The ZAhir

As qouted from The Zahir by Paulo Coelho "According to the writer Jorge Luis Borges, the idea of the Zahir comes from Islamic tradition and is thought to have arisen at some point in the eighteenth century. ZAhir, in Arabic, means visible, present, incapable of going unnoticed. It is something which, once, we have come into contact with them or it, gradually occupies our every thought, until we can think of nothing else. This can be considered either a state of holiness or of madness.

An excerpt

Changez thinks, as he is on his way to New York, just when his hometown Lahore and Pakistan are on the verge of an impending war with India..........."On the flight i noticed how many of my fellow passengers were similar to me in age: college students and young professionals, heading back after the holidays. I found it ironic; children and the elderly were meant to be sent away from impending battles, but in our case it was fittest and brightest who were leaving, those who in the past would have been most expected to remain. I was filled with contempt for myself, such contempt that i could not bring myself to converse or to eat."

- The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid

Much is taken...much abides

Though much is taken, much abides;

And though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven,

that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

From the book "Breakdown",
Read in 2003-04.
About a man's journey with bipolar mood disorder.