Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Christianity and Islam According to the Bible and the Quran by Naser Al Moghamis
Published by Dar-us-Salam in 2002, Christianity and Islam According to the Bible and the Quran is of a book in comparative religions that presents examples of the differences between Christianity and Islam only through verses from the Bible and the Quran. It is rich with good examples that I could not include all in this short summary.
God
In the Bible: ".. for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:17) (KJV)
In the Quran: "And indeed We created the heavens and the earth and all between them in six days and nothing of fatigue touched us" (50: 38)
In the Bible: "Your name will no longer be Jacob, Israel, because you have struggles with God and with men and have overcome" (Genesis 32:28) "
In the Quran: "They have not estimated Allah His Rightful Estimate. Verily, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty" (22:74)
In the Bible: So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face" (Genesis 32: 30)
In the Quran: "No vision can grasp Him, and He grasps all vision" (6: 103)
In the Bible: "… trembled because he (God) was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth" (2Samuel 22:8,9)
In the Quran: "There is nothing like Him; and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer." (42: 11)
In the Bible: "then know that God has wrong me and drawn his net around me. Though I cry, "I've been wronged!" I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice" (Job 19: 6,7)
In the Quran: "Truly, Allah wrongs not mankind in aught, but mankind wrong themselves" (10: 44)
In the Bible: "Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine" (Psalm 44:23)
In the Quran: "Allah, none has the right to be worshiped but He, the Ever Living, the One who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber no sleep overtakes Him" (2: 255)
In the Bible: "This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22)
God married Jerusalem and his wife became a prostitute. (Ezekiel 16:3-32)
In the Quran: "Say (O Muhammad): He is Allah, the One and the Only; Allah, to whom the creatures turn for their needs; He begets not, nor was he begotten; and there is none like him" (112: 1-4)
The Prophets
In the Bible: On that same day the Lord told Moses, … this is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites" (Deuternomy 32: 48)
In the Quran: "Peace be upon Moses and Aron. Verily, thus We reward the good-doers. Verily, they were two of Our believing slaves (37: 122)
In the Bible: "So all the people took off their ear-rings and brought them to Aron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol" (Exodus 32: 3)
In the Quran: "And We granted him his brother Aron, a Prophet, out of Our mercy" (19: 53)
In the Bible: "That night they got their father to drink wine…. So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father" (Genesis 19: 33)
In the Quran: "And Lot, We gave him right judgment and knowledge.. And We admitted him to Our Mercy; truly, he was of the righteous" (21: 74- 75)
In the Bible: "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his hearth after other gods" (1 Kings 11: 4)
In the Quran: "And to David we gave Solomon. How excellent a salve. Verily, he was ever oft-turning in repentance" (38: 30)
In the Bible: "One evening David got up from his bed and walked around the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing… David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her" (2 Samuel 11:2-26)
In the Quran: "Be patient (O Muhammad) of what they say, and remember Our slave David, endowed with power. Verily, he was ever oft-returning in all matters and in repentance" (38: 17)
In the Bible: "After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth" (Job 3:1)
"for he (Job) says, it profits a man nothing when he tried to please God" (Job 34: 9)
In the Quran: "And remember our slave Job, when he invoked his Lord (saying): "Verily Satan has touched me with distress and torment….. Truly, We found him patient. How excellent a slave! Verily, he was ever oft-returning in repentance! " (38: 41-44)
In the Bible: Jesus said "a wicked and adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39), "You snakes! You blood of vipers! (Matthew 23:33), "I have come to bring file on earth" (Luke 12:49)
In the Quran: "And when Jesus came with clear proofs, he said: "I have come to you with wisdom" (43: 63)
We have sent Jesus son of Mary, and gave him the Injeel (Gospel), and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him" (57: 27)
Women
In the Bible: "A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man " (1 Corinthians 11:7-8)
In the Quran: "Never will I allow to be lost the work of any of you, male or female. You are one of another" (3: 195)
In the Bible: "And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (I Timothy 2: 14)
In the Quran: "And he (Satan) swore by Allah to them both (Adam and Eve) (saying): "Verily, I am one of the sincere well wishers for you both" (7:21-22)
In the Bible: "If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off.… A man ought to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head" (1 Corinthians 11:6-10)
In the Quran: "And when you ask them (the wives of the Prophet) for anything you want, ask them from behind a curtain: that is purer for your hearts and for their hearts" (33-53)
"O! Prophet! Tell you wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their clocks all over their bodies. That will be better that they should be known so as not to be annoyed" (33: 59)
In the Bible: "Now I wasn’t you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of every woman is man" (1 Corinthians 11:3)
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent" (Timothy 2:12)
In the Quran: "And they (women) have rights(over their husbands) similar to the rights against them, in kindness" (2:22)
In the Bible: "If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I didn’t find proof of her virginity," then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof…. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death" (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
In the Quran: "For those who accuse their wives, but have no witnesses except themselves, let the testimony of one of them be four testimonies swearing by Allah that he is the one who speaks the truth. And the fifth the invoking of the curse of Allah on him if he is of those who tell a lie. But it shall avert the punishment from her, if she bears witness four times by Allah that he is telling a lie. And the fifth should be that the Wrath of Allah be upon her if he speaks the truth" (24: 6-9)
In the Bible: "I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all" (Ecclesiastes 7: 28)
In the Quran: "And Allah set forth an example to those who believe: The wife of Pharaoh, when she said: "My Lord! Build for me a home in Your Paradise….. and Mary the daughter of Imarn who guarded her chastity" (66:11,12)
Sins and Forgiveness
In the Bible: "If a person sings and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands, even though he does not know it… he is to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for him.. and he will be forgiven" (Leviticus 5:17-18)
In the Quran: "And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah's forgiveness, he will find Allah oft-forgiving, Most Merciful" (4: 110)
"And there is no sin for you in the mistakes that you make unintentionally, but what your hearts intend" (33:5)
Racism
In the Bible: "Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brother's outside. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Curses be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers" (Genesis 9: 20-25) In the Quran: "O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another, Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that who is the most pious of you" (49: 13)
War
In the Bible: "This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Now go, attach the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys" (1 Samuel 15: 2,3)
In the Quran: "Allah does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion nor drove you out of your homes" (60:8-9)
Languages
In the Bible: "But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, "if one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other" (Genesis 11:1-7)
In the Quran: "And among His sings in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed signs for men and sound knowledge" (30:22)
Forbidding Evil
In the Bible: "Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man insures abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you" (Proverbs 9:7-8)
In the Quran: "Those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and Jesus, son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and ere ever transgressing beyond bounds. They used not to forbid one another from the wickedness they did" (5: 78-79)
"And the believers, men and women, are protecting friends one of another; they enjoin the right and forbid the wrong" (9:71)
Bribery
In the Bible: "A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it; wherever he turns he succeeds" (Proverbs 17:8)
In the Quran: "And eat up not one another's property unjustly, nor give bribery to the rulers" (2:188)
God
In the Bible: ".. for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:17) (KJV)
In the Quran: "And indeed We created the heavens and the earth and all between them in six days and nothing of fatigue touched us" (50: 38)
In the Bible: "Your name will no longer be Jacob, Israel, because you have struggles with God and with men and have overcome" (Genesis 32:28) "
In the Quran: "They have not estimated Allah His Rightful Estimate. Verily, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty" (22:74)
In the Bible: So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face" (Genesis 32: 30)
In the Quran: "No vision can grasp Him, and He grasps all vision" (6: 103)
In the Bible: "… trembled because he (God) was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth" (2Samuel 22:8,9)
In the Quran: "There is nothing like Him; and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer." (42: 11)
In the Bible: "then know that God has wrong me and drawn his net around me. Though I cry, "I've been wronged!" I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice" (Job 19: 6,7)
In the Quran: "Truly, Allah wrongs not mankind in aught, but mankind wrong themselves" (10: 44)
In the Bible: "Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine" (Psalm 44:23)
In the Quran: "Allah, none has the right to be worshiped but He, the Ever Living, the One who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber no sleep overtakes Him" (2: 255)
In the Bible: "This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22)
God married Jerusalem and his wife became a prostitute. (Ezekiel 16:3-32)
