We all love clean fun. Leaves you with a feeling of exhilaration. Work improves. But parties and its after-effects on society are so damaging it’s a wonder how it still survives. Testimony to the degraded nature of our thinking. The office Christmas party has become an institutionalized occasion for lust. As the girls sway your eyes seek out the most sensual. Drinking in her movements which are a simulation of sex. Alcoholic drinks cause license to rule & dignity to evaporate. Brains become befuddled, souls burn & hearts are restless. In that corner a man reveals the secrets of his love for a girl, proud of her exposed beauty. Over there a young man arranges sweet words & subtle hints in his mind as he prepares to talk to a beautiful girl, dressed more in skin than clothing. An old man asks for songs that remind him of his frivolous youth, with his heart breaking as he eyes the young maidens. Look a woman winks at a man beckoning to him, but he looks with lust at another. A wife whose husband is drunk finds a chance to sell her favours to her adulterous lover. Men leverage for a glimpse of exposed cleavage. All are drowning in a sea of sinful flirtations. Marilyn Monroe, America’s party queen & sex goddess (what an obnoxious title) , reportedly said “I hate every man that slept with me.” Elvis Presley, America’s party king, was totally confused as to the meaning of life. Used to visit the morgue seeking life in death. Both committed suicide. A pity. But even more mysterious is the fact that they are both portrayed as role models. Think before you drink. Figure out your motives as you plan for that party. A few careless moments is all it takes to cause a lifetime of regrets.

“Drive gently Anjasha! Mind the crystal!” Words of the Prophet Muhammad (peace) as he instructed his servant on how to drive the camels so as to protect “the crystal.” This referred to a woman. A weak commitment to religion tends to cultivate unjust and oppressive treatment of women. A materialistic culture tends to treat women as sex objects. In the USA the porn industry is a $20 BILLION business (read that number again). How do they view the problem: “When our civilization is indeed tottering on the verge of collapse we see that in fact the last decades have been marked by a choice of license for both sexes RATHER than discipline. The result has been an enormous waste of creative power. Prostitution, fornication & adultery, combined with the prevention of conception...represent to us the unwholesome swamp into which the water of energy have flowed. Is this a symptom or a cause of our collapse? Both, I think.” (Sex & Commonsense). Gia had it, whatever “it” is. One of the world’s top models at 19. She appeared on scores of glitzy front covers from Vogue to Cosmopolitan. Roamed in France, Italy, Morocco & the Caribbean. Lived in the speedy lane of high fashion & the highwire nightlife at Studio 54. First came cocaine, then heroin, and finally AIDS. She died in 1986 at the age of 26. She struggled with her mother & despite many sexual liaisons, she NEVER found love. For many girls who are roaming like this, the question must be asked: “Is it worth it?” A spiritualized woman is very caring & protective about the beautiful purposes for which her body is created. She reserves it for the legitimate physical intimacy with her husband. It’s a pity to see many “crystals” living like broken glass. The ultimate tragedy is that they are not aware of this fact. TV glorifies many “broken glasses” as heroines. And Internet porn shows that women see themselves as shattered mirrors. Women’s organizations are silent on this the greatest of abuse on what once was the “fair sex.”

Religion means between God and man. And to state the obvious: God owns every atom, EVERYTHING, in the heavens & on earth. But it shocks when you see leaders neglecting to give God his due. But how these same leaders DEMAND their due from their fellow man. They make Shylock’s “pound of flesh” look like child’s play. Many of our own politicians on being sworn in to lead this country refused to say “So help me God” for whatever it was worth. It’s amazing that most world leaders look more and more like Pharaoh and less and less like Moses. Far, far less. The unspiritual person WILL find himself suddenly lacking in those very endowments that seem so securely his/hers. Religion is NOT a private matter. Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad...these were very public figures. Challenging the oppressive leaders of their time for the true FREEDOM of the people. Freedom that’s rooted in the Spirit. Moses vs Pharaoh; Muhammad vs the Quraish; Jesus vs the Pharisees; Noah vs the Chiefs. Then as now, politicians who closed themselves to God’s Truth, and who demand rational & scientific explanations of Transcendental Truths, are liable to find themselves deserted by logic & by science in the hour of greatest need. Bristling with anti-religious sentiments & arguments, they have meekly let themselves become dupes of one of the most sub-rational persuasions & one of the most unscientific theories that have ever trespassed upon the minds of man. God will NEVER change the condition of a people until they change their thought processes (from horizontal--looking to man for solutions; to vertical--looking to God for guidance). Let’s stop idolizing leaders & let them know that power is rooted in the people. Spiritualism lends wings to the intelligence, whereas materialism paralyzes it and sets up stifling dictatorships in the souls.

