"... I left town and on my way back, at a point where the land was high and I could see the sea to my left and down the road a long ways, I suddenly felt I was in heaven. The spot was in fact no different from when I had passed it not long before, but my way of seeing it has changed. The feeling, a paradoxical mix of pulsing energy and profound peace, was intense and blissful. Whereas before the road, the sea, the trees, the air, the sun all spoke differently to me, now they spoke one language of unity. Tree took account of road, which was aware of air, which was mindful of sea, which shared things with the sun. Every element in harmonious relation with its neighbour, and all was kith and kin. I knelt a mortal; I rose an immortal. I felt like the centre of a a small circle coinciding with the centre of a much larger one."
this is the voice of piscine molitor patel, a fictional boy, immediately after discovering islam. i think this experience can be had without god's help. i guess it all comes back to who you hold responsible for your spiritual welfare.
2 comments:
Who do you hold accountable for your spiritual welfare?
Me? I don't know. Some man in the sky who lives in my head smiles sometimes and on those days I feel more whole than not.
And then, sometimes, when I ask this man in my head-sky what this welfare of spirit so crudely coveted in fact is he said its what i so crudely covet.
I then sometimes ask why so crude must i covet and the man on my sky would pinch my wrists, feel my pulse, fill my lungs and say flesh is crude and you are no more than that.
But he said it gaily smiling and my crude flesh felt whole.
So, feeling whole, I once became curious and asked the man in the sky of my head how does he decide when to smile so. And he said "Me? I don't know. Some man in the sky who lives in my head smiles sometimes and on those days I feel more whole than not..."
Me? I don't know either. I think, or at least I try to imagine, I hold myself accountable.
I'm with this guy -
"The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light." - Stanley Kubrick
I enjoyed you comment, Vicnonymous ;)
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