As generous as the wind

What i loved during this week end
it is the manners

not mannerism
but manners

manners were not for the sake of keeping up appearances
BUT on the contrary
they were meant to SHARE CONCRETELY the resources at stake

be it your time, your place in the queue to get a plate to get your meal,
everything was being shared
it was a collective work
like for playing volleyball

they served others before self service
they gave plates and filled it with meal
while the other was doing same for them
everyone was taking care of the other
while this very other was taking care of them

this is the beauty to get the surprise of being served by
new eyes and hands
different than yours
while you are serving the other
as if you are serving yourself
by giving the choicest dishes to the other
love the other as you love yourself
do good to the other as you do good to yourself
so that the other becomes yourself
for if you are used to take the best piece of meat
you will exactly pick up the same but this time to feed someone else!
and this creates BEAUTIFUL patterns to be experienced by others
otherwise the others would have remained STUCK with the same old patterns of theirs
and would not have experienced another way of tasting a dish (different in quantities and association)
hence the "utility" of serving
for you could say "hey why serving someone, when they ALSO have hands to serve themselves!"

and the other becomes treated like you treat yourself usually
and so in a way you extend your feeling of self and make it wide and spread it as far as you can
by reaching as many as you can

besides, it is also for the other the occasion to witness your inner beauty...
and the other needs not to get envious or jealous of it,
for he/she is GETTING it,
by being the OBJECT of attention and all manners...

yes in Asia, usually, people DO serve others
but either it is mannerism like anywhere else
once you enter into routine
you take it for granted and then no more feeling, nor heart accompagning the service
and thus it becomes a custom/tradition, a RULE
while it was initially meant as a service...

this is how heavy customs and traditions were born
esp. still are in use in Asia, for instance.

origin is ALWAYS service
for the AIM of sharing
and THIS is being done because of the SENSE OF COLLECTIVITY
which itself comes from the TRUE KNOWLEDGE of ONENESS
we are ONE in spirit
you are me and i am you
we are just "separated" as individual to witness differences in the process of experimentation
but it makes not one more superior to another
except through the development of the refined state of Oneness

this is what "piety" is about
lol
i feel odd using "religious" terms now
for it is like i have to wash them from religious imitation of models
while they were meant to be used to just give an idea(l)
but ended up being a RULE and a constraint, a jail and eventually a judgement
leading from self punishment to world wars
so cruel one can be to oneself
when acting in plain ignorance of (we are all One)

so seeing westerners adopting Asian manners in terms of service
is really beautiful
for they are doing it CONSCIOUSLY
and therein lies the devotion
when you give of yourself (under the use/form of your OWN consciousness) to do this
and hence the meaning of this ayah from quran "and we have created you in tribes, so that you know one another"

where it has become a custom/tradition and burden (ex : women all day in kitchen and at men's service)
somewhere else, like in France, it has becomein the hands of such people embodying it, a SERVICE
a SHARING and an enjoyable experience

and finally,
when someone buys you some fruits
and tell you, hey look at those beautiful fruits

it is AN OPEN invitation to you
to catch the BALL
catch it and make it flow

if you just eat the fruit
hmm, it is ok
but if you partake in their cost
it is fabulous
for you are reaching out for someone
lessening his financial burden
for things done in collectivity are always more with added values
than when done separately
for it gives joy to the other to have been magically  "rescued" and paid back a part of his cost
while he ASKED NOT
and put him into action to GO ON doing such small favors and surprises
he feels free and happy to do it
you have thus REMOVED burden from his path (ihsan = doing good)
to thrive into making small healthy purchases for others.

and you what have you gained?
one could say,
yeah but on the spot it hurts to take money out
while you had not budgeted it
this is true as far as logic is concerned
but you aim IS to empty yourself for your cup to be filled anew, remember?
in that case, the other is doing you a favor by accepting your money too...seen like this
it makes sense

zakah
is when you give a part of your wealth to "poors"
and PLEASE poors means not the one in street
it is the one BELOW you ON THE SPOT when your heart tells you to share your own resources
i know people caricature SO MUCH that they see it not, for they live in the improbable future of meeting some beggar, while it is about the PRESENT

yet, the word itself means "purification"
yes... purification
it is when you do not let things accumulate till they create a blocage in you
so you have to let them go
till they flow


similar is the example of a river which flows vs stagnant waters which become muddy
due to lack of movements.

seen like this still acceptable
but ALL is in the MOMENT

are we able to DO it and with HAPPY excitation expecting GOOD on the moment?

this can only be done so, when one truly starts experiencing the joy of it
of all of this
then, can one be even more eager to repeat such behavior of "as generous as the winds".

