Living in Fog

Imagine a twelve-year-old boy who has lost his parents. Imagine a twelve-year-old boy who has lost his parents and is supposed to take care of his three siblings who are all younger than him. Imagine this family in a remote village in Kurdistan where there is no clean water to drink and not much to eat.

Living in fog is a documentary about that boy. There are some things that will stay with you forever, and this was one of them for me. The hardship he had to endure to make money so his sister could study, the place they called their house, and the way they were living…it was somehow impossible to believe.

What I felt though, was not pity. It was admiration and respect, and I felt ashamed; ashamed because of who I am and how ignorantly I am living; ashamed because we have everything we need, and yet we do not feel responsible. Of course we are responsible! We are in charge to make world a better place, and look how busy we are making money and spending it on luxurious cars and expensive carpets!

What I saw in that young boy's eyes was freedom, and what is reflected in our eyes is confinement. We are imprisoned in our worldly needs, and we go on living, unaware and oblivious. We drown a little bit more everyday, and one day when we finally open our eyes, it will have been too late.

I pray to God to give me the power to close my eyes to the ornaments of the world and open them to the truth. I pray to God to help me be a better person, and I know that with your help my dreams will come true.

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Inspired by Ramin Nourbakhsh's article "A Bubbling Spring"

Existentialism

Origins

The term "Existentialism" has been used by many philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger and also some very famous writers such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Kafka. Although these people have helped a lot in the Existentialism movement, Kierkegaard has been named "the Father of Existentialism".

After the Second World War, Western societies were in dire need of new leaders and new ideas, and this school of thought gained respect and popularity thanks to the help of philosophers like Sartre and Camas.

Existence VS Essence

Existence comes from the Latin word "existere" which means "to stand out". Existentialism is based on the fact that everything has essence and existence. What is important to note is that in every creature essence precedes existence. To elaborate on this a little, imagine a painter with a white piece of paper. The piece of paper is blank, but the painter has the idea in his head. He has the picture in his mind and he knows exactly what he is going to draw. That "idea" is the essence.

Human beings are an entirely different matter. Humans first exist and then they "define" themselves. They are born and through time they learn to make their own essence. The positive side of this belief is that people can be anybody they choose to be. You can be a good person instead of a cruel one; your faith is in your own hands.


Reason

Existentialists are against definitions of human beings as "rational". Sartre believed that what you "feel" is right is the right thing to do. What has meaning to you is the rational thing to do. He recounts that:

Once one of my followers came to me and said that he wanted to go to London to help and promote Existentialism, but his mother was very sick, and if he left her, she would die. He wanted to know what the right thing was. I asked him what he wanted to do, and he replied that he wanted to stay with his mother. I told him it is the right thing to do. If he had chosen to go to London, I would have said the same thing.

Responsibility

Defining yourself is indeed a very big responsibility. That is why philosophers believe that Existentialism values man kind more than Marxism, Naturalism or even Liberalism. This issue though, brings up another matter which is known as "angst".


Angst

The fact that you have to make your own essence, and you are responsible not only for your own life, but sometime for others' too (Assuming that human beings define themselves, when one does something right, that will inevitably becomes a "Value" that others would want to follow), Puts people in an extreme state of anxiety. According to Sartre, this anxiety is different from the angst Nihilists feel. This kind of anxiety is constructive and important to make men grow.

Loneliness

People who follow certain religions believe that men have a part of God with them. Naturalists believe that men are a part of nature, but Existentialists believe that humans are something entirely different. This belief has made them lonely. There is nothing in this world they can relate to, and worse that that, there are no morals. There are no goods and evils. Radicals do not believe in God either, but they believe in something common in men that stops them from wrongdoing and that is called "conscience", but without God and conscience, what is there to stop them from Cruelty?


My Opinion

I believe that after the failure of communism, Radicalism and Naturalism, Existentialism can be considered a very strong school of thought based on logic and reason. Its weakest point though, is the lack of what we human beings need the most these days, and that is morality. Without Morality, living is almost impossible and for this very reason, Existentialism is weak.


