Aug 14, 2008
Posted by arif in General | 23 comments
What if you truly had just six more months to live.
Stop and give it a thought. What if you truly had just six more months to live. What if yesterday you went down to your family doctor. You go to him with the results of certain tests he had asked you to do for some silly little pain like a headache or something like that. There you are sitting across the table from him and he says, “Buddy, there’s no easy way to say this. So, I’m just going to spell it out. Arif, you have only six more months to live. We’re in the middle of August, six months later this year, say end Feb you will breathe your last. It’s not a might, it’s not maybe, but you WILL breathe your last breath in the end of February. I thought it best that I tell you that now then you finding it out later. I’m really sorry, Arif. I strongly recommend getting all your affairs in order now.”
If that was really the case how are you going to spend the last six months of your life? I’d tell you how I’d do it. I’d certainly spend much more time in the slums of India, seeing what difference can I make there. I’d spend much more time doing much more charity. Indulge more in the pleasures of reading. And interestingly I’d be much less worried about money and how well is the next Vakil Housing Project selling or not. What does it matter how well our Company is doing or not, I have ONLY six more months to live! You know what else would be different. I would be so much be, “Living in the Now.” If I’d be having a cup of coffee, I’d breathe in the aroma before I bring it to my lips. I’d cherish each deep sip of that coffee, feel the hot rush down my throat into my belly. Why? Gosh this would be my last cup of coffee. And it’s not just coffee. Every single moment would be so precious, so special, cause it’s not going to come back. Ever. Be it when I’m with a friend or a colleague at office, I’d be giving my full, focused, undivided attention, as this just may be the last time I’d be with him. You know, even if somebody were to cuss, curse and swear at me, it would still sound so beautiful. No matter what would go wrong in life, if I had only six months to live, gosh, I’d not waste even a thought of complaint to any situation, person or event. Why spend any moment in any sort of mental agony, if you have only six months to live.
We actually do have just that much time.
And you know what’s the best bit. We actually do have just that much time. We really have just six months to live. I’m not kidding. Because, it will seem just like that when you look back at your life. We were with mum the other day and we happened to ask Mum, how long does it seem her life has been. She said, “oh son, it seems as if I have just closed my eyes and opened it & my entire life can be fitted in that minute time frame.” We said, “Oh come on Mum. You’re over 50 years old. FIFTY WHOLE YEARS. You are married with two kids, one of whom who’s married. There were so many ups and downs, during life, earlier we were based in Dubai, now we’ve moved to India, so much has happened so many memories, does it really seem so short?” Mums replied in her wisdom, “Oh it seems so short only, and keep talking, in a few years you too will see how short life is.”
Some of you may remember the blog post and website I’d put up when I was getting married. Well it’s been two whole years since that time. Two Years. Gosh, how does time fly. Man, it really seems I got married just last week or last month or so.
So, think about it, how would you spend your life, what woudl you be doing differently than you are doing now, if you had just six more months to live?
This is a follow-on to a brilliant post that Ali wrote titled, How to find and fulfill your Life’s Purpose on GTD Times. One of the questions Ali mentioned to help you find your “Outer Purpose” is by asking yourself, “what if you had only six months to live? What would you spend your maximum time doing?”
Aug 7, 2008
Posted by arif in General | 2 comments
Yet another marvelous creation of the Almighty:
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Click here to view another video of the Basilisk captured by some students.
Aug 4, 2008
Posted by arif in Spirituality | 0 comments
Ghazalli’s Alchemy of Happinesss is a beautiful book that I will probably read a couple of times again. Contrary to the image of heavy hard-bound complicated volume, the Alchemy of Happiness is 30 or 40 pages long, and really quite simple. Yet it’s deep. Very deep. I got my copy of the book from Dad after he had it printed bound from this online link.
To explain the purpose of life, Ghazalli uses many parables and similies. The ones that had the most penetrating effect on me, which eloquently also explain Why are we here, are these three:
1. Ghazalli likens man’s journey in this world to the pilgrimage of a Muslim on a camel-back to Hajj. To make the description more general say it’s, the journey of an individual on a steed to a Greater Pilgrimage. What’s the purpose of any Pilgrimage? It’s to gain greater spiritual purification and presence after our lives. But most of the time we live our lives overly-concerned with our bodies, our other passions & desires and choose to be unmindful of our Spiritual Growth. The similitude of a person who’s life revolves around the satisfaction his desires, be it hunger, sleep, climbing the corporate ladder or dominance of his business is like the Pilgrim who’s got his full attention to his camel and is oblivious of why he’s out on this journey in the first place. The Pilgrim feeds the camel, gives it all the rest it needs, beautifies it, gets it married, brings up the Camel’s kids and eventually when his Camel is not strong enough to complete the journey it lays down and dies. Leaving the Pilgrim lost in the desert in despair, anguish, tearing his face with what he’s done.
2. What are man’s basic physical needs. It’s Food, clothing & shelter, isn’t it? Well to satisfy these essentials, gives rise to three obvious trades. The Farmer, The Tailor and (ahem!) the Builder. Well it doesn’t just end there, the Farmer to plough his field needs a tractor, so there enter General Motors to provide the Tractor. The Tailor needs a Sewing machines and then there comes in the Singer Sewing Machine Company to provide the Tailors with Sewing Machines. Ofcourse, these all need huge finances, so banks are setup to finance the growth of these new entrepreneurs. Each of these individuals cannot survive on their own and are constantly trading with each other which sometime lead to disputes, thereby Laws are set up, a Judiciary and Police to enforce these Laws and eventually a Government to run the whole show. Man once again gets so engrossed in the day to day maintenance of this complete system that once again forgets the purpose of having this setup in the first place, it is simply to provide Food, Clothing and Shelter, that’s all.
3. But if Man’s purpose is simply Spiritual Growth, then what is this Spiritual Growth? Ghazalli defines Spiritual Growth, the quest for the answer to the question, “Who are you?” And if you feel that all you are is the physical body ends at your finger tips then that makes you not much different from animals. Afterall animals too breathe, eat, sleep and make babies. There’s obviously more to you than that. Who are you? Finding out Who are you, is primarily answering the below four Questions:
- To Know with your inner being, Where Have you come from?
- To know with utter confidence, Where are you going?
- What is it that makes you truly, everlasting happy?
- What is it that makes you truly everlasting sad?
In conclusion, if Spiritual Growth is all that matters then why we been given passions/desires and faculties like anger in the first place. The answer is this, the first is your steed, the second your weapon. Afterall, it’s not possible for you to go on pilgrimage on foot, you need a camel.
Ps. If you found any of the stories/analogies speaking to you personally, read the Alchemy of Happiness, you can get it for free here.