During our teen years, my dad met a stranger. From thebeginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. He was quickly accepted. We were taught to love God. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our family spellbound for hours each evening. He was like a friend to the family. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to movie stars. The stranger was an incessant talker. My dad ruled our house with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honour them. Profanity was not allowed in our house. Our visitor, however, used occasional four-letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. The stranger was never confronted. My dad didn't permit alcohol in his home. But the stranger enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer & other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly & pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely) about sex. His comments were blatant, suggestive, and generally embarrassing. My early concepts of the man/woman relationshipwere influenced by the stranger. It was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence me more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave. Many years have passed since the stranger moved in. He sits over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name? We always called him TV. Many of today’s “modern” parents leave their children’s upbringing to the surrogate parent TV. And what the young minds are exposed to...and learn from. Tut tut.

The greatest disease that afflicts man. The worst disease a child gets is not measles or mumps; it’s racism from its parents. We have not been able to eradicate it because it’s not a physical ailment--like AIDS, TB or smallpox. It’s located in the mind, the heart, the soul. God is the Doctor of these unseen elements of man. And He, not one to mince words, like politicians, says: “Adam was created from dust.” And God was responsible, and is to be held responsible, for our different colours & languages. Thank God for that. Imagine if he had put Hitler or any of the other racist political leaders in charge. Realize that in the garden of humanity every flower has its own fragrance. Oh sure there are weeds but there are not all one colour. Racism seems to be on a highway with absolutely no brakes. Too few have been the floodgates that have sought to turn it back, too weak the counterflow. Organizations are popping up that claim to want justice for a specific group. This is one-eyed justice. What the eyes sees as similar or different is not the biological reality. Australian aborigines, though dark-skinned, are the furthest of all humans in blood chromosomes from the Africans. All Europeans are a hybrid race, 65% Asian/35% African genes. Set aside the “surface” genes, and the human races are, no escape, ONE RACE. It’s written in our blood. It should now become written in our souls. We may dislike a person; we may have a reason. We are never justified in a collective judgment and summary condemnation. Fight Racism. Recognize its many disguises, its subtle masquerades, its deceits and delusions. Racism is an enemy to a wonderful & productive life.

Places dedicated to the worship of God MUST reflect the majesty of the One being glorified therein. God is Beautiful and loves Beauty. But most of the houses of worship (mosques, churches, temples) are in such a state of neglect that Satan must have taken up residence there. Those who worship there would never have their homes in such a state. Leaky roofs, missing windows, unpainted. We wrangle over religion. We write for it; fight for it; die for it. We do anything but LIVE for it. The House that Abraham built thousands of years ago in Mecca, stands as testimony of his pure faith. In that is a lesson. Things built with impure money, impure faith will never stand the test of time. Unlike Abraham’s vibrant, pulsating soul, ours are asleep or dead. Preaching comes out of the memory & not out of the soul. It aims at what is usual & not at what is necessary & eternal. Preaching on the pulpits have been destroyed because it does not explore the moral nature of man, where the sublime is, where the true resources of astonishment & power lie. God’s Law taught in houses of worship should have made thought dear & rich. Alas that this life-giving Law has been travestied & depreciated. We have lost sight of the Law, lost all inspiration. We are groping in the dark, even though in our hands we hold the Book of Light. The soul of our community is sick & faithless. We stand ashamed of ourselves. We skulk & sneak through life, to be tolerated, to be pitied; not daring to be wise; to be good. A devout person stated: “On Sundays, it seems wicked to go to church.” Muslims during Ramadan bow many times but lack of results point to spiritual emptiness. Physical exercise. Mosques are like gyms. We bow just to be seen by men...And God weeps while Satan laughs. O silly Man!!!