In the Quran: "Say (O Muhammad): He is Allah, the One and the Only; Allah, to whom the creatures turn for their needs; He begets not, nor was he begotten; and there is none like him" (112: 1-4)
The Prophets
In the Bible: On that same day the Lord told Moses, … this is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites" (Deuternomy 32: 48)
In the Quran: "Peace be upon Moses and Aron. Verily, thus We reward the good-doers. Verily, they were two of Our believing slaves (37: 122)
In the Bible: "So all the people took off their ear-rings and brought them to Aron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol" (Exodus 32: 3)
In the Quran: "And We granted him his brother Aron, a Prophet, out of Our mercy" (19: 53)
In the Bible: "That night they got their father to drink wine…. So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father" (Genesis 19: 33)
In the Quran: "And Lot, We gave him right judgment and knowledge.. And We admitted him to Our Mercy; truly, he was of the righteous" (21: 74- 75)
In the Bible: "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his hearth after other gods" (1 Kings 11: 4)
In the Quran: "And to David we gave Solomon. How excellent a salve. Verily, he was ever oft-turning in repentance" (38: 30)
In the Bible: "One evening David got up from his bed and walked around the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing… David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her" (2 Samuel 11:2-26)
In the Quran: "Be patient (O Muhammad) of what they say, and remember Our slave David, endowed with power. Verily, he was ever oft-returning in all matters and in repentance" (38: 17)
In the Bible: "After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth" (Job 3:1)
"for he (Job) says, it profits a man nothing when he tried to please God" (Job 34: 9)
In the Quran: "And remember our slave Job, when he invoked his Lord (saying): "Verily Satan has touched me with distress and torment….. Truly, We found him patient. How excellent a slave! Verily, he was ever oft-returning in repentance! " (38: 41-44)
In the Bible: Jesus said "a wicked and adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39), "You snakes! You blood of vipers! (Matthew 23:33), "I have come to bring file on earth" (Luke 12:49)
In the Quran: "And when Jesus came with clear proofs, he said: "I have come to you with wisdom" (43: 63)
We have sent Jesus son of Mary, and gave him the Injeel (Gospel), and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him" (57: 27)
Women
In the Bible: "A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man " (1 Corinthians 11:7-8)
In the Quran: "Never will I allow to be lost the work of any of you, male or female. You are one of another" (3: 195)
In the Bible: "And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (I Timothy 2: 14)
In the Quran: "And he (Satan) swore by Allah to them both (Adam and Eve) (saying): "Verily, I am one of the sincere well wishers for you both" (7:21-22)
In the Bible: "If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off.… A man ought to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head" (1 Corinthians 11:6-10)
In the Quran: "And when you ask them (the wives of the Prophet) for anything you want, ask them from behind a curtain: that is purer for your hearts and for their hearts" (33-53)
"O! Prophet! Tell you wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their clocks all over their bodies. That will be better that they should be known so as not to be annoyed" (33: 59)
In the Bible: "Now I wasn’t you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of every woman is man" (1 Corinthians 11:3)
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent" (Timothy 2:12)
In the Quran: "And they (women) have rights(over their husbands) similar to the rights against them, in kindness" (2:22)
In the Bible: "If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I didn’t find proof of her virginity," then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof…. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death" (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
In the Quran: "For those who accuse their wives, but have no witnesses except themselves, let the testimony of one of them be four testimonies swearing by Allah that he is the one who speaks the truth. And the fifth the invoking of the curse of Allah on him if he is of those who tell a lie. But it shall avert the punishment from her, if she bears witness four times by Allah that he is telling a lie. And the fifth should be that the Wrath of Allah be upon her if he speaks the truth" (24: 6-9)
In the Bible: "I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all" (Ecclesiastes 7: 28)
In the Quran: "And Allah set forth an example to those who believe: The wife of Pharaoh, when she said: "My Lord! Build for me a home in Your Paradise….. and Mary the daughter of Imarn who guarded her chastity" (66:11,12)
Sins and Forgiveness
In the Bible: "If a person sings and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands, even though he does not know it… he is to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for him.. and he will be forgiven" (Leviticus 5:17-18)
In the Quran: "And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah's forgiveness, he will find Allah oft-forgiving, Most Merciful" (4: 110)
"And there is no sin for you in the mistakes that you make unintentionally, but what your hearts intend" (33:5)
Racism
In the Bible: "Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brother's outside. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Curses be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers" (Genesis 9: 20-25) In the Quran: "O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another, Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that who is the most pious of you" (49: 13)
War
In the Bible: "This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Now go, attach the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys" (1 Samuel 15: 2,3)
In the Quran: "Allah does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion nor drove you out of your homes" (60:8-9)
Languages
In the Bible: "But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, "if one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other" (Genesis 11:1-7)
In the Quran: "And among His sings in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed signs for men and sound knowledge" (30:22)
Forbidding Evil
In the Bible: "Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man insures abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you" (Proverbs 9:7-8)
In the Quran: "Those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and Jesus, son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and ere ever transgressing beyond bounds. They used not to forbid one another from the wickedness they did" (5: 78-79)
"And the believers, men and women, are protecting friends one of another; they enjoin the right and forbid the wrong" (9:71)
Bribery
In the Bible: "A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it; wherever he turns he succeeds" (Proverbs 17:8)
In the Quran: "And eat up not one another's property unjustly, nor give bribery to the rulers" (2:188)
Monday, February 22, 2010
The God Who Loves You by Carl Dennis
It is a poem that granted me a long pause of weighing choices and studying the many "What if"s I could have in my not very short life time. The idea behind what might sound like blasphemous lines is really worth the consideration and the joy.
The God Who Loves You
by Carl Dennis
It must be troubling for the god who loves you
To ponder how much happier you’d be today
Had you been able to glimpse your many futures.
It must be painful for him to watch you on Friday evenings
Driving home from the office, content with your week—
Three fine houses sold to deserving families—
Knowing as he does exactly what would have happened
Had you gone to your second choice for college,
Knowing the roommate you’d have been allotted
Whose ardent opinions on painting and music
Would have kindled in you a lifelong passion.
A life thirty points above the life you’re living
On any scale of satisfaction. And every point
A thorn in the side of the god who loves you.
You don’t want that, a large-souled man like you
Who tries to withhold from your wife the day’s disappointments
So she can save her empathy for the children.
And would you want this god to compare your wife
With the woman you were destined to meet on the other campus?
It hurts you to think of him ranking the conversation
You’d have enjoyed over there higher in insight
Than the conversation you’re used to.
And think how this loving god would feel
Knowing that the man next in line for your wife
Would have pleased her more than you ever will
Even on your best days, when you really try.
Can you sleep at night believing a god like that
Is pacing his cloudy bedroom, harassed by alternatives
You’re spared by ignorance? The difference between what is
And what could have been will remain alive for him
Even after you cease existing, after you catch a chill
Running out in the snow for the morning paper,
Losing eleven years that the god who loves you
Will feel compelled to imagine scene by scene
Unless you come to the rescue by imagining him
No wiser than you are, no god at all, only a friend
No closer than the actual friend you made at college,
The one you haven’t written in months. Sit down tonight
And write him about the life you can talk about
With a claim to authority, the life you’ve witnessed,
Which for all you know is the life you’ve chosen.
The God Who Loves You
by Carl Dennis
It must be troubling for the god who loves you
To ponder how much happier you’d be today
Had you been able to glimpse your many futures.
It must be painful for him to watch you on Friday evenings
Driving home from the office, content with your week—
Three fine houses sold to deserving families—
Knowing as he does exactly what would have happened
Had you gone to your second choice for college,
Knowing the roommate you’d have been allotted
Whose ardent opinions on painting and music
Would have kindled in you a lifelong passion.
A life thirty points above the life you’re living
On any scale of satisfaction. And every point
A thorn in the side of the god who loves you.
You don’t want that, a large-souled man like you
Who tries to withhold from your wife the day’s disappointments
So she can save her empathy for the children.
And would you want this god to compare your wife
With the woman you were destined to meet on the other campus?
It hurts you to think of him ranking the conversation
You’d have enjoyed over there higher in insight
Than the conversation you’re used to.
And think how this loving god would feel
Knowing that the man next in line for your wife
Would have pleased her more than you ever will
Even on your best days, when you really try.
