Preventing Entropy of Mind and Heart

Kenyir lake

This is nothing to do with Kenyir but is a cultural show in Bukit Tinggi ( Sumatra).I was there two weeks ago

This is me in front of the cabin in Kenyir Resort about a couple of months ago. Observe the mp4 hanging around my neck. This was an entropy preventing trip of seeking beauty in nature and reflecting on my spiritual teachers words ( the mp4)

This is the cabin from outside

What has triggered this topic is a combination of human actions and reactions and my current project: A book on EQ.

This book has been good for me in more ways than one.

• It has induced me into becoming aware of my emotions and how I interact with people
• It has made me even more convinced to always try new things
• It has made me more persistent in my efforts to balance my emotions , experience peace and joy in the depth of my being
• Last but not least, remove from the environment the polluting effects of my own toxic emotions by not feeling them .

What has all this got to do with entropy?

On a discussion recently on the sufi studies list , while discussing about human behaviour Mushtaq mentioned the word entropy in the way things happen . Even when things start out as lofty ideals and best intentions , it kind of deteriorates over the years and naturally depraved human beings give in to their egos and lusts and desires.

This is getting complicated so I will just stop here with a few observations and suggestions

When was the last time you REACTED rather than RESPONDED?
What I mean by this is you jumped to conclusions, made judgment on a person who is communicating with you and became absolutely angry and out of control and then started to exchange insults?

If you tell me you did that in the past one week then my next question is ...

What have you been doing recently to stop brain and heart rot? I am not talking about some rare disease caused by germs or viruses but the all too human tendency not to do things that develop the brain and the heart.

What are these activities you want to know?

Here are some suggestions

• Pray with full focus and and concentration
• Contemplate on beauty - nature , poems , music etc..( What is that? These things don't move you ...aiyooo.....come see me to unsupress , I will give you a homeopathic remedy )
  
• Learn a new skill
• Read a book that is not essentially junky
  
• Memorise a verse or saying or ayat that is soul food
• Do something you have not done before
• Reflect on your deeds without being defensive
• Stop finding excuses for your shitty behavior
  
• Hug a kitten or a tree if you do not have a kitten
• play with young children ( tolerating them while feeling rotten does not count)
  
• Did something positive for someone out of the sheer goodness of your heart ( force yourself to do this if you cannot find the goodness -hopefully it will have to surface -unless the rot is total! )
  

How will you know you have stopped the brain and heart rot ?
When you cannot remember when the last time you yelled in anger because of your intolerance and judgmental attitude and your heart does not easily contract in anger and tension and your mind is not constantly thinking of ways to entertain your jaded senses.

Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water!

I know the title is a corny line from an advert about a sequel to the horror shark movie Jaws that was perhaps the beginning of several horror movies like Anaconda and the likes of it .

What is it about being eaten alive or having parts of a person bitten off that is so fascinating that such movies become box office hits?

The line popped out at me after I began to see myself spiralling again to an emotional and mental state that I thought I had left behind so very many years ago .

Just when we taught we are so old that we have outgrown certain needs of the past , the needs come back stronger than ever .

Just when we thought we had become wise because of the additional years to our lives , we realise that it is just not so .

But I suppose in the very realisation lies the increase in awareness and perhaps being down in the dumps from knowing that I am a weak and faulty human ,I surrender myself and I then hold out my arms in helplessness and allow God to pull me up again....

SHADOW AND LIGHT

How does

a part of the world

leave the world?

How does wetness

leave water?

Dont' try to put out fire

by throwing on more fire!

Don't wash a wound

with blood.

No matter how fast you run,

your shadow keeps up.

Sometimes it's in front!

Only full overhead sun

diminishes your shadow

But that shadow

has been serving you.

What hurts you,

blesses you.

Darkness

is your candle.

Your boundaries

are your quest.

I could explain this,

but it will break

the glass cover

on your heart,

and there's no fixing that.

You must have

shadow and light source

both.

Listen,

and lay your head

under the tree of awe.

When from that tree

feathers and wings

sprout on you,

be quieter than a dove.

Don't even open your mouth

for even a coo.

Jelal'uddin Rumi - 13th century Sufi mystic and poet

From The Soul of Rumi. Translated by Coleman Barks.