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 11:02 pm
(March 17, 2013 at 9:55 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: That's how it felt for me as well when I was religious. Right now, I am having an identity crisis. I don't know who I should be exactly. Should I take life easy and go have fun and make that the priority? Should I be obsessed with quest for knowledge and wisdom? Should I do neither and focus my life to better help the oppressed and stop the corruption of secret societies? Or should I find more balanced approach? Should I be still devoted to spirituality? What about promiscuity and sex before marriage? I'm trying to decide who to be, without joining a group or a crowd.
People typically learn through community though, through a community of philosophy or science or faith.
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RE: Light within me
March 17, 2013 at 11:13 pm
(March 17, 2013 at 10:05 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Thank you. Wise words.
I just haven't really chosen my "ideals" so to say or my "own" person. It use to be easy, follow Mohammad and the 12 Imams. That was it. Now it's so complicated.
I know exactly how you feel. My quest for truth as a Christian ended up in the life I built for myself thus far (church friends, worship team, potential girlfriends, future ministry goals etc) crumbling around me as the foundations that maintained my focus on these things were crushed. Effectively, I've had to "re-invent" myself and figure out who I am in the secular world. It's been a lonely journey as I hardly had any non-Christian friends previously...
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
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