Author's Note: this is a summery of what I have understood from Existentialism. I could be very wrong about the things I have written. If I have made any mistakes in concept or Grammar, feel free to correct me. I would appreciate it.

Knowledge for Knowledge

Have you ever noticed how the meaning of science has changed? The change has been so subtle and gradual that most truth seekers of our time might have overlooked it, but it has changed, and that is the sad truth. The knowledge that used to be for finding the truth has turned to the knowledge for seeking power.

Magnificently, science took religion’s place with the promise of a better world, and now it is making more money than any kind of business. Students gain the knowledge, and superior countries and famous companies buy them for their own profits. Irony is in the fact that these people do it with no shame and no hesitation. This is the science that exists today. Our modern science has lost the holiness it once proudly possessed, and truth that used to show us “the right path” has changed to the truth that is all about economy and entertainment, and this is how ideology changes to technology.

Science is betraying the mankind, and an ideologist who is not aware of this is a betrayer himself. Men and science left the sanctuaries to substitute technology for love and make heaven on earth. This heaven though, is made of only one substance: money; a kind of heaven in which love, honor, beauty and art do not exist.

Now science is in the hands of people whose worth is based on the money in their pockets; People who value the beauty of art by hanging master pieces on their living room walls, and make science the play toy of their children.

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Inspired by Dr. Shariaty’s article “Freedom”

Bread and Cheese

Sometimes you are waiting for happiness to come to you. What you do not know is that it is waiting for you right around the corner. You can find it when you are hungry and complaining to your friends of your tiring day. You sit with them on the floor with nothing to eat but bread and cheese, and then it suddenly happens; you feel lighter than before, and you find yourself laughing as they make you eat cheese with halva (I do not recommend it at all.). Time passes by quickly, and you stare at their eyes shining with hope and joy. You look at your reflection in those sparkling orbs and for a few minutes, just a few minutes, reasons, beginnings and endings do not matter anymore. You eat bread and cheese, laugh with friends, and you tell your self this is how simple life is, and this is how life is meant to be.

of Animals and Their Instincts

Of Animals and Their Instincts

I recall that when I was still a kid, there used to be a lot of cats in our alley. I remember they used to be quite scared of people. Their favorite places were under the cars and on top of the trees, so nobody could see them. I remember whenever my grandmother made a “phisht” sound, they would run away and never come back again. The same rule applied to birds. I rarely saw them on the ground.

Things are quite different these days. I do not know what has happened, but it seems like that their instincts have changed somehow. There is a cat living near my brother’s house. When he tried to kick it with his foot, the stubborn animal clung to it and didn’t let go! And Birds! It seems like they are living on the ground now, and they stare at you as you pass by! Is it possible that they have learned to adapt to our world? If it is so, is it a good thing or not? If it goes on like this, I am afraid they may actually attack us one day!

An Apology

Has it ever happened to you when you are not sure if you are awake or still dreaming? It is more like sleep walking. You walk, talk, and shake hands with people, but you are only vaguely aware of it. It is not a pleasant feeling, especially when your friend has to repeat the same question three times.

Unfortunately today (Yesterdays to be more accurate) was one of those days for me. I do not know how, when or why it happened; I just realized I could not concentrate on anything. I am telling you all this because I may have forgotten to say hello to a few of you or may have said so more than necessary to a few others. So if I have ignored, offended or bothered anyone today, please accept my sincere apology for I was not myself.

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A.N: Due to Mr. Forghan Parast's insuperable aversion to exclamation marks, all of them are removed from this piece of writing.

Regarding Punctuation

Now I know by looking at this title you are all thinking, “What a shoe licker. She’s writing this just to attract Mr. Forghan Parast’s attention.” Believe me when I say that is not the case at all.

A few years ago when I was still a sophomore in high school, I registered in a site which was for a group of young writers. After a long time of reading stories, I decided to post a story (which was pretty lousy by the way). The next morning I was really eager to read the reviews to see what they thought of it. What struck me as odd was that not many people cared about the plot. Instead there were tons of reviews regarding punctuation. They were mostly like, “Do you even know how to use a comma?” or “The idea is good, but the punctuation…”

A few of them recommended that I should get a beta. A beta is a person (usually a native English speaker) who has a fairly good understanding of English grammar, spelling and punctuation (especially comma). It was with my beta’s help that I learned to write a little, but I have to admit that I used to use the comma to the point that she would threaten not to correct my mistakes anymore.

