Syed Haider Raza Mehdi |
In the realm of spirituality, the battle is between our Ego or Nafs; considered the source of all that is animalistic, hedonic, selfish in Humankind and our higher, purer, cleaner self, our soul or ‘Ruh’ which takes us towards Higher Consciousness and Godliness.
But what if the Soul itself is overwhelmed by the Nafs and they become one? What if all that differentiated a human from an animal, the latter only existing to fulfill their instincts of survival and self-preservation, with loyalty to none, except the Jackal, stronger and more powerful, no longer exists?
Our only hope lies in getting “good, fit and proper” men and women into positions of public governance so we can start rebuilding this nation from the ashes of our down-trodden souls
What if the soul allows itself to be bought and sold to the highest bidder, no matter who, simply to acquire more power and wealth and to support evil in all its forms and shapes? I never thought I would ever see a soulless society sunk to such depravity. But we did see that day on 3rd October, and to take a line from Roosevelt’s speech, “A date which shall live in infamy”!
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Breaching Public TrustÂ
A day when we witnessed a shameless, spineless, gutless group of people sold their souls. A day, with our heads hung in shame, we witnessed how a liar, a cheat, a money launderer, a forgerer, a corrupt criminal, who betrayed the public trust, who looted and plundered the nation’s wealth and was finally found guilty and unfit to hold public office by its highest court of law, re-elected president of a political party, by those who sold their souls.
3rd, October 2017 will long be remembered as the day this spineless, gutless society saw even the pretext of self-respect, dignity, and honor, stripped of its sniveling body and torn to shreds. In the words of George Orwell in Animal Farm, the onlookers from “outside looked from pig to man and from man to pig, and from pig to man again but already it was impossible to say which was which….”
What scares me is the acceptance of a narrative which muddies the water so that no one knows what is what. What scares me is how many amongst us accept the branding of good people as evil
What we witnessed on 3rd October 2017, was not the triumph of democracy over judicial activism or latent militarism or attempts to subvert the writ of the people, as the pig-humans say, but the manifestation of the depraved depths to which our collective souls have fallen.
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What we witnessed was how evil triumphs over good. How Yazeediath can triumph over the purity of Hussainiyath! How people who once were aligned to good are now the torchbearers of all that is evil, corrupt and depraved.
Justification of Wrong DoingsÂ
How these purveyors of evil and the sellers of their souls justify to themselves and to others and to their children and families their actions, simply stuns me. How can and will they look at their children squarely in the eye, and those that look up to them, and explain why the sided with all that is evil?
What scares me is the acceptance of evil as something good in Pakistan.
3rd, October, 2017 will long be remembered as the day this spineless, gutless society saw even the pretext of self-respect, dignity, and honor, stripped of its sniveling body and torn to shreds
What scares me is the acceptance of a criminal as a leader, by a large segment of our society. What scares me is the acceptance of a narrative which muddies the water so that no one knows what is what. What scares me is how many amongst us accept the branding of good people as evil.
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What scares me how many good people amongst us vigorously and passionately defend and support this mass scale degradation of the soul of our society, including their own! But above all, what scares me the most is the abject servility and spinelessness of those who know this is wrong, but yet keep quiet and slink away to live another day of slavery and cowardice. History is full of such tragic moments in similar marches of folly. Even by once great nations, ultimately leading to their inevitable death.
What if the Soul itself is overwhelmed by the Nafs and they become one? What if all that differentiated a human from an animal, the latter only existing to fulfill their instincts of survival and self-preservation
Role of SpiritualityÂ
Our only hope lies in getting “good, fit and proper” men and women into positions of public governance so we can start rebuilding this nation from the ashes of our down-trodden souls! And for that to happen the system has to change so that competent and honest people can administer this lost society and unleash it’s potential.
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As Margaret Meade put it so aptly “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has”! Rise against this terrible evil, people of Pakistan, before we degrade ourselves beyond redemption!
Haider Mehdi is the current Convenor of The Strategy Study Group, founded by the late Col. S. G. Mehdi M. C, former Group Commander of Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG). Haider is a former Pakistan Army officer, corporate leader, management consultant, business trainer, and serial entrepreneur.