The Evil Within and Problem of Choice

Islamic traditions stated that Fasting Month is the time where devils are locked up, so they will not be able to affect mankinds during this month. It is with great curiosity that even in this supposedly holy month, we still see all kinds of evil deeds being done, around us.

This used to perplexed my mind to such degree, until I realize that perhaps, there is evil that actually resides within each and everyone of us. Furthermore, for some people, this evil grows uncontrollably to the point that he/she becomes evil him/herself! At some point in a human life, when he/she is so depraved of everything that is good, whe/she no longer need devils to do his job of creating pain and suffering in this world. The problem is always choice. We will always come to a choice of being good/bad, happy/sad.

The duality of things (maybe even more) in life is something that all of us face on a daily basis. The moment that we wake up and open our eyes, choices are abound. What clothes should I wear, how should I look today? Just a simple example to illustrate how choice is actually what we humans make everyday, from the simplest choices to the most difficult ones.I believe that at the end, it is us who needs to decide whether we will let evil reign in on our soul, or do we give the light within us to shine through the darkness within that might have enveloped us. Whatever choice we make, we need to choose wisely and carefully.If we want to look at it from the bright side, this is the beauty of being the chosen one on this earth. We are the only beings on this earth capable of elevating ourselves to angelic state, but at the same time, is also able to throw ourselves to the lowest of the low........May God blesses us all.

We can also ask, why then do we even have devils in the first place? It makes our life more difficult than it is, right? My answer to this will be, because He can do whatever He wants with His subjects. Devils are created to temp humans to do bad deeds (it is kind of sad that devils have no choice but to be bad ;) ), so He expects us to be able to use our freedom of choice and see where we choose to go in life. It is a beautiful concept, really.

Observation from self contemplation

Death And Suffering

Trying to grasp the suffering of Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghanis, Acehnese and all other dispossessed societies of this world is really overwhelming and disqueting for me. It is beyond my understanding to know what goes in their minds and how they carry on living the way they are. As in the case of Palestinians, living under occupations for the last century or so........must be an extremely ordeal that they must bear. It was estimated that during the beginning of the war in Iraq, approximately 13,000 Iraqis lost their lives, mostly by US bombing or as an indirect results of it.

As Indonesians, I see we are killing our own brothers or sisters in Aceh until now, in the name of relinquishing terrorism/insurgencies. I apologize if I cannot mention others, for I am sure this is happening as well. It just seems that Death dances with them every day, closer than we are.We really MUST be grateful for what we have, no matter how small it is. Every day is a precious moment that we have to continually remind ourselves to exert love, passion, understanding and care toward others. From time to time, we need to contemplate about those who are suffering and dying, so we can emphatize better as humans, at least if we cannot do anything about it.

This Islam holy month should become the time that we contemplate and make us do our best to improve as human beings. Let us all challenge ourselves, raise ourselves and race to become better persons. The only "harm" it will do is making this world a little better place, at least for those who share it close with us.As for death itself, well, it is the only thing certain in life. Everyone knows it, but as most of the case, we tend to "forget" that we will die. We seem to remember more of "living a thousand years" part of the Prophet's saying, but not the "die tomorrow" part of it. Death is a constant reminder how short our existence is, and perhaps in some way, of saying that we need to make better use of the remaining life that we have.

The ultimate mystery in life, something that has been discussed for as long as civilization goes.Boy, do I sound like preaching :) as is always the case, this reminder is going to be foremost for me, as opposed to those who will read this article

Observation from online reading of the news.