۱۳۹۰ مرداد ۲۳, یکشنبه

International Youths Day in Kabul

International youth day was celebrated in peace embassy on 12th of August 2011. This year youth’s day had coincided with 12th of Ramadan. The original celebration day to mark the day by mobilizing a cleaning campaign in down town Kabul was not implemented.  Peace voice members were to coordinate with certain civil society organizations and do a campaign of several hundred people to leave an impact in easing the tension surrounding the usual days of Kabul. But due to some shortcomings in coordination and lack of willingness in the part of possible partners, the campaign did not take place. Anyway, the youths in peace voice sufficed in marking the day by coming together and inviting youths to ponder on the importance of youths in the society, their roles, means to enhance their roles and so on.  They spoke each for a short moment and expressed their aspirations as youths and the priorities of the youths of Afghanistan. Noor Navayee talked about this year’s motto, voluntarism and importance of that. Ahmad shah Stanekzay explained peace voice plans in coming weeks and months.
The event took place in the evening, so all the participants were served a simple meal for eftari (meal to break their fast). Another part of the event was round singing. The theme of the songs was asked to be related to youths. They all sang, and Mr. Hashemeyan played the traditional damborah and sang afghan songs. All felt happy and energetic as youths and vowed to better celebrate the day in coming years by doing some concrete work in the community.

۱۳۹۰ مرداد ۲۲, شنبه

Spirit Cultivation

Friday Meeting
August 12, 2011
Seven people participated in this Friday’s meeting and discussed on the topic, spirit cultivation.  The topic was chosen based on the understanding that our spirits resembles a field. So, it is up to us what to cultivate in this field.
Noor Navayee introduced the topic, saying that our deeds are the seeds which we cultivate in our spirits. When we go certain course of actions repetitively, its form our habit patterns and by passage of time and walking on the same courses our deeds changes into our character. It simply follows that our good or bad character or our goodness and badness is a function of our habits and actions that we habitually practice. Linking this to Ramadan, Navayee noted that the main philosophy of fasting in Ramadan is to have the opportunity to cultivate our spirits, in addition to annually checking and rechecking ourselves and our values and evaluate the quality of our harvest, our character, so far. He read some versus of holy Koran, chapter ASH-SHAMS (THE SUN) in this respect; translation:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, by the sun and its midmorning, (1) by the moon, which follows it, (2) by the day, when it displays it, (3) by the night, when it envelops it! (4) by the heaven and who built it, (5) by the earth and who spread it, (6) by the soul and who shaped it (7) and inspired it with its sin and its piety, (8) prosperous is he who purified it, (9) and failed is he who buried it!...”
In the above versus, God swears in most remarkable phenomena of the nature then emphatically reveal the truth about human sprit (soul), that is to say, human salvation and eternal prosperity or failure is dependent on his purification of his soul.
Ahamadshah Stanekzai addressed the situation in Afghanistan. He said that good deeds and piety has become just a matter of slogans in Afghanistan. Everybody speaks and boasts about being honest and faithful, but the reality is another way. The second problem he held that was greediness. He said that they have become very voracious; though the situation is much better than the past, people care of nothing but to collect as much of everything as possible.  In his opinion it is very important to do and repeat good works in Ramadan. He noted that originally it has been declared a period in which every Muslim has to take care of the poor people, of his community and neighbors, but now they only suffice in performing some formalities and rituals. He held that these days that we are desperately in need of reform and change in all aspects of our life, religion has to play an important role and its value and practice has to be closely connected to the realties of people’s life.  It should change people’s life and affect them positively and their relations in daily life.
Fayez cautioned of the bad effect of habits. He said that in habits people were repeating things mindlessly and such a repetition detrimentally affect human ability in long term. He mentioned the importance of observation and attentiveness in each moment of life. It gives us the capability to live in present free from past and future. It enables us to be exposed to life, live every second intentionally and enjoy the sensational fulfillment and flow of existence. He linked this to Ramadan, and mentioned that in Ramadan we have to be very attentive, leave what we were doing habitually, mind our steps, our actions our words and even our sleeps. This is called in his view observation which lead us to further happiness and freedom, each moment abandoning the anxieties of what we do not have and headaches  of the past and future and enjoying the beauty of a new world each minute.
Kaka jan expressed himself by saying that the youths did not have to be complacent to the elderly and their world and religious knowledge. In many ways, he said, elderly people who are increasingly regarded ignorant by their educated sons can have better experiences which help young people. In his view good and bad though has to be assessed according to necessities of time.  
Arif Sheva uttered that he was bored of doing things habitually. He said that life there was just doing the same things over and over. He said that doing things intentionally and mindfully is like being on the fore front, where we always think and are careful; in contrast, doing things as a result of habits mindlessly is being like stamping your feet of the surface with out thinking, just to pass the time.
Azim Hazhir divided the habits into two kinds: good and bad. He said that good habits like waking up early in the morning were good even if done just as a habit, and bad habits like smoking were bad. He said that most of the time we can’t be fully present at each moment and mindful of our deeds, so walk the known path and do things as habits.
Iqbal Shahrvand emphasized the importance of freedom in human growth and actualization of his potentials. He said that one condition was to be honest with what we are, and have the freedom to live what we are internally. He counted it as a challenge of current situations in Afghanistan, where one can not honestly be what he/she is. There have been undue pressures from different sides imposing certain values and habits especially on youngsters and this way damaging their growth.   

