athousandsuns :
And so we keep adding fuel to the fire for as long as we're willing to burn. We keep going around in circles, eating our own tail, trapped in the same self we refuse to let go of. Perhaps that's what makes the fire eternal, the refusal to change, to bend, to return.
But I wonder if there's another kind of burning. The kind that burns away the impurities rather than consuming the whole being. Like Ramadan, where we surrender to hunger and thirst, and allow the experience to change us instead of fighting it.
Even clay has to go through fire, but there's a difference. In the kiln, clay hardens into a fixed form. It gains strength, but loses its malleability. It can become enchanted by its own shape, its own sheen, and forget that it was once something that could be moulded.
And maybe that's the difference between Adam and Iblis. Adam made a mistake, but he could return. Iblis became so attached to what he was that he refused to change. I am fire, he is clay. He chose to burn rather than bend.
“Die before you die,” as the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said. Not the destruction of the person, but the letting go of the self that refuses to change. Maybe the question is, when the fire reaches us, do we become more stubborn in who we think we are, or do we allow ourselves to be remoulded?
2026-10-21 23:33:14