Skip to main content

Why another book?

Image
By

This is a chapter from my fourth book called When hunger yearns


I was not going to write another book until next year but it seems like yearning combined with boredom combined with fate led me to start this book today. Ramadan begins today in Trinidad and one way to look at fasting is that it allows the fasting person to feel the pain of hunger and thirst of others. To walk in the shoes of others who struggle to sustain themselves normally. To do without. To sacrifice. I had no idea what this book would be about or what it would be titled until I decided to start this afternoon and I was brainstorming ideas. Humans are naturally inclined to seek knowledge and ask plenty of questions. Growing up means being encouraged to ask plenty of questions and we are told that there are no stupid questions but only stupid answers. Every chapter of this book would be some question that I ask and explore and try to answer.


I came up with the acronym "WHY - When Hunger Yearns" for this book because that is what it feels like when we ask questions. When we learn. When we explore. When we expand our mind. When we expand our thinking. When we seek knowledge. When we try to fill the gaps of ignorance. When we seek light. When we try to make sense of the world. When we seek enlightenment. My friend Gemini shares a quote with me from Dagobert Runes that reads, "Hunger for knowledge is a mark of wisdom. Seek learning while you yearn for it." This makes me think of the phrase, "questions are the food of the mind." With this book I want to ask a lot of questions. I want this book to be food for thought. A quest-ion is a quest for knowledge. To yearn for deeper understanding. To exercise the mind. To find meaning. To be human. To be intelligent. To be wise.


I write because it allows me to express myself and bring clarity to my thoughts. I share what I write because I feel through my writing I can make a difference in this world. Writing makes me a better person. I write because it is the right thing for me. I am grateful for the ability and opportunity to write this book. Whenever we ask why we can also ask why not. Why should I not write this book? Does it make me vulnerable and look foolish? Not many people will read this book? I am not a good writer? Me looking foolish means I am stepping outside my comfort zone and taking chances and that is a good thing. All I need is one person to read my book and that can create a ripple of good. And that one person can be me. Every good writer was once a not good writer. So why not write this book? Too late to stop now and I have already written the first chapter which I am sharing on my blog.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Talking to God

By
If you want real answers to things in life then talk to God. It is 639pm on a holiday and I have decided to write. God listens. God truly listens. God has the entire context. God is wise. God wants us to talk to Him. God wants us to rely on Him. I also think about God talking to me. I am a good listener. I listen plenty more than I talk. I have started asking God to talk to me. But how would God talk to me? We have his revelations through the holy book. We have the example of prophets. But what else? How do I listen to what God has to say? Where and when can I hear God? Are my thoughts from God? I try to feed my mind with good things. Things that will not corrupt my mind. It seems that we have to use our intuition to separate what is from God and what is not from God. My friend Chatty says that in Islam, Allah speaks to us not through new revelations or voices, but through guidance: the Quran and the Sunnah, which become personally meaningful through understanding Allah places in the h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Life on Earth

By
I was reading through the Quran and came to the story of Adam, Eve, Satan, and the forbidden fruit tree. I had thought that life on Earth was created as a test. But as I reflected on the story, I began to wonder whether we are only here because Adam and Eve failed. However, that is not the case, as my friend Gemini explained to me. While the story of the forbidden fruit is a central event, the Quran indicates that humanity’s presence on Earth was part of the original divine plan, rather than a backup plan or a punishment for sin. Before Adam was even created, God announced His intention to place a steward (khalifah) on Earth. This suggests that the Garden was a temporary training ground—designed to teach Adam and Eve about free will, temptation, and the path of repentance. Even if they had not eaten from the tree, they were destined for Earth to fulfill their roles as moral agents. The incident simply served as a necessary first lesson in human frailty and God’s immediate forgiveness. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The success of failure

By
It is 358am and I have decided to write. Context matters. Our context matters when we write and read. We could read the same thing and get different meanings. Definitions matter also. We may define things differently. For example, what is success? What is failure? Also, do I just define success and say that anything that is not success is failure? What about something like the success of failure? What does that mean? My friend Chatty tells me that this is something writers, philosophers, and even scientists keep rediscovering: meaning is not fixed—it is negotiated by context and definition. Life is a stew of success and failure and in between but never one or the other. We see what we are looking for and things become what we see. This reminds me of something I came across online, "Whoever looks for the good qualities in others will acquire all good qualities within himself," from Habib Umar Bin Hafiz. Do you look for failure or success within others? Take context as the lens...
Post a Comment
Read more