Like the Flowing River

Lately I've been reading 'Like the Flowing River' by Paulo Coelho, which is actually a compilation of short stories and articles. After reading it, I decided to put some of its stuff that I found interesting or inspiring on here. So, here you go.

1.Be like the flowing river, 
   Silent in the night. 
  Be not afraid of the dark. 
  If there are stars in the sky, reflect them back.
  If there are clouds in the sky,
 Remember, clouds, like the river, are water, 
 So, gladly reflect them too,
 In your own tranquil depths. 
 Manuel Bandeira

2.THE MISSING BRICK:
Once, when I and my wife were travelling, I received a fax from my secretary. ‘There’s one glass brick missing for the work on the kitchen renovation,’ she said. ‘I’m sending you the original plan as well as the plan the builder has come up with to compensate for it.’ On the one hand, there was the design my wife had made: harmonious lines of bricks with an opening for ventilation. On the other, there was the plan drawn up to resolve the problem of the missing brick: a real jigsaw puzzle in which the glass squares were arranged in a higgledy-piggledy fashion that defied aesthetics. ‘Just buy another brick,’ wrote my wife. And so they did, and thus stuck to the original design. That afternoon, I thought for a long time about what had happened; how often, for the lack of one brick, we completely distort the original plan of our lives.

3.IMPORTANCE OF CAT IN MEDITATION:
When I wrote Veronika Decides to Die, a book about madness, I was forced to ask myself how many of the things we do are really necessary, and how many are simply absurd. Why do we wear ties? Why do clocks move clockwise? If we live with a decimal system, why does the day have 24 hours of 60 minutes each? The fact is that many of the rules we obey nowadays have no real foundation. Nevertheless, if we choose to behave differently, we are considered ‘mad’ or ‘immature’. As long as this goes on, society will continue to create systems that, with the passing of time, will cease to make any sense, but will continue imposing their rules on us. An interesting Japanese story illustrates my point.
A great Zen master, in charge of the monastery of Mayu Kagi, owned a cat, who was the real love of his life. During meditation classes, he always kept the cat by his side, in order to enjoy its company as much as possible. One morning, the master, who was already quite old, was found dead. The oldest disciple took his place. ‘What shall we do with the cat?’ asked the other monks. In homage to the memory of his former teacher, the new master decided to allow the cat to continue attending the classes on Zen Buddhism. Some disciples from neighbouring monasteries, who travelled widely in the region, discovered that, in one of the most famous temples in the area, a cat took part in the meditations. The story began to spread. Many years passed. The cat died, but the students at the monastery were so used to its presence that they acquired another cat. Meanwhile, other temples began introducing cats into their meditation classes; they believed that the cat was the one actually responsible for Mayu Kagi’s fame, and for the quality of its teaching, forgetting what an excellent teacher the former master had been. A generation passed, and technical treatises on the importance of the cat in Zen meditation began to be published. A university professor developed a thesis, accepted by the academic community, that the cat had the ability to increase human concentration and to eliminate negative energy. And thus, for a century, the cat was considered to be an essential part of the study of Zen Buddhism in that region. Then a master arrived who was allergic to cat hair, and he decided to remove the cat from his daily practices with the students. Everyone protested, but the master insisted. Since he was a gifted teacher, the students continued to make progress, despite the cat’s absence. Gradually, monasteries – always in search of new ideas and weary of having to feed so many cats – began to remove cats from the classroom. Over the next twenty years, revolutionary new theses were written, bearing persuasive titles like ‘The Importance of Meditating Without a Cat’ or ‘Balancing the Zen Universe by the Power of One’s Mind Alone and Without the Aid of Animals’. Another century passed, and the cat vanished completely from the Zen meditation ritual in that region. But it took two hundred years for everything to return to normal, and all because, during that
time, no one thought to ask why the cat was there. How many of us, in our own lives, ever dare to ask: why do I behave in such and such a way? In what we do, how far are we, too, using futile ‘cats’ that we do not have the courage to get rid of because we were told that the ‘cats’ were important in order to keep everything running smoothly? Why do we not find a different way of behaving?

