In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful...the Best Knower.
Salaam Family!
In our Lessons from Master Fard Muhammad, we read the following:
11. Have you not learned that your Word shall be Bond, regardless of whom or what?
Ans. Yes. My Word is Bond, and Bond is Life; and I will give my Life before my Word shall fail.
Word - the spoken or written expression of a concept, idea or intention.
Bond - a binding agreement; a tie; a secure connection; an essential or fundamental link or affinity.
Life - purposeful or intelligent activity and the results or effects produced by such activity.
It has been my own personal experience and observation that, "Regardless of whom or what", each of us is bound, or securely connected -- by the law of cause and effect -- to every intention that we formulate and commit to; and the quality of our lives is directly affected by our ability to fulfill the intentions that we formulate and commit to.
The more unfulfilled intentions one has, the lower will be his quality of life, the poorer will be his performance in life, and the more dissatisfied he will be with his life.
This principle can be seen in the example of a computer that has trouble performing the task at hand (present) because there are too many "background" (past) programs running.
To start one program (intention) and then to start a second program without ever closing the first one; and then to start a third program without ever closing the first and second ones, and so on...creates a host of unfulfilled intentions that affect the Awareness of a person in much the same way that excess "background programs" affect the "awareness" or ability of a computer: they tie up the person's attention (memory) in the past, making it increasingly difficult to perform the task at hand, or to be in "present time", causing the "user" to often become dissatisfied, disappointed, and even depressed; unless he or she knows how to identify and "close" those mental "background programs" -- unfulfilled intentions.
This is one reason why it is so very important to implement the process of Atonement, and the Practice of Lawful Dialogue in our own personal lives -- to help relieve ourselves of the psychological burden of the unfulfilled intentions, unkept words, and broken promises which tie up so much of our awareness in the past, that we are barely functioning in the Present; and we can hardly even envision a future for ourselves.
Another negative effect of failing to complete or fulfill our intentions, is that after a while, it it sets up in our minds a "habit" of "not fulfilling" our intentions; and so we become chronic "starters", but weak "finishers"; which could easily convince a person that he or she "can't" finish or fulfill his or her own intentions; and then becomes dependent on "someone else" to motivate him/her or to tell him/her what to do.
Let us be careful what intentions we formulate and commit to; but when we DO commit to an intention, let us work hard to fulfill it -- not only for the sake of keeping the trust of those we interact with, but also for the sake of our own sanity and quality of life.
Let us Strive, always, to make our word Bond, regardless of whom or what!
Respectfully,
RM
