Robotic skins turn everyday objects into multifunctional robots

Boot et al. OmniSkins: Robotic skins that turn inanimate objects into multifunctional robots. Science Robotics, September 2018.

When you think of a robot, you likely think of a rigid and heavy electronic machine, one made for a specific purpose. Researchers recently developed a new technology that can make a flexible robot with countless uses possible. This technology can turn any everyday object into a robot. New “Robotic Skins” are made from sensors and actuators on an elastic sheet. Once the sheets are placed onto an object, such as a stuffed animal, the robotic skin can animate them from their surfaces. The sensors and actuators can then be programmed to perform different tasks based on the properties of the soft objects and how the skins are applied. Moreover, adding multiple sheets can increase or change functionality. To test the robotic skins in action, the researchers have produced several prototypes including foam cylinders that move like an inchworm, a shirt-like wearable device designed to correct poor posture, and a device with a gripper that can grasp and move objects. Robots are typically single-purpose devices, and the key finding here is that the robotic skins will allow users to turn pretty much any object into multi-functional robots. This technology will enable the wide application of multi-functional robots without the huge investment necessary to produce a robot from scratch. While the robotic skins may not be immediately ready for commercial use, they definitely hold promise in terms of what we can do with robotics in the future.

Battling dementia by removing “zombie” cells

Bussian et al. Clearance of senescent glial cells prevents tau-dependent pathology and cognitive decline., Nature, September 2018.

Scientists have identified a new target in the fight against dementia and age-related cognitive disorders. This new “enemy” is zombie cells (also known as senescent cells). Zombie cells typically stop dividing but they don’t die and accumulate with aging in the brain. Scientists have long known that zombie cells accumulate in regions of the brain linked to age-dependent diseases ranging from osteoarthritis and atherosclerosis, to Parkinson’s and dementia. Previous work had also shown that the elimination of senescent cells in aging mice extended their healthy lifespan. But the new study is the first to demonstrate a cause-and-effect link with a specific disease, Alzheimer’s, and showed that many pathological signs of Alzheimer’s disease, including protein aggregation, neuronal death, and memory loss, can be eliminated by removing these cells from the brain. Researchers studied genetically engineered mice that undergo brain degeneration unusually early in life because of aggregated clumps of fibers called tau tangles in the brain. The team found that when the “sick” mice were a year old, they had a dozen times as many zombie cells accumulated in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, as the healthy control mice. Most importantly, zombie cells seem to accumulate in brain cells prior to cognitive loss; preventing the accumulation of these cells, researchers were able to diminish tau protein aggregation, neuronal death, and memory loss. A closer look revealed that the zombie cells belonged to a class of cells in the brain and spinal cord, called glia, that provide crucial support and insulation to neurons. Thus far, dementia research has mostly focused on the diseased neurons rather than their neighboring cells. This study clearly points out that non-neuronal cells may be playing a critical role in neurodegenerative diseases. Wiping out zombie-like brain cells could provide a new way to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. However, there might be lots of harmless brain cells that look like the dangerous senescent cells and a new drug should be specific enough to differentiate between the two.

Origami-inspired high-efficiency solar steam generators

Hong et al. Nature-Inspired, 3D Origami Solar Steam Generator toward Near Full Utilization of Solar Energy. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, August 2018

About 71% of the Earth’s surface is water-covered, yet many regions still suffer from a serious lack of clean drinking water; humanity is approaching a global water crisis. A huge step towards universal access to clean drinking water has been taken, as researchers have recently developed a new solar steam generator that approaches 100% efficiency for the production of clean water. Solar steam generators produce clean water by converting energy from the sun into heat, which evaporates seawater, leaving salts and other impurities behind. Then, the steam is collected and condensed into clean water. Existing solar steam generators typically contain a flat photothermal material, which produces heat from absorbed light. Although these devices are fairly efficient, they still lose energy by heat dissipation from the material into the air. Researchers wondered whether they could improve energy efficiency by designing a 3D photothermal material. They decided to deposit a light-absorbing nanocarbon composite onto a cellulose membrane that was patterned with the Miura fold of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. Miura consists of interlocking parallelograms that form “mountains” and “valleys” within the 3D structure. They found that their new 3D device had a 50% higher evaporation with an efficiency of almost 100% compared to a 2D flat generator. Their analyses further revealed that origami “valleys” capture the sunlight much better, ensuring less is lost to reflection. In addition, heat can flow from the valleys toward the cooler “mountains,” evaporating water along the way instead of being lost to the air. This nearly cost free, facile fabricated and high efficiency design is expected to unlock a new generation of efficient water purification, especially for emergency water supplies.

Question: Bediuzzaman says that the stronghold of faith has been damaged for years. What needs to be done to restore this stronghold?

Answer: Restoring is thousand times harder to achieve than destroying. To achieve a restoration, all inner and outer factors must be present. However, the absence of only one factor will result in destruction.

From the same perspective, you can also consider the construction or restoration of a building. Remember that such a genius as the architect, Sinan built his masterpiece Selimiye in six years. However, the work to repair damage caused by cannons and to restore it to its original form lasted for about 8 years. While the construction and restoration of the Selimiye Mosque was such a difficult and time-consuming task, a mere bomb or earthquake could cause serious damage to this magnificent work in just minutes or even seconds.

You can also think about the situation of repair and destruction in the human body. Sometimes, a poisonous substance in your food influences your body right to the neurons of your brain. It might confuse your sleeping and waking habits and you may need to receive treatment over a long period of time to be saved from its harmful effects and regain your health.

Likewise, if a society has lost its faith and its values have been torn down one by one, it takes a serious endeavor to restore and help that society back up onto its feet.

Reconstructing this monument, which has cracked, shattered and whose blessed pieces have been scattered here and there, and restoring it to a condition in compliance with its original identity depends on the strivings of idealistic souls who will sacrifice their enjoyment of life and personal happiness. As the saying goes, “No pain, no gain,” an Arabic poem expresses it as, “Scope of the gains made, depends on the pains taken.” To elucidate further, making material and spiritual accomplishments, ascending to great heights and crowning victories with other victories depend on striving and effort as well as using these efforts for the right purpose and in the right direction.

It should not be forgotten that no movement that aims to restore and resurrect a society can be promising and lasting unless it permeates from the bottom up. There are so many endeavors launched with pompous shows that stop a mere few steps away, remain stuck and paralyzed on the way and then disappear from the stage like a broken dream. When addressing the issue of restoring a society, a certain degree of initiative and support from administrators and politicians could perhaps help to remove some obstacles and progress faster. However, what really needs to be done is initiating the issue from the bottom up and making it widespread at the grass roots level. For this reason, it is necessary to begin with the ABC of the matter, knowing that setting a society right depends on setting individuals right, and never forgetting that it is impossible to set a society right without setting right all of its components.

The ideal of serving humanity and setting things right

People fixed on restoration and setting things right must act with a spirit of devotedness for their whole lifetime so that they can fulfill the aim of their life’s journey. Great projects sometimes failed for they were based on personal or familial benefits. Let alone succeeding, they adulterated that great ideal, and many opportunities of victory ended up with great loss. With the approach of Bediuzzaman, if politics, administration, or any establishment or organization is working on the axis of personal interests, then there is monstrosity in the issue. In this case, people begin to besmirch one another. When the issue is adulterated with personal interests, the masses come to loggerheads with one another and no progress can be made by the society. Being saved from domination of others depends on working ceaselessly for a lifetime solely for the good of the people and for God’s good pleasure.

People who have devoted themselves to the ideal of making others live in the true sense must pursue great projects and plans. They must have plans and projects even for the generations to come some fifty or sixty years later. Given that God has endowed humans with abilities that go beyond the narrowness of physical dimensions, individuals must know how to use these very well and not debilitate their abilities and capacities by condemning themselves to a narrow cage. In addition, they must never be abstemious about the work and activities they carry out on the righteous path or be satisfied with what they have done, but should seek different ways of opening up to the four corners of the world at every phase.

Let it not be misunderstood, such a thought of opening up to the world has nothing to do with invading the world or establishing new empires on the ruins of others. On the contrary, the real intention that underlies this thought of opening up is establishing sound, firm and warm neighborly relations with the different nations of the world. This will enable us to learn what we can from them and also let others’ hearts discern the human values, lofty feelings and thoughts that we try to represent, which are far beyond humanism. We already know that in the shrinking and globalizing world of our time, if such an understanding of neighborhood at the world level is not formed, contact with the entire world is not maintained, and close relations are not developed, the world will turn into an uninhabitable hell. Those fixed on brutality, who formulate plans to kill people and take the place of the people they killed, and who wish to make people clash with one another in order to continue their own tyranny, will continue their hegemony. However, it should not be forgotten that this old world has no tolerance anymore for such animosity based on grudge and hatred, or for the weapons of extermination, which are natural consequences of this animosity. If these waves of hatred are not stopped with bridges of love, tolerance and dialogue, then facing horrible events and an apocalypse that affects the entirety of humanity will be inevitable. For the sake of restoration, we must rely on God and, if necessary, be ready to face obstacles at the expense of the pleasures of this life. We must never harbor any worldly expectations about the different means God Almighty bestows for the sake of serving Him. If people who have volunteered for the revival of the entire world actually acted in favor of their personal interests, this would be an attitude of gross ugliness that cannot be reconciled with true humanity. We can even say that busying oneself with thoughts of earning Paradise through our efforts is disrespectful to our ideal. Using all our efforts, it is necessary to evoke this feeling in today’s generations. For the ones to change the face of the world will be the precious and distinguished ones who represent this feeling and thought.