I have written this to sincerely thank Mr. Forghan Parast because after a long, long time, I might be able to impress my beta (If not with the plot, then at least with the punctuation.).

Problems

The moment you start talking about a problem, it becomes much more than that. It doesn't matter what kind of setback it is; it could be an argument with a friend, a subject you have trouble understanding, or it could be something trivial you have lost.

At first it is just a feeling. You feel uncomfortable thinking about it. It bothers you to some extent, but it is nothing more than that. When you start talking about it, it turns into something monstrous, especially if the listener agrees with you. Then you can't stand it anymore. It becomes the only think you can think of, and you won't rest until the matter is solved. The horrible thing is, the more you struggle with it, the harder it becomes to handle it, and something so small suddenly becomes the first step of all the bigger troubles to come, but I have learned my lesson the hard way. I will never talk about my problems again.

of Heroes and Outcasts

The reason why we like to watch movies and read novels so much is because the heroes, and sometimes the anti-heroes, are somehow unique. They are beyond the everyday life of common people. The way they think, talk, behave and live is not what we expect, and that is why they pull us in; they do not tire us. In every page, in every scene, they have something new to say, and that is what we love the most about them.

The funny thing is if we happen to have an opportunity to meet one in real life, our reaction will be quite different. In real life, we do not want people to behave differently. We do not like extraordinary; We do not like unusual. It scares us; it sometimes makes us question all the decisions we have made so far, and that is something we do not need.

I have a roommate who, according to other roommates, is weird. She seems to do things in a way no one expects her to, and I have to admit that it is sometimes very frustrating. It could be a weird way of washing the dishes, an odd time for studying, her love for Napoleon, or the way she answers questions by means of poetry. Some others don't like her. She annoys them; she makes them angry, and that's why they call her an outcast. They treat her as an inanimate object. I find her fascinating. I find her a new movie to watch. I find her an unending book that never gets boring, and I'm grateful for having her as a roommate because the least she has given me is a new subject to write about.

Belief

Imam Ali has said a beautiful sentence about belief: "The person who believes in water will never stay thirsty." Allow me to elaborate on this a little.

Imagine two men in a remote desert. They are very thirsty, but they have never drunk water in their entire lives. They have just heard that somewhere on this planet water exists, and if they find it, they will be able to quench their thirst. One of these men decides to believe in the existence of water and starts to search for it while the other one thinks why he should believe in something he has never seen? What if they have lied to him? What if this is all a joke? What do you think will happen? The man who simply believed in the existence of water will eventually find it and he will stay alive, and the other one…will die.

I think the very same rule applies to us. There are a lot of things we have not seen, but we are told to believe in them. We have to make a choice. We have to be one of those men. I do not know if what I am told is the truth. I do not know whether this path I have chosen will have a happy ending or not, but I know even if I do not find what I am looking for, hope will keep me alive.

Black and White

Agent Smith: Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world where none suffered? Where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire Crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect worlds, but I believe that as a species, human beings define their realities through misery and suffering…

These are Agent Smith's words to Morpheus in the movie The Matrix. I don't like agent Smith any more than any of you do, but these words somehow attracted my attention. It's frightening how true they are. Misery seems to be a part of Human's nature.

Let's go back to the time of Adams and Eve. They were in heaven. They were living in a perfect world, but why would Adam make that legendary mistake and descend to earth? Why would he choose the misery of living on earth instead of paradise? He was lucky God forgave him, but then again maybe sin and forgiveness are two sides of the same coin. Maybe he had every intention of sending Adam to earth, the house of misery and struggling as Imam Ali beautifully describes it.

Would any of us accept to live in a perfect world? It seems amusing at first, but imagine no problem to solve, no one to help, no sadness, no tears…it's unbearable. We need misery to survive. When you're completely satisfied, you're dead, and that's the magnificence of black because without it, white would be just another color.