Reality.

Yesterday, a schoolmate of mine passed away of the big C. Sudden but it happens. Like I tweeted the other day - Death is extremely ordinary.

In my previous post, I so confidently welcomed myself to the 'Real' world. Kononnya.

But there I was, standing on the muddy soil as a result of the heavy rain in Subang. Seems like it was a replay of the funeral I attended in July 2009. Perhaps it was because it was at the same place.

Same feeling of fear, different containment of emotions.

Dan baru malam semalam aku berdebat dengan rasional aku tentang keberadaan kita di Dunia. Tentang orang-orang yang memikirkan keberadaan kita untuk kehidupan yang seterusnya.

Real lovers and friends are ones who think for your wellbeing in the Hereafter and not only for your state in this temporal hedonistic life.

Look around you. At your friends who you spend your time with - occasionally or frequently. Ones who would always call you out for a game or two, a drinking session and all that sort? Kawan bersuka-ria. And ones who would come to your majlis tahlil, make a doa and recite surah yassin for you, pray that your burdens would be removed and your soul purified?

Which of your friends who would think of your wellbeing there, at the Hereafter?

Because frankly, when you pass on - nothing defines you. Not your branded clothes, not your bank accounts, your fancy cars, your academic qualifications and all that sort.

Who would be with you when you're six feet under?

The thing about us is that we're people of attachment. We're attached to entities either we admit it or not, either we are aware of it or otherwise. It's basic Attachment theory (e.g. Bowlby). We're attached to our caregivers since we're young. We're attached to the mundane things in life like our Facebook pages, our smartphones, the Internet etc. To Twitter even (guilty as charged)!

The things that at this point you think and feel like they facilitate to build ourselves and beings as people. Like our careers and stuff. Sure they complement our beings, but for how long?

At the end of the day, or let's just say, our lifetime; what can we truly depend on?

Your physical being will fail you. All these material things that kononnya help to define you, would cease like the toys you used to play when you were a toddler. And later on, so conveniently, the toys are passed on to other kids because they are not functional for you anymore.

Things get passed on. People fluctuate along. Life goes on.

Surely, there's something more. Something Real and True. Do not underestimate its physical absence. Just because it is not there, does not mean it is inexistent.

In less than 24 hours, I proved myself wrong. I am in the World, but it is not Real enough. In fact, it is not Real at all.

Truth and Reality has been debated from one civilization to another.

The Real and True world is the Hereafter. Surely, when something is Real and True is not temporal. It lasts. One that lasts not according to Time. Because Time ticks off. Time will eventually move on and fluctuate. Like Life. You want the Forever that has been talked and spoken of? Forever is there. Forever is Real and True. Forever is Timeless.

This is Romanticism at its best.

And just like that, I am reminded, subhanAllah. Passion still comes before money.

Al-Fatihah buat arwah Shahrilen Shahrul Anuar (1989-2011). Semoga rohnya di tempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman, insyaAllah.