The mysterious key to hearts

Being deeply concerned and feeling suffering for a cause is a very important dynamic to realize projects for the sake of setting things right and repair. A person in such a state, with God’s permission and grace, will not be deprived in terms of obtaining the things sought for the sake of repair. In this regard, come, let’s all of us beg some suffering from God.

Although religion is based on the principle of ease, the duty of the architects of thought in this respect is a very heavy one. As the master poet, Necip Fazıl, put it, they are supposed to give an extraordinary performance by racking their brains to the degree of squeezing their brains out of their nose. There are so many people who watch them expectantly, listen to their words, and who in a way act with mass psychology. Therefore, they need to care about making others live in the true sense rather than living for their own sake and should weave their lives around this very ideal. The standard must be kept very high in this regard, and the issue must be taken as an issue that concerns the entire humanity. In a globalizing world, if you don’t have a heart that represents your ideals in every place, you cannot be where you want to be and cannot realize the repair you desire.

While doing this, they must never give up their mildness and tenderness; they must reach into hearts using the language of love, for it is such a mysterious key that there is no rusty lock that will not be opened with it. If you use this language correctly, you can open all doors and reach into all obstinate hearts. As it is stated in a Turkish proverb, kindness even makes a snake come out of its hole. Given that the gentle finger movements of a flute player, or the sound, makes even cobras dance, I think a genuinely spiritual attitude and behavior will melt away certain feelings of animosity. As the Qur’an points out about repelling evil with goodness,[1] even some people that you see as enemies will begin to open their bosoms to you and say: “We have been waiting for you.”

Note

[1] “Goodness and evil can never be equal. Repel evil with what is better (or best). Then see: the one between whom and you there was enmity has become a bosom friend” (Fussilat 41:34)

No concept is more central to Islam than the concept of peace. From our origins, to how we are to live in this world, to our return to Allah – every milestone in the life of man is associated, in the Qur’an, with peace.

Peace is rooted in humanity’s very beginnings. In the Qur’an, the place humanity’s soul-forms originate is referred to as Daarus-Salaam, the house of peace: “And Allah calls you to dwell in the house of peace” (Yunus, 25).

The place where the first human was born is the garden: “And we said ‘O Adam, dwell, you and your wife in the garden’” (Baqara, 35). And a garden, above all else, evokes the quality and fragrance of peace.

In fact, even the name of our faith, which Allah has chosen for us, is related to peace: “… and I have chosen for you Islam, as a religion (Ma’idah, 3). Literally, Islam means the way to peace. Not the way of peace, but the way to peace, denoting the idea of action and effort, through which humanity enters into the fullness of its being.

Additionally, the name Muslims, which we have received from the prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), means “one who enters into peace”; one who enters into a covenant with peace:

This is the way of your father Abraham. God named you Muslims previously… (Hajj, 78)

Allah describes His guidance in the Qur’an as “pathways”; if humans follow them, they will be led to peace:  

“…by it (the Qur’an), Allah guides those who seek His pleasure, along the pathways of peace” (Ma’idah, 16).

This state of peace we enter into as Muslims is one we are asked to maintain, even under the direst of circumstances, such as being provoked to anger: “And the servants of the Merciful are those who walk on the earth with humility, and when provoked to anger by the ignorant, respond with peace” (Furqan, 63).

The first sentence of the first sermon of the Prophet Muhammad, delivered when he first arrived in Medina, was: “O people, spread peace among yourselves” (Sahih Muslim). And we are told in the Qur’an that as the righteous meet Allah, their greeting will be: peace (Ahzab, 44).

Allah gifted humans with the heavenly experience of the garden before sending them down to earth with the mission of re-creating the experience of the garden, transforming the forest of the earth into a garden where all of creation can commune with, and be in, peace.

Chestnut Camp Retreat Center, the 25-acre complex where Mr. Fethullah Gülen has lived since 1999, is nestled in the Poconos mountains of rural Pennsylvania. It reminds one of a large garden, evoking peace, quiet, solitude, and serenity.

I recently visited Mr. Gülen at this camp. As we arrived at night, the “garden” was bathed in the serene light of the moon, beautiful and soft, inviting and welcoming. My first thought was, “this is a place where one can really be alone with God.” My second thought was, “this is the place the 19th century English poet John Clare was searching and longing for in his poem, “I Am”:

I long for scenes where man has never trod;
A place where woman never smil’d or wept;
There to abide with my creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept:
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie;
The grass below, above the vaulted sky.

My first day at the retreat was split between two delights dear to my heart, prayer and solitary meditation. We rose for the 4 am group tahajjud prayer, which was both a surprise and a joy. Islam mourns the loss of this beautiful practice.

May this example spread, and may it remind Muslims that it was through this very practice that Allah promised our beloved Messenger the loftiest and most exalted of stations, Maqaman Mahmudaa, the station of praise and glory to intercede for humanity on the Day of Resurrection (Bukhari Vol. 6, 242): “And at night (O Prophet), rise up and offer the tahajjud prayer. It may be, that through it, Allah will raise you to the station of praise and glory” (Isra, 79).

It is the flame of this blessed practice, pregnant with unfathomable divine blessings for individuals as well as for the Ummah, that Mr. Gülen, affectionately called Hocaefendi (beloved teacher) by his students, has kept burning.

The tahajjud prayer was followed by a time of private meditation, quiet reflection, and reading of the Qur’an until the time for the Fajr prayer which was offered in congregation. After this prayer and the heart-felt remembrance of Allah which followed it, we retreated to our rooms. I later left a note for a fellow traveler in which I wrote: “This place is an alarm clock for the soul.”

At Chestnut, it often felt like time stood still. The peace and serenity of the surroundings, the fragrance of the trees and the soil awakened to life by the early morning mist … all of this filled the awakened heart with tranquil awe and returned me back to my Lord. Standing outside and watching the birds claim the trees of their choosing, I remembered the words of George Bernard Shaw: “The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for Him there.”

This atmosphere of serenity and peace was even more palpable when, following the Maghrib prayer, I was received by Mr. Gülen.

He sat peacefully, like a man from another time. As I walked towards him, he slowly rose to his feet to greet me. We shook hands, quietly. It was a meeting of hearts in the house of the holiness of silence. I was immediately struck by the strong feeling of the pervasive presence of God in the room.

Fazkuruni, Azkurkum – Remember Me (O human being) and I will remember you. (Baqara 152)

Remember me in your thoughts, words and deeds, Allah says to humanity and, as a result, I will fill you and our space with the mystery of my presence.

After greeting Mr. Gülen, we both sat down; for a brief moment the whole room, and all the people in it, fell still and into a comfortable silence.

Stillness fills us with the presence of God. And the presence of God calms the soul and gives it quiet and peace.

Mr. Gülen welcomed me and, through a translator, spoke of being aware of and appreciating the letters I had written to defend him as well as the Hizmet schools in Senegal. I spoke to him of the significance of his words and actions as models and examples for the Islam of our time and place. He spoke softly and slowly, his words born between two silences. Aisha (RA), the wife of prophet Muhammad, said of him that he was the most silent of people (asmatan-nas) and that “he spoke so slowly and so deliberately that you could count his words, if you wanted to” (Sahih Muslim).

In all of Mr. Gülen’s classes which I attended that day and the one following, he never wavered from that state of peaceful bliss and serenity. I felt that I, and all those around him, were under the shade of his tranquility.

Through Allah’s grace and mighty striving, one can get to a place where one is no longer just filled with peace. One becomes peace itself.

One daily practice of Mr. Gülen’s community, which he insists on attending despite being in poor health, and which moved and touched me very deeply, was the daily community gathering in the big meeting hall, where they silently pray for all the suffering Muslims around the world – and beyond that, for all of humanity that suffers. I travel extensively around the world and have never seen this practice so formalized. I do not remember ever feeling the presence of God so strong, as when I sat in that gathering across from Mr. Gülen, silently praying. God is always with the suffering from among His creation.

During one of the classes, tea was brought to Mr. Gülen on a tray, along with small cakes. He put one sugar in the tea, stirred it with a spoon, and had it sent to me across the room. An act of pure grace and elegance, reminiscent of the beauty of manners of Allah’s beloved, peace be upon him. I closed my eyes and for the duration of the class prayed fervently and ceaselessly for Mr. Gülen. “Can the reward for beauty, be anything, except beauty in return?” (Surah Rahman, 60).

The day I was leaving, at the end of his class, he walked towards me and stopped, inquired about my time of departure, and prayed for a safe journey. He gave me many gifts, including a signed book; it told me that we also met, in the tavern of the human spirit.

As I left his presence and walked back to the house where I was staying, many thoughts flooded my mind. I remembered all of the negative things that have been said and written about him, and how starkly they contrasted with his peaceful presence and message. I saw and felt in him the harmlessness of a dove, a lover of peace and truth who has transcended the ages; a poet of God.

He challenges his students to think at his level. He sees humanity’s highest potential and has dedicated his life to seeing the children of men reach that potential.