Can you sleep at night believing a god like that
Is pacing his cloudy bedroom, harassed by alternatives
You’re spared by ignorance? The difference between what is
And what could have been will remain alive for him
Even after you cease existing, after you catch a chill
Running out in the snow for the morning paper,
Losing eleven years that the god who loves you
Will feel compelled to imagine scene by scene
Unless you come to the rescue by imagining him
No wiser than you are, no god at all, only a friend
No closer than the actual friend you made at college,
The one you haven’t written in months. Sit down tonight
And write him about the life you can talk about
With a claim to authority, the life you’ve witnessed,
Which for all you know is the life you’ve chosen.
Friday, January 15, 2010
خديعة التطور: الانهيار العلمي للدارونية وخلفياتها العقائدية لهارون يحي
فيما يلي ملخص لبعض اهم ما ورد في كتاب هارون يحى خديعة التطور، كتاب من القطع المتوسط تناول فيه الكاتب أهم الادلة والبراهين العلمية التي تدحض نظرية التطور المادية لداروين. الكتاب من ترجمة سليمان بايبارا عام 2002 وصادر عن مؤسسة الاجيال للترجمة والثقافة والنشر. الكتاب غني بالصور التوضيحية والبراهين العلمية والمنطقية والتي تثبت مدى سخافة النظرية وافتقارها إلى ابسط الاسس العلمية في البحث والمنطق.
قد يظن بعض الناس اللذين سمعوا عن نظرية التطور أو نظرية النشوء والارتقاء المعروفة بالداروينية ان هذه المفاهيم تخص ميدان البيولوجيا وحده، وهذا اعتقاد ينطوي قدر كبير من الخطأ. ان هذه النظرية تشكل ما نسميه الاساس العلمي للمادية الذي يعتمد عليها المذهب الشيوعيي. ولهذا كتب كارل ماركس، مؤسس الشيوعية، عن كتاب دارون "أصل الانواع": "هذا هو الكتاب الذي يحتوي على الاسس الناريحية والطبيعية لافكارنا"
التعصب الاعمى للمادية العمياء
ان الاعتقاد الذي تحدثنا عنه هو الفلسفة المادية التي ترى ان المادة موجودة منذ الازل ولا تقبل وجود شي الا المادة ولا شي غيرها. ونظرية التطور هي الاساس العلمي لهذه الفلسفة المادية ولذلك فهم يدافعون عنها دفاعا اعمى لتدعيم هذه الفلسفة. يقول احد علماء الاحياء : "ان احتمال تكوين سلسلة واحدة من سيتوكروم سي بالصدفة قليل جدا يكاد يكون صفرا، ولكن قبول الاحتمال الاخر لا يناسب الاهداف العملية، اذن علينا فحص الاحتمال الاول وتمحيصه والاقتصار عليه." ومن افضل الامثلة على ذلك ايضا عالم التطور الشهير ريتشارد داوكينز الذي يطلب من الناس ألا يتسرعوا بالاستنتاج بأنهم قد شاهدوا معجزة حتى لو شاهدوا تمثالا يلوح لهم بيده. فحسب رأيه: "ربما تصادف ان كل الذرات في ذراع التمثال قد تحركت في نفس الاتجاه بنفس الوقت، انه احتمال ضعيف جدا ولكنه ممكن"
ولقد وصف القرآن الكريم هذه النفسية المنكره في قوله تعالى: "ولو أننا نزلنا اليهم الملائكة وكلمهم الموتى وحشرنا عليهم كل شي قبلا ما كانوا ليؤمنوا الا ان يشاء الله ولكن اكثرهم يجهلون"
نبذة تاريخية عن نظرية التطور
ان من قدم هذه النظرية هو عالم طبيعيات انجليزي هاو يدعى تشارلز روبرت داروين. لم يتلق داروين أي تعليم رسمي في علم الاحياء ولكنه اهتم بموضوع الطبيعة والكائنات الحية اهتمام الهواة. حفزه هذا الاهتمام للابحار على سفينة انجليزية استكشافية، وانبهر انبهارا شديدا بمختلف انواع الاحياء، وخاصة بنوع معين من العصافير (الحساسين) التي شاهدها واعتقد ان التنوع في مناقير العصافير يعزى إلى تكيفها مع موطنها. وبوجود هذه الفكرة في عقله افترض ان اصل الحياة والانواع يكمن في فكرة التكيف مع البيئة. ووفقا لداروين، فان الله لم يخلق مختلف انواع الاحياء بشكل منفصل با انها انحدرت من سلف مشترك واختلفت عن بعضها نتيجة للظروف الطبيعية.
ولكن داروين كان يدرك جيدا ان نظريته تعاني من مشكلات كثيرة، وقد اعترف بهذه المشكلات في كتابه في فصل "صعوبات النظرية" ويأتي على رأس هذ الصعوبات سجل الحفريات. وكان داروين يأمل في التغلب على هذه الصعوبات من خلال الاكتشافات الحديثة.
قد انبهر داروين بنظرية العالم الفرنسي لامارك التي تقول ان الزرافات، على سبيل المثال، تطورت من حيوانات شبيهة بالبقر الوحشي عن طريق اطالة اعناقها شيئا فشيئا من جيل إلى جيل عندما كانت تحاول الوصول إلى الاغضان الاعلى فالاعلى لاكل اوراقها، ومن هذا استخدم داروين نظرية "توريث الصفات المكتسبة" التي اقترحها لامارك بوصفها العامل الذي جعل الاحياء تتطور.
كان داروين يرى الاوروبيين البيض اكثر تقدما من الاجناس الاخرى، وخمن ان بعض الاجناس تطورت اكثر من البعض، وان النوع الاخير ما زال يحمل ملامح القردة. وفي كتابه "سلالة الانسان" علق بجرأة على الفروق العظمى بين البشر من الاجناس المتباينة. في هذا الكتاب ساوى داروين بين السود وسكان استراليا الاصليين وبين الغوريلا، ثم استنتج ان هؤلاء سيتم القضاء عليهم بواسطة الاجناس المتحضرة مع مرور الوقت.
المحاولات اليائسة للدارونية الجديدة
بينما كانت اصداء كتاب داروين مدوية، اكتشف عالم نبات نمساوي اسمه غريغور مندل قوانين الوراثة سنة 1865 م، وفي فترة لاحقة ادى اكتشاف تركيب جزئ ال DNA إلى ايقاع نظرية التطور في ازمة كبيرة، ويرجع ذلك إلى التعقيد المدهش للحياة وبطلان آليات التطور التي اقترحها داروين.
دخلت الداروينية في ازمة كبيرة بسبب اكتشاف قوانين الوراثة في الربع الاول من القرن العشرين. كما ان مزاعم نظرية الدارونين الجدد يدحضها سجل الحفريات تماما لان الحفريات اثبتت ان الكائنات لم تنشأ بالتطور التدريجي بل ظهرت فجأة بالكامل. وعاش الدارونيون الجدد على امل بان الاشكال الانتقالية المفقودة ستكشف يوما ما.
ولهذا نظمت الجمعية الجيولوجية الامريكية اتفاقا سنة 1941 للتوصل إلى اتفاق حول الطرق المناسبة لترقيع الداروينية. ان معظم العلماء الذين يؤمنون بالتطور يقبلون نظرية الدارونيين المتتعلقة بالتطور البطيء التدريجي. ولكن خلال العقود الاخيرة تم اقتراح نموذج يعرف بالتطور الممتقطع، ويرى هذا النموذج ان التطور قد تم بقفزات كبيرة ومتفرقة.
زعم عالم الحفريات الاوروربي شايندولف ان اول طائر خرج من بيضة احدى الزواحف كطفرة هائلة، أي نتيجة مصادفة ضخمة حدثت في التركيب الجيني. وحسب النظرية ذاتها، كان من الممكن ان تتحول الحيوانات البرية إلى حيتان ضخمة اذا تعرضت لتحول فجائي شامل. وتحتل هذه الادعاءات المخالفة تماما لجميع قوانين الوراثة والفيزياء الحيوية والكيمياء الحيوية نفس المكانة العلمية التي تحتلها قصص الخيال التي تدور حول تحول الضفادع إلى امراء.
