The Writing On The Wall
The Fact about Arrogance
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Pray to Allah Almighty not to trap us for being intellectually arrogance. Many contemplate, to make the point across, one has to be arrogant. That is not true. intellectual discourse is an exercise of bringing forth the best argument to be tested, argued and accepted by others. In case where points argued are not well-received, it shouldn’t be misconstrued as personal rejection.
Nevertheless, there is a metaphor saying, it is harder to be poor without murmuring than to be rich without arrogance. In other word, you can be intellectually superior or rich without being arrogance.
Looking from psychodynamic perspective, arrogance which is basically, the projective identification of omnipotence is actually a form of expression which conveys stupidity because of its hatred of curiosity. Psychodynamic psychotherapist believes that where the life instincts predominate, pride becomes self-respect, whereas when the death instinct predominates, pride becomes arrogance.
Some believe honest arrogance is Ok provided honesty is being practice and central to the ‘niat‘ or intention. As Frank Loyd Wright used to say..”Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasions to change”. Well, he is a Western man.
In the Malay culture, there is an idiom, to follow the character of paddy plant, the bigger you grow, the more wisdom you will be. Therefore, I don’t believe, arrogant, as such, is basically in line with the traditional Malay weltanschauung. I had learnt from my observation, staying in the East Coast of Malaysia over many years, the main contrast between many Kelantanese and Terengganu people lies to fact that the Kelantanese practice hypocritical humility whereas Terengganuan so to speak practice honest arrogance. What would happen if a Kelantanese marry to a Terengganu. Well, they have to tolerate each other. No choice or option for humble toleration as recipe for a successful marriage.
I leave it to you to decide which side you are in. Till we meet again, cheers and have a nice day.
Malik Bennabi
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Prof. Malik Bennabi (1905-1973) intellectual career begun with his seminal work, The Quranic Phenomenon, which appearing at a time when some Orientalists were making subtle and serious efforts to subvert Islam under the guise of scientific inquiry.
This master piece laid down the epistemiological and methodological foundations of Bennabi’s subsequent intelectual works in dealing with various issues pertaining to human society and culture. In it, he generally developed his philosophical argument concerning the place and function of religion in human life and existance. The central thesis of the book is religion appears as a cosmic phenomenon regulating human thought and civilization as gravity regulates matter and conditions its evolution.
His ideas was rather misunderstood in the 70s. At the time when struggle for independance in Algeria was gaining momentum, both militiarily and politically, Bennabi as an Algerian aspired to put himself at the service of the Algerian revolution by being closer to some of the its leadership who are operating in Cairo. He, therefoer moved from France to Egypt seeking political asylum. Upon arrival in Cairo in 1956 carrying with him the manuscript of his book L’Afro-Asiatisme he was well-received by Pres. Gamel Abdel Nasser and his book was published in 1957.
Seen from the atmosphere of bloody confrontation between Ikhwan and Nasserite regime, his association with Nasser had tarnished his image in the eye of those involved with Islamic movement.
However, from Prof Fahmi Jad’an view point, Binnabi was the most prominent Arab thinker, since the time of Ibn Khaldun to have concerned himself with the question of civilization.
Therefore, his legacy has been recovered during the 80s and 90s esp. those aspect with regard to the concept and meaning of culture, civilization, the cyclical conception of historical evolution and social change, and the relevant of all that to the present and immediate preoccupation of Muslims.
His work include the Memoirs of a Witness of the Century and the Origin of Human Society.
Neurons And Civilization
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The neurons that built civilization from perspective of Prof Ramachandran, a neurologist who is interested in mapping out the brain’s basic function and the Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego.
Self-Affirmation
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In frustration, we used to say to ourselves, “finish lah..’, worst still ‘mampus lah..’. Do we realized, that this silent, internal communication is negative and counterproductive to our self-esteem. It is indeed, the voice of doubt, worry, limitation and self-hate.
Why don’t we change to something more self-fulfilling. It is known as self-affirmation. Start by saying, “Yes”. Yes, I can do it. Yes, I will face all the trouble. Yes, it is an obstacle, but I can face it.
Please notice, self-affirmation has three main characteristics:
1. It is stated in the first person (using the pronoun ‘I’)
2. It is stated in the present tense
3. It is stated positively.
Of course, to be able to self-affirm, you must trust yourself first. Otherwise, it is merely a joke. Then you get to be patience and persistence. If you just say once and at other times, you say you will fail, most of the time you will fail rather than pass.
Then you got to create optimal learning environment to yourself. If you just say yes, you can, but the environment will lead you to failure, it is more sensible that you will fail after all. If you are students, then tidy up your desk, file your notes, clean the mess and start revision. Remember, behavior change is a slow, painstaking process in which immediate tangible result will take time. Slow and steady is better than immediate and short-lasting change.
Now let us look at the effect of self-affirmation. Once you say yes to your inner being, you internalize self-love and your self-esteem increase. You feel important, you have strong sense of self, you are proud of what you are doing, you strongly believe in yourself, you have high tolerance for frustration and you have good self-control.
The enemy is shame. It is not a usual shame as I will called it a toxic shame. Toxic shame occurs when you internalizes negative feelings and see yourself as a flawed and defective human being. Toxic shame will leads to emotional distress and low self-esteem.
(Hey, don’t you think, those are all Erickson. As experience grows, you learn to expand the theory and put them into practice. Yes, you can!)
Till then, cheers!
Jokes On Marriage
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The Wife is too Jealous
There was once a wife so jealous that when her husband came home one night and she couldn’t find hairs on his jackets she yelled at him, “Great, so now you’re cheating on me with a bald woman!”
The next night, when she didn’t smell any perfume, she yelled again by saying, “She’s not only bald, but she’s too cheap to buy any perfume!”
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Finding Perfect Men
At a local coffee bar, a young woman was expounding on her idea of the perfect mate to some of her friends.
“The man I marry must be a shining light amongst company. He must be musical. Tell jokes. Sing. And stay home at night!”
An old granny overheard and spoke up, “Honey, if that’s all you want, get a TV!”
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Marriage Pessimism
1. Marriage is not a word. It is a sentence–a life sentence.
2. Marriage is love. Love is blind. Therefore, marriage is an institution for the blind.
3. Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his Bachelor’s Degree and the woman gets her Masters.
4. Marriage certificate is just another word for a work permit.
5. Married life is full of excitement and frustration:
* In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
* In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.
* In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.
6. Getting married is very much like going to the restaurant with friends. You order what you want, and when you see what the other fellow has, you wish you had ordered that.
7. Son: How much does it cost to get married, Dad?
Father: I don’t know son, I’m still paying for it.
8. There was a man who said, “I never knew what happiness was until I got married…and then it was too late!”
Smile!
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