As our car drove slowly out of the Chestnut Retreat Center, I once again closed my eyes and said a silent prayer of peace and safety for him.

It was my way of saying good-bye to one of humanity’s greatest friends.

“Ideology is the marriage of the truth with the apocryphal whereas wisdom is the distinction of the former from the others,” (1) says Cemil Meriç, a prominent Turkish intellectual figure, philosopher, and influencer of twentieth century Turkey. Wisdom is the property of West and East together; it’s the private garden of all humanity, a shared ocean of advancement for the sons and daughters of Adam. The profound knowledge leading to wisdom is a bowl which is uniting rather than segregating, a line drawn to encompass, not to dissect. A short glimpse across the flipped pages of history is enough to come across a handful of people who lived as light-houses, illuminating the way to wisdom, despite using various languages and separate tools.

The tradition of storytelling

Stories are as old as humanity. They are vessels across the ocean of wisdom. Storytelling was used by Buddha in his Jatakas, Rumi in the Masnawi, Bidpai in Kalilah and Dimnah. Many children of the West prefer to embrace novels. (2) On the other hand, old wise masters of the East used allegories and parables. They preferred to describe an elephant as a water spout (trunk) (3), a fan (ear) (4), a pillar (leg) (5), or a throne (back) (6). They knew understanding an elephant’s entire being would be beyond the limits of comprehension for a majority of people. Whence Prophet Muhammad had been asked about the content of the scrolls sent down to Abraham, peace be upon both, he replied, “It was full of parables” (7).

Bidpai (from Sanskrit Vidya-pati, meaning chief scholar) was a wise man of India. He lived in the 3^rd century BC,[i] and he decided to correct the oppression and wrongdoings of a young Indian Emperor of his time, Dabshalim by teaching him wisdom he collected from the ancient times (8). Though the main sources of the stories are not known to us, they were still being told a millennium later. In 570 AD, the ruler of Persia, Khosroes Noushirawan, after having received the information of that book, sent Barzouyeh, court physician, on a mission to India to translate the book into Persian (more precisely into Pahlavi, i.e. Middle Persian). These stories were translated into Arabic two centuries later, and into Hebrew from Arabic – and possibly from its Sanskrit originals (9). And this lineage of translations gave fruit to more than two hundred versions of the book in about fifty different languages.

Said Nursi

Said Nursi is another man of wisdom, one of recent history. Being born into life in an Eastern Anatolian village in 1877, until he passed in 1960, he lived through the collapse of an empire and the rebuilding of a country as a republic. He experienced the reigns of constitutional monarchy, oppression, military coups, and democracy. He dedicated his life to the survival of religious and ethical connections, in contrast to many of his contemporaries. During the last half of his life, he focused on extolling the virtues of education and belief to the extent that he did not bother at all about the developments of the World War II, which was basically destroying the world.

Nursi diagnosed society’s problems as falling under three categories: ignorance, poverty and dissension. His Risale-i Nur (the Collection of Epistles of Light) was a cure to these ills. He authored this collection of several thousand pages under the harsh conditions of captivity, exile, imprisonment, and surveillance.

Before writing his Risale, Said Nursi preached his wisdom to the villagers living around him, in the desolate places of Anatolia. He used the same method as Bidpai, i.e. via parables and allegories. Skimming through his primary epistles in “the Short Words” is sufficient enough to catch a glimpse of the profound wisdom woven through his stories.

I want to focus on one of Said Nursi’s parables. It is from the first treatise of the collection, “Nur’un İlk Kapısı” (the First Gate of the Light). The second lesson is reiterated in his masterpiece as “Mesnevi-i Nuriye” (the Seedbed of Light), and later in “Eighth Word” in a slightly different and more detailed form. It is the story of a desert-dweller jumping into a well when threatened by a lion (10).

The story

A person (actually Nursi talks about two brothers in order to compare positive and negative responses to the mystery of the universe) finds himself in a desolate wilderness. He suddenly hears a terrifying sound and sees that a great lion is about to attack him. While he is fleeing, he comes across a waterless well sixty yards deep, and in his fear jumps into it. After falling halfway down the well, his hands meet a tree growing out of the wall. He clings to it. He soon sees two animals gnawing through the tree’s two roots. Then he looks up and sees the lion waiting, and when he looks down with frustration he sees a dragon, its mouth as big as the mouth of the well. Then he looks back at the tree and notices with surprise that even though it is a fig-tree, it is bearing the fruits of thousands of trees, including some looking fancy and delicious but ultimately intoxicating and poisonous.

The responses of the two brothers bifurcates in Nursi’s narration. The good brother, whose good morals give him good thoughts, and good thoughts showing him the good side of everything, goes ahead with the realization of these strange happenings being connected to someone. He concludes that behind everything are the commands of a hidden ruler, who is watching him and testing him. His fear turns into wonder, and that wonder gives the fruit of love towards that hidden hand, leading him to cry out: “O ruler of this place! I have happened upon you and I take refuge with you. I am your servant and I want to please you. I am searching for you.” After he makes this supplication, the walls of the well suddenly part, and a door opens onto a wonderful, pleasant, quiet garden. Indeed, the dragon’s mouth transforms into the door, and both it and the lion take on the forms of two servants, inviting him to enter. The lion even becomes a docile horse for him to ride.

Wisdom of the story

Even while listening to the story for the first time, one can match most of the allegorical details mentioned in the story with real life counterparts. A short reference is provided as Table 1.

Table 1. Correspondence between the metaphors used in the parable and the truths behind them.

Beyond these, it’s astonishing to realize how perfectly the story simplifies the very essential concerns of each concious individual, such as the purpose of this life, reaching the Creator beyond the veil of creation, the reality of death, the compliance of destiny with the responsibility of actions, and so forth. The story also sets forth answers to the three basic questions asked by all humanity:

“Where are you coming from?”

“What is your destination?”

“What is your task in this world?” (11, 12)

Search for the source of wisdom

The First Station

The clever son of Russian Tsardom, Leo Tolstoy, welcomed me with his deep contemplations on life, death, and religion in the preface of his book, A Confession. Tolstoy was mentioning the “story of wisdom,” but from the perspective of bad-mannered brother:

There is an Eastern fable, told long ago, of a traveler overtaken on a plain by an enraged beast. Escaping from the beast he gets into a dry well, but sees at the bottom of the well a dragon that has opened its jaws to swallow him. And the unfortunate man, not daring to climb out lest he should be destroyed by the enraged beast, and not daring to leap to the bottom of the well lest he should be eaten by the dragon, seizes a twig growing in a crack in the well and clings to it. His hands are growing weaker and he feels he will soon have to resign himself to the destruction that awaits him above or below, but still he clings on. Then he sees that two mice, a black one and a white one, go regularly round and round the stem of the twig to which he is clinging and gnaw at it. And soon the twig itself will snap and he will fall into the dragon’s jaws. The traveler sees this and knows that he will inevitably perish; but while still hanging he looks around, sees some drops of honey on the leaves of the twig, reaches them with his tongue and licks them (13).

Before journeying towards the next station, the following is how Tolstoy transcribes the story into his case:

So I too clung to the twig of life, knowing that the dragon of death was inevitably awaiting me, ready to tear me to pieces; and I could not understand why I had fallen into such torment. I tried to lick the honey which formerly consoled me, but the honey no longer gave me pleasure, and the white and black mice of day and night gnawed at the branch by which I hung. I saw the dragon clearly and the honey no longer tasted sweet. I only saw the inescapable dragon and the mice, and I could not tear my gaze from them. And this is not a fable but the real unanswerable truth intelligible to all.

While following Tolstoy within his profound yet gloomy commentary on the standing of human “self,” Nursi’s voice has shaken my mind again, answering the stated, unanswerable truth, as follows:

Death is not terrifying as it appears to be superficially… for believers, death is to be discharged from the burdensome duties of life. And for them it is a rest from worship, which is the instruction and training in the arena of trial of this world. It is also a means of their rejoining friends and relatives, ninety-nine out of a hundred of whom have already departed for the next world. And it is a means of entering their true homeland and eternal abodes of happiness. It is also an invitation to the gardens of Paradise from the dungeon of this world. And it is the time to receive their wage from the munificence of the Most Compassionate Creator in return for service rendered to Him… Yes, for the people of belief, death is the door to Divine mercy, while for the people of misguidance, it is the pit of everlasting darkness (14).

The Second Station

While skimming through Arabic translation of the book by Abdullah ibn Muqaffa from Barzouyeh’s original Persian, I came across Barzouyeh’s own version of the “story of wisdom.” His version, which was written thirteen centuries before, was just parallel to Tolstoy’s. It was an allegory of his own search for truth, with the details only slightly altered:

…I therefore compared the human race to a man who, flying from a furious elephant, goes down into a well. He suspends himself from two branches which are at the brim of it whilst his feet rest upon something projecting out of its sides, which prove to be the heads of four serpents appearing out of their holes. At the bottom, he discovers a dragon… (15)

After underlining small yet clear differences between Barzouyeh’s version and Tolstoy’s – including the introduction of four serpents and a furious elephant – we can leave the second station. 