Quite a few of us would love to refer to this land as a tropical paradise. But just as Adam and Eve had to contend with a serpent in their Garden of Eden, so do we. Unlike our spiritual parents we have many serpents whispering to us. And they wear the title of politicians. People riot based on lies. Our suffering is not based on any set of years but has its roots in our spiritual depths, no, that should be shallowness. And our hammock-existence, read, laziness. The malady of the body passes over into malady of the mind & soul. The power of ideas is sovereign. We listen to whatever instruction of hope, illusion, or revenge is carried to us on the air. History is the principal in the university of life. All other teachers learn from him. Do we the students learn? The flames of many madnesses have burnt out. Russian Communism, British Imperialism. And burning low is American Democracy. On this sandy & false foundation we scheme for social improvement & dress our political platforms, pursue our animosities & particular ambitions. The winds of spiritual change will extinguish it. And out of the ashes of systems extolling man’s inhumanity to man, will rise as the phoenix, a system based on God’s love for man. Decades of empty words & phrases is sapping the creative energies of our people. To those who use terror as a weapon to intimidate, note Shakespeare’s words: “Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.” Every tradesman know that what you sow you reap. I’m not a prince calling toward the darkness of ethnic war, but a king holding out the dove of peace. O beautiful Guyana...sing along with me!!

It’s something we should pride ourselves on. While scientists are pondering whether there’s intelligent life in outer space, I’ve been wondering if there’s intelligent life here on earth. In Guyana it’s as elusive as the Yeti. Current Intelligence looks at day-to-day events. (Not to be mistaken with gossip, which a lot of office workers engage in). Estimative Intelligence looks at what might be or what might happen. (Rarely to be found in Guyana as we look backward...the 28-year syndrome). Warning Intelligence gives notice to our policy makers that something urgent might happen that may require their immediate attention. (Well they get really busy if 4*4s are to be distributed. Other matters like crime, corruption, noise pollution can wait; maybe another 28). Research Intelligence is an in-depth study of an issue. (This isn’t a rarity...it simply doesn’t exist). Scientific & technical intelligence is information on foreign technologies. (Do we have info on local technology?) Did our intelligence arise from having more of what other animals have? The two-millimeter-thick cerebral cortex is the part of the brain most involved with making novel associations. Ours is extensively wrinkled but, were it flattened out, it would occupy four sheets of typing paper. A chimpanzee's cortex would fit on one sheet, a monkey's on a postcard, a rat's on a stamp. Why is it that our country looks like a huge post office? So while some search for Yeti, I’m on a special mission--S.E.T.I. (Search for Earthly Terrestrial Intelligence).

Martin Luther had much to say about gossip & its terrible byproducts. Luther pointed out that when we gossip we are doing Satan's chores for him. He related an incident of a couple so happily married that it was the talk of the town. The devil couldn't cause disharmony between them, but he finally hit upon the trick: he sent an old hag to the wife to tell her that her husband was having an affair with another woman & he planned to kill her. The hag told her that she would find a knife under her husband's pillow. She then hurriedly went to the husband with the same terrible tale. Unfortunately for the wife, the husband found her knife first, and that was the end of the town's happiest marriage. There are several vital lessons here: malicious tongues kill; Satan is behind the vicious tongue; trust your partner; and, above all, check your sources. Gossip is verbal interest in the failings of others rather than their feelings. Our own faults should keep us busy enough praying to a forgiving God and offering prayers of thanksgiving. “I take it as a matter not to be disputed, that if all knew what each said of the other, there would not be four friends in the world. This seems proven by the quarrels & disputes caused by the disclosures which are occasionally made.” Pascal. Busybodies are parasites who go about stinging the innocent with veiled but spiteful venom. Let us beware of the one who is busy with everyone else's business. Turn away from godless chatter. Give generously of sweet words from your tongue. There is no greater joy in life than to render happiness to others by means of intelligent giving. Rule your moods. Cultivate a mental attitude of peace & good will. We have an overabundance of knowledge these days but little wisdom! Kind words, sympathizing attentions, watchfulness against wounding people’s sensitiveness--these cost very little, but they are priceless in their value. Thoughtless words wound as deeply as any sword. For technological words that uplift as high as any star...call Shamal.

