Finding the Key

I have always felt that we yearn for a perpetual state of beatitude.  We want everything to be perfect, ideal and flawless.  Being conscious of the fact that  utopia is just an illusory and abstract concept  that transgresses  the boundaries of realism, we make the folly of  expecting  life to be  a perennial  harbinger of  halcyon.  So when ripples start to appear in that perfectly tranquil sea of ours,  instead of  navigating  our ships like an intrepid sailor, we plummet in an endless  abyss of despondence and  hopelessness.  Consequence? The boat eventually capsizes, and we are swept away by gargantuan, undulating waves of despair.

How would I define a ripple? Well it is analogous to the disturbance we see in waters, yet completely disparate.  If one is discerning enough to ponder, have we ever looked carefully at fishes in a pond or any other water body? These aquatic creatures live amidst the countless, innumerable ripples that intermittently distort  the  still water surface. But what are the sources of these unobtrusive circular waves of   disturbance? The  fishes  themselves.

Indeed we are akin to these fishes,  because  the ripples that so often leave us fazed and perplexed are the ones we  are  inadvertently  responsible for.  Every turbulence that wrecks havoc in  our lives has a purpose and  every deadly conflagration that leaves us scarred and scathed  are nothing but clarion calls- that the world we are so unceremoniously immersed in is NOT a fairy tale out of the pages of a Disney book, where ‘’happily ever after ‘’ prevails after every mishap.  That our existence  is a merely a fleeting  and ephemeral phenomenon,  synonymous to a transient journey in a time machine, pausing for a modicum of  seconds before we are transported to that ultimate destination.

Life is hard. It is a very pellucid statement, however the underlying meaning is as tortuous  as  calculus would appear  to a  first grader.  Apart from the trivial predicaments  that encumber us on a daily basis,  once in a while,  unsettling trials and tribulations pervade our lives, and like discourteous  men, they never bother to knock our doors.  Uncalled for and  ‘gratuitous’, they are hurled at us like tennis bolls utterly impervious to the laws of gravity, and plonk plonk…down we go..

‘’when you’re going through something  hard and you wonder where Allah( SWT) is, remember the teacher is always quiet during a test’’

-Nouman Ali Khan..

The profundity of this statement is ineffably amazing. At the time I am  penning this article, albeit  like a fledgling , my befuddled brain is recuperating from the trauma inflicted by  an indescribably rotten and abysmal exam.   The maladies are mutable, from person to person-  ranging from frustrating careers, unraveling marriages,  burdensome  societal  obligations to  random bouts of depression and morbidity , we are incontrovertibly vulnerable to such cataclysms.  Some are anomalously gifted with the ability to conceal their emotions and  don  an impeccably sanguine veneer, while others are just  explicitly dolorous. This is  probably why we should never be judgmental as  we never know what makes a person think, act, react or behave in a particular way. Who knows what  that petulant woman at the office desk  has to endure at home or what compromises  the  magnate,  who lives a prosperous life has to make with his conscience every day?

 ‘Dithering , pondering  and procrastinating  are  three most  irrevocable  traits of humans. We regret after acting precipitously, lament over paltry losses. But we forget that to regret is human, and to repent is muslim. To hurt is human but to forgive is muslim..and most importantly- to need is human..but to ask from Almighty is Muslim..Yes we are erroneous, and most of the time doggedly intractable, but are not the torchbearers of a religion that  disseminates hope and  positivity in chaos? Is His unimpeachable  decree not sufficient to consolidate our belief?

 

When we look into our lives, we look for a consistent trend- a perfect parabola or a straight line with a constant gradient.  To those who loathe  math,  it is highly  apposite  as we delve into this recondite concept.  It is foolhardy to try to sketch our lives in the form of such  surreal straight curves and  lines because it  is a serpentine journey which  sprawls  over such a colossal span. Our future is deprived of  the element of  certitude, yet the  fortress of  unquestioned faith on His volitions, must stand  impregnable .

‘’When you suffer a loss, remember that Almighty rewards you upon your  patience and endurance..far more than what you have lost’’.

 

When we stumble across a mighty, unwieldy boulder and  fall flat on our faces what is it that we do? Stand up, brush clean as if the soil never grimed our faces.  Likewise,  we tackle  the difficulties  that  we must,  invariably come to terms with , without being  unnerved or daunted. But how?

Every locked door has a key. All we have to do is find it. As onerous as it sounds, we must ingrain the  perception that the pain we are  feeling today cannot compare to the joy that is imminent.  While bemoaning our failures in life,  we always  forgo the  purpose behind its creation- to make us stronger, resilient and  patient.  Just like heat purifies a precious metal,  suffering and sorrow  decontaminates our blackened hearts, and as clichéd as it sounds, our hearts are not as ethereal as glass. Because glass shatters, and diamonds do not..

All our life we look for an elusive key- the key to happiness, the key to success, the key to prosperity and plenitude..and the never-ending list continues. We are blinded by grandiose, wealth and   fettered by materialism as we strive to achieve  the very best of this world, when  all the time the key was concealed somewhere within ourselves.  No matter what talent, experience  and knowledge we have, only His favor can assist us in reaching places we could never have  traversed on our own

‘I  always  believed I was the missing puzzle, but never realized I was a whole new maze to be unlocked’..

If you have the courage to be that maze,  the key to  bliss awaits you.  It is a privilege to shed tears of joy and contentment..but not everyone deserves it..:)