The Third Station

After being translated into Greek in the 11^th century and into Latin in the 13^th by a Christian, John of Capua, the book appeared in Europe in several languages close to the end of 15^th century, right after the invention of printing. The rendering of John of Capua’s Latin manuscript into Italian by Anton-Francesco Doni fostered the first English translation of the book by Sir Thomas North, in 1568. The title of North’s translation was, Fables of Bidpai: The Morall Philosophie of Doni (16).

Swung back to 16^th century from ibn Muqaffa’s Arabic text, 750 AD, a surprise was waiting for me at the third station. While skimming through North’s English translation, I came across the “story of wisdom” in the middle of the book – except this one was apparently not in the Arabic manuscript, save Barzouyeh’s preface, as already mentioned above.

Jane Stevenson writes in her piece in the University of Toronto Quarterly on the manuscript’s translation adventure, that Doni’s Italian version – compiled of forty-one tales, thirty-four of which are from the Persian manuscript – as a rehashed version. These thirty-four stories are also shared between Bidpai’s narrations and Barzouyeh’s (17).

Most probably, the courtesy of our “story of wisdom” is given to Barzouyeh due to the preface text appearing in the Arabic version. Yet interestingly, “the story of wisdom” in North’s English translation appears more similar to Tolstoy and Nursi’s narrations, as it mentions neither a furious elephant nor four serpents. It most resembles Nursi’s story, where the traveler comes into a large plain after passing through thick and large woods. Differently in North’s version, there are four lions attacking rather than a single one.

The following quote from Thomas North’s lesson is significant to exhibit how the core of the “death – lion allegory” is lost through the influence of his contemporary culture: “The foure Lions the foure elements, which feeke ftill to deuour man” (18). This also gives us a hint about the case of Barzouyeh’s addition of four serpents. Barzouyeh was saying, “…the four serpents are the four humors in the human body which being disturbed in their mutual action become many deadly poisons…” Medieval medicine believed four faculties in the human body caused illnesses in their mutual discord. Noticeably, both of these allegories, missing in Nursi’s text, have been proven wrong/mythical via modern knowledge of science and medicine.

Comparison of differences

The only demanding explanation of the significant differences between Barzouyeh’s story and the Medieval European translations would be thinking of a second Hebrew manuscript which parented John of Capua’s Latin manuscript. Otherwise assuming the Latin version being translated from Joel’s 12^th century Hebrew narration of ibn Muqaffa text, would leave the source of the differences in the “story of wisdom” in dark. That second version of 8^th century AD text, in Hebrew, was likely compiled under an Abbasid Caliph, as argued by some scholars, and should have been directly translated from Sanskrit originals.

Turkish newspaper columnist and author, Abdullah Aymaz, in a conversation with a Buddhist scholar, Venerable Bup-Hyun,[ii]  throws light onto the issue:

… I narrated him the story told by Said Nursi in the Eighth Word and later asked: ‘Does that story exist in your religious texts?’ He replied, ‘Yes it does, but instead of a lion we have an elephant and also the dragon has four heads. We too have black and white mice and in place of fruits we have a poisonous honey. You can also find it in Jatakas, told by Buddha (19).

If we come to the last main difference between the four versions of the story, the existence of honey inside the well, we see that both Barzouyeh and North are talking about a beehive whereas Tolstoy is mentioning some drops of honey on the leaves of the twig. In contrast to these, Nursi does not mention honey in the story. Rather he talks about numerous types of fruits coming out of fig tree’s branch, some of which are poisonous though they look sweet. Nursi’s analogy leads to nourishing pearls of wisdom such as:

1. “Dissolute, forbidden pleasures of youth are like poisonous honey.” (20).
2. “As pleasure’s disappearance causes pain, pain’s disappearance causes pleasure” (21).
3. “Man’s accountability requires opening the door to the reason and not removing the power of choice” (22).
4. “This world’s adornments are meant to rouse our appetite. As they are temporary and give pain upon separation, they are here only to instruct in wisdom, to arouse gratitude, and to encourage us to seek the permanent originals of which they are copies” (23).

Approaching the source as the last station

Although it is hard to historically detect the origin of the “story of wisdom,” and we’re not able to trace it beyond Barzouyeh, it is evident from the previous discussion that the very source of the story is not himself. A reasonable scenario would be accepting the story existing in the original compilation of Pañchatantra, in Sanskrit, and in the Jataka stories of Buddha.

Moreover, the inner-consistency of the story and the perfection of allegories give the fragrance of a heavenly wisdom rather than a carnal production. Maybe that is why Nursi summarized the Eighth Word as, “… interpreting an important mystery of the verses on the essence of this world, the essence of the human, and in humanity the meaning of religion, via a beautiful and luminary parable which has its original in the Scriptures of Abraham…” (24).

The Story of Wisdom and the Qur’an

It’s worthwhile to mention several tips from the book called “al-Hakim,” which literally means “full of wisdom.”

The scriptures sent to Prophet Abraham are mentioned in the Qur’an at only one place, the ending verses of the Chapter of A’la (the High): “This is surely contained in the former Scrolls: The Scrolls of Abraham and Moses” (25).

Preceding verses have a comparison of two people coming up with opposite responses to the advice of the Messenger: the mindful one who stands in awe of the Lord, and the wicked one remaining aloof from God (26). Later on, the punishment due to the latter’s heedlessness is described: “He will neither die therein (to be saved from punishment) nor live” (27). This description is consistent to the case of the man holding the twig inside the well.

The Qur’an’s narrative compares the situation of two persons, which is in line with Nursi’s double-winged narration. Said Nursi emphasizes that the twig which the man holds is a “fig tree.” The Qur’an says, at the beginning of the Chapter of Tin (the Fig): “By the fig and the olive, And Mount Sinai, And this secure City” (28). Some prominent scholars of Tafsir, interpreting these verses, believe that “the fig” refers to Damascus, thus to the mission of Abraham (29); the olives refer to Jerusalem, thus to Jesus; Mount Sinai refers to Egypt, thus to Moses; and “this secure City” to Mecca, thus to Prophet Muhammad (blessings be upon them all) (30).

Notes

1. Şahiner, N. 2007. Cemil Meriç’le Nur Sohbetleri, Izmir: Isik Publications, p. 106 (in Turkish).
2. Ibid. pp. 93-95.
3. Jainism and Buddhism. Udana 68-69: Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant.
4. Hughes, Marilynn. 2005. The Voice of Prophets, Volume 2, Morrisville, NC, pp. 590-91.
5. Al-Ghazzali. 1933. Ihya’ `Ulum ad-Din, Volume 4, Cairo, p. 6. (in Arabic).
6. Jalalu’ddin Rumi. 1930. The Mathnawi. Edited with critical notes, translation, and commentary by Reynold A. Nicholson, Volume 4, Book 3, London, vv. I259-68.
7. Suyuti. Durr al-Mansur, Volume 6, p. 341. Hakim. Mustadrak, Volume 2, p. 425. (in Arabic).
8. Bidpai. 1885. Kalilah and Dimnah, or, The Fables of Bidpai. Translated by I.G.N. Keith Falconer, Cambridge University Press.
9. Bidpai. 1819. Kalila and Dimna. Translated by Rev. Wyndham Knatchbull, London: Oxford Press, pp. 32-46.
10. Nursi, Said. 2005. The Words, 8th Word, NJ: The Light, Inc.
11. Nursi. 2005, 10th Word, Introduction, Second Sign, 19th Word, Third Droplet.
12. Nursi. 2006. The Letters, 19th Letter, First Addendum, NJ: The Light, Inc.
13. Tolstoy, Leo. 2010. A Confession and Other Religious Writings, Translated by N.H. Dole, L. Maude, Digireads.com Publishing, pp. 13-14.
14. Nursi. 2006. 1st Letter, Second Question.
15. Bidpai. 1819. p. 81.
16. Doni, Anton Francesco. 2003. The Moral Philosophy of Doni: Known as The Fables of Bidpai. Translated by Thomas North, edited by John Anthony Butler, Carmine Di Biase, Canada: Dovehouse Editions. 
17. Stevenson, Jane. 2004. “The Moral Philosophy of Doni, popularly known as the Fables of Bidpai,” University of Toronto Quarterly, Volume 74, Number 1, Winter 2004/2005, pp. 404-405.
18. North, Thomas. 1568. The Morall Philosophie of Doni, London: Ballantyne Press, p. 63.
19. Aymaz, Abdullah. “Güneş doğana kadar yediyüz secde”, July, 18, 2005, Zaman Newspaper (in Turkish).
20. Nursi. 2005. Thirteenth Word, Second Station.
21. Nursi. 2005. Tenth Word, Fourth Truth.
22. Nursi. 2005. Thirty First Word, Addendum.
23. Nursi. 2005. Tenth Word.
24. Nursi, Fihrist Risalesi, Sekizinci Söz, İstanbul: Envar Publications (in Ottoman Turkish).
25. Qur’an, 87/18-19.
26. Qur’an, 87/10-11.
27. Qur’an, 87/13.
28. Qur’an, 95/1-3.
29. İslamoğlu, Mustafa. Tefsirul Kur’an Te’vil ul Furkan, Tîn Sûresi (in Turkish).
30. Imam Qurtubi, Tafsir Qurtubi, Chapter 95.

[i]. By his original name, Vishna Sarma is believed to have lived in the Kashmir area about 200 BC and compiled different fables and stories, some dating back to the 13^th century BC, into a single book under the name of “Pañchatantra (Five Principles).”