۱۳۹۰ مرداد ۱۶, یکشنبه

Spiritual Growth

Friday Meeting
Friday 5th of August coincided with the first Friday of Ramadan. Due to this, five people who had gathered for Friday meeting discussed the topic ‘Spiritual Growth’ and the importance of fasting and praying in Ramadan for getting to such an end.
Noor Navayee pointed to the fact emphasized in all religions, that is the growth of human being spiritually and the meaning and goal of life. According to his saying we generally live to get perfection and grow in our eternal self. All of our life is instrumental for this, but some particular actions have been instructed by religions whose significance is more to help us specially bolster this growth. As we normally live, relate to people and perform our daily life, we grow, besides doing what we have to do for the continuation of our earthly life. In worships, ordered by religions, despite considering the earthly importance of the worship the main purpose is our spiritual growth.  This is the case with fasting of Muslims in Ramadan. In this month, they do not eat, drink and do certain other activities. If we look closer, they have to deny the fulfillment of their material needs during the day. Besides, they have been directed to help others, serve others, and do other prayers during the day and night hours. They have been asked to deny their earthly needs so to highlight their spiritual needs. We are generally immersed in our daily life, in routines, in business, in study, etc. and forget what we need spiritually. We need to remind ourselves of this need, that we have to grow in our character in our permanent being, and our life on earth is just an opportunity for this growth. Ramadan is such a time.  Many people count other benefits as a result of fasting; however, all those benefits are secondary. For instance fasting may be useful for our health, but it is a secondary advantage of fasting. Ramadan is a time when we have to refresh and remember the way ahead and clear our conscience for the whole year so not lose sight in our journey of life.  
Mr. Stanekzay also emphasized on the needs of our spirit and religious teachings in this regard. He said that every thing taught by religion is aiming at this. We have to do good deeds so to build our permanent home; the home where we go when we die.
Arif Sheva expressed himself by saying that fasting is really a challenge in these long days of hot summer. On the other hand it is really rewarding:
“To tell my story, yesterday I had a long walk in down town. It took me almost all day to shop and walk in dusty streets. When I returned I almost fainted. I was numb, could not sleep and could not move. In the evening I had to move, we had guests. My father came and asked to prepare for the guest. We had khatm (collective reading in holy Koran). So I prepared things, our guests came and we all started reading Koran before the time of breaking our fast. As I was reading, I felt the blood circulating in my veins and energy generated in my body. After I read some pages, I was full of energy that did not feel hungry or thirsty until all of the guests were served. I realized one thing. There are needs on the surface; we always work hard to saturate these needs. If we deny these needs, they pressure us and drive everywhere for fulfillment. But after they face some resistance, they go away and another layer of our self becomes active. You discover another part of yourself, another kind of energy and type of consciousness. You feel happy and rewarded. You feel deep, patient and strong.”
Fayez conceded that he has heard a lot of philosophies and reasons for fasting. Fasting is said to be useful for our health. Our internal organs get rest. Those who are overweight and suffer from diabetes and other disease, Ramadan is a chance for them to change their habits. To be honest, Fayez said that he himself has not experienced the spiritual impact of fasting though he has fasted a lot. It is may be because fasting in Ramadan has become a traditional habit for us. We fast because we are socially and culturally punished if we don’t.  
Ebrahimi said that this age is the age of exaggeration in everything, in eating, in drinking and everything else. I think fasting is a good chance for those of us, who are indulged in extravagance, fasting is a chance to rethink our life style. Meanwhile, fasting is a good worship. I believe it is a way to perfection.  We intentionally deprive ourselves from things that we normally do for a higher purpose. We go beyond daily needs and daily life. I myself try to be for God all day and try to observe my life carefully. As a result I feel more pure, more responsible and more patient.
Conclusion: Fasting during Ramadan vacates a space in our life where God’s presence should be felt, where He can reside and rest. Ramadan changes the usual chorus of life and gives a chance for change and looking beyond the material boundaries. Ramadan is a chance to accelerate our spiritual growth.