4. CHARITY UNDER THREAT:
Some time ago, my wife went to the aid of a Swiss tourist in Ipanema, who claimed he had been robbed by some street children. Speaking appalling Portuguese in a thick foreign accent, he said that he had been left without his passport, without any money, and with nowhere to sleep. My wife bought him lunch, gave him enough cash to pay for a hotel room for the night while he got in touch with his embassy, and then left. Days later, a Rio newspaper reported that this ‘Swiss tourist’ was, in fact, an inventive con-artist who put on an accent and abused the good faith of those of us who love Rio and want to undo the negative image – justified or not – that has become our postcard. When she read the article, my wife simply said: ‘Well, that’s not going to stop me helping anyone.’ Her remark reminded me of the story of a wise man who moved to the city of Akbar. No one took much notice of him, and his teachings were not taken up by the populace. After a time, he became the object of their mockery and their ironic comments. One day, while he was walking down the main street in Akbar, a group of men and women began insulting him. Instead of pretending that he had not noticed, the wise man turned to them and blessed them. One of the men said: ‘Are you deaf too? We call you the foulest of names and yet you respond with sweet words!’ ‘We can each of us only offer what we have,’ came the wise man’s reply.

5. PEACE: 
Peace is not the opposite of war. We can have peace in our heart even in the midst of the fiercest battles, because we are fighting for our dreams. When our friends have lost hope, the peace of the Good Fight helps us to carry on. A mother who can feed her child has peace in her eyes, even when her hands are trembling because diplomacy has failed, bombs are falling, and soldiers dying. An archer drawing his bow has peace in his mind, even though all his muscles are tense with the physical effort. Therefore, for warriors of light, peace is not the opposite of war, because they are capable of:
a distinguishing between the transient and the enduring. They can fight for their dreams and for their survival, but respect bonds forged over time, through culture and religion. b knowing that their adversaries are not necessarily their enemies. c being aware that their actions will affect five future generations, and that their children and grandchildren will benefit from (or suffer) the consequences. d remembering what the I Ching says: ‘Perseverance is favourable.’ But they know too that perseverance is not the same thing as stubbornness. Battles that go on longer than necessary
end up destroying the enthusiasm necessary for later reconstruction.
For the warrior of light, there are no abstractions. Every opportunity to transform himself is an opportunity to transform the world. For the warrior of light, pessimism does not exist. He rows against the tide if necessary; for when he is old and tired, he will be able to say to his grandchildren that he came into this world to understand his neighbour better, not to condemn his brother.

6. FAIRY TALE:
Maria Emilia Voss, a pilgrim to Santiago, tells the following story. In ancient China, around the year 250 BC, a certain prince of the region of Thing-Zda was about to be crowned emperor; however, according to the law, he first had to get married. Since this meant choosing the future empress, the prince needed to find a young woman whom he could trust absolutely. On the advice of a wise man, he decided to summon all the young women of the region in order to find the most worthy candidate. An old lady, who had served in the palace for many years, heard about the preparations for this gathering and felt very sad, for her daughter nurtured a secret love for the prince. When the old lady got home, she told her daughter and was horrified to learn that she intended going to the palace. The old lady was desperate. ‘But, daughter, what on earth will you do there? All the richest and most beautiful girls from the court will be present. It’s a ridiculous idea! I know you must be suffering, but don’t turn that suffering into madness.’ And the daughter replied: ‘My dear mother, I am not suffering and I certainly haven’t gone mad. I know that I won’t be chosen, but it’s my one chance to spend at least a few moments close to the prince, and that makes me happy, even though I know that a quite different fate awaits me.’ That night, when the young woman reached the palace, all the most beautiful girls were indeed there, wearing the most beautiful clothes and the most beautiful jewellery, and prepared to do anything to seize the opportunity on offer. Surrounded by the members of his court, the prince announced a challenge. ‘I will give each of you a seed. In six months’ time, the young woman who brings me the loveliest flower will be the future empress of China.’ The girl took her seed and planted it in a pot, and since she was not very skilled in the art of gardening, she prepared the soil with great patience and tenderness, for she believed that if the flowers grew as large as her love, then she need not worry about the results. Three months passed and no shoots had appeared. The young woman tried everything; she consulted farmers and peasants, who showed her the most varied methods of cultivation, but all to no avail. Each day she felt that her dream had moved farther off, although her love was as alive as ever. At last, the six months were up, and still nothing had grown in her pot. Even though she had nothing to show, she knew how much effort and dedication she had put in during that time, and so she told her mother that she would go back to the palace on the agreed date and at the agreed hour. Inside, she knew that this would be her last meeting with her true love, and she would not have missed it for the world. The day of the audience arrived. The girl appeared with her plantless pot, and saw that all the other candidates had achieved wonderful results: each girl bore a flower lovelier than the last, in the most varied forms and colours. Finally, the longed-for moment came. The prince entered and he studied each of the candidates with great care and attention. Having inspected them all, he announced the result and chose the
servant’s daughter as his new wife. All the other girls present began to protest, saying that he had chosen the only one of them who had failed to grow anything at all. Then the prince calmly explained the reasoning behind the challenge. ‘This young woman was the only one who cultivated the flower that made her worthy of becoming the empress: the flower of honesty. All the seeds I handed out were sterile, and nothing could ever have grown from them.’

