Comfortably Numb — A Civilization in Denial

 

Author’s Note

This morning, as dawn unfolded over Penang, I sat with my coffee and cigarette watching the city awaken. The world beyond my balcony was alive with motion — the hum of traffic, the faint call of birds, the bridge glinting in the distance. Yet beneath it all, I felt an immense stillness — a whisper that all of it, even the noise, was part of the same sacred breath.

I wrote this piece as a quiet offering to that realization — that amidst humanity’s suffering and confusion, love remains our truest nature. It is neither escape nor indifference, but the courage to feel deeply without being consumed.

May these words reach whoever needs them, as a reminder that awareness itself is prayer, and compassion the highest form of faith.

— Shamsul Bahari (Cheeseburger Buddha)

                                    “Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God.”
                                              — Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:115

Comfortably Numb — A Civilization in Denial

Wars and confrontations seem destined to remain humanity’s eternal companion. From the first stone cast in anger to the missiles that now tear through the night skies, we have not changed much in essence. Only our tools of destruction have evolved — refined by intellect, stripped of heart.

We call ourselves civilized, yet our collective consciousness still resonates with the same primal fear and greed that have haunted our species since time immemorial. The faces of war have changed, but the suffering remains: women clutching their starving children, men burying their hopes beneath rubble, and the world watching — half-aware, half-indifferent — from the comfort of screens.

We have become, as Pink Floyd sang, comfortably numb. The pain of others is too distant to pierce our comfort zones. We scroll past images of despair as though they were scenes from a film, forgetting that they are real — that they are us.

Meanwhile, the titans of industry compete to reach Mars, as though salvation lies in escaping Earth rather than healing it. Billion-dollar rockets rise proudly toward the void while human beings perish from hunger on the soil below. What pride is there in reaching the stars when we have forsaken the sanctity of life on our own planet?

It is said that we are living in the most enlightened age — but what use is knowledge without wisdom, progress without compassion, freedom without responsibility? Until the heart evolves alongside the mind, civilization will remain an illusion — a mask hiding our refusal to face the suffering we have caused.

This morning, as I sat outside with my coffee and cigarette, I looked toward the horizon where the second Penang Bridge stretches across the channel. The traffic below hummed with the rhythm of life awakening, yet above it all, the sky was serene — vast, forgiving, eternal. In that moment, I declared before God within me: I love every man, woman, and child, no matter how they see me or treat me.

And in that stillness, I felt the truth beyond all conflicts and illusions — I AM.

Wallahu A‘lam — only God knows best.

In the silence between heartbeats, I hear His Name.
In the space between breaths, I find His mercy.
I am but a ripple returning to the Ocean of the One.

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