Skip to main content

Two distinct natures

Human beings have 2 distinct natures that are often confused and seen as one. The first nature is what we call 'tabi'ah'. To survive a physical experience on this planet, we have a physical body that is driven by an animal-like instinct and this nature that we call 'tabi'ah'. Its purpose is to drive the human body to keep him in survival mode in existence. Tabi'ah seeks pleasure, flees pain and fights for survival. This is driven by selfishness. Tabi'ah does not last.

We are also wired with a more innate nature, divinely ingrained nature called fitrah that is unique in human beings. Fitrah is that which drives your soul. Fitrah is selfless. Fitrah is lasting. Fitrah is the compass within you. You can change it, you can deny it but it's still there.

Tabi'ah cannot comprehend things like justice, fairness, equity, this is for fitrah to understand. But tabi'ah cannot be taken out from us. It demands from us to be fulfilled. Tabi'ah and fitrah are two sides from the same coin. And thus we need to properly identify them.

Half the challenge is to disidentify from the  physical body. That we are not our body. Our body are carriers for our souls. 


- Brother Khalil Jaffer in "Freeing the Butterfly Within"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reclaiming my voice

It has been more than 2 years since I published anything on this blog. I have written a few reflections quite abit during this time, but they are mostly in draft versions, probably reflective of the scatteredness of my thought processes, or the ongoing engagement with the topic which has yet found a proper resolve (or is there ever a resolve really?), or just me finding mere words to articulate my thoughts that are waiting to be entertained and possibly verbalised or written. I'm driven to write this post precisely because I can't entirely ignore the nagging voice inside my head, telling me to use writing as a tool to not only express myself, but to reclaim my voice. It is such an insanely noisy world. The constant stream of information from different online platforms not only pull me from various directions, but it spreads my attention too thin that it is impossible to follow one stream of thought, sit on it for awhile, slowly reflect and if possible, articulate it. It is not ...

Information vs. Knowledge

“To know how to put what knowledge in which place is wisdom. Otherwise, knowledge without order and seeking it without discipline does lead to confusion and hence to injustice to one's self.” - Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas This week's key takeaway for me is that; knowledge requires knowing its proper order and place.  Everything else is just information.

Infinity

unbounded to any definitions or limits, existing but not adequately known. this entity, being constantly talked about, pulls like an unbeatable gravitational force. we are always approaching, almost touching, existing in tandem, still, not yet meeting Infinity the eventual meeting where there are no bounds