I always knew that reading a good book is good for me. I knew it from real experience. Yet sometimes I waste a month, or more, without opening a book. A few days ago I picked a book from my library, mostly unread, and started reading it. I was delighted as I went from page to page. I was inspired. Good words have a sort of spiritual, clean energy that goes right to where our higher self resides. They speak to the best in us. Every human has the possibility of moving between lower and higher levels of being, between the best and the worst of one's self:
"ِAnd by the soul and how He formed it, and inspired it its own rebellious evil and its piety! The one who purifies his soul succeeds, and the one who corrupts it fails"
Quran 91:7-10
Even though I knew it, there comes long periods of time where I don't attempt to do myself good by reading a valuable book. But when I do get myself to do it, I just wonder: why in the world did I waste all this time without reading anything! Why did I waste all this time (or all this life! time being life, and not money!), not doing what's good for me! At times we can't help but re-confirming that we are our own worst enemies!
The best promise I can make to myself is this: I will always have a book to read. There are too many great books for one life-time anyway, and we are even wasting much of this one life??!! How insane that is!
However a good book is not worthy just because it's good in itself. Books are ideas conserved and communicated in words. And ideas change people, then people change the world!
We're indeed here only to change the world and make it, along with our own selves, better. And again, there are too many things in the world to change and reform for one life-time anyway, and we're wasting this one life not even thinking of ways to reform it!
The least we can do for those who are suffering the unbelievable cruelty and injustice of some people is to care and think. Yes, think. Of what's happening, how it happened, and how to change it. Thoughts are energy. Didn't you hear that you should be careful what you think, because it might just come true!
2 comments:
Very nice Mohamed...you know how I feel about books...in my case, you're preaching to the choir! I really like the statement about how ideas change people who the go on to change the world. Never looked at it that way...seems I subconsciously took the middleman out of that statement. - Basil
I agree with you, Mohammed. That's one of my few happiness. Being engrossed in a good book. I just read The Kite Flyer and although it's heart-wrenching, painful and sad (especially those that deal with unnecessary taking of lives), I, for a moment, was transformed.
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