Yesterday I was browsing some files and notes on my computer and suddenly I saw this quote by Albert Einstein “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
As I looked at it, a higher level of awareness arose in me, a deeper meaning than I’d ever recognized in the past. I started thinking why A. Einstein said “spirits,” why not “mind!” Then I realized that in fact we all are spiritual beings, we have a spirit inside us, it is because of this spirit that we are alive, without it the human body cannot even blink an eye.
We each have a Great Spirit within us that yearns for a well-lived life without fear, without compromise, without limitation. We all have this sense of deep inner desire, yet we are always facing opposition from others, it seems no one wants you to move forward, everyone is trying to pull you back, the media, peers, family, friends, and other obligations.
But then suddenly I realized that there is much more. Like a flashlight, my brain started to talk to me, it said “opposition is not from outside, it is from within, it is because of your own mediocre mind! I was stunned with the insight.
I could see the mind, body and spirit connection. With the mind we entrap ourselves and the spirit becomes enmeshed in a battle for freedom. After all this spirit is not my spirit, it is the Spirit of God, all along it was so evident but perhaps it was because of my mediocre mind that I could not see it, I could not comprehend it, could not fathom it.
In Al-Quran Surah (chapter) 15, Sign (Verse) 29 Allah says:
فَإِذَا سَوَّيۡتُهُ ۥ وَنَفَخۡتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِى فَقَعُواْ لَهُ ۥ سَـٰجِدِينَ
This means: When I form him perfect, and blow in him of My spirit, then you must fall down before him in prostration.” (29)
Just imagine, the Creator of Adam commanding the Angels that “when I form him (Adam) perfect, and blow in him of my spirit!” not only this but “fall down before him in prostration!”
What a revelation, unimaginable, the Angels prostrating in front of Adam… in front of “ME,” and here I am thinking of my limitations, my mediocrity, the opposition. No, we don’t have to rely on the thoughts and opinions of others.
In fact we cannot even rely on our own mind, its limited intellectual capacity, the same mind and intellect can come up with rational excuses for not achieving something just as easily as it can offer up excellent reasons to go for the gold.
The same mind can perpetuate the emotional state of despair so the emotions will further feed the negativity of the mind. It is such a trap. The mind, in all of its intellectual prowess, is mediocre on its own.
What we need is to engage in spiritual awareness, to have command over the mind and the emotions. The spiritual awareness will harness these tools, the mind and emotions, and the Great Spirit within will inspire action and achievement like never before!
The great philosopher and mystic of the East Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi said “The spiritual path wrecks the body and afterwards restores it to health. It destroys the house to unearth the treasure. And with that treasure builds it better than before!”
Dr. Syed Faisal Jeelani