Musings on Nature

So Musaddik, 4 days away from home and in that time what have you learnt?

As you feel the turbulence of the plane, and remember the rocking of the waves, you wonder what is there to life other than this? Is it not the maintenance of such adventure? To seek this sense of awe more and more? But what is it that you seek? It’s the serenity not of enjoyment but of purpose. Discovering what it is that you were meant to do, what was designed for you, finding what was destined for you. And destiny, Musaddik, is such a fiddly thing – but at the end of the day remember that you create your destiny. Because when you look back you can point wherever you want and find your destiny in those things. For ultimately, it is just a choice. A simple decision you are given the ability to make – you decide whether you’re pursuing your destiny simply based on the perception you apply to your experiences. So look back Musaddik, look back on your life and apply an eternal positive spin. Take everything bad that happens as an opportunity for you to practise patience and to test your ability to withstand difficulty. For inevitably, Musaddik, the difficulty will come. But recall how the waves sway and how the mountains loom and the wind blows for nature will take its course and so long as you are aligned with the truth nothing can hurt you and that is present even in your name. Oh Musaddik, you search for your destiny but how far do you even have to look?! Because it is contained within your name. You are a person that uncovers truth and aligns with it and is there anything more of an embodiment of other than the magnificence of nature itself? And are you, oh Musaddik, not a product and a part of the magnificence of nature too? Just as the water in the ocean sloshes and sways so too does the water within you flow – you are water already my friend so learn to relax and go with the flow. But at the same time Rise Above because just as the wind blows, so too does your voice bellow, but a bellow is nothing without the substance to support it. So let your speech be fortified by the seeds you sow.

Be as carefree as the water, be as courageous as the wind and be as composed as an oak tree. For the tree has amassed decades of growth, the oak tree started as an acorn and through attentiveness and effort it developed into a structure that can withstand both wind & water. And Musaddik, the same is within your reach if only you relax and absorb the nutrients that the sweet water of relaxation will surely bring. And what are the nutrients you need? It is effort Musaddik. Let your hours of focus be the sun that photosynthesises into your growth and let your service to other people be the water you soak up into your roots to make your tree trunks strong. And as the leaves of your efforts bloom, let the winds that come carry you, for the winds are an enforcement of your will, you must recognise the way the wind blows and follow it, for water lets the wind dictate its course. But, perhaps Musaddik we must be like the tree and stand firm? But does not wind fell the oak? Perhaps Musaddik, perhaps the lesson you need to learn is that being less loud is only of benefit. Because the oak tree grows to great lengths in silence as does every other tree in the forest – and what grows with sound? Only the construction of mankind. The high rise buildings that ruin the serenity of nature. And is that the growth which you seek? Perhaps. But even before the properties were developed were there not ideas hatched in the silence of the mind? And from there, whispers cautiously and the synergy of the study of a million men that contributed to the architectural plans that allowed the buildings to finally rise? From Pythogoras to Michelangelo – the struggle of all of their silent labour had to combine before any bricks fell with noise and just as the sea hides the mass of the iceberg and only lets us see the peak, it is so with all great growth that the majority is always unseen. The lesson of nature is that true effort occurs in silence, thus grow in silence, for silence and diligence is the only way to grow for real and it is not your voice that must extend for such words are always fickle, no you must extend the roots Musaddik you must grow from the foundation. And just as the foundation of the buildings were the thoughts of great thinkers, your own foundations are found only in the strength of your mind.

And how is your mind to be strengthened? Through deep work and through an affirmation of your values and your values are simply what you repeatedly do. So return to that which you already do, and cut out the weeds that threaten to kill you – everything that is right is as clear as the water that a plant absorbs and everything that is wrong hurts on the surface just as a violent wind scatters a trees branches. So keep to the habits that make you a man and cut the weeds that detract from your growth. Align with nature Musaddik, because the truth is, you are nature already.

Go with the flow, rise above and stick to your roots. Land air and sea.