I choose Pakistan over Gaza

                                                       Message From Gaza To Pakistan 

  www.awaztoday.com/News-Talk-Shows/29720/Message-From-Gaza-For-Pakistani-government.aspx

Recently, I watched this video and made me ponder whether to worry about recent bombings and killings of Muslims in my country Pakistan or to concern about Gaza situation. In recent times I have observed a new kind of mindless debate and accusation growing in the social media where many have accused the media of not giving enough space or preferential treatment to Gaza or the atrocities that are being committed there by the Israeli forces. Since the day Israeli forces have started this operation in Gaza, this story has mostly been part of the headlines and the bulletins on many channels. I know that after reading this blog I will be accused by many of simply defending massacre of my fellow Muslim brothers.

Gaza being a city with a Muslim population has an automatic affiliation with the people of Pakistan but when so much is happening in my own country and when so many are suffering due to terrorism, poverty, corruption and illiteracy; I am sorry but I will first definitely feel the pain for my own people. It is a natural phenomenon that when a bomb blast takes place, a family member will always try to locate one of his own and then look at others who have suffered even though both are victims of the same incident. Gaza has seen bloodshed which is not just painful and depressing but it has also been an agonizing journey for many who live there who have to suffer this after every few months or years but is the case for Karachi, Peshawar or Quetta any different? People in Gaza at least even know who the aggressor is but my people don’t even have an idea who is killing them. For the last decade or so my country still suffers from this question if people who are killing us are Muslims or not? Terrorists who are killing me or you are foreign funded or locally funded? Do we need to talk to these terrorists or do we need to start an operation? Was Malala a pawn in the great game to start an operation against these terrorists or was she targeted just because she wanted to give the strongest reply to these terrorists through education? Where people of Gaza know who to retaliate against; my country fights for its survival with its body bleeding and the eyes still searching for the person asking who did this to me? For me my country and my people will always take preference because my fight continues with the mind and not a physically present entity.

I suggest you should keep an eye on Al-Jazeera and Arabic channels and newspapers also and see if bomb blasts and terrorists ‘activities that take place in my cities are preferred over the killings in Gaza? I am sure it won’t because people of that particular area/region are more affiliated with Gaza.

Ego: I Define As War Between Religion And Humanity

Did you ever wonder: what is wrong with us? I mean. . . as a species. As much as we love, and give, and aspire, we also lie, hate, and kill. These are pretty basic questions. What would it take to better ourselves morally, in ways  that  really  matter?

Spirituality is transformation. If we could understand and apply this principle, our lives would change dramatically. Transformation is how grapes become wine. Transformation is how wheat becomes bread. But what is the nature of this transformation for human beings? How does a schmuck become a saint, or at least a decent human being?

Most of us are stuck most of the time. Most of us fear real change because our egos are in control. The ego is a defence mechanism, but not necessarily a healthy or very effective one. The ego that is overbearing, self-centred, and manipulative, is actually full of self-doubt, insecurity, and fear.

Spirituality sees the ego as an instrument. It's not who we are but how we express what we are. The ego is like the saxophone of the soul. Play it well or not, it's out there on stage doing its thing.The wise harness their egos to their hearts. The lower self bows to the higher self. To use the language of religion, the ego can become "a servant of God."

But maybe we need a new language to express primordial truths. Many people seem not to find the old language of religion very convincing. It has bad associations. Religion, in many people's minds today, is associated with close-mindedness, intolerance, and even violence. But if you look at the record, religion is not primarily to blame. A closer look reveals that human egos are responsible for all this madness.

Take religion completely out of the picture and set about reforming the world, and, so far, what we have seen is Stalin or Mao. Modern secular ideological movements are actually responsible for much greater and more indiscriminate violence than any religion ever has been. Maybe that's because they mobilized greater powers than religion was able to do in the modern age. The case still stands.

This innate capacity is not so far-fetched and unverifiable as it at first sounds. The key to this spiritual sense, this perception of value, is described by the word "sacred." We don't need an explicit theology to let the sacred into our lives. Almost any human being can acknowledge that there is something sacred in the birth of a child, in nature, in an individual human life, in free will. This sense of the sacred, however, has become quite  scarce in contemporary life and that may be one of our biggest problems.

Most people have this capacity for empathy and relationship. Because this capacity is innate, believers have no monopoly on it and even atheists are not without it. It is in our nature as human beings. But are we too busy to allow this sense of the sacred into our consciousness? Is it that our consciousness is too filled with the  trivialities and banalities of modern life? Worse yet, are we filled with fear or hatred for "the other."

Spirituality, simply seen, is allowing ourselves to be transformed by all the challenges, sufferings, and joys of life. It is in the nature of our lives as human beings to emerge from states of limited consciousness into states of greater maturity and wisdom. We can change from being people obsessed with threats from a perceived "other," who need to parade with placards of hate, who even rationalize violence in a vain attempt to solve our problems and achieve our ends. What is needed today can better be achieved by cooperation, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, and love.

Beyond all the labels we apply to ourselves (Democrat, Republican, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, secular, atheist, or none of the above), we cannot afford to let the false self run our lives, or forget that all of humanity is one, and that some things are truly sacred.