Fathers Day USA 2010

Waiting for the obligatory phones calls.  Communicating more with the kids over social networks than Skype these days because of their work schedules and the fact that half the time, they live in my past and live in their future.  Odd concept, time zones.  They’re practical, but they’re odd on the metaphysical level.  Which brings me to Paolo Coelho. He knows a lot about spirituality and comparative religion.  He uses the term Zahir, with the article ‘the’ in front of it as the title of a book and defines a Zahir as
ZAHIR, in Arabic, means visible, present, incapable of going unnoticed. It is someone or 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.

Source(s):Paulo Coelho, The Zahir (2005);

In Islam, there are two aspects to the Koran.  One is Zahir, which is the obvious interpretation, the ‘normal’ meaning or words.  The other is Batin, or the underlying, the esoteric.
I think this is a good place to start a story.  Thank you Mr. Coelho, and you Prophet Muhammad.  And thank me for having such a big ego as to try to understand these things and tell them to you.

Kids can be Zahirs.  Once we come into contact with them, they occupy our every thought.  Then they grow up.  That's the hard part.  I'm nine hours away from the US by plane and Abby and John are ten hours away from each other by car, but we stay in touch, probably more and in more depth, than if we were in closer proximity.  Life is like that.....