آليات متخيلة للتطور
يحاول نموذج الدارونية الجديدة ان يبرهن ان الحياة قد تطورت من خلال آليتين طبيعيتن هما: الانتقاء الطبيعي والطفرة.
اولا: الانتقاء الطبيعيي
في سنة 1986 نشر دوغلاس فوتويما كتابا بعنوان بيولوجيا التطور، ساق فيه مثال يدور حول لون نوع من الفراشات التي بد انها تكتسب لونا غامقا خلال الثورة الصناعية بانكلترا. فعندما تغير لون جذوع الاشجار إلى لون اغمق كان يسهل اصدياد الفراشات الفاتحة والتي بعد خمسين عاما اصبح لونها اغمق ومقاربا للون الجذوع بحيث يصعب اصديادها.
وما يدحض هذا الادعاء هو ان الفراشات الغامقة والفاتحة كلاهما كان موجودا قبل وبعد الثورة الصناعية، وما تغير فقط هو الاعداد النسبية لهذه الفراشات بسبب سهولة اصدياد احدها دون الاخر نسبة للون جذوع الاشجار. وخلاصة ما سبق: لو افترضنا جدلا امكانية حدوث الاصطباغ الصناعي فانه لا يملك للانتقاء الطبيعي القدرة على اضافة عضو جديد إلى كائن حي أو تغيير نوع كائن إلى نوع اخر.
ثانيا: الطفرات
تعرف الطفرات على انها قطع أو استبدال يحدث في جزيء الDNA الموجود في نواة الخلية والذي يحمل كل المعلومات الوراثية، ويعد هذا القطع أو الاستبدال نتيجة لتأثيرات خارجية أو تفاعلات كيمائية. ولكننا لا يمكن ان ننظر للطفرة التي يختبئ وراءها دعاة التطور على انها عصا سحرية تغير الكائنات الحية إلى شكل اكثر جمالا، ذلك لان التأثير المباشر للطفرات ضار. كما ان الطفرات عادة ما تكون صغيرة وعشوائية وضارة. فبعد كل التجارب العلمية والابحاث المتعلقة بالطفرات لم تظهر أي طفرة مفيدة حتى الان، فقد اثبتتت كل الطفرات انها ضارة. كما ان الطفرات لا تضيف أي معلومات جديدة إلى جزي ال DNA ، كما ان التأثير المباشر للطفرات يحدث للكائن الحي الذي تعرض لها. ولكي تنتقل الطفرة إلى الجيل اللاحق لا بد ان تكون قد حدثت في الخلايا التناسلية للكائن الحي، لان أي تغيير عشوائي يحدث عرضا في خلية أو عضو الجسم لا يمكن انتقاله إلى الجيل التالي.
سجل الحفريات يدحض نظرية التطور
وفقا لنظرية التطور فان كل نوع حي قد نشأ من سلف، ومع مرور الوقت تحول النوع الموجود اصلا إلى نوع اخر، وان هذا التحول يتتابع تدريجيا خلال ملايين السنين.
ولكن، اذا كانت مثل هذه الحيوانات قد عاشت بالفعل، فيفترض ان توجد منها بالملايين، بل بالبلايين، من حيث العدد والنوع. واهم من ذلك، يفترض ان تكون بقايا هذه الحيوانات الغريبة موجودة في سجل الحفريات. وتمثل التفسير الوحيد الذي استطاع دارون ان يقدمه لمواجهة هذا الاعتراض بان سجل الحفريات الذي اكتشف حتى ذلك الوقت لم يكن كافيا، واكد ان دراسة سجل الحفريات بالتفصيل سيتم من خلاله اكتشاف الحلقات المفقودة.
ولكن سجل الحفريات حتى يومنا هذا يبرهن ان الاشكال الانتقالية لم تكن موجودة قط، وان التطور لم يحدث، وان جميع الانواع قد خلقت على حده في شكل كامل. عند دراسة طبقات الارض، اتضح ان كل الكائنات الحية قد ظهرت فجأة في وقت واحد. وتعتبر اقدم طبقة من طبقات الارض اكتشفت فيها حفريات لكائنات حية هي تلك التي تكونت قبل 500 مليون سنة. وتتسم اشكال الحياة المكتشفة في هذ الطبقة بنظم معقدة التركيب مثل العين والخياشيم واجهزة الدورة الدموية والتركيبات الفيسولوجية المتقدمة التي لا تختلف عن نظيراتها الحديثة.
التأويلات الخادعة للحفريات
يجدر بنا هنا التذكير بالاسلوب الدعائي الذي اقنع العامة بفكرة ان كائنات نصفها قرد ونصفها انسان قد عاشت في الماضي. ويعمد هذا الاسلوب الدعائي إلى استخدام اعادة البناء فيما ينسبه للحفريات. ويمكن ان نشرح اعادة البناء على انها رسم صورة لكائن حي أو بناء نموذج له استنادا على عظمة واحدة (وفي بعض الاحيان إلى جزء من العظمة). وفي الواقع، يقوم دعاة التطور بتجهيز الرسوم والنماذج استنادا إلى بقايا حفريات باستخدام التخمين وذلك فقط من اجل اثبات النظرية.
وفي هذا الصدد يجب ان نلقى الضوء على ان اعادة البناء القائمة على بقايا العظام لا يمكن ان تكشف سوى الصفات العامة للجسم، لان التفاصيل المميزة تتمثل في الانسجة اللينة التي تختفي مع مرور الوقت. ان محاولة ترميم هذه الانسجة مهمة اخطر. ذلك ان الشفاه والعيون والآذان لا تترك اثارا على الاجزاء العظمية التي تكسوها، ويمكن ان تتشكل بنفس السهولة من جمجمة شبيهه بنموذج الشامبانزي.
تزييفات التطور
في سنة 1912 اكد طبيب معروف وعالم حفريات هاو تشارلز داوسون عثوره على عظمة فك وجزء من جمجمة داخل حفره بلتداون بانكلترا. وعلى ان عظمة الفك كانت اشبة بعظمة فك قرد الا أن الاسنان والجمجمة كانت اشبه باسنان وجمجمة الانسان.
وفي سنة 1949 حاول كينيث اوكلي من قسم الحفريات في المتحقف البريطاني ان يجرب طريقة اختبار الفلورين وهي عبارة عن اختبار جديد يستخدم لتحديد تاريخ الحفريات القديمة. وكانت النتيجة مذهلة، فقد اتضح ان عظمة الفك بلتدواون لا تحتوي على أي فلورين، ويدل هذا على انها لم تظل مدفونة في الارض لاكثر من بضع سنين، اما الجمجمة فقد احتوت على مقدار ضئيل من الفلورين أي ان عمرها لا يتجاوز الاف السنين. وفي تحليل مفصل اجري عام 1953، اثبت العالم ونر ان الجمجمة تخص انسانا عمره حوالي 500 سنة، وان الفك كان لقرد مات مؤخرا.
أوتا بينغا: الافريقي المحبوس في قفص
اعتقد بعض دعاة التطور ان الكائنات المكونة من نصف انسان ونصف قرد لن توجد في سجل الحفريات فحسب بل ستوجد على قيد الحياة ايضا في مناطق مختلفة من العالم. فقد قام احد الباحثين باصطياد اوتا بينغا الرجل الافريقي القزم من الكونغو في عام 1904 وكان هذا الرجل متزوجا ولديه طفلان، وبعد ان قيد بالسلاسل ووضع في قفص كالحيوان، نقل إلى الولايات المتحدة وقدموه بوصفه "اقرب حلقة انتقالية للانسان." وبعد عامين نقلوه إلى حديقة حيوان برونكس في نيويورك وعرضوه تحت مسمى "السلف القديم للانسان" مع بعض افراد الشمبانزي والغوريلا. ونظرا لعدم قدرته على تحمل هذه المعاملة فقد انتحر اوتا بينغا في النهاية. وهنا يتين ان علماء التطور لا يتورعون عن استخدام أي نوع من الوسائل في سبيل اثبات نظريتهم.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
I spent my few last weeks, starting from the Hajj Break, reading some very interesting books that are yet difficult to summarize or share in my blog, which explains the long pause between my last post and this one. I here intend to overlook the unreasonable load of work I had to do at the mean time. Unlike the other books, Rich Dad, Poor Dad is very shareable with some (summarizable) ideas that would flow like one piece of writing if they were cut and put together.