[ii]   Professor at Dongbang Buddhist University, Director of the Korean Buddhist Order Association

Some people are full of negative thoughts. They don’t dream or strive. These are negaholics, and if you’re trying to achieve great things you must not listen to them!

Attention! They are everywhere, sapping your energy, attacking your immune system; before you even notice, they change your life. Still wondering who these powerful folks are?

They are the negaholics.

We all have weak spots, but you must be careful about what you let into your inner soul. Since people are normally sociable and love mingling with other people, humans listen to many voices. Unfortunately, some of them say things like: you can’t, you won’t, I dare you, I warn you, you don’t seem alright, what’s wrong with you? And on and on…

Many people have the greatest ideas and the most wonderful dreams but often hear people saying, “you’re out of your mind”; that your dreams are way beyond your capabilities. Some people are strong enough to stand up for their dreams, for what they believe in, but others aren’t. It doesn’t mean they’re weak, just that they can be influenced by others, or that they place too much value on what others think.

Negative thoughts and reflections implanted in our minds and souls are certainly something we need to avoid in order to live a successful, fulfilled life. Lucky are those who have someone to encourage them, to believe in them, to be always there to listen, support, and drive them forward; but those who are not so lucky must avoid negaholics.

The best you can do is to surround yourself with effective, positive thinkers who boost your power, enhance your stamina, and enlighten your vision. You can never ask someone to give what they don’t have; one with no dream can never believe in someone else’s; one with no ambitions can never understand those of another. You must listen to those who dream, those who strive. Perhaps you cannot choose the people you meet, but you can always choose who influences you.

The little voices that bite your energy are the worst companion you can ever have. When you make big decisions, or even insignificant ones, you may hesitate, and that’s when you value a third party’s opinion – and when a negative voice whispering in your ear is really unneeded.

Life is full of challenges, and dreams are not easy to catch; make sure you’re getting the right inputs into the recipe of your day-to-day life. Make sure no words can bring you down, and no one can stop you from becoming the person you truly want to be! Most important of all, make sure you are avoiding the negaholics!

Do you know what hemoglobin does? You should, because it has been perfectly created to keep you alive!

Hemoglobin is one of the miraculous molecules in the human body. While its most important function is to carry oxygen in the blood, it also plays a role in maintaining the body’s acid-base balance. It also carries carbon monoxide in the blood, though to a much lesser amount than oxygen. Hemoglobin is not yet free to roam in the blood; it is carried in red blood cells, which act as hemoglobin sacs. Red blood cells have almost no other function but to carry hemoglobin. They lose all their organelles, including the nucleus, to be able to carry more hemoglobin – and hence, our oxygen.

Hemoglobin is produced in the bone marrow by combining the “hem” molecule with the “globin” molecule. The hem part is produced in the mitochondria of the red blood cell. Two succynil coenzyme “A”s and two glycine amino acids are combined to form pyrrole. Four pyrroles are then combined to form protoporphyrin, which is combined with the iron atom to produce the hem. Four hems are combined with four globins, a kind of protein, to produce one hemoglobin molecule. Since each hem has one iron atom, every hemoglobin has four iron atoms. And since an oxygen molecule binds with each iron atom, every hemoglobin can carry a total of four oxygen molecules – or eight oxygen atoms.

The makeup of hemoglobin along with its production steps is very complicated and it features a precise and intricate design.

Hemoglobin functions much like a truck that hauls oxygen. The blood circulates between the lungs and tissues thanks to the continuous work of the heart. As hemoglobin moves through the lungs it binds with oxygen and as it flows through tissues it releases the oxygen.

For this process to work, the bond between oxygen and hemoglobin can be neither too strong nor too weak. If it were too strong, oxygen would not be able to break free in the tissues, and the tissues would go without oxygen. If the bond were too weak, hemoglobin would not be able to bind with enough oxygen in the lungs, in which case the tissues would again not get oxygen.

There are basically two kinds of hemoglobin. The first type is found in fetuses, and it is called fetal hemoglobin (Hb-F). The other is found in adult humans and is called adult hemoglobin (Hb-A). Before being born, the fetus gets oxygen from the mother’s womb. To get more oxygen from the mother, fetal hemoglobin is designed to bind more strongly with oxygen. One is tempted to ask: Because fetal hemoglobin binds so strongly with oxygen, will the fetus’ tissues not be deprived of oxygen? Yet there is no need to worry. Because there is less oxygen in fetuses than in adult humans, this different hemoglobin easily breaks free from the oxygen in the low-oxygen environment. After the baby is born, the body produces Hb-A instead of Hb-F because it starts to breathe through its own lungs.

Hemoglobin is charged with carrying 97% of the oxygen carried in the blood. 3% of the oxygen is carried in dissolved form in plasma. Because an increase in dissolved oxygen leads to oxygen poisoning, it is not desirable at all. If one breathes from a tube containing 100% oxygen instead of atmospheric air containing 80% nitrogen, the amount of dissolved oxygen in the blood increases, causing oxygen poisoning.

Hemoglobin is designed to store some oxygen, too. At rest, there is 20 ml of oxygen in the hemoglobin of 100 ml of arterial blood. Only 5 milliliters of this oxygen will be given to cells. The remaining 15 milliliters remains in the hemoglobin. In other words, not all oxygen in the hemoglobin is transferred to the body’s tissues. This is a security measure against possible risks. In the event that blood does not come from the lungs, this stored oxygen is used so that life can continue, though for a short time. The same situation is experienced when we do not breathe for a long time.

Exercise

During exercise or work that requires physical effort, the amount of oxygen demanded by the body increases twenty-fold. The heart works faster as does circulatory system. Hemoglobin is supposed to get 20 times more oxygen from the lungs so that it can take 20 times more oxygen to the cells. Body temperature increases, too. Hemoglobin is designed to respond to all these changes. During exercise, hemoglobin starts to give almost all the oxygen to the tissues. When it gets back to the lungs, it is like an empty truck and can load more oxygen.

The exercising person breathes more deeply and quickly; thus, the lungs work faster, the heart pumps blood with greater force and speed, and the design of the hemoglobin is just good enough to carry more oxygen to the tissues.

Inflammatory diseases

Cellular metabolism speeds up when a person has an inflammatory disease. More oxygen is needed because the chemical reactions in cells gain speed. The body’s temperature increases; so, too, the amount of acids and carbon dioxide in the blood due to increase in metabolic rate. In addition, the amount of a very important molecule in the blood increases. This molecule is called diphosphoglycerate. It is charged with protecting the cell during inflammatory diseases and preventing cell death. Diphosphoglycerate coaxes hemoglobin to send more oxygen to the body’s tissues. As we can see, the body has been perfectly created to ensure it receives enough oxygen, even during illnesses!

Transfer of carbon dioxide

Hemoglobin is also assigned the task of carrying carbon dioxide. Carrying carbon dioxide in the blood is easier than carrying oxygen, as carbon dioxide is twenty times more water-soluble than oxygen. Doctors, therefore, do not have to make an extra effort to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in blood, and it is enough to give oxygen to patients with breathing problems. If carbon dioxide were not easy to dispose of, we would face an enormous problem, because there is no way of disposing of carbon dioxide and it is virtually impossible to develop one.

A vast amount of the carbon dioxide in the blood (70%) is carried in the form of bicarbonate. First, carbon dioxide combines with water, as a result of which carbonic acid, and then bicarbonate, are produced. After these reactions, carbon dioxide hides in bicarbonate (HCO₃) and arrives at the lungs. Then bicarbonate combines with H⁺, by which carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) is made. Then water (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) are produced. The carbon dioxide that breaks up from the bicarbonate is discharged through the lungs into the atmosphere. 7% of the dissolved carbon dioxide in the blood is carried in plasma and 23% in hemoglobin. That is to say, as hemoglobin travels from the lungs to the cells, it carries oxygen, and as it returns from the cells it loads off some of the carbon dioxide.

Acid-base balance

The pH value of human blood is 7.4, on average. It is vital for cells that the pH of the blood remain stable. The regulation of the acid (H⁺) ion concentration in body fluids is called the acid-base balance. Little changes in H⁺ ions cause enormous changes in cellular chemical reactions. The regulation of the balance of H⁺ ions is therefore crucial for the body’s internal balance.

Hemoglobin plays an important role in the acid-base balance of blood. If strong acids find their way into the bloodstream because of certain diseases, hemoglobin help prevent an increase in the amount of acid (and a decrease in pH) by binding with the acid or carbon dioxide. A similar role is also true for times when the amount of base rises.

When we study hemoglobin and the chemical substances and reactions it is involved in, we can see that they are all arranged extremely precisely, and everything is in its proper place.

Positive thinking is a mental attitude, a process of generating thoughts that transform energy into reality. In this article, we will approach positive thinking, especially in education, from a psychological perspective. What is positive thinking?  How does it occur? What factors are associated with it? How does the student reflect their education by positive thinking?

Positive thinking is a process of choosing positive emotions from stimuli in the environment and applying them to perceptions and beliefs. Life satisfaction is defined as “a global evaluation by the person of his or her life” (Pavot, Diener, Colvin&Sandvik, 1991, p. 150).   It is generally the cognitive part of mental well-being. In this context, it is different from joy and happiness. A high life satisfaction is important for individuals because it leads to positive mental health and healthy interpersonal relationships.

