Note the grey suit I was wearing during the training in Perlis.
Segovius on his blog Anulios is in the midst of writing a book. This is to me a very exciting prospect since I feel I ought to write a book or have one written by now but have not gotten around to it , satisfying myself with blog entries. Which begs the question: Why do such talented writers like Dr Roza and Bergen have no desire to write a book while a person like me, who is so serius and no fun at all (almost) want so much to write a book , when I know it would be difficult to engage the casual reader to read a book that I write?
I just have to admit that I am a serious person. The only times I have fun are when I forget to carry the world upon my shoulders . That somehow usually happens when I am dipped into super cold water , like at the waterfall at Sagil and splashed at ! My children have even video cammed me screaming like a kid while dipped in the supercold stream at Sagil!
In the past few days however , my usual seriousness has become even worse because I seem to have taken to wearing only the blue greys in my wardrobe!
So back to this super serious topic of literalism that Segovius has brought up.
Segovius wrote that there are two types of perceiver, the literal and the metaphoric. I think there are more than two types but perhaps we can say there are two main types.
Literalism cause a rigidity in thinking. I think I would say literalists do not understand the shades of grey and see things as either black or white! Something like what George W B had said, a quote that has become pretty famous
"Either you are for us , or against us "
I find what Segovius has to say about The Theory of the Right Man interesting. This theory by a science fiction writer A E Van Gogt Segovius wrote on his blog:
This theory was first outlined in Van Vogt’s Report on the Violent Male and envisages a type of man who can never accept that they are wrong. They believe that something is true simply because they believe it - the fact that they believe it and they can never conceive of themselves as being wrong is proof of it’s total validity. Hence no supporting or contradicting evidence is necessary and reason flys out of the window, facts are ignored and evidence sometimes suppressed if the sufferer of this condition is in a position to do so.So there you have it...a possible reason why 'men are always right.' Please note the quote unquote. You would be alarmed to know that it leads to a reason for violence in men..to read further on this you can visit Anulios.
Next comes the main part of what Sergovius will be writing in his book and here is another quote from his blog:
To return to the considerations of these two types in the Islamic context which is what the book is primarily about: the book essentially charts the development of Islam in the non-rigid sense and documents the emergence of the ‘Rightist’ (to coin a phrase) elements within the tradition and the effect of equivalent elements acting on it from elsewhere.So there you have it. Lately I have been feeling so threatened by the emergence of a degree of intolerence and rigidity in thinking among our fellow Muslims that I started to feel quite insecure. I think that an outspoken person like me can likely be thrown into the jsil just for speaking my thoughts . It could become like what is happening here:
See this example of justice:
Saudi Teacher Sentenced to 750 Lashes
I got this from Mushtaq's blog entry
I keep wondering why governments want to control thinking and ideas and whether they realise that with the internet , they just cannot keep the frogs under the coconut shell anymore , to borrow a Malay proverb. You may be wondering what I am ranting about but take a look at the kind of books that are being banned in Malaysia:
I keep wondering why governments want to control thinking and ideas and whether they realise that with the internet , they just cannot keep the frogs under the coconut shell anymore , to borrow a Malay proverb. You may be wondering what I am ranting about but take a look at the kind of books that are being banned in Malaysia: