You can choose to go, do, be, and have, and in the end you'll exclaim, shocked and bewildered, that because of all the synchronicities of your life, all the "clicks" and "coincidences," and the many happy "accidents," your bounty and good fortune must have been your destiny.


Or, you might choose to wait for a miracle, a savior, or divine intervention, and in the end you'll exclaim, shocked and bewildered, that because of all the synchronicities of your life, all the missed chances and disappointments, and the many unhappy accidents, your lack and misfortune must have been your destiny.

Bliss, do you see what the difference is?

It ain't me,

The Universe
 
Well I absolutely know this applies to me. I have a lot of fear about letting go of some things that I am not even cntent with.
I have a flat that is cheap rent and can be mine until I am no longer needing anything at all in this lifetime. It is a sort of security. However it is also a noose around my neck.
And I want to be with the man I love which means doing and being and trusting and enjoying the adventure.
When I took the plunge and went off to Spain I truly enjoyed the fact that I did it - an adventure.
So although yes some research is required, JH is worth it. The adventure is worth it!


For the past few weeks, a group of lawyers in Egypt have been calling for the famous book, The Arabian Nights, to be banned on grounds that it is obscene and promotes vice and sin. I was intrigued when the group’s spokesman tried to argue that literature such as the Arabian Nights “is acceptable in the West” and not in Egypt which has “a different culture and different religion” they said. Ironically, The Arabian Nights was produced during the Golden Age of Arabo-Islamic Literature, a period between the 8th to 13th centuries. It was not until the year 1704 that the first European version of The Arabian Nights was rendered into French.




As Islamic seminary students we were often expected to study texts like The Arabian Nights, or The One Thousand and One Nights as it is originally known in Arabic. We were told that this would provide us a key to the language of the religious texts of that time. I have to admit that most of us as young students would skip through the pages looking for the tantalising sections of the book, just those parts the Egyptian lawyers want banned. Now that I reflect on it, it’s interesting how we were asked to trace and find the ethical and moral teaching of our faith through the medium of what some are now calling “obscene”. Perhaps what may first appear to some as rigid and fixed boundaries can be shown not to be so by an appreciation of Literature from our past.



So my prayer today is:

Lord, increase us in knowledge of our past and grant us the wisdom and courage to act accordingly. Amen.