In this book, Robert Kiyosaki helps one redefine people's relationship with work, education, money and even family and friends. It is not one of the best books I have ever read, but it surely is one of the most worth reading. It challenges one's financial perceptions as it explains why and how things are being run in our fast-paced present world. The book is based on the author's personal upbringing by his two dads: the rich dad and the poor dad; and how he, at a very young age, had to weigh the opposite options offered by his two different models in life.
The book, though a best-selling, was received with harsh public scrutiny when it first appeared in 2000 because it denounces the major values of parenting and education that are passed through generations. These values are passed, as Kiyosaki assumes, without undergoing the necessary alterations to make them fit in our continuously changing world. The book presents different interesting accounts of the author's life, some very worth considering observations, and some hard-to-apply suggestions. Kiyosaki writes in an easy one-to-one style with lots of interesting examples and funny stories.
Accordingly, I thought that sharing the parts I highlighted in my hard copy might give you a little insight to the writer's message to people with demanding jobs and insufficient income.
Here you go…
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"Study hard and get good grades and you will find a high-paying job with great benefits," my parents' advice may have worked for people born before 1945, but it may be disastrous for those of us born into a rapidly changing world. The world around us has changed, but the advice hasn't. When we parents advise our children to "go to school, study hard and get a job," we often do that out of cultural habit. It has always been the right thing to do. The world has changed, but education has not changed with it. Children spend years in an antiquated educational system, studying subjects they will never use, preparing for a world that no longer exists.
If you look at the life of the average-educated, hard working person, there is a similar path. The child is born and goes to school, gets fair to good grades, and is accepted into college. The child graduates, and may be go to graduate school and then does exactly as programmed: look for a safe, secure job or career. The child finds that job. Generally, the child begins to make money, credit cards start to arrive in mass, and the shopping begins, if it already hasn’t. The bundles of bills arrive. The demand of cash is enormous. The happy couple decides that their careers are vitally important and begin to work harder, part time, seeking promotions and raises. The raises come, and so does another child. May be they take a second job. Their incomes go up, but so does the tax bracket. The happy couple, born 35 years ago, is now trapped in the Rat Race for the rest of their working days. They work for the owners of their company, for the government paying taxes, and for the bank paying off a mortgage and credit cards.
One of the reasons the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles in debt is because the subject of money is taught at home, not at school. The child may graduate with excellent grades but with his parents' financial programming and mind-set.
I had two fathers, a rich one and a poor one. One had a Ph.D. and the other never finished the eighth grade. One struggled financially in his life. The other would become one of the richest men in Hawaii. One died leaving tens of millions of dollars to his family, charities and his church. The other left bills to be paid. One would say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." The other would say, "The lack of money is the root of all evil." One had the habit of saying "I can't afford it." The other insisted I say, "How can I afford it?" One dad says, "The reason I am not rich is because I have you kids." The other dad says, "The reason I must become rich is because I have you kids." One dad struggles to save a few dollars. The other simply created investments.
One dad believed in a company or the government taking care of you and your needs. He was always concerned about pay raises, retirement plans, medical benefits, sick leave, vacation days and other perks. The other believed in total financial self-reliance. He spoke against the "entitlement" mentality and how it was creating weak and financially needy people. One dad taught me how to write an impressive resume so I could find a good job. The other taught me how to write strong business and financial plans so I could create jobs.
Although both men have tremendous respect for education and learning, one wanted me to study hard, earn a degree and get a job, the other encouraged me to study to be rich, to understand how money works and understand how to make it work for me. "I do not work for money," were the words he would repeat over and over, "Money works for me".
If you learn life's lessons, you will do well. If not, life will just continue to push you around. If you learn life's lessons, you will grow into a wise, wealthy happy young man. If you don't, you will spend your life blaming a job, low pay or your boss for your problems. If you are the kind of person who has no guts, you just give up every time life pushes you, you will live your life playing it safe, doing the right things, and saving money for some event that never happens. You will have lots of friends who really like you because you were such a nice hard-working guy. But the truth is, you let life push you into submission. Deep down you were terrified of taking risks. You really wanted to win, but the fear of losing was greater than the excitement of winning.
If you think your job or your boss are the problem, then you have to change your boss or your job. If you realize that you are the problem, then you can change yourself. Most people want everyone else in the world to change but themselves. Let me tell you, it's easier to change yourself than everyone else.
It is FEAR that keeps most people working for a job, the fear of not paying their bills. The fear of being fired, of not having enough money, of starting over. Most people become a slave to money. A job can be a short-term solution for a long-term problem.
Most people have a price, and they have it because of human emotions named fear and greed. First, the fear of being without money motivates us to work hard, and then once we get that paycheck, greed starts us thinking about all the wonderful things money can buy. The pattern is set. Their lives are then run forever by two emotions: fear and greed. They feel the fear, they go to work, hoping that money will sooth the fear, but it doesn't. The old fear haunts them, and they go back to work, hoping again that money will calm their fears, and again it doesn't. For millions of people, that old fear keeps them awake all night, causing turmoil and worry. They do not want to lose the big houses, the cars, and the high life that money has bought them. They worry about what their friends would say if they lost all their money.
They desire money for the joy they think it can buy, but this joy is short-lived, and they soon need more money for more joy, more pleasure, and more security. So they keep working, thinking money will soothe their souls, but money cannot do that.
What intensifies fear and greed is ignorance. That is why rich people often have more fear the richer they get. For example, a doctor, wanting more money to better provide for his family, raises his fees. By raising his fees, it makes health care more expensive for everyone. So, the poor people have worse health than those with money. Because the doctors raise their rates, the attorneys raise theirs, and so do the schoolteachers. Soon, there will be such a horrifying gap between the haves and the have nots because we do not learn from history. We only memorize the historical date and names, but not the lessons.
If you are going to build an Empire State, the first thing you need to do is dig a deep hole and pour a strong foundation. If you are going to build a home in the superb, all you need to do is pour a 6-inch slab of concrete. Most people, in their drive to get rich, are trying to build an Empire State Building on a 6-inch slab.
In 1995, I granted an interview with a newspaper in Singapore. The young female reporter was on time, and the interview got under way immediately.
"Someday, I would like to be a best-selling author like you," she said.
"You have a good style," I said in reply. "What holds you back from achieving your dream?"
"My work does not seem to go anywhere," she said quietly. "Everyone says that my novels are excellent, but nothing happens. So I keep my job with the paper. At least it pays my bills. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Yes, I do" I said brightly. "A friend of mine here in Singapore runs a school that trains people to sell. I think attending one of his courses would greatly enhance your career"
"You are not serious, are you? I have a master's degree in English Literature. Why would I go to school to learn to be a salesperson? I am a professional." She was now packing her briefcase forcibly. The interview was over.
On the coffee table sat a copy of an earlier best-selling book I wrote. I picked it up. "Do you see this?" I said pointing to her notes.
She looked at her notes. "What?" She said, confused.
Again, I pointed deliberately to her notes. On her pad she has written "Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author."
"It says 'best-selling' author, not 'best-writing' author"
When I ask the classes I teach, "How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald's?" almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask, "So if most of you can cook a better hamburger, how come McDonald's makes more money than you?"
The answer is obvious: "McDonald's is excellent at business systems. The reason so many talented people are poor is because they focus on building a better hamburger and know little to nothing about how to sell it.
In this book, Robert Kiyosaki helps one redefine people's relationship with work, education, money and even family and friends. It is not one of the best books I have ever read, but it surely is one of the most worth reading. It challenges one's financial perceptions as it explains why and how things are being run in our fast-paced present world. The book is based on the author's personal upbringing by his two dads: the rich dad and the poor dad; and how he, at a very young age, had to weigh the opposite options offered by his two different models in life.
The book, though a best-selling, was received with harsh public scrutiny when it first appeared in 2000 because it denounces the major values of parenting and education that are passed through generations. These values are passed, as Kiyosaki assumes, without undergoing the necessary alterations to make them fit in our continuously changing world. The book presents different interesting accounts of the author's life, some very worth considering observations, and some hard-to-apply suggestions. Kiyosaki writes in an easy one-to-one style with lots of interesting examples and funny stories.
Accordingly, I thought that sharing the parts I highlighted in my hard copy might give you a little insight to the writer's message to people with demanding jobs and insufficient income.