The surges that passed through my body & soul did not cause any damage much unlike the GPL surges. Surges of joy; an ecstasy beyond that of lovers locked in a passionate embrace; beyond a saint in communion with the Spirit of God; ecstasy belonging only to the domain of the highest heaven. As I held his new-born body (where were you on June 3rd 2001?) with a tenderness I did not know I possessed, his gorgeous eyes locked with mine; I uttered a prayer thanking God for another blessed creation. At birth a baby's brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way. Prophet Muhammad said: “THE HUMAN BEING IS A BUILDING OF GOD ON THIS EARTH.“ If you have never read Khalil Gibran’s poem on children then here’s a chance to understand their eternal beauty & mission: “Your children are not your children: They are the sons & daughters of life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift & far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness: For even as He loves the arrow that flies so He loves also the bow that is stable.” May all children be trained to the heights the human soul is capable of reaching. It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Happy Birthday, Zahir...May God’s choicest blessings be upon you.

Satan approached the Throne of God. He wanted talks with the Most High. Before reaching the grandeur of God's Celestial Heavens, he engages in dialogue with Angel Gabriel. The conversation opens with Gabriel asking Satan about his existence in this world. His anguished reply: “Burning & suffering, scars & pain, seeking & longing.“  Would you consider mending your torn garments, Gabriel lovingly enquired. Satan, like some talk-show hosts, began to fill with pride as he recalled how momentous his defiance of God proved to be. That act set off the struggle between good & evil. Satan, like talk-show hosts, mainly through auto-suggestion, puts a bold face on his suffering. Gabriel: You gave up an exalted position when you said 'No'; mend your ways Satan; do like Adam did at his fall...Repent. Pride made Satan's eyes blaze with more fire than normal...pride invoked to numb his pain. Gabriel sees his old friend's stubbornness, the tragic streak in his character, for all his show of bravado. Similar to godless politicians taking oaths. Based on the gravity of your crime how can you justify your actions, queried Gabriel. I will never apologise, Satan arrogantly stated...you know what I mean, he leered at the Arch-Angel. Satan, like irresponsible talk-show hosts & silly politicians, rankle in God's heart like a thorn. Gabriel looked on as Satan began his speech: "O God of Right & Wrong! I beg to be spared from Adam's progeny...so weak, such willing slaves. Their earthly gods, politicians, have made them like glass, easy to melt. Destroy them all & give me men of strong, steely calibre. A living man, O God, who lives Truth! In defeat, perhaps, I will find pleasure. Please God." God's 'No' answer, boomed like thunder, but much more frightening. Satan came back more distressed to earth. He then marshalled illogical talk-show hosts to let loose more fire & brimstone on glasslike man.

