Its not between you and them....

This morning while I was watching Seinfeld on StarWorld, Jazz called. It was a nice way to start the morning to hear his gentle voice on the other end of the phone.

We got to talking and at one point I was asking him if the Bros think I am smart. His response was "Of course they do, they know you are smart and they recognized that."

On my way to the office, I kept thinking about my question to Jazz, and asked myself, why do we need to validate ourselves in the eyes of others? How are we to lose this habit? What others think of us is not important, but what we think of ourselves that is most crucial. It may help to bear in mind that what is considered 'success' won't necessarily bring us true recognition - even in the eyes of the world. All too often the jealousy of others will get in the way. Only in the eyes of Allah can the truth prevail and our genuine worth be acknowledged.

'It was never between you and them anyway. It is between you and yourself, you and truth, you and justice.' I have been telling these to myself over and over again. It is what is to be done. And if I can lose that impatience and become comfortable with whatever is happening right now, I am starting to break free from the ego and get in touch with my true self, which can always be found in the peace and power of the present.

Much too often, we like to think of ourselves as being governed by logic, but the truth is that all too often we have insufficient evidence to come to a purely rational decision about things. Take the recent case of fugitive Mas Selamat for instance. How logic is it that the most dangerous person able walked out of prison in bright day light without being seen?

We rarely have all the relevant information and even what we think we know can often be based on 'he said, she said'. People who think of themselves as rational will grit their teeth and try to apply logic nonetheless, in spite of the lack of sufficient evidence.

I rest my case.