The fourteenth day of Ramadan and the cat woke me up with her loud meowing and mattress scratching to get my attention and it did like always. This morning as I struggled to the kitchen I found that her food was not the problem there was plenty left in her bowl and so the second problem was to be let out of the house and I did. Pigeons waiting of the roof for their breakfast and so I took care of that and there was enough for a load of laundry to be be run and so I took care of that. Then there were dishes that were sitting in the sink and the counters with left over food in them, so I took care of that too. While doing all these my head was like it was in a vise being squeezed from all sides but I continued to perform my tasks as a way of healing my body and mind and it worked; this was meditation in action. Headache gone, nasty thoughts gone and I got things done while listening to my cat howling for a mate as she was in her mating mood. It is a sad thing to hear and I blame God and Mother Nature for such cruelty towards animals. I should blame myself really for not getting her a male companion, but it is one of those mornings when things don't swing like you want them to.
Hunger pains brings out your sense of awareness more vividly as you go through the day not being able to eat or drink. No Panadol, no smokes, it makes you feel like you just want to hit the pillows again and not wake up till it is the end of the day when the azan for the maghrib prayer is heard from the State Mosque is heard to tell you that you can break your fast. However one can only sleep so much without creating a new ailment for the body and mind caused by too much laying on the bed. Perhaps it is symptoms of getting up there in age, these aches and pains, moans and groans with ever move one makes, like getting up or sitting down, perhaps it is the foretell of coming states of decadence and breakdown, perhaps it is just being in the seventies club...and your warranty is running out. Yes the fasting month brings out the best and the worse in you and all you have to do is to stay open and receptive to what is being revealed of who you are truly, your strength and weaknesses.
On the othr hand the fasting month also evokes the consciousness of being compassionate owards others especially those who are in need, the poor and poverty striken. Compassion towards the victims of wars and destruction natural or otherwise and faces starvation due to these factors. Those who are conscientious and caring are more charitable towards their neighbors in need or the beggars they encounter on the street. Loving kindness becomes more readily revealed towards each other more so then it normally would be when one is fasting. When one is able to see the many positive virtues that fasting brings out in us collectively, it indeed makes a whole lot of sense that the fasting month of Ramadan is prescribe as one of the five pillars of Islam.
No comments:
Post a Comment