Happening
By Bilal Bikile
Like life, the plot of my next story will reveal itself in due time. Happening is a present-tense word, and currents carry me across a river of serendipity. Some realities, in fact, most at this time, are harder to believe than that which I can not see. It feels as if my brain has switched places with my heart, so when I think, it is on the purest basis of intuition, and when I feel, I can rationalize and comprehend exactly where the sensation or inclination is coming from. I often question what this book is that I need to write. My first novel. My statement to the world. My proclamation that I am here, important, unique, and capable of being heard, listened to, and beloved. I know, however, that ideas don’t come when you need them, or expect them to, and like an omen, you must be in tune with yourself, God, and the world such that when the idea or story presents itself to you, you take it upon yourself to adopt, nurture, and help it grow. The subconscious world is indeed a very physical place. In many ways, more real than reality. Sleep and dreams are but a minor form of death, as described by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). But they are also premonitory, pre-cognitive, the last portion of revelation that God gave us in our time, resides deep within our souls and racing eyes in the darkest hours of the night. If you don’t have your soul light on to receive such revelation, however, you are living only a small portion of your truest existence. I don’t mean to sound like a mystic, as if I’ve seen something or learned something new about the world and myself that has altered my being. I haven’t needed any drugs to reach this point; in fact, the most stimulated I have ever felt in my life was and is precisely during these times of great sobriety, lacking any of which could alter my brain chemistry beyond a point of natural tolerance.