7. A POEM BY MITSUO AIDA, RECOMMENDED BY AUTHOR:
If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
 they would look completely ridiculous. 
I am always amazed
 that so many people are concerned 
with wanting to be what they are not; 
what’s the point of making yourself look ridiculous?

8. ALONE ON THE ROAD:
Life is like a great bicycle race, whose aim is to fulfil our personal legend, which, according to the ancient alchemists, is our true mission on earth. We all set off together, sharing friendship and enthusiasm; but as the race progresses, that initial happiness gives way to the real challenges: tiredness, boredom, doubts about our own abilities. We notice that a few friends have, in their hearts, already given up. They are still cycling, but only because they cannot stop in the middle of the road. There are more and more of them, pedalling along beside the support vehicle – also known as routine – talking amongst themselves, fulfilling their obligations, but oblivious to the beauties and challenges of the road. We eventually leave them behind us, and then we come face to face with loneliness, with unfamiliar bends in the road, and mechanical problems with our bicycle. At a certain stage, after suffering a few falls with no one near at hand to help, we begin to ask ourselves if it’s really worth all the effort. Yes, it is. It’s just a question of not giving up. Father Alan Jones says that in order to overcome these obstacles, we need four invisible forces: love, death, power and time. We must love because we ourselves are loved by God. We must have an awareness of death in order fully to understand life. We must struggle in order to grow, but without allowing ourselves to be deceived by the power that is gained through that struggle, because we know that such power is worthless. Finally, we must accept that our soul – even though it is eternal – is at this moment caught in the web of time, with all its opportunities and limitations. Therefore, on our solitary bicycle race, we must behave as if time existed and do everything we can to value each second, to rest when necessary, but to keep cycling towards the divine light, and not be put off by any moments of anxiety. These four forces cannot be treated as problems to be solved, because they are beyond anyone’s control. We must accept them, and let them teach us what we need to learn. We live in a universe that is at once vast enough to enclose us, and small enough to fit inside our heart. In the soul of man is the soul of the world, the silence of wisdom. As we pedal towards our goal, we must make a point of asking ourselves: ‘What is beautiful about today?’ The sun might be shining, but if it happens to be raining, always remember that this only means that the dark clouds will soon have disappeared. The clouds do disappear; but the sun remains the same, and never goes away. In moments of loneliness, it is important to remember this. When things get hard, let us not forget that – independent of race, colour, social situation, beliefs, or culture – everyone has experienced exactly the same.

9. HUMANS FUNNY THING:
A man asked my friend Jaime Cohen: ‘What is the human being’s funniest characteristic?’ Cohen said: ‘Our contradictoriness. We are in such a hurry to grow up, and then we long for our lost childhood. We make ourselves ill earning money, and then spend all our money on getting well again. We think so much about the future that we neglect the present, and thus experience neither the present nor the future. We live as if we were never going to die, and die as if we had never lived.’

10. TWENTY DOLLAR BILL:
Cassan Said Amer tells the story of a lecturer who began a seminar by holding up a twenty-dollar bill and asking: ‘Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?’ Several hands went up, but the lecturer said: ‘Before I give it to you, I have to do something.’ He screwed it up into a ball and said: ‘Who still wants this bill?’ The hands went up again. ‘And what if I do this to it?’ He threw the crumpled bill at the wall, dropped it on the floor, insulted it, trampled on it, and once more showed them the bill – now all creased and dirty. He repeated the question, and the hands stayed up. ‘Never forget this scene,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter what I do to this money. It is still a twentydollar bill. So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet, despite all that, we are still worth the same.’

