Ramadan: My 30 day path to En-LIGHT-enment ! Day 1

Wooo!! It's been awhile since my last posting! There's a variety of factors that goes into that however the biggest one being my enjoying the summer and 21st birthday. (all smiles) As the summer comes to an end however it's time to begin to refocus and get things together mentally, emotionally, physically, and lastly but perhaps most importantly spiritually. That being said it's about 4:43 AM Monday morning, the 1st of August 2011. I'm up this early (yes early rather than late for those of you who are familiar with me actually going to bed around this time) because of a special time every year for Muslims called Ramadan. On another blog I maintain I stated that:

"In short, Ramadan is a muslim holiday that celebrates the gift of the qur’an to man given in 30 parts to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. Ramadan encourages man to dig deep and exhibit the highest forms of discipline, respect, and love for his fellow man through good and kind deeds, patience, and charity. It also encourages a purging of negativity via thoughts, actions, and environment while moving to get closer to God. During Ramadan, muslims sacrifice and discipline themselves to arise before sun rise, pray and prepare for a long day testing faith and determination as one observing the holy time isn’t allowed to Eat, Drink, engage in Sex or other indulgent behaviors during day light hours for a period of 30 days. Intense prayer and reading are required during this time with a focus on God and strengthening the bond between the individual and the divine while focusing on the “higher self”. I’ve been raised in the Islamic faith and although I don’t claim to be a practicing muslim currently I will be observing this years Ramadan…it’s an occasion to purge yourself of the toxic this physical world provides on a physical mental and spiritual level…I will be blogging my progress. I will also at the same time be focusing on other aspects of spirituality and my personal connection to the divine. I wish you all nothing but light peace and happiness and know that I’m not here to preach to you just to share."

I think those statements about sum it all up! So I've set my alarm to wake me up at 4 AM in order to raise before the sun, drink a cup of coffee, pray, and prepare my long Summer day of praying, reading, and fasting. One of the most important things about successfully completing Ramadan I think is stating your intentions the night before. It's not easy to fast from food, sex, violence, vulgar, and the vices of this world...especially if you engage in them on a daily basis, but even if you do not and are simply surrounded by them. When you state that intent you coat yourself with a will to complete that maybe won't guard you against temptation but will provide you with barrier enough to acknowledge it as being temptation and to carry on successfully!

Now for the important part... why am I doing it?
Well there are a variety of reasons why I decided to observe Ramadan this year. Those who keep up with and know me know that I do not currently profess to observe any particular religious tradition; that my focus is more spiritual in nature. It's important to note however that I was raised in Islam, my HEART is in Islam and that the TRUE nature of the term Islam is submission (in what ever form that may come) to the will and power of the Almighty and Divine and that for as long as I may live regardless of what path I take I will always bare witness to the POWER and authority that is God through whatever name it's channeled! That being said no, I'm not doing it out of religious obligation but more out of personal preference; To close in on the relationship I have with the divine and the TRUE nature of the world. I'm doing it for the discipline, for the detox of negativity, for the clarity of thought, for the spiritual tuning, for the refocusing needed to continue on my spiritual path, in short I'm doing it all FOR ME! Today is day 1 of 30...I know the road won't be an easy one, but it's be a necessary one! I'll be blogging to update and document my progress...for those of you who made it through the entire post BLESS YOU! I appreciate your on going support and interest in what I have to say! Ramadan Mubarek and a very peaceful Ramadan to you!

-5:04 AM