Dear Friends
Several days ago I called a very close friend in the USA as I was waiting for my late evening train. He sounded rather bemused and enquired why I had called. I was a little taken aback.
Then he proceeded to inform me that his father had passed away in the early hours. I was shocked and became silent.
After what seemed a very long time I asked how he was doing and offered the traditional Universalist Muslim prayer:
Inna Lillaahi Wa Inna Ilayhi Raaji'oon
'To God we belong and to Him is our return'.
We spoke briefly and I counselled as best as I could.
Its moments like these when one is forced to see the bigger picture. I try to remind myself (and my students) that they should never confuse the trees for the forest…
"The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates
Rishi Faisal
Leo Tolstoy wrote, "Nothing is more certain than death, than that it will come to each of us. Death is more certain than tomorrow, then night following the day, than winter after summer. Why do we prepare for tomorrow, night, and winter, but don't prepare for death? One must prepare for it. And the preparation for death is simply a good life. The better one's life, the less one fears death. For a saint death doesn't exist."
ReplyDeleteMy condolences on friend's father's passing.
Heart felt thanks Walt. I have long felt that this life is a preparation for death...Faisal
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