We should understand what Socrates meant in the 'Banquet' when he spoke of the beauty of thought which exercises a deeper enchantment than the beauty of form. Extremely silly girls walk the catwalks (their silliness not necessarily being one of an academic nature but more of the spiritual). Extremely silly men ogle the form (their silliness manifests as lust). Jesus is on record as stating that one commits adultery with the eyes. Which man in the audience is 'clean' in thought. Which husband is true to his wife in the evening? A wife is your field which you sow with love & reap with thanksgiving. Why the degradation on the stage where she becomes the playground for many men & a recipient of false words. Words which are like dead flies putrefying the perfumer's ointment, are put upon her head. It started as a seedling on the slopes of the Colorado Rockies some 500 years ago. For centuries it had stood tall, enduring violent winds, lightning strikes, blizzards, even avalanches. The once-towering tree is now just a mound of decaying wood. What caused its demise? A horde of beetles had attacked it, gnawing away until that skyscraper of nature surrendered to those tiny pests & toppled over. That's also the tragic story of many men. For long years they stand tall. They resist temptations, weather crises, and are bold in the strength divinely provided. But little sins begin to eat away at their lives--little lies, little compromises with greed or lust, sins that gradually erode their character. And suddenly they fall. Think about those preachers & presidents..then you or me...if we allow little beetles of sin to gnaw at our towering morality. Will we become a silenced casualty of sin? A big fall begins with a little stumble. The woman of greatest beauty is the one who is clothed...in body and in good thoughts. Catwalks should be for cats.

Grant Gilmore, Yale Law School professor, stated: 'Law reflects but in no sense determines the moral worth of society. The values of a reasonably just society will reflect themselves in a reasonably just law. In Heaven there will be no law & the lion will lie with the lamb. The values of an unjust society will reflect themselves in an unjust law. The worse the society, the more laws there will be. In Hell there will be nothing but law & due process will be meticulously observed.' American society society is the most litigious society in the world. According to the Professor, America is Hell. Let's go find Heaven. Muhammad was a man...not a god...a messenger from God. When Islam was being threatened by the arrogant Arabs the Prophet sent a small band of persons to Ethiopia. Why? because the Christian king was known to be just. So the Prophet did not look at colour, country or religion but at the most admirable quality in man, JUSTICE. In a letter dictated by Muhammad to the king of Ethiopia here's what was said: 'I praise God besides Whom there is none to be worshipped. He is Pure. I do admit that Jesus, son of Mary, was the soul from God & His Word. God created him from His Soul & Breath, in the same manner as He created Adam. I invite you towards God Who has no associates. It is up to you to accept my advice. Extend the same invitation to your people. I am sending some Muslims, when they reach you treat them hospitably...' The Christian king gave refuge to the fleeing Muslims stating that he cannot allow such pious people to be tyrannized. And we call ourselves civilized? Are there any Christian leader in our country with the magnanimity of the king of Ethiopia? A non-Muslim, Michael Hart said of Muhammad: 'He was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious & secular levels...immensely effective political leader.' Our country is filled with injustice. By turning toward the just guidelines of God we will extricate ourselves from the tragic consequences of our own injustices. The king accepted Muhammad's advice...he found Heaven...he was rational, civilized...still going to America...oh hell!!!

Karl Stern, a University of Montreal Psychiatrist, states: 'The belief that our wondrous universe could have evolved by blind chance is crazy. And I do not at all mean crazy in the sense of the slangy invective but rather in the technical meaning of the psychotic. Indeed such a view has much in common with certain aspects of schizophrenic thinking.' Let's see what the scientists have come up with. The smallest unit of life, a single living cell, is incomparably more complex than even the greatest technological achievements of the human race. The laws of probability make it clear that not even a single protein could ever have come into existence by mere chance or evolution. Shapiro, a professor of chemistry & expert on the subject of DNA at NY University, calculated the probability that all 2000 of the different types of proteins that it takes to make up even a simple bacterium came into being by chance or evolution: 1040000. It is plain what such an astounding number (it has no equivalent in the universe) mean: Darwinist explanation that life evolved is invalid. Wickramasinge, a professor of Applied Math & Astronomy at the University of Cardiff commented on Shapiro's result: 'The likelihood of the spontaneous formation of life from inanimate matter is 1040000:it is big enough to bury Darwin & the whole theory of evolution. There was no primeval soup, neither on this planet or on any other...If the beginnings of life were not random, they must have therefore have been the product of purposeful intelligence.' When we observe anything in the universe we encounter extraordinary design whose purpose is to nurture human life. To deny the reality of this design, to believe in evolution, is as the psychiatrist put it to overstep the bounds of reason.