Over the next while, I’ll be publishing pieces of my book – Let it Flow – on this blog. If you like what you read, please consider purchasing the full book. The details are at the end of this post.
World View
Keep the world at bay.
Don’t turn on the radio.
Keep yourself away
from the propaganda-filled programming
that settles in your home via the TV.
Reject their news media.
Their sensationalism.
Their obsession.
Their unhealthy fascination.
Be free of their poison.
They feed it to you:
slowly…constantly…unrelentingly.
Headlines; top stories this hour;
chart shows; advertising –
“the right to choose” –
the right to choose
what they make available to you:
“This week’s ‘must-have’ DVD”;
“Dress like the stars”;
“Live the high life”;
“Winners know when to stop”;
“Enjoy it responsibly!”
Keep your (de)vices of shame and addiction.
I don’t need your modern-day idolatry:
your disease of celebrity obsession;
your hedonistic pursuits
of all that delights the senses –
yet suffocates the soul.
I reject your ideas.
Your way of life.
Your deen*.
I may be flawed and faulty –
but I’m on the right path.
I don’t drink from your poisoned cup;
I don’t breathe your polluted air.
I exist. I live – hard as it is –
in my own vacuum, with my own boundaries, and my own border control.
Stew in the world if you want.
I choose something else.
I choose my own world.
* Deen is an Arabic word meaning “way of life”. Islam is often referred to as such – being far more comprehensive than just a ‘religion’, but a full way of life encompassing all aspects of our existence.
Date written: December 2006
Background:
I wrote this in an airport parking lot, while waiting to pick someone up. I’d arrived early, turned on the radio, and after hearing just a few seconds of a news bulletin, switched it off instinctively – as if being burned by a hot stove. The feeling at that instant was actually an eruption of sentiments that had been building up for a long time, and that news bulletin – however brief my exposure to it – was a catalyst for the emotional release which poured into this piece.
At the time, I was in a somewhat contradictory relationship with the media. I indulged in some forms of entertainment – mostly a few TV series I was hooked on – but I was also fully aware of the poisoning effect that modern entertainment has. I believe that the current moral degeneration of society has been fuelled largely by the growth and dominance of media in our world today. It’s not just the volume, though. It’s also the messages – which, in many cases, is fed to us either blatantly or insidiously – by industry leaders with socially harmful and spiritually-destructive ideologies. I knew such pastimes weren’t good for me, but I justified my indulgence by thinking that a few shows would be fine. I wasn’t a major TV addict – like the many, many series and entertainment junkies around me at the time.
One of the targets here is the modern disease of consumerism, and the information overload we get via the constant flow of ‘news’ that never ever ends. At the time, I was anti-news, and really wanted nothing more than to be cocooned away from this world – in a bubble of my own: pure, happy, and free of the manipulation that comes with today’s media. And for the most part, I actually was kind of living that life.
The full book – Let it Flow – is available electronically via Amazon Kindle, Google Play Books, Apple Books, Kobo, and more. A print edition is available in South Africa via direct order.
If you’d like to see more, click the image below for a comprehensive sample:
slip-sliding away..... 
I like the concept of “let it flow” and agree on avoiding the media! enjoyed reading. thanks for posting!
Thank you. There’s actually a follow up piece to this in the book.