2.0 Miles
I'm happy that Ramadan has delivered me back to this particular journey with more clarity. I pray that those who find the time to read into this developing series of rumination, journaling, personal development were well over the past 30 days.
The experience of fasting is esoteric, physically palatable, and mostly demanding on our minds. This Ramadan I reflected on the early lessons I learned as a child when my parents were first pushing me through the process. In various anecdotes they helped me to understand that a major function of fasting is the realization that we as humans need far less than we think we do. It didn't mean we deprive ourselves to the point of suffering out of noble intentions, but that our mind, body and soul is equipped to go without, especially that which traps our hearts.
Our world is spinning faster than ever before. Every device we use to keep connected, has in turn forced us into an obsession with connectedness. Never before have we known so much about each other without knowing anything at all. Perilous depression oozes through smartphone screens while utter joy accompanies it. We experience each other's lives without really ever experiencing the middle ground between the two circumstances. I believe the balance between copious joy and utter depression is acquired much more easier when we take time to go without everything that challenges our mind to stay busy. I believe our social connectivity subdues us with the misbelief that constant pairing with the experience of others is healthy. We cannot ignore the world outside ourselves, to do that would be neglect of so many in need of our light, but more than ever our inner worlds need fasting.
We can't reach this inner state of peace without leaving the things that keep our entire being's in constant movement. My fast taught me that every fight I engage in noble or not is null if I haven't allowed intentional sacrifice steer my discipline. Sacrifice is the edifice of any reward. Rumi once said, "The only things we own are what we give" in a poem about the concept of needs. By letting go of a combination of false needs we grow more conscious, albeit more universally aware of how full life in every second truly is. After all I believe life isn't a journey of collections, accolades, and marked agendas but the soul's combat with a world that is constantly trying to remind it that greed in all mutations is the vehicle for inner happiness. That couldn't be more incorrect.
I pray we find more in our lives by losing more.
#RUN4Freedom