Becoming And Becoming And Becoming

"The problem with the singularity is that once we are in the upper quadrant, i.e., once we have gone through the horizon and are 'inside the black hole,' we can't avoid eventually hitting it. Indeed, it is not really a place. As already discussed last lecture, it is really, in a sense, a time. We can avoid an obstacle in space--we go around it--but we cannot avoid 'hitting the future.' We can escape from things, even from freedom, but not from the future."

-Leonard Susskind, General Relativity (2023)

“I very proudly entered the forestry school as an 18-year-old and telling them that the reason that I wanted to study botany was because I wanted to know why asters and goldenrod looked so beautiful together. These are these amazing displays of this bright, chrome yellow and deep purple of New England aster, and they look stunning together. And the two plants so often intermingle rather than living apart from one another, and I wanted to know why that was. I thought that surely in the order and the harmony of the universe, there would be an explanation for why they looked so beautiful together. And I was told that that was not science, that if I was interested in beauty, I should go to art school. Which was really demoralizing as a freshman, but I came to understand that question wasn’t going to be answered by science, that science, as a way of knowing, explicitly sets aside our emotions, our aesthetic reactions to things. We have to analyze them as if they were just pure material, and not matter and spirit together. And, yes, as it turns out, there’s a very good biophysical explanation for why those plants grow together, so it’s a matter of aesthetics and it’s a matter of ecology. Those complimentary colors of purple and gold together, being opposites on the color wheel, they’re so vivid, they actually attract far more pollinators than if those two grew apart from one another. So each of those plants benefits by combining its beauty with the beauty of the other. And that’s a question that science can address, certainly, as well as artists. And I just think that “Why is the world so beautiful?” is a question that we all ought to be embracing.”

— Robin Wall Kimmerer, “The Intelligence of Plants”, from the podcast On Being with Krista Tippett (via peatbogbodyhasmoved)

Ibn al-Jauzī (رحمه الله) said:

“Endure the nights of hardship, for if you look through the eye of patience, you will be able to see the dawn of reward.” Verily, the high places can only be achieved through hardship! Haven’t you noticed that the thorns grow on the roses?”

📚[Al-Latāif fil-Wa'idh]

If you hang out with a…

Disciplined person, you’ll start respecting structure

Insecure person, you’ll start second-guessing yourself

Adventurous person, you’ll crave new experiences

Victim minded person, you’ll start blaming instead of growing

Abundant person, you’ll stop thinking in limits

Jealous person, you’ll start resenting your blessings

High value woman, you’ll raise your standards without apologo

Chaotic person, you’ll feel like peace is boring

Healed person, you’ll see how emotionally mature life can be

Procrastinator, you’ll normalize delay over progress

Ambitious person, you’ll start dreaming bigger

Judgmental person, you’ll fear being fully yourself

Playful person, you’ll learn to soften and enjoy the moment

Energy is contagious

Habits are contagious

Mindsets are contagious

Doesn’t matter how x you think you are because if you were, you wouldn’t make decisions or choose people that don’t align

You become who you’re around even when you don’t notice it

Just the thought that you need to be a better Muslim shows that light still exists in your heart

Ash-Shāfi’ī رحمه الله said:

‎“If you have a companion that will assist you upon [the] obedience [of Allāh], then hold tight to him! For indeed, keeping a friend is difficult and losing him is easy!”

‎[uHilyatul Awliyā: 4/101]

— nizariat

ʿUmar Ibn ʿAbdil ʿAzīz was once asked:

"What do you desire?"

He replied, "Whatever Allāh decrees."

— [Al-Zuhd]

Knowing that what Allah have in store for me is the best gives me so much ease about my future