A positive attitude starts with something already secured and weighty and moves from that point forward. While a person keeps looking at things or events from the perspective of certain considerations, their character and temperament will gradually take shape in line with that way of thinking. People’s way of thinking shapes their behavior. While new opportunities are generated, success depends on the person’s perspective. Here’s an example of positive thinking: there were once only ten people in the audience at one of Mozart’s performances. He did not really bother himself with this disappointing number of attendance. After the performance he said to his wife: “It was a perfect concert, and everyone gave a standing ovation.”

This reflected his inner purity and faithfulness. I think we need to think like Mozart. Such thinking brings inner peace, success, improved relationships, better health, happiness, and satisfaction.

Positive thinking about others, too, is most becoming for a righteous person. It is our duty to cherish good opinions, and we must always think positively. Our behaviors and actions must be parallel. Consistent with this is taking a person and their actions in the best possible way. We should not be suspicious of a person and should accept the best possible motives for their behaviors. We must remember that it is better to be mistaken in a good opinion than being proven right in a negative opinion.

This is especially true in the field of education. A student or teacher is supposed to avoid making judgments like they avoid poisonous snakes. In the case of false judgments, they should immediately talk and try to find solutions, with the hope of being pardoned. A fine balance exists between refraining from bias and not giving in to negative thinking after a temporary lapse, since a bias is a greater danger than distrust. Saying, “There is no more hope for me” and totally giving up, indulging in the swamp of regret, and finally being seized by pessimism leads to a loss of hope.

Even when one bumps into an embarrassing situation of a friend, he or she should turn their face to another direction, and not inquire the situation even further. One must continue to think positively about that person, should not develop suspicion and reach to quick judgments about them.

In the same way that it is essential to hold a good opinion of others, it is also important to refrain from behavior that might raise suspicion. Some people fail to avoid acts and conditions that might possibly lead to ugly thoughts arising in the minds of other people. They might sometimes present behavior that can be open to criticism in terms of their personal lives, businesses, or social relations. Worst of all, an unmannerly act by a single individual might cause all members of a group to lose credibility.

Here are a few actions I have taken. Consider them “tips” to help you develop the power of positive thinking:

• Always use only positive words while thinking and while talking. Use words such as, “it is not the end of the way; surely there is a new way”; “I can”; “it is possible”; and “why not?”
• Watch movies that make you feel happy.
• Focus on feelings of happiness, strength, and success.
• Use words that evoke feelings and mental images of strength, happiness, and success.
• Associate yourself with people who think positively.
• Try to ignore negative thoughts. Replace them with constructive ones.
• Have limits on the amount of time you listen to the news and read the papers.

Personalization is another technique optimistic people use that allows them to see their problems as something external and not internal. Through personalization, an optimistic individual is able to look at the broader picture of a negative situation by “detaching” from it; that is, by externalizing the negative causes of that situation, and internalizing that its negative impact on the person’s life is only transitory: that life will move on. For instance: if a classmate gets upset with you because of someone else’s comments or rumors, you should not attribute this entirely to yourself. You should instead try to amend the situation in the best way possible, without thinking that the fault for the rumors lays entirely on you. It is partly because of “word of mouth” communication among common peers.

Through persistence, optimistic people can see bad situations as something specific and not global. In this way, someone who is going through a tough time will realize that this situation will not affect them permanently. For example, when a student gets a bad grade in an activity, he/she should understand that this one experience should not affect his/her overall academic performance. It is important to remember that one should never, ever give up. He/she will be able to gain more wisdom and more conscience by choosing to learn from their mistakes.

We hold the belief that success is always achievable with hard work and dedication. While this is true for many occasions, things do not always turn out as we would like them to be. There are limits to what we can do. However, I do believe that success is more likely achieved with hard work and determination.

This is especially true for young people and students. A student should always maintain a good opinion about life, at every phase. They should constantly live with this hope. They should say, “I may be a loser, not self-confident, and hopeless, but I am trying to build trust with my teacher and my family. Therefore, even though I might slip and fall at any moment, they will support me.” This trust is similar to the trust a believer has in God. 

Sometimes you have to lose your way to discover your ability. You will find your way with your positive thinking and hope.

Positive thinking is not as simple as it seems; going after it has a price. It may mean abandoning our habits or going through hardships, or it may lead us to disappointment, etc. However costly it may be, it is never as high as the price paid by people who did not live honestly. Because one day they will look back and hear their own heart say, “I wasted my life.” For that reason, never lose patience and never stop thinking positive thoughts.

References

1. http://www.livestrong.com/article/120699-negative-thinking-vs.-positivethinking/
2. http://www.the-benefits-of-positive-thinkingcom/negative-thinking-versuspositivethinking.html
3. Pavot W., Diener E., Colvin C. R., & Sandvik E. (1991). Further validation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being. Social Indicators Research, 57, 149–161. http://dx.doi. org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5701_17
4. https://fountainmagazine.com/2008/issue-64-july-august-2008/We-should-think-well-of-others

Mukashafa (derived from kashf, meaning discovering or unveiling) denotes that the Divine mysteries will be disclosed to those well-versed in the Divine truths when, by rising through a spiritual struggle, they are able to perceive and come to know the truths about the Divine Names and Attributes. Travelers to the Ultimate Truth who have attained this rank are regarded as having completed their journey in the Divine Names and Attributes, each according to their individual capacity, with the result that Divine mysteries begin to pour into the heart or spiritual intellect, which is the projection in humanity of the Divine Throne of Mercy. The veils before the pure spiritual realms are opened slightly to these people, and the truths that stand in front of and behind things are disclosed to them. This is called disclosure in the sense of gaining familiarity with the things unseen behind the veils. Disclosure is used to define familiarity with abstract truths and meanings which are by nature invisible, while the terms “witnessing” or “observation” is used to deal with beings.

Disclosure (whose Arabic origin—mukashafa—is in the form that suggests mutuality) implies that intimate friends disclose secrets to one another. The best example of this is that of the Messenger, called also Ahmad and Mahmud due to his being honored with God’s praise to the greatest degree, who attained the rank at which God revealed to him secrets of His Speech to a great extent (53:10).

God discloses some of His secrets to His friends who unburden themselves to Him. His friends talk to Him from their hearts and the One Who knows all the things hidden in creation showers the gems of His knowledge into their hearts. They rise to the horizon of recognizing their Lord with His All-Beautiful Names and All-Pure Attributes in proportion to this disclosure in order to be immersed in the lights of this recognition. The Absolute Hidden One removes the veil slightly from before the seeing of their hearts so that they can perceive the truth of light and He raises them to the peak of excellence or perfect goodness. Until reaching this horizon, every initiate can make a connection with the Realm of the Transcendental Manifestation of Divinity from behind veils. Whatever they see during their journey to that horizon, they see it as if from behind a smoky piece of glass and cannot clearly discern the manifestations of the Divine Names, Attributes and Essential Qualities. Even if they feel that they have discerned some things, it is but a mere illusion.

The veils between the travelers and the Ultimate Truth differ according to their relations with the Ultimate Truth. Just as being closed to the truth of the Names and Attributes is a veil, the heart’s turning to some object other than God is another veil. The interpretation of existence according to mere human philosophy is yet another veil. To search for a source of light other than the light of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, is another veil. Moral deviations, such as jealousy, arrogance, conceit, ostentation and selfishness, and sins, which are regarded as steps toward misguidance and unbelief, are also veils in proportion to how great obstacles they are to discerning the truth. The traps laid by these veils are those arranged by the carnal soul, Satan, the world which relate to our carnal desires and lusts, our weak spots, and our human shortcomings. Each of these traps is deadly. When a person becomes entangled in these, all of his or her endeavors to rise in rank on the way to God are in vain and it is inevitable that he or she will suffer separation on the way to meeting with God.

The first step of disclosure for those who fulfill the requirements to travel on the way to God is a manifestation of knowledge of God, which the One eternally witnessed through His signs produces in their hearts. If they are steadfast on the way, they can advance as far as the final point, where they will be able to witness or observe Him in His signs. Nevertheless, such manifestations may not be constant and the way may sometimes be obscured, with the result that travelers may suffer setbacks. However, the desire to advance in their hearts never ceases; even if sometimes they feel dizzy and waver, they constantly endeavor to reach the goal with a desire that is insurmountable. It is heroism to follow the rules and requirements of the journey without falling into despair, and those who continue on the way heroically are favored with constant disclosure and advancement. They rise from the certainty that comes from knowledge to the certainty that comes from observation. If they are able to take two steps more forward, they are favored with the clearest disclosure supported by self-possession and wakefulness. If they are able to advance further, their journey ends in observation—seeing the All-Holy One, Who is called by the Most Sacred Names with the eye of the heart or insight. This will be explained later.

