Where is HOME?
Have you ever asked yourself what defines a home, or how home feels like, especially if you are an immigrant like me. As an African immigrant to America, I know how it feels to be an outsider, a lone traveler, there are times that I ponder on where to call home.How can you grade the ease you feel wherever you are, and call it home? HOME!! It is that profound that the dictionary confuses the definition of home.
Again, I ask you my friend, where is home on this journey of ours?
How do you feel at HOME?
What defines home from your own perspective: is it your feeling, experience or the CORE?
"EVEN people whose lives have been made by LEARNING, sometimes find it hard to keep a fast hold on their habitual views of life, on their faith in the invisible -- nay, on the sense that their past joys and sorrows are a real experience, when they are suddenly transported to a new land, where the beings around them know nothing of their history, and share none of their ideas- where their mother EARTH shows another lap, and human life has other forms than those on which their SOULS have been nourished." ( Excerpt from Silas Marner by George Eliot).
Home, or how we define home is worth reflecting on, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak makes me ponder more as to where to really call home, or if we even have a 'home' in this transient journey of ours.
Of course, I see you agree with me that maybe we don't really have a home in this life. Well, it is right, or slightly right.
Let us assume that we do not have a home in here: what is the PURPOSE of this journey?
One thing that I will love that you understand is that;without death, life is worthless; death adds meaning to life, if you have lost loved ones, you will definitely agree with me that most of the times, we get to realize how much those loved ones worth after their death, SubhanaLlaah! So, what then defines our purpose of existence, our value , or do you deny that there is a purpose for your existence? Maybe I should construct the question as to how do you add value to your life, or the lives of others? It is certain that we all are going to die, YOU will leave, I will leave, what do you wan to leave behind? What do you want to be remembered for?
On this transient journey, we have basic needs which will help our purpose achievable- make life WHOLE and fulfilling. We ought to understand that we have numerous choices in life beyond survival, we need to discover that purpose, and create VALUES and standards to integrate transformation into our lives by reconnecting and taking advantage of our INNATE power - maybe we can know what HOME means to us as an individual.
As we embark on this journey, we should be ready to evolve and recover what home means, that innate part of ours- located in our hearts, and tap into its power, and this is our struggle, each one of us go through that struggle and it is real: how we fight it is what defines us.
Home is love - with love we will discover humility, we will view our reality relative to our level of awareness or consciousness, then we will realize how home has ever been with us WHEREVER we GO, then we can make choices to decide whether to let our EGO, greed, destructive desires or negativity rob us of HOMELY feelings, the SERENE feeling that we are SAFE, by being MINDFUL and conscious of how Supreme God is, and then maybe we can control our actions and thoughts; remember you cannot control death or how it will meet you, but you can control what you would be remembered for!
COVID -19 is never a coincident, it is a REMINDER, corvid, the black eyed birds;
[“Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?” – Friedrich Nietzsche]. I was talking to a learned friend of mine, who is presently a member of WHO fellowship, which makes her get direct update about the pandemic, as well as how hard the CDC are working or researching on COVID-19, and she said, "nothing about this VIRUS makes sense", at least for now it doesn't make sense, it is confusing, not only because it is new, but it keeps the WORLD in a panic state; how ironic. An evident of how Mighty Allah is. AlhamduliLLaah.
It is unfortunate that we neglect the essential human needs; unconditional LOVE, guidance, safety,listening,being real,participating,acceptance,opportunity to grieve,respect,validation,tolerance of feelings(we even deny negative emotions, instead of responding to heal), SUPPORT,loyalty,trust,accomplishments,creativity,sexuality(yes, for the married)freedom, and above all NURTURING of our SOUL. We now live in a world of DENIAL, hatred,CHAOS,denial of reality and feelings(instead of taking appropriate actions),mistreatment,low self esteem,guilt and STRESS.
Maybe when this social isolation is over, the wise will realize how CONNECTED we are and supposed to be, as well as how important KNOWLEDGE is and how we strive in seeking the right and responding ones for our own sake. COVID-19 is a process and it will past, but it is a reminder to reflect on.
A reminder that this journey called LIFE is a process, you as an individual need to connect with the PURPOSE of that process, before you make sense out of it. The question is, are you playing your part? Do you know the purpose, and are you practicing it? Then you are HOME.
The earlier we start to be aware and AWAKE that innate BEAUTY, the earlier we will understand the CORE; then TRANSFORMATION and hopefully we can return home as a serene BEING- maybe, just maybe we can feel SAFE even in the face of global CHAOS.
Be fulfilled and realize where home is.
I pray that you and I are blessed with clarity and CONTENTMENT; I pray against emptiness and FRUSTRATION.
Soon we shall get there; HOME, if we are willing to go BACK with the right baggage, so we will not be on exile , nor have our hope vanished.
BE HOPEFUL ......nourish your SOUL with the right FOOD.
HOME is where you are YOU without neglecting your CORE.
HOME is LOVE.
HOME is that innate POWER.
HOME is where you BELONG.
HOME is your RETURN.
HOME is ever with YOU.
------------------------
"Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of them are defiantly disobedient."
........Al-Hadid 57:16