Here you go…
...........................
"Study hard and get good grades and you will find a high-paying job with great benefits," my parents' advice may have worked for people born before 1945, but it may be disastrous for those of us born into a rapidly changing world. The world around us has changed, but the advice hasn't. When we parents advise our children to "go to school, study hard and get a job," we often do that out of cultural habit. It has always been the right thing to do. The world has changed, but education has not changed with it. Children spend years in an antiquated educational system, studying subjects they will never use, preparing for a world that no longer exists.
If you look at the life of the average-educated, hard working person, there is a similar path. The child is born and goes to school, gets fair to good grades, and is accepted into college. The child graduates, and may be go to graduate school and then does exactly as programmed: look for a safe, secure job or career. The child finds that job. Generally, the child begins to make money, credit cards start to arrive in mass, and the shopping begins, if it already hasn’t. The bundles of bills arrive. The demand of cash is enormous. The happy couple decides that their careers are vitally important and begin to work harder, part time, seeking promotions and raises. The raises come, and so does another child. May be they take a second job. Their incomes go up, but so does the tax bracket. The happy couple, born 35 years ago, is now trapped in the Rat Race for the rest of their working days. They work for the owners of their company, for the government paying taxes, and for the bank paying off a mortgage and credit cards.
One of the reasons the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles in debt is because the subject of money is taught at home, not at school. The child may graduate with excellent grades but with his parents' financial programming and mind-set.
I had two fathers, a rich one and a poor one. One had a Ph.D. and the other never finished the eighth grade. One struggled financially in his life. The other would become one of the richest men in Hawaii. One died leaving tens of millions of dollars to his family, charities and his church. The other left bills to be paid. One would say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." The other would say, "The lack of money is the root of all evil." One had the habit of saying "I can't afford it." The other insisted I say, "How can I afford it?" One dad says, "The reason I am not rich is because I have you kids." The other dad says, "The reason I must become rich is because I have you kids." One dad struggles to save a few dollars. The other simply created investments.
One dad believed in a company or the government taking care of you and your needs. He was always concerned about pay raises, retirement plans, medical benefits, sick leave, vacation days and other perks. The other believed in total financial self-reliance. He spoke against the "entitlement" mentality and how it was creating weak and financially needy people. One dad taught me how to write an impressive resume so I could find a good job. The other taught me how to write strong business and financial plans so I could create jobs.
Although both men have tremendous respect for education and learning, one wanted me to study hard, earn a degree and get a job, the other encouraged me to study to be rich, to understand how money works and understand how to make it work for me. "I do not work for money," were the words he would repeat over and over, "Money works for me".
If you learn life's lessons, you will do well. If not, life will just continue to push you around. If you learn life's lessons, you will grow into a wise, wealthy happy young man. If you don't, you will spend your life blaming a job, low pay or your boss for your problems. If you are the kind of person who has no guts, you just give up every time life pushes you, you will live your life playing it safe, doing the right things, and saving money for some event that never happens. You will have lots of friends who really like you because you were such a nice hard-working guy. But the truth is, you let life push you into submission. Deep down you were terrified of taking risks. You really wanted to win, but the fear of losing was greater than the excitement of winning.
If you think your job or your boss are the problem, then you have to change your boss or your job. If you realize that you are the problem, then you can change yourself. Most people want everyone else in the world to change but themselves. Let me tell you, it's easier to change yourself than everyone else.
It is FEAR that keeps most people working for a job, the fear of not paying their bills. The fear of being fired, of not having enough money, of starting over. Most people become a slave to money. A job can be a short-term solution for a long-term problem.
Most people have a price, and they have it because of human emotions named fear and greed. First, the fear of being without money motivates us to work hard, and then once we get that paycheck, greed starts us thinking about all the wonderful things money can buy. The pattern is set. Their lives are then run forever by two emotions: fear and greed. They feel the fear, they go to work, hoping that money will sooth the fear, but it doesn't. The old fear haunts them, and they go back to work, hoping again that money will calm their fears, and again it doesn't. For millions of people, that old fear keeps them awake all night, causing turmoil and worry. They do not want to lose the big houses, the cars, and the high life that money has bought them. They worry about what their friends would say if they lost all their money.
They desire money for the joy they think it can buy, but this joy is short-lived, and they soon need more money for more joy, more pleasure, and more security. So they keep working, thinking money will soothe their souls, but money cannot do that.
What intensifies fear and greed is ignorance. That is why rich people often have more fear the richer they get. For example, a doctor, wanting more money to better provide for his family, raises his fees. By raising his fees, it makes health care more expensive for everyone. So, the poor people have worse health than those with money. Because the doctors raise their rates, the attorneys raise theirs, and so do the schoolteachers. Soon, there will be such a horrifying gap between the haves and the have nots because we do not learn from history. We only memorize the historical date and names, but not the lessons.
If you are going to build an Empire State, the first thing you need to do is dig a deep hole and pour a strong foundation. If you are going to build a home in the superb, all you need to do is pour a 6-inch slab of concrete. Most people, in their drive to get rich, are trying to build an Empire State Building on a 6-inch slab.
In 1995, I granted an interview with a newspaper in Singapore. The young female reporter was on time, and the interview got under way immediately.
"Someday, I would like to be a best-selling author like you," she said.
"You have a good style," I said in reply. "What holds you back from achieving your dream?"
"My work does not seem to go anywhere," she said quietly. "Everyone says that my novels are excellent, but nothing happens. So I keep my job with the paper. At least it pays my bills. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Yes, I do" I said brightly. "A friend of mine here in Singapore runs a school that trains people to sell. I think attending one of his courses would greatly enhance your career"
"You are not serious, are you? I have a master's degree in English Literature. Why would I go to school to learn to be a salesperson? I am a professional." She was now packing her briefcase forcibly. The interview was over.
On the coffee table sat a copy of an earlier best-selling book I wrote. I picked it up. "Do you see this?" I said pointing to her notes.
She looked at her notes. "What?" She said, confused.
Again, I pointed deliberately to her notes. On her pad she has written "Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author."
"It says 'best-selling' author, not 'best-writing' author"
When I ask the classes I teach, "How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald's?" almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask, "So if most of you can cook a better hamburger, how come McDonald's makes more money than you?"
The answer is obvious: "McDonald's is excellent at business systems. The reason so many talented people are poor is because they focus on building a better hamburger and know little to nothing about how to sell it.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
الطريق إلى مكة لمراد هوفمان / Journey to Makkah by Dr. Murad Hofmann
مراد هوفمان مؤلف ودبلوماسي ألماني شهير، كاثوليكي المولد، اعتنق الإسلام عام 1980 ، شكل إسلامه جدلا واسعا في الأوساط الغربية بسبب منصبه الدبلوماسي الرفيع. عين بعد ذلك سفيرا لألمانيا في الجزائر من عام 1987 إلى 1990 ومن ثم سفيرا إلى المغرب حتى عام 1994. له من مؤلفات العديدة حول الإسلام منها الإسلام كبديل، والإسلام في الألفية الثالثة، ومذكرات ألماني مسلم.
وعلى عكس ما توقعت حين شرعت في قراءة الكتاب، وكعادة ما درجت عليه كتب من مروا برحلة الشك إلى الإيمان، بأني سأجد وصفا للصراع الذي مر به الكاتب في رحلة بحثه عن الحقيقة والصعوبات التي تكبدها إزاء رفض مجتمعه لفكرة تغيير دينه. إلا إنني وجدت خطابا موجها إلى الشارع الغربي من مسلم غربي يصف فيه ملامح من حياة المسلمين عامة، وحياته كمسلم خاصة. تطرق في كثير من الأحيان إلى الشبهات التي تدور حول الإسلام محاولا تفسيرها وتفنيدها وتصحيح المفاهيم المتعلقة بها.
وعلى الرغم من ضخامة محتوى الكتاب، إلا أن سلاسة عرض هوفمان وبراعة سرده وقوة بيانه وحجته جعلت من قراءته رحلة ممتعة للذهن والحس معا. ولي اعتراض على ترجمة عنوان الكتاب إلى (الطريق إلى مكة) بدلا من (الرحلة إلى مكة) والذي قد يحدث لبسا مع كتاب محمد أسد الشهير (الطريق إلى مكة / The Road to Makkah).
