Does it amaze you what the human soul is capable of withstanding? Of overcoming? We are each of us built with a certain capacity to endure suffering, and I think it speaks well enough of mercy that most of us never come to experience half as much as that limit could bear. Somewhere I understand that things could usually be much worse than what we go through. Yes, I know: none of us leads an easy life, and we all feel pain. But I think very few of us (as we have heard in the news) will have to go as drastic as cutting off a limb by our own hand to survive the day. The human being: after creating the sun and moon, God said it was good, but after man and woman, He said it was very good. It is that perhaps He made us not only to survive, but to others who have ears to ear, inspire. It is in our blood to challenge challenge.

Now, I do not know what the grand plan is, why so many of us have to suffer as much as we do. But I believe in a God that will make good for all of it, and then some. Some might think me an idiot for thinking that an all-benevolent deity would allow for such pain, on such a worldwide scale, to happen, but occasionally I get glimpses of why. When I hear of such stories where ordinary people overcome extraordinary difficulties, it awakens something noble in me. That there is so much promise in humankind. It would be easy to lose heart, with all the woes of the world, to lose faith, but we are made better than that. We can believe when there is every reason to doubt. For my part, it is a hope within my heart of hearts that I never let it go, that I will hold the idea in the core of my being: God is love. Let me always confess such a One. This is the God in whose image we are made.

(I am the palad1n.)

Golden Rule:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.


Ten Commandments:

  1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
  2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
  3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
  4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
  5. Honour thy father and thy mother.
  6. Thou shalt not kill.
  7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
  8. Thou shalt not steal.
  9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
  10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, or house, or any thing that is thy neighbor's.


Four Noble Truths:

  1. Dukkha: All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, suffering.
  2. Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tanha).
  3. Nirodha: There is a way out of suffering, which is to eliminate attachment and desire.
  4. Marga: The path that leads out of suffering is called the Noble Eightfold Path.


Five Pillars:

  1. SHAHADAH. This Pillar is believing and saying the words. “There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”.
  2. SALAH. This Pillar is praying five times a day. There are set prayers which Muslims should say, and all Muslims should face Mecca in Arabia when praying, and should pray on a prayer mat. People should wash before they pray. There are fixed movements, which include kneeling with the forehead placed on the ground in front. This expresses the servant status of the human being in relation to Allah.
  3. ZAKAH. Each year, Muslims are supposed to give a fixed proportion of their savings for endeavours such as helping the poor. In this way, they believe that their wealth is “made pure”.
  4. SAWM. Refraining from food and drink during the month of Ramadan during daylight hours.
  5. HAJJ. This is making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your life, if it can be afforded.


Fourfold End of Life:

The three goals of the “pravritti,” those who are in the world:

  • dharma: righteousness in their religious life. This is the most important of the three.
  • artha: success in their economic life; material prosperity.
  • kama: gratification of the senses; pleasure; sensual, sexual, and mental enjoyment.

The main goal for the “nivritti,” those who renounce the world:

moksa: Liberation from “samsara,” the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. This is considered the supreme end of mankind.