11. TWO JEWELS:
From the Cistercian monk, Marcos Garria, in Burgos, in Spain. ‘Sometimes God withdraws a particular blessing from someone so that the person can comprehend Him as something other than a being of whom one asks favours and makes requests. He knows how far He can test a soul, and never goes beyond that point. At such moments, we must never say: “God has abandoned me.” He will never do that, even though we may sometimes abandon Him. If the Lord sets us a great test, he always gives us sufficient – I would say more than sufficient – grace to pass that test.’ In this regard, one of my readers, Camila Galvão Piva, sent me an interesting story, entitled ‘The Two Jewels’. A very devout rabbi lived happily with his family – an admirable wife and their two beloved sons. Once, because of his work, the rabbi had to be away from home for several days. During that period, both children were killed in a terrible car accident. Alone, the mother suffered in silence. However, because she was a strong woman, sustained by faith and trust in God, she endured the shock with dignity and courage. But how was she to break the tragic news to her husband? His faith was equally strong, but he had, in the past, been taken into hospital with heart problems, and his wife feared that finding out about the tragedy might cause his death too. All she could do was to pray to God to advise her on the best way to act. On the eve of her husband’s return, she prayed hard and was granted the grace of an answer. The following day, the rabbi arrived home, embraced his wife, and asked after the children. The woman told him not to worry about them now, but to take a bath and rest. Some time later, they sat down to lunch. She asked him all about his trip, and he told her everything that had happened to him; he spoke about God’s mercy, and then again asked about the children. The wife, somewhat awkwardly, replied: ‘Don’t worry about the children. We’ll deal with them later. First, I need your help to solve what I consider to be a very grave problem.’ Her husband asked anxiously: ‘What’s happened? I thought you looked distressed. Tell me everything that is on your mind, and I’m sure that, with God’s help, we can solve any problem together.’ ‘While you were away, a friend of ours visited us and left two jewels of incalculable value here for me to look after. They’re really lovely jewels! I’ve never seen anything so beautiful before. He has since come to claim them back, and I don’t want to return them. I’ve grown too fond of them. What should I do?’ ‘I can’t understand your behaviour at all! You’ve never been a woman given to vanity!’ ‘It’s just that I’ve never seen such jewels before! I can’t bear the idea of losing them forever.’ And the rabbi said firmly: ‘No one can lose something he or she has not possessed. Keeping those jewels would be tantamount to stealing them. We will give them back, and I will help you make up for their loss. We will do this together today.’ ‘As you wish, my love. The treasures will be returned. In fact, they already have been. The two precious jewels were our sons. God entrusted them to our care, and while you were away, he came to
fetch them back. They have gone.’ The rabbi understood. He embraced his wife, and together they wept many tears; but he had understood the message and, from that day on, they struggled to bear their loss together.

AND THESE ARE ALL THAT I COULD FIND INTERESTING. NO DOUBT THERE WERE OTHERS AS WELL BUT THEY WERE PRETTY LONG AND I WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND YOU TO READ 'LIKE THE FLOWING RIVER' AND 'WARRIOR OF LIGHT: A MANUAL' BY PAULO COELHO, SINCE BOTH OF THESE INSPIRE US TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE.

Evolution?

H.G. Wells, a famous classic author, whose books contain the ideas which truly reveal the fantastic nature of the author himself. In one of his books, War of the Worlds, martians attack Earth, conquer it but in the end die to some petty little virus.

Martians, the title that we have given to the inhabitants of Mars, have been the top-banana since a decade or even a century. Ever since the possibility of life was found on Mars, the Martians were created along. Who are martians? What do they look like? Do they really exist? or are they just another product of human imagination? Unfortunately, I don't know the answer, at least not until the Curiosity project of NASA has some substantial information. Still, what picture does the word 'martian' send in your brain? Greenish folks with 4 limbs and a human-like appearance? Never mind lets get to the topic.