:)

Collectivity : meditation and sports

Have started the morning meditation at 4am;
great when we get up in group
but doing it alone,
hm, issue,
for none of my alarm clock is obedient enough to get me up.

it just hit me
actually we ARE CREATED to live as a COLLECTIVE
on our own, we are not functioning so smoothly
for the inner Being is telling us through this pain
that we are MEANT to live otherwise
and the flow i felt today
was only when i was in group.

indeed,
will refer to it later,
first, let's close the initial 4am meditation topic
I noticed, each time i meditated at this time
the times flow so quick,
it is so light
one cannot even feel one hour is gone

second, when we ALL go to sleep
we ALL do sweet dreams
mine was
first i saw the graveyard of the prophet muhammad (saw)
it was covered with a green carpet with broidery
and right after i saw
a sun, should i say a shining sun lol
of course a sun shines! : ))
and it was resting on a Throne

so lovely,
but it was a vision
not a dream
right before i got asleep.

yeah, the collective
that is the way.

today we played volleyball
yes, and the sensations when i was sitting in the train back home
was : blankness
i realised i had "forgotten" the feeling of "i-ness"
it is like when one is merging as a drop in an ocean
then, one does not realise that one is a drop
it is just appreciating the flowing of "itself" or just the sensation of surfing
in the activity

yes and when i opened after a whole day my mobile
and saw some messages
i could see the person's fears! into the written messages
or even the person's manipulation!
while the person itself is not very much conscious of it
(and thanks to this experience, i tell you i know NOW how i could look like silly with my fears : ))
for it is like seeing oneself being stuck into a drama, and the silliness comes from the fact
we have FORGOTTEN it is NOT real, it is a drama, that WE HAVE CHOSEN to be in, in the first place! this is WHY it is so silly...! it is because we have FORGOTTEN that we can go OUT of it, while we take it for real, true and thus being us!)

and i felt like tenderness for the person,
for it was like witnessing someone turning in circle
because this person is on his/her own
and this is when i felt the wideness of not being an individual but a part of a whole/or a whole
and i felt smiling all the way
for i saw how one can get narrow-minded by remaining on our own
one cannot polish this
it is not feasible
the only way is to jump into the ocean
not put a mask to make-believe that we are perfect
we are only perfect when we are being constantly shaped by Hand of Divine
which is flowing through all of us and is IN us

after having played volleyball
a wise girl concluded :
we learn in collective game
TO RECEIVE and GIVE...

and it HIT me
so true
in life we do not even know how to receive
when you learn to receive the ball
those who improve into the reception
is when they learn about their own body
and THEN go with the flow
movements of hands in receptions are from down to up, and knees have to accompany hands movements
you cannot just come and throw balls on the other side/ give it to someone else
you have first to learn to RECEIVE it
as BEST as you can
then, only then, you learn to direct it

someone told me
when you direct it
put your attention on the person or place you want it to go
lol , said like this so simple and common sense
but on the spot
i was just in stress while receiving the ball
and wondering : am i going to receive it well

receive it or not , is not my issue
for, of course i will go towards it and receive it
but then next is to put attention on where you want it to go
and one HERE realises how one is not flowing
for one is stuck into just some single thought/or fear

this is SAME with Life
learn to receive, and then learn to give
let life be a constant give and take
so that if you let it flow,
then you have nothing to feel hurt about
as you are nothing (fix)
but constantly changing

and the more you can let go
the more you can receive to experience again something new
if a cup remains full, you cannot fill it
the longer you take to let it go, the longer it takes to be filled anew

and finally,
at the beginning, i just noticed i was just standing fix on my spot (just loving a bit but nothing much)
then, little by little, sense of stretching myself came,
ok i can run here and there
one has to learn not to take your team mates' place of "responsibility" in the game
and at the same time be receptive enough to be ready to help/move if need be
for aim is to get the joy of beating the other party up too! lol
as if one wishes to lose, no way! :))

yet, i am FOR individual sports TOO
for one learns auto-discipline in them
and this i am the first to say it,
for i LOVE fencing.

ok, waiting soon for Archery next time,
i think right time is coming soon for it.

Song : Feels like heaven by Dave James, Keith Beauvais, Sulene Fleming

Lyrics
Never could imagine, I'd feel this way
Always something better, to leave me a strength
But times they are changing
When I hear you callin' my name

And it feels like heaven to me
When you smile my heart gets to be then
I always wanna be there for you
You're my words on my dream
Feels like heaven to me

Likely beside you, you're my ankle, my place
And every time I hold you, no one touches the same
We no share this feeling No one could take your place

And it feels like heaven to me
When you smile my heart gets to be then
Then I always wanna Be there for you
You're my words on my dream
Feels like heaven

You're the air that I breath in
You're my angel when I sleep
You're the sun on my crises
And I'm so proud that I can be free
OOOOOh

ps : about the collectivity vs the individual life and messages on phone,
it occured to me
in my daily routine, i would have never taken distance from the "negative" message, on the spot
i would have innerly, FOR SURE, reacted,
as an automatism,
the meaning of this word is that i would have ONLY known ONE way to RECEIVE
the message
and would have NOT known HOW to experience it otherwise
for one can do only what one knows

but being in a collective and giving and taking continuously
makes you SET into a FLOW
EVEN if it BE in a GAME , a sport!
it carves your inside and LEADS you to KEEP acting EVEN AFTER
in a GIVE and TAKE-way

therefore, this is HOW
i feel i could read the message and still laugh about it
not laughing at it, in a mean way,
but laughing at it as in a volley ball game :
i caught the ball, so much the better! (all fun)
i did not, it is ok, next ball is coming, get ready.
so one has NO TIME to get stuck on a self drama
lol imagine you keep beating yourself up for a ball you missed
i bet your team mates will say "hey, you ! go back to your sanity, IT IS OK,
get rather ready for the NEXT one, which is coming .... on your face!"