Continuing with my struggles, my jihad

I have decided that it would be good for me to blog about my reading, it helps me remember it, think about it and comprehend it. It helps me focus my mind to a place where it can sink in.

So, this chapter discusses a few topics, but mostly discusses the idea that we are all imperfect. God made us this way and expects that we will not be perfect, so as much as we try to be perfect and live up to his expectations this is how we are made. The whole idea that God is ready to forgive us when we make mistakes because we will. It talked about how perfection is only known by God and for us to be God is not possible. Even Muhammad struggled, had hardships and made mistakes in his life. It also talked about the history of the Taj Mahal which was built perfectly, but the designer insisted that it have a black spot in order for it’s perfection to still be imperfect so that it would not even compare to God.

I think one thing that really stuck in my head with this chapter is the idea that science is accepted. Within the Qur’an it discusses how God has left “signs” of his existence within the universe so that we would discover them and learn about them and realize that it is all part of him.

But, the majority of the chapter was discussing how we are all going through a struggle or Jihad. Because of our imperfect nature, we struggle with our imperfections as we strive to be perfect. As we struggle we must always remember that we are human, that we will make mistakes along the road and that it is all part of who we are. Some believe that God deals the hands that he knows we can handle. Some are faced with harder struggles than others because he knows they can handle it. And, in the end, it is all part of who we are.

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I came to realize while reading this that I have been going through my own Jihad within myself. I think this blog is my way of working through it. I am currently at a cross roads within my heart, my mind and my spirituality. I am going into a direction I wouldn’t have thought just 2 years ago, but, I have come to realize this is a good thing for me. I have my highs and lows, I have my good days and bad. Case in point was a few days ago when I felt lonely, lost and afraid. But, by working through this struggle I was able to come back stronger and more focused.

While I have not come fully to terms with what all of this means or where my struggle eventually takes me, what it has shown me is some things about me that I did not know. That I am a stronger person than I gave myself credit. When I look back on the past 10 years, I have gone through more than most will. Just the experience with my ex was something I never anticipated. I have always believed that within life we have to have balance. I have been dealt some nasty hands but out of them, I will fully know and appreciate when something is good, you can guarantee this.

My other thought on this chapter as well as the last one, I am a little unsure of where I am going. If you had asked me a year ago if I was going to possibly look at Islam enough to think I could actually fall into it, I would have laughed at you. But that was when I associated the beliefs with my understanding of Christianity. There is already so much about Islam that I know that is so much different than what I learned growing up it actually makes me wonder why I didn’t look at it closer 10 years ago when I first started to question everything in my life. But, maybe that’s the point.

All I know is that this will be a very interesting year I can already tell, as my next book is going to be the Qur’an, I’ve had it on my shelf since 2004 or 2005 and have only read a few passages out of it. I originally got it because I had heard that CAIR was giving them away to help ease the misconceptions between Islam. It’s a decent copy as it helps explain the passages as well. And a very good friend of mine passed a website to me that will help me read through it as well.

I do not know where my journey is going, I do not know where I will end up, but for once – I am okay with this. I know I have support of my friends along this journey. I wish some of them lived closer to me as most of them live far far away. And, as I find myself moving forward, I know that I can count on them. I have come to realize that my struggles are mine to deal with and they make me that much stronger as I accept that I am not perfect and that was just how I am.

Lo! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of night and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that which is of use to men, and the water which Allah sendeth down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and (in) the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth: are signs (of Allah’s Sovereignty) for people who have sense. (2.164)

When pain threatens to overcome

One of the questions in my poll a few posts back was “Have you ever thought of suicide?”

The answer is yes. There have been two moments in my life that I have been within moments of making the choice. The first one seems so lame now that I look back on it as I had not known pain, yet I thought I was in pain so unbareable that I suicide was the only way to release it. It wasn’t until the second time around did I realize just what pain felt like.

Both of these incidents happened in moments of my life when I felt very lost, alone & unsure of how to survive on my own. But, both of these events, I believe were changing moments in my life that has led me down a path of greater understanding & happiness. Had things gotten worse in those moments, I may not be discussing it now as thought it was in the past.

It became known to me during both of these that suicide is only one answer to the question, but only one. While it is still the choice of the individual & is not to be denied to them, it must be known to them that their choice is the ultimate one without being able to go back. It may seem like the answer, but it does not have to be.