Mr. Charles Darwin, the famous biologist and scientist presented the theory of evolution, which is today accepted generally i.e humans were first monkeys and then evolved into humans. Anyway I truly recognize your intrigue to know whats cooking because  H.G. Wells, Martians and Darwin don't inter-relate with each other. On the contrary they do inter-relate with each other.

According to H.G. Wells in War of the Worlds, martians were beings with only eyes, brains and 8 hands/legs. Something quite like an octopus. Their color was scarlet or a shade between scarlet and brown. The noteworthy thing here is why did the author make the martians so? Why did he give the poor martians no nose, to smell the beautiful scents? Why they had no ears, to hear the songs of birds, chirping in the open? Why ,after all, why? The author then himself gives the explanation to why he created martians as such. He did this, to improve the efficiency. Wells supports his argument by stating that ears,nose and even mouth along with many other vital body parts are unnecessary and wasteful. Some of you might argue back that everything has its own purpose and God created us, so everything He made had a purpose. I totally agree with you but just for the sake of time pass lets see such prospects. Wells states that ears allow us to hear noises that might distract us from our main goal. For example, a song played suddenly while we are studying, might distract us. Similarly sometimes just due to some strong fragrance, we might get irritated or again it might deviate us by playing with the smell sensing receptor cells in our nose. Wells patronizes his work by saying that it is due to the mouth that we waste time talking about things and hurt others feelings. Here another question arises, without nose, ear and mouth etc, would we not be able to do their functions at all.

Fortunately the author has even answered this question, saying that we can do sufficiently well without these and coupled with the 8 hands at our disposal, we can do multiple tasks at the same time. This way every individual can focus all his power, energy and attention to his main goal. In the novel, War of the Worlds, one of the factor for Martian's victory is their body structure.

Moreover, such ideas are not at all unique that the nose/mouth distract us from our path. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, discourages communication among his employees, tagging it as a waste of time and energy. Another author, Roald Dahl, renowned for his children stories, writes in an adult Gothic story, how a dead man's brain along with the optic nerve, attached to one eye can be preserved in a basin for an infinite period of time. The brain can then focus on specific matters of the world with extreme concentration and attention, assisted by the eye only.

Yet, I haven't told you the connection of Charles Darwin or evolution with all this and its time I tell you. Look, if we, humans, evolved (though we do not evolve and will not evolve) then it would be probably something like what Wells sketched. Day by day, the average work load on every human being is increasing. As Darwin suggested in his theory that an organism evolves to survive then if we are to survive and if we could evolve, it would be in that 100% efficient being. Actually all of this is nothing but a mere wild guess substantiated by something negligible and based on something truly and totally wrong. Anyway, the creature/martian/future (evolved) human resembles quite a lot with this enemy martian in Metal Slug Saga. Take a sneak peek at what could have been the future you.....

AHAH MARTIAN GANGNAM STYLE
So...even martians do this?
RAMBO MARTIAN

Who are you?

An important question. Humans might be the most common answer. Actually I reckon that this is not a factual question, rather it is an opinion question. An average common man would tag himself as a human. A biologist might think of himself as a complex multi-cellular being. A housewife might consider herself as the most tortured and yet least rewarded being. All of them are right and no one is wrong. Similarly I also have an opinion, but I won't disclose it until we near then end, as it might influence your opinion.

Go and stand in front of a mirror, the purpose of this activity is not to grant you moments to admire your personal beauty, but the aim is to help you realize what you are actually. I don't want you sitting and pondering about yourself. That might make you self eccentric or as one of my cousin puts it 'might give you some depersonification blah blah syndrome or something'. Just think what you are, what you have done and analyze yourself on your own criteria.

Actually we all are terribly unique and have literally many aspects to our persona. I won't talk about someone other than myself. At times I can be brutally mean and other times I actually prefer people on my own self. Occasionally I might be the most boring person you would ever meet, but then there are times when you might find me entertaining. The point of all this is not to showcase myself but to portray the various shades of one entity.

However we also have some pitiful cases among us. These are people, who hate themselves, who don't like to be themselves. These people want to replace one or another of their trait with some other trait. It might be their appearance or their personality and character. They do not realize that everyone of us is in himself a gem; one of his kind, a perfect masterpiece. Though that doesn't mean everyone is perfect. Nay, no one is perfect. We all have neither one, nor two but millions of flaws. This is the way we are. We can't change it. We can't deny it. The nearest possibility to perfection is being yourself as much as you can and turning your adversities into your spotlight and making the best out of your flaws.