The clearest disclosure is when the Divine lights pervade the heart and all other faculties so as to enlighten and to be felt by all the emotions. In other words, an initiate feels the Source of these lights beyond what is demonstrated by His signs and proofs. This was the beginning of the spiritual journey of the Prophet, master of the creatures, upon him be peace and blessings. Throughout his life, all of which he spent at the highest of all ranks and at the summit of all virtues, he continuously traveled from closure to observation and always felt and experienced the mysteries of belief deeply. Especially during his Ascension, he acquired certified familiarity with all the mysteries that belong to the realm beyond, including Paradise, Hell, the angels, and even the sounds of the Pens of Destiny. Then he returned to the world in order to keep the way open for others to travel along, each according to individual capacity. Furthermore, he secured this way with reflector-like lights that he installed along it. In the ranks in which he traveled and made observations, he progressed without his eyes swerving and without his mind becoming perplexed, as declared in the verse (53:17), His sight swerved not, nor did it go wrong. When it came to the point where he was too great for this world of formation and deformation to bear and when he entrusted the way and journey to those who would come after him, he proceeded to his Lord, saying: O God! (Now it is the time to go) to the Highest Friend! His faithful followers have made the same journey in spirit which he made in the universal dimensions and which he has bequeathed to them with its means and results so that each can realize in part his journey, according to their capacity. Some have expressed their feelings, observations, and insights in the following words, “O Sariya! (Withdraw) to the mountain, to the mountain!”;[1] some with words which reveal their special relationship with God: “If the veil before the Unseen were removed, my certainty (of belief in the pillars and truths of belief) would not increase;”[2] and some with the glad tidings, “Be hopeful! The highest voice which will be heard worldwide among the revolutions of the future will be that of Islam.”[3]

O God! You are the First, there is nothing preceding You; You are the Last, there is nothing to succeed You. I seek refuge in You from the evil of all moving creatures whom You hold by the forelock, and I also seek refuge in You from committing sins and going into debt. And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad and his Family and Companions, noble and honored.

[1] During the wars with the Sassanids,‘Umar, the second Caliph, saw Sariya, the Muslim commander, surrounded by the enemy at the front while he was himself on the pulpit in the Prophet’s Mosque in Madina thousands of miles away, and gave him the instruction, “(Withdraw) to the mountain, to the mountain!” at-Tabari, Tarikhu’l-Umam wa’l-Muluk, 3:42. (Tr.)

[2] This quote belongs to ‘Ali, the fourth Caliph. ‘Aliyu’l-Qari, al-Asraru’l-Marfu‘a, 193.

[3] Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Sunuhat-Tuluat-Isharat, 44.

Every organ in the human body has vital functions. The kidneys play fundamental roles in maintaining human health.

One of the most important functions of the kidneys is producing urine. This function is performed by nephrons, the morphological unit in our kidneys. A nephron is simply made up of the glomerulus, where urine is filtered from blood, and tiny tubes where the filtered fluid passes through and is finally turned into urine (these tubes are proximal tubule, loops of henle, distal tubule, and collector channels).

There are approximately one million nephrons in the two kidneys of an adult. Each nephron is designed to produce urine by itself. Kidneys cannot renew nephrons. The number of nephrons, therefore, decreases gradually because of kidney damage, disease, or aging. After the age of 40, the number of nephrons generally decreases ten percent every ten years, and as a result, an 80-year-old has 40% fewer nephrons than 40 years ago. This loss is not life-threatening because adaptive changes in the remaining nephrons enable them to dispose of water, electrolytes, and metabolic waste in proper amounts.

The functions of the kidneys can be stated as follows:

• Discharging metabolic waste from the body, i.e cleaning our blood. The most significant of types of waste are urea, creatine, and uric acid. The kidneys are the path to eliminating medicine and hormones from the body. Many antibiotics and hormones, or their metabolic end-products, are discharged through the kidneys.
• Maintaining the body’s water-electrolyte balance. The kidneys are charged with balancing the amounts or concentrations of water and substances conducting electricity, such as dissolved sodium, calcium, chlorine, and potassium. If there is too much water or salt, it is discharged through urine. If the amount of water or salt has decreased, then the kidneys keep them in the body by preventing their discharge through urine and hence maintain the balance.
• Establishing an acid-base balance. It is vital to balance the acid or base level of the blood and other bodily fluids. The pH of blood is maintained at 7.4. If is too low, there is an excess of acid. A great excess of acid (acidosis) can cause sudden death. If it too high – called alkalosis – it leads to many disorders.
• Regulating the osmolarity of bodily fluids. The solid substances in blood (Na, K, glucose, amino acids, protein, etc.) must have a certain density. We can talk about the collective, rather than individual, density of the solid substances. One mole of solid particle in a liter of water (6,02 x 10²³) produces an osmotic pressure of 1 osmole. All bodily fluids (intracellular fluids, extracellular fluids, and blood) have an osmolarity of 300 milliosmoles. The discharge of solid particles and water are performed by the kidneys according to this delicate balance.
• Regulating blood pressure. The kidneys perform critical functions in balancing blood pressure by increasing the amount of urine when blood pressure increases or by decreasing the amount of urine when blood pressure decreases. The amount of urine is normal during normal blood pressure. If blood pressure decreases by half, the amount of urine becomes zero. If blood pressure doubles, the amount of pressure increases eightfold.
• Secreting hormones. The kidneys act like an endocrine gland in the secretion of several hormones. One of the most important of these hormones is erythropoietin, used in the production of blood cells in bone marrow. The kidneys also play a significant role in the production of vitamin D, which has recently been considered to be a hormone rather than a vitamin. Renin is also secreted from the kidneys when blood pressure drops.
• Glyconeogenesis: This function is primarily performed by the liver. Yet we know that this process is carried out by kidneys as well. Glyconeogenesis is the production of sugar (glucose) from the glycerol of non-sugar substances and all amino acids.

What should we pay attention to if we want to protect our kidneys?

• Proteins. They are probably the most valuable nutrients. Meat, milk, and eggs are rich in proteins, but grains like wheat and legumes contain proteins, too. Amino acids obtained from proteins are used as building blocks of the body. In this regard, proteins are essential for nutrition. When they are taken in excess amounts, however, proteins are converted into other substances (sugar and fats) or spent for energy production. Meanwhile, ammonia and then urea are produced in the liver. The urea produced in the liver is discharged by the kidneys through urine. Excess urea is considered a burden for the kidneys, so it is a risk for our kidneys to consume too much protein (particularly red meat). If there is a case or probability of renal failure, protein intake should be reduced.
• Salt. Kidneys can easily get rid of water, yet it takes some effort to discharge salt. Kidneys especially suffer when they are left without water. If kidneys cannot discharge enough salt, blood pressure rises. Therefore, if a person has a risk of heart or kidney failure or have high blood pressure, you should cut down on salt. It is crucial for anyone overweight to stop consuming salt. Foods without salt (such as minced meat and potatoes) decrease the appetite and stop a person from eating too much. Besides, meals without salt partly reduce the absorption of food in the intestines. A low-salt diet is good not only for the heart and blood pressure but also for kidneys. Yet people whose kidneys work perfectly, especially children and teenagers, run no risk when they consume salty food. It is also known that excess salt contributes to the formation of kidney stones.
• Water. It is vital for kidneys. Water helps kidneys clean the blood. It is not possible without water to cleanse blood of salt, other waste materials, and drugs. You should therefore be careful about drinking sufficient water. The daily requirement varies from person to person. Drinking 4-8 glasses, or 1.5–2 liters, of water will usually meet the body’s daily requirement. Drinks such as tea and coffee cannot be substituted for water because they increase water discharge. The minimum amount of water required for cleaning an adult body in a desert environment is half a liter. Though rare, it can also be a burden or problem for the kidneys if a person drinks too much Solid substances such as sodium, potassium, and calcium can be lost in excess as a result of overdrinking water, just like dirt is washed away by a flood.
• Acidic foods and drinks. One of the most important functions of the kidneys is to get rid of the acids produced through metabolic activities in the body and to balance the pH of blood. It is harder to discharge acids than bases. Acidic foods and drinks should therefore be consumed moderately. Pickles, sour foods, sodas, and other fizzy drinks should not be eaten in excess. It should also be remembered that acidic foods and drinks can cause kidney stones.
• Smoking. One of the primary harms of the nicotine in cigarette smoke is the fact that it causes blood vessels to contract. Smoking is the main reason for vessel stiffness. Nicotine causes kidney vessels to contract, hence a decrease in blood circulation in the kidneys. When blood circulation in the kidneys decreases, blood is no longer cleaned and blood pressure rises.
• Alcohol. Alcoholic beverages raise acid levels in the blood and causes acidosis, which damages all the organs and primarily the liver. Alcohol has the same effect as smoking on kidney vessels and causes them to contract. Not only does excessive acid damage kidneys but it also facilitates kidney stones.
• Drugs. Of the body’s organs, the kidneys are the most sensitive to drugs. Using antibiotics in high doses may lead to kidney damage and acute kidney failure. It is a common mistake in public to use antibiotics without consulting with a doctor. Using painkillers for every pain also causes chronic damage in our kidneys. It is normal for a person to have certain pains in daily life. They should consult with a doctor to identify the cause of the pain and should refrain from using painkillers unless absolutely necessary.
• Vitamins. A lack of vitamin B₆ is known to cause kidney stones. Thankfully, vitamins are among the innumerable blessings bestowed upon humanity. Vitamin B₆is abundant in sunflowers, pistachios, chickpeas, fish, and starchy vegetables.

