Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling

SMILE! :)

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

open your eyes, and see the world!

The Love poems of Rumi.

For my 19th birthday A friend of mine got me a book called "The love poems of Rumi" I read many poems in that book, but until yesterday, 4 years later, I actually felt the poems. I didn't really feel  the love but I felt the yearning for that beautiful feeling of love, and at first I was in pain! 


Here are two different poems that gave me the chills and made my eyes watery!


                                        " Both light and shadow are the dance of Love.

Love has no cause, it is the astrolabe of God's secrets.

Lover and loving are inseparable and timeless.

Although I may try to describe love,

when I experience it, I am speechless.

Although I may try to write about love, I am rendered helpless. 

My pen breaks, and the paper slips away

at the ineffable place where lover loving and loved are one.

Every moment is made glorious by the light of Love."

Do You Love Me? by Rumi

"A lover asked his beloved,
Do you love yourself more
than you love me?

The beloved replied,
I have died to myself
and I live for you.

I’ve disappeared from myself
and my attributes.
I am present only for you.

I have forgotten all my learning,
but from knowing you
I have become a scholar.

I have lost all my strength,
but from your power
I am able.

If I love myself
I love you.
If I love you
I love myself."

the greatest thing about Rumi is that he writes about love, the pain of love, what goes inside a lover's mind and the endless yet sweetest sacrifices of love in a way that weaves the reader into a love story even if the reader,like myself, has never been loved or in love! Rumi makes you think of all the other "loves" in your life, all the great things that make you feel great, that make you smile and nod. For me the sight of my parents and small children are great loves of mine, they are my own loves , even if they are not a storming romance but that's what Rumi states, maybe without intention, that love is not Romance! that it is more pure and way higher.

Yes, the poems make me realize what I am missing; something so great something out of this world, an epic feeling, epic bond, and an epic yet pure desire. However with such cruel realization I feel warmth, yes his writings speak with warmth and with every tear my heart gets cleansed from it's cruelty because when you and the words of Rumi are bound there is no room for cruelty... only love.

the 2nd poem I will call it mine for that's how I want to be loved, and that's how I'll love you...whoever you are! 

Situation

Sit·u·a·tionNoun/ˌsiCHo͞oˈāSHən/

1. A set of circumstances in which one finds oneself; a state of affairs.

2. The location and surroundings of a place.

Above is the Merriam Webster's definition of the word situation. I want to go further into analyzing this small word that the metamorphosis of which added to me leaded to a state of utter oblivion!

- 1. A set of circumstances in which one finds oneself:

what if you don't actually FIND yourself? what if you are air-headed and you don't really grasp the circumstances leading to complete detachment of the so called location or surroundings of the place which are mentioned above as a second meaning of the word thus being un-found? what does that make you?

- 2.The location and surroundings of a place.

well, that's tricky; what if you are not sure of the place, and the surroundings are a total blur? what if all of the places and their so called endless surroundings don't hold your being, don't embrace it and relentlessly expelling the shadows of the affairs being developed to create a vivid understanding for the so called situation?

life is a situation in the happening, a mere huge body of ever evolving, happening or past situations. But what if your "states" are unstated and your "affairs" are a blur? What if your circumstances aren't falling into place and yourself is detached from them as if you are just a beholder no more? where does that leave you?

I think a new word should be added to the dictionary:

Un-situation: a state where situations don't apply and fail to take place, when your places and surroundings are a mere background gone unrealized. a state where states don't take place and life fails to commence because you are not grasping anything and everything seems in need to be re-figured, re attached and re- placed!

"If you can keep your head about you when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation" Jean Kerr

Mayse Al-Kilany
Amman

9.11.2011

Mr. Twain And I!

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain

15 years ago I was introduced to Mr. twain. I was at my dad's clinic eager to go home, my dad saw that one last patient and I stormed out of the building with boredom left behind. On our way to the car - which was parked 2 streets away- I stopped at my favorite place, the library at the corner of the street . I was and still am a huge fan of stationary; colored pens, name tags, pencil cases, fancy rubber ( the one that had two sides one for pens and other for pencils, though I never used pens until 8th grade, but I always loved to be ready!) So I entered the library just to explore the shelves with their many colorful goods. and I saw a book stand, on it were hardcover books with a similar caption: "International Novels" that was so catchy for a girl as inquisitive as myself, but what really caught my eye is a book titled: The adventures of huckleberry Finn. The name was so familiar because at the time The adventures of Tom Sawyer was my favorite cartoon and Huck, as we all know, was Tom's best friend.

Not knowing, at that time, that Tom Sawyer's cartoon was based on a novel; I was amazed to find Huck's name on a book. I still remember how thrilled I was when I picked that book up flipped it and read what was written on the back:

"This book captures the adventure of Huck Finn with his best friend Tom sawyer and their loyal friends"

It was a children's simplified version of the book, but that caption sealed the deal for me. I would be able to know what happens in the cartoon even before they air it! I get to know Tom more, more than everyone maybe more than the T.V series itself, really that what made me buy the book!

I fell in love with the book, the images that I had in my head for Huck and Tom, for Jimm the "nigger" for all the characters of the book were The greatest things that happened to me. I fell in love with the book and afterwards with reading!

I went back to that library many many times, buying other books for Mr. Twain. I knew the Mississippi at the age of 9, I sailed with them down that river many times and alone in my head it flowed endlessly.

Thanks to Mr. Twain I dreamed of going there someday, of rowing through a river, of living in a tree house and of making justice. He instilled his world into my mind and adventure into my heart.

Now every time I start reading a book I remember the face my mind imagined for Huck Finn 15 years ago, I remember how intoxicated I felt back then, how happy, eager and exited.

15 years later I read this quote above for Mr. Twain and I smile because his words are still tackling my heart, and that makes me glad because what touched my heart back then still does right now; after all of this time I am still the 9 year old eager for freedom, eager for life!

The God Of Small Things

If you have read the book, yes this blog is inspired by the book and is named after it.

The God Of Small Things is a great book for Arundhati Roy, taking place in India featuring Estha and Rahel a non identical twin. The book grasps their journey through life in a very exquisite manner That inspired me to look closely at the very small things in my life that actually form me as a human.

While reading the book I realized that each one of us has a god of small things lying deep down inside, and if we embrace that god we will be pure again, happy about the smallest things in life, things that we fail to notice or at times we simply overlook because they are not surrounded by a thousand volts banner flashing "I am important"!

so this blog goes for cherishing life, the greatness of it, and the small things that make it wonderful and worthwhile.

Through out my travels, My love of photography, books and quotes of the great and the world I will start my journey towards ease, towards appreciation and most of all towards serenity.

Enjoy The ride, I will try that as well ;)

From the city of the seven hills, to the world!