Spirituality.
Desires. How do we reconcile them and what do we do?
Asalaamu alaikum guys and welcome to another episode of Smile to Jannah.
The Metaverse as we know it today is in its early stages,
it shows our avatars as basic cartoons and is still quite limited.
But 50 years from now our avatars will be very lifelike.
You'll put on your headset to
go to work, attend talks at the local mosque or even have illicit relations.
What?
We gotta be real. Technology does make the haram more accessible.
It can be argued it makes the halal more accessible, but
thanks to Mr Shaitaan the haram has more of an allure to it.
Schools will use it, jobs will use it and just like smartphones, they'll become unavoidable.
As human beings we already have headsets and goggles which provide a simulation
of various desires,
and these are like a layer or a dream or a matrix, whatever you want to call it
that prevent us from seeing the reality which is the divine.
And now with virtual reality,
there's gonna be yet another layer which makes it even harder to see the divine.
Think of it like a dream within a dream.
And as is the innate disposition of any human being;
Justin Barrett of Oxford conducted a research that said that we are innately
inclined to believing in a God,
so naturally we're gonna ask questions like "How can I be more spiritual mate?"
I wanna be more spiritual. And I'm sure you'll agree,
that's like saying "I'm a human being and I would like to have a spiritual experience"
but you've got the order the wrong way around Dave yeah, that's right,
because we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Yes that's right because, before we were even on this planet we were in the realm of the souls,
and it's only when we were sent to this planet were we given human bodies,
and then when we die the bodies stay in the ground they decompose get eaten by worms you name it
and it is our soul that carries on to the next level. So spirituality is a default position,
it's the body that we gotta keep an eye on.
And it is only when we control the body does our spirit come to life.
And how do we do this? By limiting our food, by limiting what we say and by limiting our sleep.
Not mentioning obedience to Allah and his prophet
(peace be upon him) because that's just standard at this stage yeah
So what do I mean reduce food? I mean eating that which is needed for your body.
Scholars say: eat one third food, one third water and leave a third for air yeah.
Don't eat till it becomes painful and don't over indulge your senses constantly.
Well how do we reduce speech?
Well not feeling the continuous need to speak with people and interact with them,
such that say in five minutes alone let's face it a lot of us get bored.
And lastly, how do we reduce our sleep?
Well, by sleeping at the optimum times yeah,
you need to research this there's an optimum time that you need to sleep,
and that is between 9pm-12 a.m. that's a very key time. Each hour
is worth many hours and if you sleep at the right time mate,
then you'll get up for Fajr you'll get up for Tahajjud,
you'll have more time for productivity and getting close to your lord.
So all this talk of the Metaverse, what is our true experience?
Well, the true experience comes from fasting; not eating.
From staying awake; not sleeping.
And silence; and not speaking.
This is what we learn from the golden generation of Islam, this is what the books are filled with.
The scholars staying awake, abstaining from food and unnecessary speech.
Now I'm not saying that we go overboard with these things and
starve ourselves and don't get enough sleep and start ignoring our family,
of course (not. I'm) sure most of you guys knew what I was saying yeah
These things are very important for us to connect back to our roots especially at a
time when technology is rising exponentially and drawing a wedge between us and our creator.
Let's leave it there guys until next time, Asalaamu Alaikum.