Into the Heart of Reality: The Inner Voice
By Safiullah
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About this ebook
Blue Ink Review
Widely traveled debut author Safiullah aims to strike a life-changing chord about the true nature of reality. He attempts this through a series of brief commentaries on spiritual topics that counsel against pride, ingratitude, materialism, spiritual forgetfulness, a wagging tongue and pointless mental ruminations. He often assumes the role of teacher, dutifully backing up his assertions in commentaries that make specific reference to verses the sacred scriptures and to the teachings of the Prophet.
Kirkus Reviews
Reading Into the Heart of Reality as a tool for prayer and reflection would work beautifully for those who enjoy using books for daily inspiration. All of the entries can stand alone; a reader can open the book to a random page and be assured of finding something meaningful to ponder. Safiullah writes like a poet dabbling in prose; when it fails, the deeper truth still shines, and when it works, it transcends.
ForeWord Reviews, Clarion Review
Safiullah
Dr Mohamed Safiullah Munsoor’s international career in development spans over three decades. He has worked with Save the Children, the Canadian International Development Agency and spent nearly twenty years of his career with several United Nations Organizations. His work, which primarily focuses on poverty reduction, strategic planning, and program management, has taken him across many continents to remote locations in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and the Middle-East. He has worked in over twenty-five countries, including the United Kingdom and Switzerland. He says that this work is grace from the Lord, tempered by insights gained through his life experiences and research, as well as his interaction with spiritual persons and use of contemplative practices. Safiullah is from Sri Lanka, where he received his basic education from Royal College, Colombo, and then advanced his studies in the United Kingdom and Australia. He studied at Seal-Hayne College, England, the University of London, the University of Queensland, and holds a PhD from the University Of Reading. He is currently registered for his second PhD with the Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia, where he is exploring the nexus between Worship and Code of Ethics, with special focus on Contemplative Practices within Islam. His curiosity since childhood and his parental encouragement of learning have enabled him to journey into research and explore many different cultures and ways of life. He learnt Buddhism in Myanmar, including meditative practices, as well as the system of Yoga in Sri Lanka. His interest includes self-studies in Judaism and Christianity. He is currently actively pursuing Islamic contemplative thoughts and practices, with special emphasis on the new advances in neurosciences, psychology and mindfulness. He has completed the Basic Practitioner course in Neuro-Semantics & Neuro-linguistic Programming and is currently working towards being a Master Practitioner. For the past five years, Safiullah has been working with an International Multilateral Development Bank as a Manager in Strategy and Program Management within the Global Poverty Reduction Fund. This organization largely covers fifty-six countries, including twenty-seven Least Development Member Countries. His area of expertise and interest is in Community Driven Development that empowers the vulnerable segments of society, including women and disadvantaged groups.
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Into the Heart of Reality - Safiullah
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgement
Meanings Of Selected Terms
The Heart Awakens
The Tree Of Life
Where Is Your God?
The Spark
The Race
The Dissonance
The Transcendence
Forgetfulness
On Being Proud
Surrender
On Gratitude
Repeating Groove
The Inner And Outer
Remembrance
For The Ever Green Heart
The Ever Present
The Chatter
The Truth
On Death
On Mosques And Malls
The Pilgrimage
The Universal Flow
The Essential Hearing
The Total Transformation
On Prayer And Meditation
Religion And Liberation
The Signs Of Death
The Signs Of Life
For Life Is A Prayer
The Silence
The Light And Darkness
The Quest
The Desire
On Anger
The Struggle
On Patience
The Way Of The Mind
On Being In Control
The Rumours
Always A Child
Secure And Solid Are We?
Dancing Around Wisdom
Living In Fear
The Ego Is In The Way
The Social Content
Social Contract And Success
On Leadership
You Never Know Until You Get There
Know It All
Be As A Flower
The Frantic World
Borrowed Time
Types Of Conversations
Always In A Hurry
Are Women Better Than Men?
Swing Between A Sinner And A Saint
Sons And Daughters
Incomprehension: The Key To Confusion
The Real Power As It Is
On Friendship
Is Everything Negotiable?
A Smile
How Did It Last So Long?
Profile Of The Author
About The Book
To kith and kin, friend and foe, who have shaped my life in one way or another and continue to do so. To those who have guided and continue to guide me along the path less travelled to accomplish the purpose of life: to gain knowledge and to worship. For in life, there is much to learn and much more to give.
Preface
Given that we did not create ourselves and that life itself is a creative process where one is gifted with many faculties, it becomes necessary to give back to God and society with our being in whatever form it takes. In this light, we need to strive to make the world a better place to live, for it is easier to destroy than to create. We all have to make our own contributions in whatever way we can to do some good, however slight.
For the Master¹ said, ‘Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart, and that is the weakest of faith’.² Inspired by the above, this work is an attempt to share some thoughts and reflections with you, with the hope that they will strike a chord in your heart. It is in this spirit that these prose were composed. The author considers this as work in progress, where much needs to be shared as well as learnt at the same time. For life offers many opportunities to harvest the fruits of our being, and it is for us to seize the moment to make it work.
Growing evidence within the scientific community indicates that, in order to achieve some measure of peace of mind, there is a need to have some structure and meaning in one’s life, combined with the development of a type of contemplative or meditative practice. Thus, a wealth of guidance is offered by the Masters of the past—guiding words and principles, counselling, meditative methods, prayers, supplication, virtuous concepts, compassion techniques, etc. that one can use, if one wants to change the course of one’s life. We see today traditional spiritual practices labelled as ‘secular’, which are being integrated especially into neuroscience and psychology. They are used for therapy of the mind-body,³ are found to improve well-being and mental health, and used to activate the rewarding system within the brain. Some of these aspects, at least their reflection, are cited in sections of the prose.
‘Even a kind word or a smile is a charity,’ says the Master. So one does not have to be materially rich to share with others so that they benefit from it, reap the goodness, and learn from the process. It will be gratifying if anyone reading this work is able to connect with what has been written, for this would have accomplished one of the key objectives of putting pen to paper in the first place.
Acknowledgement
No project is fully comprehended and completed without the support of people who are committed to helping others. Even though ‘the pen has written and the ink is dry’,⁴ this has been done with the encouragement and efforts of many people who invested their valuable time to review and comment on my work herein presented.
In this light, my indebtedness to my parents for their unconditional love and compassion for the less privileged, which has positively impacted my life. My sustained love and very special thanks to my wife, Husna, and children, Hannah, Wardah, Leena, and Inaam, for taking time to listen to some of my prose, when I initially composed it. They encouraged me to get it published at a time when I was trying to evaluate its worthiness. My heartfelt appreciation to Wardah for developing the illustrations and cover design after carefully reading the relevant prose. Wardah and Leena helped me with the editorials to get it into shape.
I am thankful to my extended family, as well as Zareen and Claire Salih and the Hamid family for their support when it was warranted. A special note of appreciation to Hazarath Gi Ahsan Baig, Syed Reza Quraish and others for their continued guidance and facilitation towards trying to perfect my faith and practice.
Some colleagues and friends, to whom I am grateful, took their precious time to review, comment, suggest, and engage me with their varying perspectives. These include Ahmad Maaty, Ruvani Sathar, Omar Alieu Touray, Altaf Abdul Gaffar, Mehmet Ali