Now for the part who am I? In my opinion, I am everything and nothing. I am the best and the worst. I am kind and I am cruel. I am genius and I am stupid. Thus in my opinion, I literally possess many traits; positive as well as negative. You think I am too vague? or perhaps too general? Nope you are wrong. I've been as specific as possible. Still whatever I maybe, I am what I am. I am not the impersonation of somebody; legend even if it be. I have my own identity. Neither do I want to be someone else nor do I despise being myself. ( That however doesn't implies to that, I am self-centered or some thing of that sort)

So now who do you think you are? I beg you not to be influenced by my opinion and just refer to it as 'just another point of view'. Subsequently here I exit leaving you to yourself. Figure out who you are. Don't be too harsh or too lenient. After all who do you think you are fooling? If you tell me you are some great legend or intelligentsia ( though you are not even near to it)...I honestly don't care a bit. If you tell yourself, 'oh I am a legend, I'll make history and do this and that.' well good luck then embark on your journey of revolutionizing the world (nope I'm not joking, if you think you can...you really can). Still don't try to fool yourself by tagging yourself something you are not. Focus on reality and on the basis of facts, determine your true self.

Are we caged?

Being a student, one comes up with various thoughts and experiments.

So one day, we caught a wasp, injected ink in its abdomen and caged it with the perfect living conditions. Evidently and unfortunately, it didn't survive the injection and due to excessive blood loss, died on the second desk in our classroom, and is now buried under the rose plant. Anyway, the point of argument here is that,*ahem* I argue we,humans, are caged (all of us, including you and me).

Allah created the universe and the earth for us to dwell in. He created the seven continents and the waters. His these creations were for our sustenance and dependence. I see no reason to oppose the fact that universe and the earth was made for humans to dwell. They could walk here and there, anywhere freely. The Creator didn't impose any 'No Passing' tapes or something over territories. All land was for all men.

On the contrary tell for yourself, would you be able to go to America right now, given the transport,energy and nutrition....nope..definitely no. You would need those pesky documents, various documents of all sorts and sizes. This I consider is unfair for us, humans.

These documents; visas and passports etc are nothing but our own made complications. Similarly the national borders between the countries are also man-made hurdles. So without,these document stuff, you cant really walk on earth freely. Thus here I deem we are caged.

Nobody realizes this but we are definitely caged. If we weren't caged, I could have easily traveled anywhere on globe given the resources, but I am caged. I need the permission and acknowledgement of the cage-holders before traveling from one cage to another. By cage-holder the reference is deliberate to the state-holders. Imagine "UNITED CAGE OF AMERICA" or "PEOPLE'S CAGE OF CHINA".

I see that you are still not convinced of my argument. You still believe you live in a 'free country as a free citizen'. Well, well...what can I say?  Oh of course I can bid you a happy chirping in your cage. Perhaps I'd describe my point more.

See my fellows, if you can travel the globe regardless of the borders and documents, given the means to, just like a bird, then imagine how many sights could you see....how many events could you attend...how many cultures and traditions you could observe...Just like a bird, flying where ever wanted and watching the world with a bird-view.

Concluding the topic, I would emphasize my cage philosophy which I strongly believe on. As for your opinion on this argument, well I honestly value that whatever it may be. So caged as we may be, we are not thoughtless beings like birds and must realize the difference between transitory and real freedom. Consequently raising our value and demanding our right from the cage holders. May be in the future you might see me as your Nelson Mandela or something..Nah I'm just dreaming...or perhaps not?

