The Lens...

This is something that I've grown to understand a while ago, but have only verbalized it recently...although I expressed it to several intelligent friends, I failed to clarify it - or maybe it's because they didn't get my point. I love what Albert Einstein once said, "you only truly understand what you can explain to your grandmother". So in otherwords, I better practice my Arabic more often...(hahahahaha, me so funnnnnnnie)

I tend to write for people who are educated and see things in a similar light as mine - one day I'll be able to simplify things better and eventually universalize the message I feel needs to be broadcasted.

Okay, so here it goes....

Due to intense politicization of the current period, culture, and era that we live in, we as humans are viewing and judging everything from a political lens (or perspective).

Allow me to explain. As an individual, I have the ability and right to judge a scenario or a person after thorough and unemotional examination...

(*sidenote: I am not saying you should be judgmental by judging too quickly, but I am arguing that with wisdom and experience, you need to make competent judgments and conclusions about people and situations. Go ahead, be like Tupac and say "Only God can judge me"; however, I really think that was a message sent out to judgmental individuals*).

...however, that judgment is governed by the perspective you see it from. When people express a firm opinion and try to soften the blow, they might say something "that's just my perspective", or something like that...

The truth is, we have several lenses (or perspectives) - so far I've discovered both a politicized and a spiritualized one; there could be others, but I haven't found them. Both are valid means of coming to a conclusion; HOWEVER, we make the unwise and unconscious mistake of using our political lens to judge something (or someone) that requires the spiritual lens.

Have I confused you yet? I'm trying to be clear - but I have trouble trying to make sense out of things, So I'm gonna further simplify it.

We tend to judge a situation or a person by looking through the wrong lens. We sometimes judge situations that require a spiritual perspective, with a political lens. Hardly do we ever judge a politicized issue from a spiritual lens, due to the fact that we (as I said above) have become so politicized that we've packed away our spiritual lens.

Have I made my self clear now?

Okay, now for the examples....

I am what some people refer to as a SUSHI (from a mixed, Sunni/Shia family). I have a feeling that my generation might be the last of this, due to the fact that sectarianism (a political thing) has dominated people's understanding of the true essence of the religion (which is a spiritual thing). Many people have unconsciously replaced spiritualism with politicism.

This is happening for the follow reason:

- We have a natural desire and inclination to discover the ultimate reality (The one God).

- However, this is not going to feed our need to find cultural solace,

- So we therefore turn to the culture of our parents, due to the fact that the Canadian social fabric is weak (due to the multiculturalism ideology our Federal Government encouraged - it left many young individuals in limbo; unable to understand what their Canadian identity is in comparison to the culture of their parents).

- Nevertheless, cultural values are consistently mistaken with religious principals; and in order for us to decipher the difference between the two, we need to go into a deeper study (which is nightmarishly difficult)

and within this study, we begin to make judgments... and we make these judgments without looking through the correct lens.

Have I made things clear? I know its really complicated - I'll probably post another essay later that's far simpler.
But to conclude, these are thing that I believe should be looked at through a spiritual lens:

1) your relationship with God and your soul
2) your judgment of others (i.e. don't judge someone according to their political or ideological affiliations)

there are others, but I have yet to verbalize them....but I hate it when someone looks down on me because I don't look at everything through a poli-fu*king-litical lense or because my take on religion, or my take on "Sunni's/Shia's" is not consistent with everyone else's.

I have my perspectives, my beliefs and understandings as to the purpose of the sectarianism... even if you are rather rigid to your ideology, I think that it should not interfere with your relationship with other Muslims, especially marital relations...

I will explain more later on, because I know I've begotten a million more questions

God forgive if I've said anything contrary to his natural law and system.