Tag Archives: Reality

A Letter to Humanity – Wake up, 2012 is near

Dear Humanity,

We will soon be entering 2012 – the beginning of the end. I am not a conspiracy theorist, and I do not think the world is going to end next year, but I believe we are going to witness a nexus of events that will change the world forever.

2011 was one of the most historic and memorable years in living history: from the Arab awakening; to the killing of bin Laden; the continuos downturn of the world economies as well as the Japan earthquake; we have seen events unfold that will shape the course of 2012.

There is no rescuing the euro crisis: nobody actually knows what is going to happen to the economies across Europe. America, too, is in an unimaginable amount of debt and there are little signs of improvement. Many political analysts are predicting that the US will attack Iran next year and this — as analysts suggest — could lead to World War III. You can read more about that here

If you haven’t realised by now, our countries are controlled by big corporations who care about profits over people. I was just in the U.S. – a country where the media, big food corporations and the pharmaceutical industry are all ‘in it together’. The media repeats adverts of junk food over and over again until it is indelibly printed within our subconscious; we are then given man-made drugs when we become ill, which, at best, suppresses our sickness. Never will the corporations and pharmaceutical industry recommend natural remedies – which are far more effective and better for us – simply because it will detract from their profits. Unlike here in Britain, the health care system in the U.S. is private – money is therefore made when people become ill. Get it?

Food, however, is just one of the means used to keep us in our sullen and stuporous state of somnolent sleep. The music industry and the major record labels will keep churning out the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber to keep us entertained and divert our attention away from what’s important in life.

We saw people demonstrating against the wealthy ’1%’ across the world this year – people’s consciousness is slowly changing and, because of the state of the world economy, people are unwilling to put up with corporate greed and capitalism.

Gil Scot-Heron’s famous line The Revolution Will Not Be Televised has been banded around a lot this year. One meaning of the phrase could be: true revolution occurs in the mind first before manifesting outwardly. And it’s true, little progress will be made in our society until we change our inward states. We have to first free ourselves from the shackles of our avaricious desires before we can change ourselves and, ultimately, implement freedom and change in society.

My intuition – whatever that may be – tells me that we need to prepare ourselves for whatever occurs next year. Things are changing and changing fast. We have been sleeping for far too long, it’s time to wake up. Unfortunately, what we don’t realise is if we worked together –  and stop killing and betraying one another – we would achieve far more together than we could ever do individually. Our short-sightedness and untamed inner self doesn’t always allow us to see it that way, however.

Truly, we are one human family but we often forget this. The Arabic word for human, Insaan, comes from the root word to forget. Our natural state is therefore inclined towards forgetfulness and headlessness. But these states manifest in people who are diverted away from Reality through mindless entertainment. People who are awake have a piercing insight into Reality. So let’s prepare ourselves and awaken to a new year which is in our hands, not theirs.

Your brother in humanity,

Omar Shahid

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What Will Heaven Be Like?

Whether one believes in metaphysical realities is down to one’s own volition, but a religious believer lives their life in order to get to heaven. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and other religious traditions may have different names for the other realm, nevertheless it is through understanding our purpose in this existence and living a life of goodness and penitence that one achieves true success. The following description of heaven is my simplified and shortened summary from religious and philosophical texts.  

Because we can’t see heaven- nor have we experienced it- any description of it is somewhat allegorical, in the sense that we can only use human language to describe it, when, really, it is beyond human comprehension. The Greek Philosopher Plato believed that everything in this transient sojourn is a bleak version of what exists in the world of forms- or what many would call ‘heaven’.  We do however, receive glimpses of what exists within the heavenly realm in this life. We have colours like red, blue, green and yellow, but in heaven their will be colours that will be new to us.

After the Day of Judgement when all human beings would have been questioned for their deeds and all matters that were unresolved in this life would have been resolved by our Lord, we will, through God’s justice, enter our final destination. For those who chose to live a life worthy of being admitted into heaven, will have the gates of paradise opened before them, and will run towards their home-you will instinctively know where you live. This home will be a palace, better than Buckingham palace, or should I say, better than all the palaces in this world combined. The ‘bricks’ of your house will be made from gold and silver. Architecture unlike you can imagine.

