Saturday, February 03, 2024

Anab Whitehouse Interview with Dr. Len Ber, Targeted Justice

 


The pdf document (link given below) encompasses much – but not all – of an interview that was conducted by Dr. Len Ber of Targeted Justice --https://www.targetedjustice.com/ -- in late January of 2024 and which recently has been posted on YouTube. 


For those who are unfamiliar with the term, “Targeted Individuals” are people who are being terrorized everyday of the week by: Various government agents, would-be overlords of the corporate sector, medical people who lack ethics and integrity, academic experimenters who care only about their careers, military black operatives, abusers of the policing system (on a federal, state, and local level), as well as independent contractors who are willing to torture people for a buck. These perpetrators use a variety of protocols governing wireless networks of energy that been  have established by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and which have enabled unscrupulous, greedy, and self-serving individuals to subject people all over the world (estimated to consist of some 6,000,000 individuals) to programs (operated both through systems of artificial intelligence as well as manual apps on mobile phones, iPads, or computers) that seek to impose physical, emotional, and cognitive torture as well as mind-control programs on innocent people. The phenomenon of the Havana Syndrome is but one expression of the world-wide program of terror that is being run by people that many modalities of media are actively protecting and attempting to keep hidden from a more, wide-spread public awareness. 


You can access the full video interview at: 


Anab Whitehouse Interview


and/or 


you can download a pdf which encompasses most of the interview through: 


Anab Whitehouse Interview with Dr. Len Ber of Targeted Justice

 



Friday, November 03, 2023

Sufi Reverberations Addendum - Freedom Came Today

 

The poem that will be featured toward the latter part of this video, following some introductory comments, was written some twenty years ago. When the thoughts and emotions bubbled to the surface and came together to form the soon-to-be-played poem, the focus of the composition’s phenomenology was directed toward the insanity, barbarity, propaganda, lies, duplicity, depraved indifference, unholy machinations, and murderous activities of the United States Government and its allied oppressors with respect to their invasion of Iraq – a country that was blamed – falsely -- for helping to organize the events of 9/11 and for allegedly hiding stockpiles of mass destruction which didn’t actually exist but whose actual sin in the eyes of its attackers was that Iraq had begun to disengage from the petro-dollar and was selling its oil through other means. In truth, however, aspects of the American government – with a little help from its friends in British and Israeli intelligence, along with rogue elements from the CIA – were responsible for helping to organize the events of that horrendous day in September and, this led to a reprehensible set of policies being invoked into so-called law (starting with the Patriot Act and continuing on with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) that were designed to use the falsehoods surrounding the carnage and tragedy of 9/11 as leverage for shamelessly seeking to justify the government’s own intent to unleash very real stockpiles of mass destruction upon the people of Iraq and elsewhere. (And, for those who have been induced to accept the “official story” concerning 9/11, please read and critically reflect on actual research concerning 9/11 conducted by: David Ray Griffin, Judy Wood, Jim Marrs, Barbara Honneger, Richard Gage, Ole Dammegard, Rebecca Roth, Barrie Zwicker, Peter Dale Scott, Webster Tarpley, Graeme MacQueen, Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, David, Icke, Max Igan, Christopher Bollyn, Thierry Meyssan, Kevin Barrett, James Corbett, Kevin Ryan, and Anab Whitehouse.)

If, when one listens to the forthcoming poem, one substitutes the words: Palestinian and/or Gazians for Iraqis, and: Zionists for American government, nothing else that is being said in the poem – and this is said with considerable sadness -- has changed. The names have changed, but the cruelty, terrorism, and destructiveness that is being inflicted on innocents has not changed at all.

We are still witnessing the insanity, barbarity, propaganda, lies, duplicity, depraved indifference, unholy machinations, and murderous activities of a government as it commits atrocities against unarmed people. On this occasion, however, the Israeli government is the one which is leading the charge against the unsuspecting people of Gaza, rather than against the unsuspecting people of Iraq, while being assisted by self-serving oppressors from the American government as well as several other governments populated with witless, morally challenged sycophants.

