It was a cracking time with you guys and I can never thank you enough. During this summer of hitching and couchsurfing there were many discoveries about the world, myself and other people. What I understand better now is the importance of sympathy. I have also reconsidered the ideas of truth, love and freedom.
Hitchhiking has its advantages and disadvantages but one of the best moments about it is people. Before I discovered the pleasures of free rides however, I'd been told that it is the good people who stop. I will now, after 30,000 hitched kilometres, specify that it's mostly the ones who sympathise.
What is sympathy exactly? According to wikipedia, it is "the feeling of compassion or concern for another, the wish to see them better off or happier. Sympathy not only includes empathizing, but also entails having a positive regard or a non-fleeting concern for the other person."
Although while hitchhiking I was able to get anywhere quite fast, most cars and trucks passed by. I'm not blaming them, I'm grateful to those who weren't indifferent. But suppose I was seen by all the drivers and most of them could have given me a lift, not that many people actually did. Among the reasons for that could be safety, time, privacy, gas, money issues; "nobody rides for free", "what's in it for me?" attitudes; employers' guidelines etc.
These thoughts outweighed sympathy. But it happens not only on the road. Hitchhiking is a metaphor of human interaction. The majority aren't too trustful on the road because they are overall not too sympathetic. Homo homini lupus est, as the Latin saying goes. When any of the "negative" thoughts like fear, laziness, hatred, jealousy, greed, lust, gluttony, anger, pride, despair etc are present in our lives there's little, if any, room for "the feeling of concern" left, especially towards someone you don't really have to concern yourself about.
Although it is up to us to make our choices, society in a way encourages negativity. Power and profit are among the reasons for it. For instance, if your job is related to war or law it is essential that people have those thoughts. Otherwise, if everyone lived in harmony with themselves, others and nature it would be impossible to capitalize on the jobs because they would be non-existent. Negative thoughts impede your ability to analyse and think clearly (that's their nature) thus making you susceptible to control. Whoever wants power realises that and uses it to their advantage. They need it for profit or to create a certain order.
Mass media is a tool that helps negative thoughts and ideas spread. Violence, injustice, natural disasters make top news. Although they show, read and sell well they provoke anger and fear in us. And if they don't they at least teach us not to care: "this drip feed of data assails our senses and makes us numb to the world." We slowly become emotionally immune to suicide bombings, economic crises and earthquakes unless they touch us personally. And the message is sometimes: "Accept this reality, there is nothing you can do to change it."
Another way in which mass media supports negative thoughts is by creating social roles and stereotypes of how we should behave, what to want and buy. Lacking those (be it a lifestyle, money, magical pill, status in the society, education, possessions etc.) makes you feel inferior, a failure. So to be successful, or at least "not worse than others" a lot of people pursue these ideas. Some borrow money for that from banks (that tend to eventually rip them off) and work the jobs they don't really like/hate or that are harmful to the environment, but that are more profitable, to repay the debt. There are those who steal, cheat or make money on another's misfortune. Others in order to sell vaccine specifically create a new virus beforehand. These are just a few examples of the power mass media exercises.
At the same time the images that we are fed with seem credible enough to act upon them since they appeal to the best in us, like our deep desire for truth, love and freedom. It is sometimes difficult to realise that information does not mean truth, sex and marriage isn't love and freedom does not stand for finances, the American dream, security in your life or isolating yourself from others and their troubles. Data is a perfect tool to convince you of any "truth" and thus control you. Once you're married it actually becomes wrong to love and care for anyone other than your family, so a great chunk of love is missing from your life. True freedom does not mean money or better life in terms of comfort, "building the wall to keep you free". It means freedom from your egoism, developing yourself as a spiritual being, helping and caring for others. Receiving wholehearted support from those around me, from people whom I'd never met before and might never meet again I was able to go far. And if I consciously and unconditionally sympathise with and help others they will be able to move on and achieve new levels, too. And in a way this means new levels for the society, country and humanity as well. But that is not the only reason why sympathy is important.