Men will be reunited with their wives, and will find that their partners are more beautiful than they could ever have imagined. So beautiful in fact, that you could sit their for ‘years’ admiring her beauty, although ‘years’ doesn’t really make sense in a realm which is outside time, space and matter.

There will be flowing rivers beneath your feet, some rivers of water, some milk, and others honey and wine. One can drink from the rivers as much as they want, but it will be purely for pleasure, not necessarily to satisfy the bodily needs. The food will be readily available, you can take anything of the trees, and anything you desire will be yours.

In heaven there are no meetings, no school, no work, no appointments, just an infinite amount of time. We will not be in the bodily form we inhabit now, and therefore our state of mind will be different and wont be subject to the mundane thoughts we currently exhibit.

There is no summer or winter, no sun or moon as such, but will just be the constant light which will emanate from the throne of our Lord.

What form will we take? We will be the height of Adam (approximately 90 yards tall), the age of Jesus when he ascended to the heavens (33) and the men will be as beautiful as the prophet Joseph. The philosopher John Hick believes that once we die, and take on a new form, we will not take on the form we currently inhabit, but we will have this recognition device which will instinctively tell us who people are.

If our inner state is not willing to ascertain the truth of this life then our heart cannot gain experiential knowledge of the divine. The heart has the ability to see things which are not always outwardly manifest and can at times gain a piercing insight into the metaphysical realities. Heaven may seem like a wild fantasy created to appease our psychological needs and something which fills the void in our life.  But even if one doesn’t believe in heaven, one should still live their life as if there is one.

Omar Shahid

Reality vs Deception

 The concepts of reality and deception are discussed in most religious traditions, spiritualites and philosophical thought.  The underlying theme which seems to be present in all schools of thought, is the fact that it is of great importance that one distinguishes the difference between reality and deception. The Greek philosopher Plato provided us with food for thought with his ‘allegory of the cave’ which discusses the idea of reality, and how we are often decieved by what we see. Theists, rationalists, secularists and atheists will all generally agree that this ephemeral yet (often) deceiving world, which we inhabit, makes us forget the bigger picture (whatever that may be). But theists will go a step further and claim that one cannot afford to forget that this life is short-lived, and just a mere journey we all have to go through in order to get to the next life. 

 It is easy for a human being to become engrossed, consumed and then swallowed up by this life. The Hindu and Buddhist concept of ‘Maya‘ generally denotes the idea of an illusion, in particular, the illusory nature of this life. People misunderstand themselves and reality, we believe objects and everything around us to be independently real. In the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, ‘Maya’ is purely physical, limited, and deceives our everyday consciousness. Similarly, in the Islamic tradition, the world for this world is ‘dunya’-which, in fact, has a negative connotation. The word ‘dunya’ purports that we live in an illusory world that will constantly delude you. This life makes you think you can transgress, that you are here permanently, and you are dependent from God. One of the root meanings of the word ‘dunya’ is to reach for grapes you will never be able to grasp. And this is the exact essence of this life-we will never be satisfied nor will we be able to achieve all that we want in this life, and, essentially, it will always elude us.

In the Bible, a similar message is given, in the book of Romans 12:2: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

One of the names of Satan in the Quran is the ‘chief deceiver’. Satan is the one who makes us forget our purpose and reason for being here, and causes us to forget ourselves, which, in turn, corrupts our minds/ souls. ‘’Know thyself’’ the Delphic oracle told the philosopher. If one does not know themselves, their purpose and where they are heading, our lives become meaningless and wasteful.

Science also confirms that we are constantly beguiled by deceptions, because, as I said in a previous post of mine: The way in which we see is by watching images inside our brain. We observe images through electrical signals transmitted through our brain which then forms a picture. The same thing applies to all our other senses-touch, smell, hearing etc, they are all perceived in the brain as electrical signals. So it is reasonable to presume that we do not confront matter in its original form- which exists outside of us- but rather we produce an electrical copy of it which is produced as a signal formed inside our brain. We are therefore mislead in assuming these copies are instances of real matter outside of us. To imagine matter to have an existence outside the mind is a deception, but it is the Being that created the mind, and transcends the transient creation which is the only reality-and this is God.

The fourth caliph of Islam once said that: We are sleeping now (in this life) but it is once we die that we will truly wake up.

Omar Shahid