وفيما يلي استعراض المقتطفات الجميلة من هذا الكتاب الصادر عن دار الشروق العربي، الطبعة الأولى 1996.
هانحن أولاء نقف في تقليد إبراهيمي أمام أقدم معابد التوحيد في العالم.. أمام الكعبة. والكعبة مكعب مجوف خال تماما مبني بأحجار ضخمة. إنها صورة معمارية لكمال الله في ابسط تصوير، بعيدا عن التعقيد القوطي وفن الركوكو
"الحج ليس فريضة فحسب، بل هو حلم كل مسلم، والعودة منه مفخرته. فلا لقب دكتور ولا لقب سعادة ولا حتى لقب أستاذ تضاهي لقب حاج الذي يخاطب به"
"توجهت إلى الطابق الأعلى حيث يزداد نصف قطر دائرة الطواف، النظر من هنا إلى أسفل يكاد يكون كالتنويم المغناطيسي. والمشهد شديد الجمال. فالكعبة تبدو كمركز ثابت لا يتحرك لاسطوانة تدور ببطء وفي سكون تام في اتجاه مضاد لاتجاه عقارب الساعة. ولا يتغير هذا المشهد إلا عند الصلاة، حيث تصير الكعبة مركز لدوائر عديدة متحدة المركز، تتكون من مئات الآلاف من أجسام ناصعة البياض لأناس يرغبون ويبحثون ويفعلون الشيء ذاته"
"من الأهمية بمكان أن يعرف المرء كيف يحدد موضع صلاته بحيث يضع شيئا كنظارته أو حافظة أوراقه على مسافة 90 سم أمامه. فلن ينتهك أحدا موضع صلاة آخر. وإنني لأتذكر أنني هممت بمغادرة مسجد الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم في المدينة وعندما وصلت الباب الرئيسي كانت حركة السير بطيئة. وكان السبب أن احد القادمين إلى الصلاة تأخر ومازال يكمل صلاته على الدرج في هدوء تام. بينما انقسمت جموع المصلين المنصرفين من المسجد كما تنقسم حول صخرة. ولم يجرؤ احد على أن يزعجه أو يشوش عليه صلاته أو أن يقتحم موضع صلاته"
"كان رفاق رحلة حجي من السنغاليين في الطائرة شديدي الحساسية تجاه العرب، اللذين يعتبرون أنفسهم- تشبها باليهود- أفراد شعب الله المختار، وهم ليسوا كذلك وحدهم بطبيعة الحال. ومن جانبي، أقررت انه لابد للمرء أن تدور رأسه غرورا إذا ما صادفه الحظ مرتين في تاريخ العالم: أولاهما، عندما بعث خاتم الرسل في الأرض العربية برسالة عربية، وثانيهما عند ظهور بركة النفط والغاز الطبيعي... ولكن رفض جميع من في الطائرة القبول بأن العرب ينفردون بوضع يتيح لهم وحدهم فهم الرسالة الإلهية للقرآن، فالإسلام لا يعرف التفرقة العنصرية"
"ابتداء من عام 1980، لم اعد احمل معي في رحلات العمل سوى سجادة صلاة وبوصلة لتحديد القبلة. وراحت أيامي تتشكل أكثر فأكثر تبعا لمواقيت الصلاة وليس تبعا للساعة التي تسبب التوتر والقلق. فعندما يتواعد المرء مع المسلمين، فانه لا يواعدهم (الساعة الثالثة والربع) وإنما يواعدهم لوقت (بعد صلاة الظهر) أو (بعد صلاة المغرب)"
"أثبتت لي الكثير من الوقائع انه قد لا يكون هناك عائق في طريق انتشار الإسلام في ألمانيا أقوى من التحريم القرآني للخمر. فلن يتنازل الألماني في بافاريا ولا في كولونيا عن طعامه المفضل من لحم الخنزير ولا عن خمره المفضل. ولقد ظننت في بادئ الأمر أنني لن استطيع النوم جيدا بدون جرعة من الخمر في دمي ولكن ما حدث كان عكس ما ظننت تماما. فنظرا لان جسمي لم يعد بحاجه إلى الكحول أصبح نبضي أثناء نومي اهدأ من قبل"
"إن المسلم بتناوله كوبا من الماء أو العصير بين أناس يحتسون الخمر، يفسد عليهم بهجتهم، لأن ما يفعله ينطوي على عقاب معنوي لهم. لذلك أصبح من النادر بعد اعتناقي الإسلام أن ندعى، زوجتي وأنا، إلى حفلات خاصة"
"ما يزال النساء والأطفال لليوم يتعرضون للضرب تحت تأثير الخمر. كذلك تسقط الطائرات اليوم تحت تأثير الخمر. ولقد تسبب قائد إحدى الناقلات البحرية تحت تأثير الخمر في وقوع أسوأ كارثة بيئية حتى الآن. ولا يمكن تقدير الخسائر البشرية والمادية التي تصيب المجتمع الغربي بسبب إدمان الخمر"
"يختلف مفهومي عن رمضان المبني على إتباعي للسنة، عن الكيفية التي يمارس بها في بعض البلدان الإسلامية. فالناس يميلون أن يعوضوا في الليل ما فاتهم في النهار. فيشاهدوا التلفزيون ويلعبوا الورق ويحتسوا الخمر أحيانا حتى منتصف الليل. ومن شأن هذا أن ينمي الاتجاه الغريب نحو استبدال الليل بالنهار في رمضان"
"بالنسبة لي، لعل أهم اثر جانبي لصوم رمضان في، إنني استطيع أن اختبر إذا ما كنت سيد نفسي أم أنني ما زلت عبدا لعادات تافهة... إنني احتفظ لنفسي بما اسميه (زر رمضان). فعندما تكون هناك ضرورة، بين الحين والآخر، على مدار العام، لترك وجبة أو وجبتي طعام، فاني اضغط ذهنيا على هذا الزر وسرعان ما احتمل الجوع ولا أعيره اهتماما"
"لقد كنت أنا وزوجتي نلبي جميع الدعوات التي توجه إلينا، سواء كانت دعوة من وزير أو من سائق سيارتي، دعوة من أميرة أم من خادمتنا. وهكذا أوصى الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم. ولم يجز رفض الدعوة إلا لسببين: وهي أن تؤدي الدعوة إلى استدانة الداعي، أو أن تكون لغرض التفاخر والمباهاة. ولذلك لم اشعر بحرج لرفض دعوات وجهت لي لحضور حفلات زفاف لعلمي أن والد العروس يبغي المباهاة بحضوري كسفير"
"يسمح للجماعة اليهودية بألمانيا أن تذبح ذبائحها وفق الشريعة اليهودية، بينما يمنع المسلمون من هذا الحق. وهذا أمر يدعو إلى السخرية. وتستنتج السلطات الألمانية من هذا نتيجة منطقية مؤداها أنها إذا منعت المسلمين من أن يذبحوا ذبائحهم وفق شريعتهم فسوف يضطرون إلى أكل حيوانات لم تذبح وفقا لها"
"في أول زيارة لنا إلى مكة في عام 1982 طلبنا في احد المطاعم إبريقا من القهوة، كما هي العادة في ألمانيا عندما يتناول مجموعة من الأصدقاء القهوة معا. وكلما كرر النادل السؤال أكثر من مرة عن طلبنا بهدف التأكد أرجعنا ذلك إلى صعوبة اللغة. وأخيرا احضر لنا إبريقا يمينا مملوءا بالقهوة العربية. ولكننا أحسسنا بضربات القلب تتسارع بعد احتساء ما يعادل نصف قدح من الحجم الألماني"
"تعود ظاهرة حماية الرجل للمرأة، حتى وان لم تر هي أنها في حاجة إليها، إلى آية استهلالية من آيات القران فسرت منذ قرون من الزمن بما يفيد تفوق الرجل على المرأة، وهي في بعض الترجمات الألمانية تبدأ على النحو التالي
(الرجال متفوقون على النساء) (م. سافاري)
(للرجال أفضلية على النساء) (بلزاتيجاني)
(الرجال قادة النساء) (حميدوالله)
(للرجال سلطة على النساء) (بوباكير وماسون)
(للرجال حق الرقابة على النساء) (ماتسيه)
(الرجال أعلى من النساء) (باريت)
(الرجال مسئولون عن النساء) (م. علي)
وحمدا لله أن النص العربي (الرجال قوامون على النساء) لا يحمل المعنى المشار إليه. وهذه ليست الحالة الوحيدة التي يكيف فيها الرجال فهمهم للقرآن وفقا لممارستهم وسلوكهم في الواقع، بدلا من تكييفه لأحكام القران الودودة تجاه النساء. ولقد استلفت عبدالله بوريك وفتحي عثمان الانتباه إلى تغيير الفهم الخاطئ للآيات القرانية ولقد بدأ العالم الانجلو ساكسوني بالفعل في تغيير ذلك:
(ينبغي على الرجال أن يعنوا عناية كاملة بالنساء) (أسد)
(الرجال حماة النساء) (ي. علي)
(الرجال يعولون النساء) (بيرك)"
"تتولى المرأة في البلدان الإسلامية رئاسة الحكومة فهناك تانسو تشيلر وبناظير بوتو. وفي اعتقادي انه ما يزال أمام ألمانيا المتحررة طريقا طويلا قبل أن تصل المرأة إلى الرئاسة"
"من الخطأ أن يتصور البعض أن ارتداء الملابس الإسلامية المحتشمة بما في ذلك غطاء الرأس أمر يفرضه على النساء رجال غيورون.. والمسلمات الألمانيات خير دليل على ذلك. فالعديد منهن اهتدين إلى الإسلام بمفردهن ودون أن يكن في أسرهن رجل واحد مسلم"
"لم يمثل لي شخصيا اعتناق الإسلام مشكلات بين عائلتي وأصدقائي أو زملائي. فلم أعامل كمخرف يمر بأزمة منتصف العمر... لم أتعرض كذلك في عملي لأي مضايقات ولم يلحق بأي أذي بسبب اعتناقي الإسلام. فلقد قلدني رئيس ألمانيا د. كارستن وسام الاستحقاق، كما قامت وزارة الخارجية بتوزيع كتابي (يوميات ألماني مسلم) على سفاراتها في البلدان الإسلامية. ولكن هناك ظاهرة أخرى نلحظها بسهولة. فالعالم الغربي لا يقدم المسلمين مشيرا إلى ديانتهم، حتى لا يثار شك حول ذكائهم. ولقد صادفت تلك المواقف كثيرا أثناء رحلاتي لإلقاء محاضرات بصفتي مدير قسم المعلومات بحلف شمال الأطلنطي، سواء كانت هذه الرحلات داخل الولايات المتحدة أو أوروبا. ودائما ما يتم إغفال ذكر إسلامي عند استعراض سيرة حياتي"
"عندما أعلن النجم السينمائي ريتشارد غير اعتناقه البوذية لم تثر تعليقات سلبية ولم يتعر ض لمضايقات. فكل شي مسموح به إلا أن تكون مسلما... تتحدث وسائل الإعلام بشكل لائق وفي احترام بالغ عن طقوس بعض اليهود المتشددة، ويتابعون بحرص الفصل بين الجنسين، تدابير الزيجات، تصافيف الشعر ذات المغزى الديني، غطاء الرأس، النحر ورفض تناول لحم الخنزير. ولكن لا يتهمهم احد بانتهاك حقوق المرأة، أو أن هذه الطقوس رجعية أو متعصبة. ولكن هذه الصفات تلصق بالمسلمين إذا ما سلكوا نفس المسلك"
"يقف الصراع في البوسنة شاهدا جليا على مبدأ الكيل بمكيالين. فلقد سمي الضحايا بالمسلمين ولكن وسائل الإعلام أغفلت تماما الإشارة إلى ديانة المعتدين. فخلت وسائل الإعلام من الإشارة إلى القتلة الصرب بالمسيحيين الارثودوكس أو الكروات الكاثوليك"
صفحة الكاتب مراد هوفمان على الفيس بوك
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Murad-Hofmann/164370994275
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Touching Lines from T. S. Eliot's (Four Quartets) Rearranged in Order of Preference
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
***
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
***
When an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;
***
I said to my soul, be still,
and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing;
wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing;
