Maria Popova is absolutely my GOAT - my greatest writer of all time.

For many years now, whenever I need ... 
- to make sense of things in my life, I turn to her writing.

- to find meaning in what I was experiencing, I turn to her writing.
- to find solitude, I turn to her writing.

- to find quiet joy, I turn to her writing.

- to feel inspired, I turn to her writing.

- to have wisdom in my life, I turn to her writing.

This passage below is liberally plagiarised from Maria's latest "The Universe in Verse Book" where she so eloquently compared poetry and science....  https://www.themarginalian.org/the-universe-in-verse/   I found the comparison exquisitely similar to how I feel about science and religion, hence my humble re-write in this context...

In our human journey, we seek truth and meaning amidst the interplay of objective reality and subjective experience. Our yearnings, our sorrows, and our confrontations with existence's enigmas all point toward one or the other. We marvel at nature's beauty and ponder our purpose. We oscillate between the pursuit of truth and the desire to understand nature, between the quest for meaning and the yearning to know ourselves, and between the relationships of truth and beauty, love and mortality, the finite and the infinite.

Religion and science, individually and especially together, are tools for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply. Science helps us encounter reality on its own terms, while religion broadens and deepens the terms on which we meet ourselves and others. At their intersection, we may find a way to clarify and sanctify our experience, harmonising the objective reality of an indifferent universe with the subjective reality of being alive, grieving, and rejoicing. Both seek to reveal something unknown—about who we are and what this all means. Their shared blessing is a wakefulness to reality infused with wonder.

Religion might seem an unlikely portal into the fundamental nature of reality—into dark matter, the singularity, evolution, and entropy. Yet, it has a meaningful way of sneaking ideas into our consciousness through the back door of feeling, bypassing our ordinary ways of seeing and relating to the world. Through religion, other scales of time, space, and significance—the raw material of science—can enter more fully and faithfully into our worldview, returning us to our daily lives broadened and magnified. We can then approach our tasks and existential longings with renewed resilience and a passion for possibility.

Endless gratitude to my kindred spirit, Maria Popova...

 

Service Project: Distributing Pre-Loved Glasses

On 6 October 2024, a heartwarming service project took place in the Kampung Kejau, Rancangan Petempatan Semula (RPS) Jernang, nestled under the lush green canopy of the region. This is a Semai Orang Asli settlement, located in the Sungkai area of the Batang Padang district in Perak and most of the friends there are followers of the Baha'i Faith.

The programme distributes pre-used spectacles to community members in need of visual aids. Its success relies entirely on the collaborative efforts of numerous kind-hearted individuals and organisations. Kind-hearted donors give their used spectacles a second lease on life by donating them, while the Association of British Women in Malaysia played a crucial role as a collecting partner. Volunteers from the Junior Youth group in Ara Bangsar meticulously cleaned the glasses, preparing them for their new owners. Optical chain MOG and M-Trend, at Tropicana City Mall and Bandar Kinrara Branch, offered their expertise by repairing and labeling the glasses' prescriptions.

As a result of these combined efforts, over 80 pairs of pre-used glasses were distributed to the Asli friends with visual needs in Kampung Kejau. The recipients were deeply grateful, and the volunteers from the Junior Youth group and their friends left with a sense of fulfillment, having witnessed the profound impact of their acts of service. This project demonstrated how collective goodwill and service can create ripples of positive change with enduring impacts.

Eloquently shared reflections by some of the volunteers...