Jalal al-Din al-Rumi taught, “Ritual prayer can be different in every religion, but belief never changes” (Fihi Mafih). In the light of this insight I would like to share why I think of myself, especially during Ramadan, as a Reform Rabbi and a Muslim Jew.

Actually, I am a Muslim Jew, i.e. a faithful Jew submitting to the will of God, because I am a Reform Rabbi. As a Rabbi I am faithful to the covenant that God made with Abraham – the first Muslim Jew, and I submit to the commandments that God made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai.

As a Reform Rabbi I believe that Jewish spiritual leaders should modify Jewish tradition as social and historical circumstances change and develop. I also believe we should not make religion difficult for people to practice. These are lessons that Prophet Muhammad taught 12 centuries before the rise of Reform Judaism in the early 19^th century. As Bukhari reported in a Hadith (Volume 3, Book 31, Number 145),

Narrated ‘Abdullah: The Prophet fasted for days continuously; the people also did the same but it was difficult for them. So, the Prophet forbade them (to fast continuously for more than one day). They said, “But you fast without break”… The Prophet replied, “I am not like you, for I am provided with food and drink (by Allah).”

Reform Jews are the largest of the Jewish denominations in the US and Canada. In the UK, Reform Judaism is called Liberal Judaism. All Reform Jews would agree with this teaching of Prophet Muhammad.

I have been studying Islam for almost 55 years. I think it is vitally important for our generation to understand how much Islam and Judaism have in common. Fasting is one area where this commonality is very evident. Jews and Muslims are the two religious groups that most noticeably practice fasting. Muslims fast for the entire month of Ramadan, from first light until sundown, and Jews fast on days like Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and the 9^th of Av (a day of mourning, much like the Shi’a observance of Ashura on the 10^th of Muharram). The rules about fasting are very similar in both Jewish and Muslim law.

Many people may wonder: why should someone restrict their culinary pleasures? Why should we afflict ourselves by fasting? Don’t most people think that being happy is the most important thing? Isn’t eating one of the most accessible pleasures we have? Why do Islam and Judaism restrict their adherents from the simple pleasure of food each year?

The Qur’an says, “Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint” Qur’an 2:183. Meanwhile, the Torah decrees for Jews a day of fasting (Leviticus 16:29, 23:27) when, for twenty-four hours, adult Jews (in good health) are supposed to afflict their souls by abstaining from eating, drinking, and marital relations. Also for religious/spiritual reasons, both Jews and Muslims do not eat pork. Both religions teach us that what we do not eat may be even more important than what we do eat.

There are many ways fasting brings Jews and Muslims closer to God. First of all, fasting teaches compassion. It is easy to talk about the world’s problem of hunger. We can feel sorry that millions of people go to bed hungry each day. But not until one can actually feel it in one’s own body is the impact truly there. Compassion based on empathy is much stronger and more consistent than compassion based on pity. This feeling must lead to action. Fasting is never an end in itself; that’s why it has so many different outcomes. But all the other outcomes are of no real moral value if compassion is not enlarged and extended through fasting. As the prophet Isaiah said, “The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers. Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. The kind of fasting I want is this: remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor” (Isaiah 58:3-7).

Secondly, fasting on Yom Kippur serves as a form of penance for Jews as it does for Muslims when they fast during Ramadan. Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet said: “Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven” (Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol 1).

Though self-inflicted pain may alleviate some guilt, it is much better to reduce one’s guilt by offsetting acts of righteousness to others. This is why contributing to charity is an important part of Yom Kippur and Ramadan. Indeed, Judaism teaches that fasting that doesn’t increase compassion is ignored by God.

The concept of fasting as penance also helps us understand that our hunger-pains can be beneficial. Contemporary culture desires happiness above all else. Any pain or suffering is seen as unnecessary and indeed evil. Though we occasionally hear people echo values from the past – such as the notion that suffering can help one grow – many today seem to think that the primary goal in life is to always be happy and free of all discomfort.

The satisfaction one derives from the self-induced pain of fasting provides insight into a better way of reacting to the externally caused suffering we experience throughout life. Taking a pill is not always the best way to alleviate pain, especially if by doing so we allay the symptoms without reaching the root cause.

The third outcome of fasting is improved physical health. Of course, one 24-hour fast will not have any more effect than one day of exercise. Only prolonged and regular fasting promotes health. The annual fast on Yom Kippur can, however, awaken us to the importance of how much and how often we eat.

Since our society has problems with overabundance, fasting provides a good lesson in the virtue of denial. Health problems caused by overeating are among the most rapidly growing health problems in affluent Western countries. America’s consumer culture urges us to constantly over-indulge ourselves; now, even our children suffer from our bad behavioral models. About 17 percent of kids and teens in the US are obese, a figure that has more than tripled since the 1970s, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now a report in the New England Journal of Medicine lays out one of the consequences of all this excess weight: a corresponding increase in childhood diabetes.

After reviewing data on 10-to-19-year-olds in five states (California, Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina, and Washington), researchers determined that 12.5 out of every 100,000 of the youth studied had a bona fide case of diabetes in 2011 and 2012 compared with nine cases per 100,000 youth in 2002 and 2003. The study authors found the incidence of Type 2 diabetes in this age group had risen by an average of 4.8 percent per year during the nine-year study period.

Thus, going without all food and drink, even water, on Yom Kippur and Ramadan challenges us to think about the benefits of the very important religious teaching, that less is more.

A fourth benefit of fasting, is that it can help us in our struggle against dependencies. We live in a consumer society. We are constantly bombarded by advertising telling us that we must have this or that to be healthy, happy, popular, or wise.

By fasting, we assert that we need not be totally dependent on external things, even such essentials as food. If our most basic need for food and drink can be suspended for twenty-four hours, how much more of the nonessentials might we cut out?

Judaism and Islam do not advocate asceticism as an end in itself. In fact, it is against Muslim and Jewish law to deny ourselves normal physical pleasures. But in our overheated consumer society it is necessary to periodically turn off the constant pressure to consume and to remind ourselves forcibly that “Man does not live by bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Fifth, fasting is an exercise in willpower. Most people think they can’t fast because it’s too hard. But actually the discomfort of hunger pangs is relatively minor. A headache, muscle pains from too much exercise, and most certainly a toothache … all are more severe than the pains hunger produces. The reason it is so hard to fast is because it so easy to break your fast, since food is almost always in easy reach; all you have do is take a bite.

Thus, the key to fasting is the willpower to decide again and again not to eat or drink. Our society has increasingly become one of self-indulgence. We lack self-discipline. Fasting encourages discipline and urges us to use our will-power. When people exercise their willpower through fasting, they are affirming their self-control and celebrating mastery over themselves. We need to continually prove that we can do it, because we are aware of our frequent failures to be self-disciplined.

Sixth, fasting is good for the soul. It often serves as an aid for spiritual experiences. For most people, especially those who have not fasted regularly before, hunger pains are a distraction. People who are not by nature spiritual/emotional individuals will probably find that a one-day fast is insufficient to help induce an altered state of consciousness. Jews who have already fasted for Yom Kippur can simply extend the fast another twenty-four to thirty-six hours.

Muslims can select a night or two to fast in addition to their daily fast; preferably during the first two weeks of Ramadan, when the moon is waxing. Jews are prohibited to fast prior to Yom Kippur; eating a good meal prior to Yom Kippur Eve is a mitzvah (religious duty), because Judaism, like Islam, opposes excessive asceticism.

The seventh outcome of fasting is the performance of a mitzvah (religious duty), which is, after all, the one fundamental reason for fasting on Yom Kippur. We do not do mitzvoth (religious duties) in order to benefit ourselves, but because our duty as Jews requires that we do them. Fasting is a very personal mitzvah, with primarily personal consequences.

Fasting on Yom Kippur is a personal offering to God, from each and every Jew who fasts. For over 100 generations, Jews have fasted on this day. A personal act of fasting is part of the Jewish people’s covenant with God. The principal reason to fast is to fulfill God’s commandment.

The outcome of one’s fast can be any among a half-dozen forms of self-fulfillment. But simply knowing that I have done one of my duties as a faithful Jew is the most basic and primary outcome of all.

It is my hope that fasting is a first step toward the removal of the chains of self-oppression and narrow mindedness that enslave us, our neighbors, and our world! I hope the future holds years of shared fasting by Muslims and Jews, leading to a greater amount of understanding and respect through increased acceptance of religious pluralism. 

Fethullah Gülen points out that the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and some non-Abrahamic faiths (Hinduism) accept that there is only One source for all religions. All faiths pursue the same goal. Gülen states,

As a Muslim, I accept all Prophets and Books sent to different peoples throughout history, and regard belief in them as an essential principle of being Muslim. A Muslim is a true follower of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and all other Prophets. Not believing in one Prophet or Book means that one is not a Muslim.
Thus we acknowledge the oneness and basic unity of religion, which is a symphony of God’s blessings and mercy, and the universality of belief in religion.

Gülen’s description of universal religion as a symphony is an excellent illustration. One cannot have harmony if everyone plays the same notes; and one cannot have a symphony if everyone plays the same instruments.

Individual conductors and composers are different, but the source of musical creativity is One. According to a Hadith narrated by Abu Huraira, Prophet Muhammad said, “The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, yet their religion is one (because they all have the same father)” (Bukhari, Book #55, Hadith #652).