My first experience happened when I was 15. I had grown up in a fairly good home with both parents being educated, employed and happily married. But, things fell appart a little in the family life at that time. My mother would reveal that she was pregnant & have her third child (she was 38 years old at the time). My younger brother would have his first major panic attack during school & the next year I witnessed things that I wished I would never see. I was even put into a situation where I was asked to hold my brother so my father could talk him down from his rage. Anxiety & panic attacks can be very hard to deal with, especially for an 11 year old like he was. So, while my family started to split apart, I found myself feeling more alone. I was having trouble making friends at school & would often find that my “friends” were more interested in getting answers for homework than being my friend. And, of course, I was also in the middle of my teenage years where emotions play with your head & hormones mess with your ability to focus sometimes. While locked up in my room, I had very little to do but think about the pain. It was at that moment that I returned to the God I had been raised on & saw the power of faith and what role it can play in bringing you out of the destructiveness that I had found myself in. Between age 15 & 18, my spiritual self played a big role in who I was. While I would eventually leave the faith I was raised in for my current ideals of god, it was a path that has forever changed me.

The second happened after 6 months of torment in a failed marriage that was not even a year old. My emotions had been played so long as I competed with the “other”. The stress & emotional low that came with the idea that my 7 year relationship, the person I cared the most about & loved so much that I would die for them, only to find out they are willing to say they love someone else, but they love me as well. To see the notes exchanged between them, to know they work together & spend time together every day, to feel betrayed & unsure who to trust. This pain is almost unbearable. Seeing the hate from their eyes as they blame you for their unhappiness without any compassion for your own pain. Seeing the person who took your first kiss, your virginity & pledged your life to them for life stare at you as though you are some sort of disease. Hearing them degrade you one minute, then shower you with affection the next only to turn their back on you the moment the “other” comes back into the picture with an email or myspace message. And, the whole time wanting to be supportive to them because you believe they are going through an identity crisis & because you love them you want to be there as they go through their own painful experience.

This pain is greater than I thought I would ever experience. It tears you apart from the inside, slowly, painfully & you can feel every pin as it pushes against the walls of your organs, your heart & tries to break through the skin.

Add on top of the pain, the stress of being in your final semester of graduate work, putting a theatre production together in two weeks, working 20 hour days for that span. Putting together your thesis debate to defend it. And, having your wisdom teeth removed.

Yes, all of this happened between Jan & April of 2007.

A number of things happened that helped me through this. I had some wonderful friends who supported me. I had family who loved me. I had my own intellectual mind that was able to see the signs of pain & I had the strength to call a counselor while in tears & her kindness of talking with me on the phone for 30 mins for free, scheduling me the next day AM to come into the office. During that 30 min call, she suggested I seek additional help from a Psychiatrist as they may want to put me on a med to help me through it. I was able to get myself an appointment that following Monday into a new doctor that had just opened up her private practice after leaving the University’s hospital. (If any of you know Psychiatrists, you know their schedule is never that open..I was lucky).

I also went for a few appointments to the family counseling center at the University. I think I shocked the Graduate student who was my counselor, as I had quite a story. (What I have revealed is not the full story.)

All of that support around me helped me get over the pain enough that I no longer thought suicide was the answer. But, it wasn’t for another year and a half that I would be fully out of that emotion. It would take me moving in with my parents for 2 months, filing for divorce, moving 900 miles away to Alabama for my new job to get me moving. But, it wasn’t until a few months after my divorce was final did I ever feel free enough to break away from that pain. That was a year ago last March. I went off medication in July of last year. I still struggled with highs and lows, but it was no longer completely based on my past, but now about my future & present, so I had moved forward.

What suicide, depression & pain has taught me is that I’m extremely strong, I have the desire, the will and the want to not allow the pain to overtake me. But, most of all, despite having only a few close friends, they are ones that I love with my life. While my relationship life may have forever been hurt as I struggle to trust people, my love of life was not destroyed. I would not let that die within my heart. My heart still longs to be compassionate & I long to love someone greater than myself. For now, that part of my life remains empty, but I know when it’s time, I’ll be ready (I hope). I just hope they are ready to handle what might be within me not only in love, but also in pain. For I know, once I have someone who loves me enough to be willing to comfort my heart, the darkness that hides within me will need some light but the switch is nowhere to be found.