Stop Objecting!

Had a dream last nite. I was in a room full of people and I noticed something special. Everyone was objecting! Ajib! Not only to what I was saying but to each other as well. Be careful,now! I can hear your psychoanalytic minds objecting already.”That’s your dream,Ibrahim.So the rest is projection onto us” Wrong! It’s an issue for everyone so hold on and hear me out. Control your objections for once lol.

So, IWW ( My least favourite acronym lol. I was wrong).The educational system does teach critical thinking or should we call it more accurately “reflex criticism thinking”! Just watch the mainstream media(CNN for example).You can see the journalists just looking for a chance to catch their interviewees on an error or a contradiction! That’s how they earn their living! You can also see this in couples and between parents and children. And sometimes even between friends-now the most protected majority. You can criticize your parents, your teachers, your politicians, your priests but don’t criticize friends. They are your true allies?! Really?!

Saw a television report a few weeks ago about a local high-school teacher who was proud of teaching “critical thinking”. When the interviewer questioned the students  ,they, too, were proud to say that they were critical of climate change deniers and vaccine-hesitant people and people who were not comfortable with the LGBTQ2 movement! That is not “critical -thinking?! That is sheep-like behaviour. The woke movement incarnate.

In any case, we don’t need critical thinking! We need “discerning” thinking. Being able to discern right from wrong, good from bad, truth from falsehood. That is what is required to get back on track. Not echo-chamber objections. And that ‘discerning thinking” is sorely lacking in this relativistic, individualistic consensus-driven culture.

So yes, men are men and women are women. Arabs are like this and Jews are like that , Germans are like this and Brits are like that. Canadian winters are brutally cold and Yemen is brutally hot! Get used to it. Stop objecting. That is the way God created it!

While still a Marxist?! I came across this passage in the Gospels. I  was shocked myself. ”How could a man of God possibly say this/” My mind objected! But after observing the world and all the attempts by authoritarian governments to eliminate poverty (think Soviet Union and Mao’s China) I realized that Jesus a.s. was right! Get used to it. There is wisdom therein.

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸ When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹ “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹ The poor you will always have with you,^[a] but you will not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

So, getting back to the modern world, whenever in  a group or individual setting, one person states the Truth,10 people stand up to object. Because they don’t have that idea in their own minds.  Then they justify their objections with rationality and logic(that’s a great way to get to Truth lol).Btw, why are they doing that?1 Because they want Reality to conform to how they think it should be. So ,they object-like the angels in surat al Baqara. And what does Allah answer?”I know what you know not”i.e. there is a plan and a positive purpose to everything.

Yes, everything! The young child who gets killed in the crossfire of gang-related violence( may Allah spare us such tragedy!, the Covid pandemic, the Ukraine War. It all has a purpose. Get used to it. Reality ain’t what you think it should be.

So, what do we do instead? Instead of objecting, we accept. Like when Sheikh Nazim used to ask: ”Are you accepting”. The answer is “yes, we are accepting” So try that out. Take a few situations in your life that you don’t like and practice accepting. You will be surprised at the results and the benefits.

Now, I don’t want to leave the pragmatists feeling abandoned lol,! They are the people who now ask: ”So what do we do about it? Accept AND adapt. Behave accordingly rather than disputing Reality. Canada is cold! Get a good winter jacket lol. Yemen is hot. Find shelter in thick-walled structures. Men are often unaware of the subtleties of relationships; women are often emotionally overwrought .Factor that into your behaviour.Stop the”blame, shame and humiliation”(C.F. Ed Hallowell).Adapt.Work with the Reality rather than against it. That is the way to success. May Allah be with you and remember” He knows what he is doing” lol Stop objecting to His acts. You will feel a lot better, believe me. Salaams, Ibrahim.