Qur'an on Kindle

I used to disown my companion, 

If my religion leaned not to his, 

But my heart is now accepting every picture:
Pastures for the deers, a convent for the monk 
A temple for the idols, a Kaabah for the pilgrim,
And boards for the Torah and a book for the noble Quran. 
I follow the religion of love wherever its tracks take me, 
For love is my religion and my faith.

Ibn Arabi
(My translation)

God's earth is us, and each time we meet with an unexplored bit of this earth we feel like being reunited with our missing parts or relatives !

The view was amazing and breathtaking up from the hill where Ales Stenar stand proudly since thousands of years ago.  I was overwhelmed by this landscape, the grass under my bare feet, and the cuddly breeze of Skåne län... the southernmost bit of Sweden. Magnificent and replete with mythical associations, legends and musical echoes of the past, the place felt like the Mecca of each and every  folklorist...

Sometimes, there is no need of words. The image speaks its own language that everybody understands.

Blogging...what the heck?

Just realized that it's been more than year since I have created this blog. I have also realized that I haven't been an active blogger either; but still, I created it as I created others before and which I have never used. All this time I couldn't dodge these questions that crossed my head: do we really need to shift the concept of journaling from being personal and private records of one's thoughts and experiences to becoming a public property, accessible on a very wide scale... a global scale actually? People you don't even know may know who you are, what your life is like, what you had for dinner, what your thoughts and beliefs are, or see your old family photos ? Is it some drive to stand out what makes us allow this to happen? Our desire to remember things and share them? Our existential desire for fame and social acceptance?  Our subjugated yet inordinately passionate desire for being worldly renown?
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Just a few questions to must answer before we decide to submerge into the pond of blogging...

1001 Inventions and The Library of Secrets - starring Sir Ben Kingsley a...

Interesting film about the foundations of modern inventions.

Just two weeks away...

Ibn Battouta

Just a few days after going to Oujda, I had to pack up my things again and go to Rabat. I was growing homesick when I took the train back home. Rabat is a great place to be, but home is always best as the saying goes, anyway. A 10 hours trip could only be managed when you have a good book in your backpack, something you could enjoy while the snaky train swallows up the way every few kilometers. An old bestseller by Ken Follet was not a bad idea actually. Not my favorite genre, but I enjoyed reading the story though. The first night in Rabat was awful. Had a bad night at the hotel, but Sabah was such a great company. We got along very naturally, and we quickly became the favorite of the group. We've also learned plenty of useful tips from two amazing professors. One of them, Dr. Mohamed Ettajani is about to publish his book about NLP in The Holy Quran...I thought: something interesting to read, hopefully! I can't wait to read it.

We had some spare time after the meetings every afternoon, so I managed to see a few places in Rabat too. Loudaya beach was such a beautiful place at sunset, the old Medina with its Andalusi architecture, and the members of the different associations that came from all over Morocco were the best. It was a good experience to meet with members of The Advisory Council on Human Rights. It's been a very productive journey...on every level.
Now, back to where I belong, I am taking up my running program again...It's been great to run together with Nissreen, and the 10km run we made last time was such a refreshing experience. I realized after that that we could always do much better with a great company, than with an iPod in our ears!In a week or so, we might be joined by Crista, and our after-work-evenings will begin to have a different taste again, God Willing!

I wanted us to remember the wonderful days during which we collaborated and worked together, so I made this video using the best photos we have taken at the center.

De Vuelta, Despues de Tanto Tiempo...

No me lo puedo creer aún que he estado lejos de mi blog todo este tiempo... más de un mes! Woah...

Esta semana, tambien he vuelto a mi trabajo. Fue muy agradable ver a todos aquellos niños en el centro de mi vida, El Centro de Vida: The Center Of Life. Tantos planes para el futuro de este centro, y el futuro de aquellos niños que lo van a necesitar ...

Ah! Y queria decir tambien que el centro sin su gente maravillosa, ya no es lo mismo... os echamos de menos chicos... :-)

Fez Festival Of Sufi Culture

Could it be the right place to be in this weekend? I would love to have a few hours' hike around the prodigious walls of the old city of Fez tomorrow and have glimpses of, or maybe enjoy for hours, the 4th Fez Festival Of Sufi Culture that will be held, here in Fez, from April 17th to 24th. This year's theme is: "Mysticism and poetry”, and there will be interesting discussions about interesting themes such as Globalization and dialogue among cultures. A number of intelectuals and actors of civil society will give soul to this fascinating encounter. I will - hopefully -  have the opportunity to meet again some people I know!