PEACE
OF MIND AND PEACE ON EARTH
Dear Rafi,
Thank you for short but affectionate letter. For some mysterious reason
I find it easier to write a letter than a diary, maybe I like a dialogue
more than a soliloquy.
In
the last few weeks I am gradually realizing that I am passing through a
transitional stage in my personal and creative lives. I think I am at
the end of one phase and at the beginning of the next. It is like being
at a junction, where the train has to change her direction, ending one
route and starting the other. For me sharing my inner thoughts with my
dear friends helps me become aware of the inner workings of my mind. It
helps me articulate the process I am going through. It is a journey from
the unknown to the known. The more I try to articulate the more fog
clears and I have a clear vision of the next step in life. So thank you
for agreeing to be my inspiration at this stage of my life. Since you
are new in my life it adds to the freshness of perspective and since you
are in another country and phase of life, it would help me communicate
more effectively and creatively. I feel a special intellectual
connection with you as we have so much in common. I just hope that
reading my letters would not be a waste of your time. My writing might
have an element of free association, as I like to reflect on my life
experiences, my observations and my interactions with significant people
in my life. Since you are becoming significant in my creative life I
might share with you my associations with other special people that
reside in my heart. It might become an informal intellectual and
philosophical autobiography. I hope it would inspire you to share some
of your philosophy and life experiences and then inspire other Creative
Friends on Darveshon ka Dera to share their life experiences and it
evolves to a Creative Dialogue.
After completing the manuscript of my last book Freedom of
Religion…Freedom from Religion, I felt as if I came to the end of
one phase of my creative life. It was the phase that had started as a
teenager. When I reflect on my life, I realize I had been writing for
the last forty years and might have written more than twenty books. To
be honest with you I lost count. I feel now that if people read all my
Urdu and English books they would have a reasonably good idea of the
milestones of my creative journey. It seems as if one aspect of my life
long project is complete. I wanted to share with the world how I saw
life and through my books I have achieved that. It gives me a wonderful
feeling of accomplishment as a writer.
In
the next stage of my life I would like to reflect on significant life
experiences, as they happen to become a better person and writer. I
would like to develop the habit of letter writing then I can articulate
the process that is not visible in the final creative product. I always
believed that in creativity there is visible and invisible labour and
the work of the artist is to make the invisible visible. It is done by
giving the creative energy certain form. Of all the creative forms that
I have experimented with in the last forty years: from poetry to fiction
to essays to documentaries, I find the letter writing as the most
inspiring. It has the most freedom and the most informality.
I
believe the artist has to do the creative as well as the emotional work,
the artistic as well as the psychological work to keep on growing. It is
unfortunate that many artists become stagnant as they stop doing their
homework and experience creative menopause. I feel lucky that my passion
to write and create and share has not faded away and I feel alive as a
writer. There is a creative spring that keeps on flowing in my heart. I
have been doing my creative and emotional homework to keep on growing.
From a psychological point of view over the years I have tried to
resolve and dissolve my emotional and social conflicts to make my life
more meaningful. Now I am getting to the stage where I am working on
acceptance. I would like to accept life the way it is. I think such
acceptance brings peace. With passage of time I have been accepting more
and feeling more peaceful. For me acceptance does not mean resignation
or not trying to improve. It means accepting the reality of the moment,
the present and then planning the future. It means to transcend one’s
past and not be dragged by it.
For
years I have been trying to accept my present and then plan my future.
Young people plan the future, the old people reflect about the past. It
is amazing that although I am physically 53 and have grey hair, I do not
feel 53. In my heart I feel 33 as I feel very youthful and passionate. I
am lucky that I do not have any health problems. I start the day full of
energy and end the day with a sense of accomplishment. I feel my
professional, social and creative lives offer me a lot of meaning. I
feel very fortunate about that. If I die tonight I would not feel that
my life was all wasted. I would feel that I enjoyed my life to the
fullest by creating and serving people.
After finishing my last book, I did not plan too much. I thought rather
than my pursuing new projects, let me wait and see what life offers me.
In the last few months I had a number of surprises.
1.
Mohammad Gill wrote an
article about me and introduced me to chowk. I was pleasantly surprised.
I received positive feedback from chowk readers and editors that
inspired me to write some articles for them. After the initial
encounters chowk editor asked me to write a series of articles for them
and I agreed.
2.
Dennis Isaac suggested
that we write plays for television. He liked some of my stories and
would like me to work with him to transform the written words into
moving images and write screenplays. His friend Azeem Sajjad (Zoomie) is
willing to direct those tele-films and present them on television in
Pakistan. I think that would be a wonderful adventure. I am quite
excited about the project. It will also inspire me to write more
stories.
3.
Rasheed Nadeem suggested
that we translate Nobel Peace Prize Lectures and I liked the idea.
Twelve friends volunteered to join the project. I was surprised that you
chose not to translate the Lecture of any Peace Loving Leader and chose
Amnesty International. I am curious about your objections to all
receivers of Nobel Prize. I would like to share with the Urdu world
different perspectives of peace. I feel Muslim countries in general and
Pakistan in particular is becoming a violent society and needs to hear
Peace Message in their own language. In spite of my political
differences with some leaders I respect Nobel Committee for their
efforts. No organization is perfect but they try to do a good job.
Dear Rafi, I feel that my journey is from
personal peace to global peace, from peace of mind to peace on earth. I
have dreams of becoming a peaceful person living in a peaceful world. My
first contribution to the Peace Project was translating Chief Seattle’s
speech in Urdu. That was very inspiring. Rafiq Sultan liked it very much
and sent it to some of his friends. Pervaiz Salahuddin put it on my
website. I am confident you would like it too. Being a creative and
peace loving person I hope our tomorrows are better than our yesterdays.
Sincerely, Sohail
May
12, 2006
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