Imagine the unimaginable

Wait, is unimaginable even a word? eh bien, it exists in the dictionary so that will be considered a word. However the point is, there is nothing like unimaginable. Its just a hollow word, thrown around by dunces with literally zero mental imaginative power. I wonder how do they even define unimaginable; something that cant be imagined...nay utter rubbish, everything can be imagined, well almost about everything.
Close your eyes...wait not now or you will miss this 'important' lecture, or well perhaps you might even doze off, when you close your eyes. Anyway, lets imagine something. How about...a lion walking on a ramp...well when I imagine that I can see Mufasa from doing a 'cat walk'. Lets try another, rather let me just throw some vivid imaginations that you can imagine. Piggy back ride....imagining yourself bald....Voldermort dancing...no, thanks to Dark Lord Funk, its not hard to imagine that. So well now imagine....um wait...I think I'm out of ideas! This is not a good sign...I must try to imagine something...oh imagine yourself a single celled organism or how about a man hunter who embellishes his walls with human heads like "Aye! the one you see there with eyeballs dropping that's Dickens, proved to be a good game" How about imagining Shakespeare as a ballet dancer or Hitler as an artist. Imagine Spider man with Batman's utility belt or Superman with Mjolnir. Actually the latter wouldn't have been much of imagining since, no one except Thor can lift Mjolnir.
Ok..Ok..enough of imagining. Lets talk about some serious stuff. So why do people don't imagine stuff? Why aren't they creative enough? I bet their brain is like a closed nutshell, which still needs to be opened. Oh wait, I shouldn't say such bad stuff about people who can't imagine since, specially after the imaginative power breakdown lately, I don't consider myself imaginative or synonymous. Getting back to the topic, most student's really care about imaginative skills. In most of the under developed countries curriculum, cramming is promoted. Moreover people think imagining is actually nothing fruitful but a waste of time.
Then what do you say? You are going to start imagining from today or you are just going to be a couch potato, watching the life pass, without even tickling your imagination? The choice is yours to make but I can just try to tell you that without imagination, the world loses its charm. Oh wait, what if I tell you that the quantum theory was the production of imagination. Actually more or less every single theory is in fact a result of imagination. Imagining the variables, the constants and other factors, then deducing the results and basing the hypothesis. Still, if you are not willing to imagine then,you are going to live a life of a dummy without color, charm and beauty.
Circumscribing the topic, I would advise you to imagine after all what does it even cost? Time and intellect well I bet both of these are worth giving for imagination. On the other hand, if you are an obstinate donkey, who refuses to still imagine well then I leave you to your state gentleman...or perhaps..mental man. Your case is helpless. Salutations Bucket-Head.

Think....

What did you think when you read the heading? No, no, the upcoming paragraphs are not about some serious world changing issue which might bore you out of your wits. Dying of suspense? Or already switched the tab out of boredom and lack of interest? Anyways let me continue with your mental therapy.

I am not asking you to radically reform and revolutionize the world. I know it’s out of your control. I am just asking you to think. Use the organ which you have on the upper roof of your head, believe me if turned on, it will work like a charm. Think….but think what? Right? Think about anything and everything.

Spare some moments here and think, how many children have died in infancy while you were reading this sentence. Didn’t they have the equal right to live? They didn’t commit any sin, then why did they die? Think…what is the value of human life? Why on the basis of man-made barriers do we indiscriminately slaughter Muslim, Jews and Christians alike? Think…why do we even call ourselves humans? Aren’t we really reckless monsters and beasts who really don’t care about women who become widow and children who become orphan? Think….the number of trees that might have been cut to provide for the pages of this magazine alone, hundreds? Think…why you are reading this? This doesn’t have anything to do with you, then why waste time? Think…what lies beyond this universe? What deep secrets do the depths of oceans hide? What hidden treasure is buried in the lands? Which pearl is concealed in the skies? Think…why did Newton only thought why the apple fell? Why was Einstein kicked out of school though his studies changed the world? How did Stephen Hawking manage to give us a glimpse of the secrets of universe with just one muscle of his cheek? Think….why are there seven continents? Why are there so many stars in the sky?

Now snap out of those thoughts. Do not wander too much in there. Those are dark tunnels. Some have light at the other end, others are simply endless. You expect me to answer those questions, right? No, I can’t, many people can’t, there answer lie with the Providence. We do not have access to that information but the least we can regarding those questions is….think.

Thinking is a mere process which most of us do involuntarily. It’s wrong. It’s unfair for the brain. Stimulate it and think of everything, why is this the way it is. This is a healthy exercise.

Wrapping the topic up, I would urge you to think and rethink of all the things existence and processes. Think and then seek answers:

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

-Paulo Coelho (Alchemist)

Besides Allah knows everything and everything is in His command, still we must utilize His special blessing and think…more and…more.