Compelling people to believe in anything really is pointless. You can’t compel people to believe. At best, you can compel them to obey or toe the line. But belief: that’s all about sincerity, and if you have been compelled it can’t be sincere. We have that too, though you wouldn’t know it from how we …
It’s five years since I wrote this down, but it remains true to this day: Be patient. Truth is not like the petals of a rose, which we pluck with ease. Muslims are just like other people, of whom some are good, some are wicked and some everything in between, and it has always been …
It’s one of those days when I’m just not going to be able to be myself. Myself meaning shunning crowds, keeping myself to myself. Monday morning, 8.00am: “Really sorry, but can you deliver a presentation to the organisation this morning?” Naturally, my first reaction is to run a mile. But my second reaction is to …
“Now that you’ve done the decorating… are you going to put coving up? It’ll look nice.” “Not unless you want to hear a lot of shouting and swearing! Better leave that one to the professionals.” “Why do you say that? I’m happy with the jobs you’ve done so far.” This is where I glance around …
My love is speaking to her niece in Turkey. She knows I can hear and understand. “Your uncle’s painting the house,” she tells her. “He’s doing a great job. The only thing he needs to work on is his patience.” The last part is true. I shout a lot during DIY.. Family had to go …
Life’s like that.
When we built our extension and rejigged the layout of our house a decade ago, we didn’t pay enough attention to the natural light coming in. We had young children both under five then and just wanted to get the job done with minimal expense and fuss.
Everyone’s looking for perfection in people. It doesn’t exist. Only the One is perfect. The rest of us have to play live and let-live, overlooking one another’s faults and shortcomings.
Who is responsible for the false narratives promulgated in the public domain? The authors themselves, who make up such tales, or the journalists who cover them, who go to print without checking the facts?
In earlier times, I would crave attention, but would find it withheld. Nowadays, it alarms me. Perhaps that’s because it’s the wrong kind of attention. Because I don’t know who they are, or what their intentions are. Of course, that’s the nature of the open web. Unless they choose to engage with you, your readers …
Are people getting more and more lazy, or am I just becoming less and less helpful? Admittedly, I’ve built my career being excessively helpful to others, always offering support and advice when they need it. But these days I can’t help feeling that people are taking advantage of the kindness of their colleagues. That’s why …
I encounter spiritual folk, seeking. You can see their passion and sincerity in their search for truth and light. But they would overlook our path, because all that they have seen of it repulses them. I don’t blame them. Much that is perpetrated by those professing our faith repulses me too. In our practice of …
There is so much that the scientific endeavour is yet to understand. Our collective knowledge is still very much like a literal drop in the ocean, or a grain of sand in a mighty dune. Some would say that the field of genetics can be traced all the way back to the classical period, but …
