Dear Members, We started the journey of PTC about 10 years back. our whole achievement is a handful of persons who are determined to convert this club into a movement. PTC struggle is multidimensional and is fraught with challenges and dilemmas. I have knocked at the door of every intellectual person I know to involve him in this struggle. this is not easy journey but once you embark on, it becomes interesting, spiritually uplifting and intellectually stimulating. for this to happen, you have to compartmentalize your personality into several areas and have a parallel struggle in each area.
A: seeing the bigger picture: This area is impersonal. here you have to come out of your emotional self. you use your faculty of analysis and critical thinking as you look at a segment of current history. you are interlinking different phenomenon as they are occurring in human and planet history. you need appropriate information before you reach conclusions and judge. you see a continuity in world wars ( 1 &11), colonialism, birth of Pakistan & Israel, establishment of current economic model, the fascinating and accelerating technological development and globalization. here the main challenge is to avoid jumping to conclusion based on our assumptions and incomplete knowledge of events and underlying reasoning of events. once you can connect the dots, you can streamline the struggle of your intellectual life in a better fashion. this is not an overnight phenomenon. the hardest thing is to come out of personal shell of circumstances and preoccupations and to feel the need of looking at the bigger picture. the immediate and short term issues are so demanding that we give ourselves to them.
B: Personal Area: In this area we need to have a closer look at ourselves. what are our desires? what are our addictions and habits? when we are tired, what things or hobbies we resort to? are these indulgences our brakes in spiritual journey? Is seeking immediate gratification leading us to deeper depression and restlessness? again this is not an overnight phenomenon and is a continuous journey that starts with awareness and need of such closer look at ourselves. It requires great courage and Zarf to look at ourselves in such critical way.
This personal area also involves profession, family ( relations) and human environment around us. the main question of this compartment is: are we fulfilling the needs and rights of others in this area? this takes most of our energy. when we are done with this area, little is left to do any big thing in our lives. so the key to success is to : unburden yourself by resorting to simple ( as much as you can) life but unburdening is just one aspect. we need the skills of time management and efficiency. again this is continuous effort.
C: 4 actions: 4 actions are tool to do minimum in PTC journey. practising positive and alternative thinking ( by reading and dialogue), setting aside a unit of material resources for PTC, changing one habit at a time and increasing circle of influence. It is a recipe of positive change that a person has full control on. continuous and persistent doing of 4 actions can undo the desperation and hopelessness people in general have now a days. please do not underestimate them because of their simplicity. great things happen because of following simple rules and principles.
D: PTC projects: If some one has worked in above three areas, he/she can understand the full meaning of our projects. otherwise there is a chance of taking them as charity based works meant to help poor and desperate Pakistani. our projects have nothing to do with that kind of notion. building nation should not be based on passive help leading to weakening the human soul and addicting the humans with aid and crutches. every person involved in these projects ( whether producer or consumer) have to chip in and actively participate.
E. Breaking the myth of Power, Politics , Celebrity and Media: We want to distinguish between real power and illusion of power. the power in these areas are just wrong notions in the minds of people. I do not want to oversimplify a complicated phenomenon but one of the end point of PTC movement is to come out of these artificial and imaginary sources of power and influence. It is easy to mock and ridicule idols of other people; it is hard to break the idols we have made ourselves. we literally worship them. the good political and Islamic movements in Pakistan have this flawed idea of gaining first power and then delivering to masses. let us break these myths. let us break the idols of power, politics , celebrity and commercial media. PTC movement will get into every corner of Pakistan in ordinary masses. we can break these idols by not asking or demanding our rights from so called echelons of power. this is a movement of responsibility and not a movement of rights.
Movement of rights brings fasad, increases divisions, and mostly hijacked by mafia and pressure groups. ( should I give example? being in karachi, you have plenty of examples)
The journey is slow but steady. It is not reactionary movement; it is proactionary movement. It is not emotional, it is intellectual. we are neither saving the world nor bringing reform; we are just creating a set up that is conducive to our paradigms in life. if some one is interested , he/she can join us voluntarily. we will connect , complement and coordinate the good works already being done. we do not need to reinvent the wheels.
To do that, we need a team of founding members. you all are our founding members of PTC. my role is to hint our members to the potentials they have. few years back when I met you all in meetings, I recognized the intellectual strength with emotional maturity you are gifted with. above all, you manage to unburden yourself from the unnecessary complexities of life and that is the hallmark of a leader in PTC.
Nasar