Nonetheless, what continues to be a common theme between now and twenty years ago is the manner in which the Israeli government is pretending (just as the American government did following 9/11) that it had nothing to do with enabling someone – in the present case, Hamas – a group that the Israeli government helped protect, support, and fund since 2007 – to breach, in fifteen different places, the security fence system that separates Israel from Gaza. One might note in passing how there has been an array of independent testimonies given by a number of former IDF members (individuals who were intimately familiar with the capabilities of that security system) who recently indicated that what happened on October 7, 2023 was completely impossible based on what they knew, via direct experience, about that security system’s capabilities and the numerous back-up protocols that were entailed by that system.

The implications of the testimonies of Israeli citizens and former members of the IDF which are being alluded to in the foregoing comments is that October 7, 2023 was not the result of a breakdown in Israeli intelligence or incompetence on the part of the IDF. Rather, the events of October 7, 2023 were the calculated, deliberate, with malice aforethought, evil spawn of Israeli intelligence, government officials, and IDF leaders.

Furthermore, evidence from inside Israel has been leaking out in which Israeli citizens who – much to their dismay -- had been caught up in the tricks being played out on October 7, 2023, are testifying that it was the IDF – operating in accordance with the Hannibal Protocol that first came into use during the 2014 Gaza War – that was deliberately seeking to kill both members of Hamas and Israeli citizens during Israel’s terrorist operations. In addition, not only were more than half of the Israelis who died on that day members of the IDF, but none of the allegations about the beheading of Israeli babies, or the raping of Israeli women, and other alleged charges of atrocities that were being directed against the members of Hamas have been demonstrated – on the basis of evidence rather than propaganda -- to be true.

Did Hamas take hostages? Yes, they did. Were members of the IDF killed by members of Hamas on October 7, 2023? Yes, this did happen.

However, evidence indicating that Hamas tortured, raped, and killed unarmed Israeli citizens or perpetrated an array of unspeakable atrocities on October 7, 2023 has not been independently substantiated. To be sure, if credible evidence concerning such allegations should ever surface, then, the perpetrators deserve whatever fate has sought them out because such acts are entirely antithetical to Islam and Christianity. Nevertheless, as far as actual evidence is concerned, there are testimonies given by a number of Israeli citizens who were taken captive on October 7, 2023 which indicated that the latter individuals had been treated with humanity by their Hamas captors.

None of the foregoing is meant to excuse the culpability of members of Hamas from, knowingly or unknowingly, allowing themselves to be used to provide the Israeli government with a purported, but woefully inadequate – indeed, psychopathic and criminal -- justification for conducting a genocide against innocent Palestinians. If the raid of Hamas into Israel was done unknowingly with respect to the Israeli Psy-Op that was being conducted, then, how could the members of Hamas have been so callous in their mode of unthinking, self-aggrandizing lack of insight and discernment to suppose that their actions would not subsequently boomerang, with deadly and devastating results, on the millions of innocent people in Gaza – people who knew nothing about, nor had they given their approval to, the actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023. Surely, Hamas had considerable understanding concerning the sophistication and complexity of the security system that was inherent in the fence structures that separated Gaza from Israel, and, yet, apparently, none of the members of Hamas or its leadership were suspicious of the information that led them to believe that an impenetrable security system could be breached in fifteen different locations on the morning of October 7, 2023. How foolish and careless can one get with the lives of the millions of people in Gaza that were supposed to be protected by Hamas and for whom Hamas had a fiduciary responsibility? … a responsibility which they have failed to observe.

Supposedly, the members of Hamas are ready to resist the IDF when the latter forces enter Gaza, as the IDF already has begun to do. Hamas fighters did actively resist the IDF during some of the earlier IDF intrusions into Gaza and did so successfully on a number of occasions.

Trying to protect Palestinians within Gaza is one thing. Palestinians have a right to defend themselves against a brutal, oppressive, and tyrannical occupier.

 Walking into a trap, however, seems like a bridge too far. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor.

