m a k t u b ( 5 / 1 2 / 2 0 0 4 )

[ remember how to forget ]

we write things down in order to free our mind
of those thoughts... so when you are sad,
write down your sadness so your mind may
find a way to move on... and when you are
happy, there is no need to forget

that's why happy thoughts are seldom written
or sung out loud...

-dead poet

[ for example ]

Truth be told, time seems to stop and the
meaning of where I am has ceased to exist.
The melody of living life has drifted away
and what is left are echoes of a lost hope
that has dissapointed me.

-mojoe

[ and another ]

I speak of a place where I could say in words
what my heart feels. I dream of a song that
can express the thoughts trapped within me.
But I realize that these things were not meant
to be. Your heart belongs to someone else.
Your daily concerns face not my direction.
The heart feels empty when it has
no love to give.

-mojoe

[ The Twist ]

At the very moment of one's own death, a person
will realize that heaven and hell actually resided
in each passing breath. After this epiphany,
all the person can do is sleep with the
silence of indifference.

-dead poet

[ root ]

love is the root of every thing

thing is desire, is faith, is attachment,
is forgiveness, is jealousy, is hate,
is anger, selfishness, selflessness

indifference is the lack of love

-dead poet

[ The intellectual is always showing off ]

The intellectual is always showing off,
the lover is always getting lost.
The intellectual runs away.
afraid of drowning; the whole business
of love is to drown in the sea.

Intellectuals plan their repose;
lovers are ashamed to rest.
The lover is always alone.
even surrounded by people;
like water and oil,
he remains apart.

The man who goes to the trouble
of giving advice to a lover
get nothing. He's mocked by passion.

Love is like musk. It attracts attention.
Love is a tree, and the lovers are its shade.

-rumi

[ J & M ]

J:

Oh what has come to pass?
Oh what answers have yet to be questioned?
I have been right on a few things
But I have mistakenly feared a few new friends

M:

Oh what have I not written?
Oh what have I not yearned to understand?
My world was only part of my present tense
My word was only heard by ears within my fence

J & M:

Now we both understand our wrongs
Now we both understand where our words belong
We were only trying our best to guide our friends
We didn't have empathy for the rivals that we needed to defend

-mojoe

ps. J is Jesus, M is Muhammad

[ forgiveness ]

i'm the most beautiful person i've ever met...
i'm the ugliest person i have ever forgiven...

-mojoe

[ the prometheus question ]

the question is not whether you can die for the
things you love, the real question is whether
you are willing to live in hell for all the
things that love, hate and don't care about you

-dead poet

[ effort to be only human ]

in our efforts to become like gods, some of us
never realize how to be only human...

-dead poet

[ dream within the nightmare ]

people have concluded that the universe is a
nightmare, i woke up and i found myself
realizing the dream within it...

-mojoe

[ all i'm trying to be, is to be truthful to who i am...]

how can i stop to dream
if that's the way i know how to breathe?
how can i stop to dream
if that is stronger than my faith?
how can i stop to dream
if that is part of how i love?

-mojoe

[ we are ]

We are the first generation that can end
not just AIDS, but extreme poverty. For
the first time in history, we have the brains,
we have the cash, we have the drugs.

But, do we have the will?

-bono

[ an observation ]

In the micro-scale, freewill exists;
In the macro-scale, predetermination prevails...

-mojoe

[ I was just wondering... ]

whether the main BAD GUY in the Torah,
the Bible, the Koran, (insert your belief
system book here) is the same dude.

If so, why are we focusing on the semantics
of the name of GOD when we all have the
same freakin' ENEMY!?!

-mojoe

Mathnawi VI: 255-260

Wealth has no permanence: it comes in the morning,
and at night it is scattered to the winds.
Physical beauty too has no importance,
for a rosy face is made pale by the scratch of a single thorn.
Noble birth also is of small account,
for many become fools of money and horses.
Many a nobleman's son has disgraced his father by his wicked deeds.
Don't court a person full of talent either,
even if he seems exquisite in that respect:
take warning from the example of Iblis (Devil).
Iblis had knowledge, but since his love was not pure,
he saw in Adam nothing but a figure of clay.

-rumi

[ build a boat ]

Tear down the house and build a boat!
Abandon wealth and seek living beings!
Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings!
Make all living beings go up into the boat.
The boat which you are to build,
its dimensions must measure equal to each other:
its length must correspond to its width.

-from the Epic of Gilgamesh

[ from the Book of Renai ]

Renai:
what if there's no heaven?
then there must be no hell...
what then will be the purpose of living?
if not to live each day breathing...

Zania:
how could you think like that!
i want to live knowing death will give me bliss
how can i believe that this is it?
i believe there's something better that awaits...

Renai:
but then you're delaying your true potential
for you believe you can procrastinate
you always think that the grass is greener
that you hope that after death, things will be better...

Zania:
please don't take away my reason for living
each day i look around and see suffering
i feel lost and know i can only do so little
believing that heaven awaits, i can sleep better...

Renai:
but don't you see, you're accepting defeat
your beliefs have already predetermined your fate
you live life as if you can do nothing
to ease the suffering of all the living...

Zania:
but what you say makes me sad
i have always believed in my faith
when i wake up, i go on dreaming
that heaven awaits with angels smiling

Renai:
what i say, has freed me
from what i been told as my fate
i live life knowing that i have choices to make
one of those is to make this place heaven,
for our children's sake...


Mama, why do you and Papa always argue?

Oh, my dearest, do you ever count how many
times your Papa and I hug, smile, and laugh
with each other?

No... I guess it's all the time... but...

But love is like that my son. Your father
and I argue when we have to... knowing that
in the end, we are both trying to do the
best for our family.

-dead poet

maktub,
-joseph