Another discovery was that with all the care and love that my hosts radiated the negative thoughts would disappear. I suddenly felt protected by this bubble of positive emotions. And things would always go well with mind tuned positively. Now that I look back I see that all the "bad" stuff would happen when I got angry, irritated and when sometimes I said no to the help offered. Perhaps, there is no other way to fight negativity other than to switch your thoughts to something positive. Humour helps, too. And when you do make that switch it becomes "another universe entirely". You are changed deep inside. This feeling of love and gratitude to the world on a physical level is manifested as heat in your solar plexus (it's fireworks for Katy Perry ;)). You get lucky and start attracting the right people and events into your life. Anything seems possible. You suddenly see the connections that have eluded you for so long. And that reminds me of Sufi philosophers who believed that logical cognition is limited because it can only access attributes, but not the gist of a phenomenon. They believed that another form of perception existed beyond the perception of the mind. They called it "revelation". My experience is that "revelation" is only possible with this feeling of love. It is there when you sympathise and help. By loving you know the truth and, as John 8:32 reads "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free". You get a new sense of freedom which is being connected to everything and everyone. "Love is free, free is love", as John Lennon sang. Indeed, just look back on the people in your life, be it your friends, family or fellow students, on things you did or a book, film, music, journey etc that gave you this positive feeling, inspired you. It all feels real because it reminds us of the fact that we are magical and wonderful, that we can love and transform not only ourselves with it, but the whole world for the better. The world without those is fake and full of illusions. The world of love, truth and freedom is real.
But then I return to the normalised life with people scared for themselves and brainwashed with fake images that harbour negativity, people who rarely experience sympathy themselves and avoid being sympathetic if they can, people who have little idea of the fireworks Katy Perry is singing about :). I am then reminded of George Orwell: "though 1984 is a denunciation of Stalinism and of Stalin's treatment of truth, that by controlling men's minds, the party controls the truth, it is also a warning to the rest of the world that it is possible to dehumanize man completely and yet for life to go on. In a society that builds machines which act like men and creates men who act like machines it is possible that you, too, may come to love Big Brother". (for your information, my big brother IS watching me. On twitter :)). I, too, start thinking and living the way they do, for this culture can't but influence me in a way. But I shake off this feeling and another image that is still strong appears before me: I am walking down the hill on that beautiful day at the end of September right to the sign saying "the Doors" cafe. This image proves and reminds me of the fact that anything is possible, even to lose your passport. :) Do you know how the band got it's name by the way? It's from the quote by William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." Love is what opens those doors. Jim Morrison's question will always be topical but the one that is more important now is, "Where will we be when the summer's on?" As for me, who knows, I might one day (inshaallah) visit Amman once again, knock on your door, David, and like that woman in China that you told us about who kept stalking you and eventually appeared on the threshold of your apartment with a submachine-gun, ammunition belts over her shoulder and ash from a Cuban cigar falling gently on the floor, ask you in perfect Arabic, like she did, "WHERE RRRA YA???" 8)
I hope that truth, love and freedom will always be in abundance in your lives. And it will be if you create it with your positive thoughts. No need to shy away from news or other people, just be attentive to what thoughts they stir in you. It is your choice how to process them. If it's any of the negative ones you already know how to deal with them - by switching to something positive or laughing about the situation. It seems that people are naturally born with negative thoughts and if we don't control them they will have a negative impact on our lives. I'm not saying it's easy but the freedom that comes as a result is the ultimate prize. If you still need inspiration for life ;) just look around you and think of these words of the ancient greek philosopher Plato: "While caring for other people's happiness we find our own." Thank you once again for all the help and may the light of Allah shine upon and within you.
PS And some final quotes that those last few days in Jordan remind me about. "There are no accidents. An accident is only a natural consequence of our uncontrollable thoughts."; "every person, all the events in your life are there because you have drawn them there. It is up to you to decide what to do with them." And this one by John Lennon, "A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." ;)
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open letter. updated. part 1.
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