Friday Meeting
August 12, 2011
Seven people participated in this Friday’s meeting and discussed on the topic, spirit cultivation. The topic was chosen based on the understanding that our spirits resembles a field. So, it is up to us what to cultivate in this field.
Noor Navayee introduced the topic, saying that our deeds are the seeds which we cultivate in our spirits. When we go certain course of actions repetitively, its form our habit patterns and by passage of time and walking on the same courses our deeds changes into our character. It simply follows that our good or bad character or our goodness and badness is a function of our habits and actions that we habitually practice. Linking this to Ramadan, Navayee noted that the main philosophy of fasting in Ramadan is to have the opportunity to cultivate our spirits, in addition to annually checking and rechecking ourselves and our values and evaluate the quality of our harvest, our character, so far. He read some versus of holy Koran, chapter ASH-SHAMS (THE SUN) in this respect; translation:
“In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, by the sun and its midmorning, (1) by the moon, which follows it, (2) by the day, when it displays it, (3) by the night, when it envelops it! (4) by the heaven and who built it, (5) by the earth and who spread it, (6) by the soul and who shaped it (7) and inspired it with its sin and its piety, (8) prosperous is he who purified it, (9) and failed is he who buried it!...”
In the above versus, God swears in most remarkable phenomena of the nature then emphatically reveal the truth about human sprit (soul), that is to say, human salvation and eternal prosperity or failure is dependent on his purification of his soul.
Ahamadshah Stanekzai addressed the situation in Afghanistan. He said that good deeds and piety has become just a matter of slogans in Afghanistan. Everybody speaks and boasts about being honest and faithful, but the reality is another way. The second problem he held that was greediness. He said that they have become very voracious; though the situation is much better than the past, people care of nothing but to collect as much of everything as possible. In his opinion it is very important to do and repeat good works in Ramadan. He noted that originally it has been declared a period in which every Muslim has to take care of the poor people, of his community and neighbors, but now they only suffice in performing some formalities and rituals. He held that these days that we are desperately in need of reform and change in all aspects of our life, religion has to play an important role and its value and practice has to be closely connected to the realties of people’s life. It should change people’s life and affect them positively and their relations in daily life.
Fayez cautioned of the bad effect of habits. He said that in habits people were repeating things mindlessly and such a repetition detrimentally affect human ability in long term. He mentioned the importance of observation and attentiveness in each moment of life. It gives us the capability to live in present free from past and future. It enables us to be exposed to life, live every second intentionally and enjoy the sensational fulfillment and flow of existence. He linked this to Ramadan, and mentioned that in Ramadan we have to be very attentive, leave what we were doing habitually, mind our steps, our actions our words and even our sleeps. This is called in his view observation which lead us to further happiness and freedom, each moment abandoning the anxieties of what we do not have and headaches of the past and future and enjoying the beauty of a new world each minute.
Kaka jan expressed himself by saying that the youths did not have to be complacent to the elderly and their world and religious knowledge. In many ways, he said, elderly people who are increasingly regarded ignorant by their educated sons can have better experiences which help young people. In his view good and bad though has to be assessed according to necessities of time.
Arif Sheva uttered that he was bored of doing things habitually. He said that life there was just doing the same things over and over. He said that doing things intentionally and mindfully is like being on the fore front, where we always think and are careful; in contrast, doing things as a result of habits mindlessly is being like stamping your feet of the surface with out thinking, just to pass the time.
Azim Hazhir divided the habits into two kinds: good and bad. He said that good habits like waking up early in the morning were good even if done just as a habit, and bad habits like smoking were bad. He said that most of the time we can’t be fully present at each moment and mindful of our deeds, so walk the known path and do things as habits.
Iqbal Shahrvand emphasized the importance of freedom in human growth and actualization of his potentials. He said that one condition was to be honest with what we are, and have the freedom to live what we are internally. He counted it as a challenge of current situations in Afghanistan, where one can not honestly be what he/she is. There have been undue pressures from different sides imposing certain values and habits especially on youngsters and this way damaging their growth.
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