there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought.
***
So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years—
Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres
Trying to use words, and every attempt
Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure.
***
There is only the fight to recover what has been lost
And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions
That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.
For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.
***
There are three conditions which often look alike
Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow:
Attachment to self and to things and to persons,
Detachment from self and from things and from persons;
and, growing between them, indifference
Which resembles the others as death resembles life,
***
Time and the bell have buried the day,
The black cloud carries the sun away.
Will the sunflower turn to us, will the clematis
Stray down, bend to us; tendril and spray
Clutch and cling?
***
O dark dark dark.
They all go into the dark
I said to my soul, be still,
and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God.
As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed.
***
I can only say, there we have been:
but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long,
for that is to place it in time.
***
In my beginning is my end. In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.
Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires,
Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth
Which is already flesh, fur and faces.
***
Had they deceived us
Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,
Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?
…
The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets
Useless in the darkness into which they peered
Or from which they turned their eyes.
There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been.
***
Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men,
but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy,
their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another,
or to others,
or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.
***
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
***
The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
***
It seems, as one becomes older,
That the past has another pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence—
Or even development: the latter a partial fallacy
Encouraged by superficial notions of evolution,
Which becomes, in the popular mind, a means of disowning the past.
…
We had the experience but missed the meaning,
…
The backward look behind the assurance
Of recorded history,
the backward half-look
Over the shoulder,
towards the primitive terror.
Now, we come to discover that the moments of agony
are likewise permanent,
With such permanence as time has.
We appreciate this better
In the agony of others, nearly experienced,
Involving ourselves, than in our own.
***
The first-met stranger in the waning dusk
I caught the sudden look of some dead master
Whom I had known, forgotten, half recalled
…
I said: 'The wonder that I feel is easy,
Yet ease is cause of wonder. Therefore speak:
I may not comprehend, may not remember.'
…
For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
***
We cannot revive old factions
We cannot restore old policies
Or follow an antique drum.
…
Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us—a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
***
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
***
That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory:
A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,
Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle
With words and meanings.
(The End)
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
***
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
***
When an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;
***
I said to my soul, be still,
and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing;
wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing;
there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought.
***
So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years—
Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres
Trying to use words, and every attempt
Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure.
***
There is only the fight to recover what has been lost
And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions
That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.
For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.
***
There are three conditions which often look alike
Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow:
Attachment to self and to things and to persons,
Detachment from self and from things and from persons;
and, growing between them, indifference
Which resembles the others as death resembles life,
***
Time and the bell have buried the day,
The black cloud carries the sun away.
Will the sunflower turn to us, will the clematis
Stray down, bend to us; tendril and spray
Clutch and cling?
***
O dark dark dark.
They all go into the dark
I said to my soul, be still,
and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God.
As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed.
***
I can only say, there we have been:
but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long,
for that is to place it in time.
***
In my beginning is my end. In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.
Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires,
Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth
Which is already flesh, fur and faces.
***
Had they deceived us
Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,
Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?
…
The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets
Useless in the darkness into which they peered
Or from which they turned their eyes.
There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been.
***
Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men,
but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy,
their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another,
or to others,
or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.
***
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
***
The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
***
It seems, as one becomes older,
That the past has another pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence—
Or even development: the latter a partial fallacy
Encouraged by superficial notions of evolution,
Which becomes, in the popular mind, a means of disowning the past.
…
We had the experience but missed the meaning,
…
The backward look behind the assurance
Of recorded history,
the backward half-look
Over the shoulder,
towards the primitive terror.
Now, we come to discover that the moments of agony
are likewise permanent,
With such permanence as time has.
We appreciate this better
In the agony of others, nearly experienced,
Involving ourselves, than in our own.
***
The first-met stranger in the waning dusk
I caught the sudden look of some dead master
Whom I had known, forgotten, half recalled
…
I said: 'The wonder that I feel is easy,
Yet ease is cause of wonder. Therefore speak:
I may not comprehend, may not remember.'
…
For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
***
We cannot revive old factions
We cannot restore old policies
Or follow an antique drum.
…
Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us—a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
***
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
***
That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory:
A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,
Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle
With words and meanings.
(The End)
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