Hamas has had years of experience involving the sadistic ways in which the Israeli government tortures, abuses, manipulates, lies, steals, beats, maims, and kills for the sheer joy of doing so. Indeed, the Israeli government and its occupying forces are very devoted – pathologically so -- to the details of the foregoing kinds of exploits.

Consequently, it would seem to run overwhelmingly contrary to years of the foregoing sorts of experiences for Hamas to suppose that, somehow, all of the Israeli government’s years of meticulous attention to detail would completely evaporate on the day that Hamas leaders had been induced to attack Israel. Indeed, one wonders what the ultimate source of the alleged “Intel” was that had led Hamas to conduct their “al-Aqsa Flood” operation because the idea that the Israeli stand-down and the Hamas decision to attack during that stand-down was just a coincidence seems to be rather overly coincidental.

Just as was true in relation to the American government, following September 11th, 2001, the Israeli government wouldn’t mind being charged with having suffered a massive intelligence failure as a way of gaslighting the idea that they were quite prepared to kill their own people and, in the case of the Israelis, perhaps, induce Hamas to assist them in that task in order to prepare the path to a genocide that the Israeli government had been planning to do all along.  If – and I emphasize the word “if” --  some of the leaders and members of Hamas colluded with, if not conspired with, the Israeli government to bring about the colossal tragedy of October 7, 2023, then, the level of the evil that has been let loose into the world has been increased by a multiplicity of levels in magnitude.

If the aforementioned scenario turns out to be true, then, not only did people in the Israeli government betray its own Israeli citizens, but, as well, the leaders of Hamas – or, perhaps, some of them -- might also have betrayed the people of Gaza. There is some degree of uncertainty surrounding the issue of whether the actions of the leaders of Hamas exhibited a knowing or unknowing lack of discernment concerning the situation on October 7, 2023, but notwithstanding such uncertainty, nevertheless, all of the available evidence indicates that the Israeli government was deliberately willing to put its own people in harm’s way in order to provide a pretext for moving forward with its genocidal plan to destroy the people of Gaza – and government leaders in America, England, Germany, and elsewhere appear to be quite prepared to join in to support, fund, arm, and, if necessary, participate in such genocide.

The right to self-defense – a right which belongs to both Palestinians and Israelis – is one thing. Nonetheless, the collective punishment and terrorism which is being egregiously imposed on the Palestinian people by the Israeli government – and, knowingly or unknowingly, with the assistance of individuals from Hamas -- has nothing to do with a right to self-defense and everything to do with the war crimes, as well as the
crimes against humanity, which are being conducted against the unarmed people of Gaza.

None of what is said in the foregoing is said against the thousands of Israelis and people of Jewish faith who have been demonstrating in Tel Aviv, New York City, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere to protest against the heinous actions of the Israeli government. My heart and soul goes out to those thousands of Jewish individuals, and I pray that they will be protected against the lunatics in their governments, as well as those people in the general public, who are sufficiently ill-educated and ill-informed that they can’t tell the difference between, on the one hand, someone who is Jewish or Israeli -- and, who, like individuals from Palestine, wish to be able to live free from hatred, bigotry, or oppression -- and, someone, on the other hand, who is a deranged zealot who wishes to inflict harm on innocent individuals and against whom we all – whether Jew or non-Jew -- need to be protected.

Please keep the foregoing considerations in mind, when one listens to the following poem, entitled: “Freedom Came Today.”

 

Freedom came today for Iraqis

In a measured display of shock and awe

That bestowed gratuitous wounds

On thankful souls who’ll line the streets

And greet us as compassionate heroes.

Freedom came today for 600 thousand innocents

Which, of course, we deny as being far too high a figure

Based on data that do not keep track of dead Iraqis.  

Freedom came today for poor Sami

Who was looking for safety but found some kindness

Which blew him away, so let us play taps to mark

When he became part of America’s dream.

 Freedom came today for journalist Ali

Thrown in jail for, possibly, thirty years

Because he didn’t have the sense to write lies

Rather than truth about ruthlessly earned liberty.

Freedom came today for ‘Aisha who was raped by

Those who set her free. This sort of special gallantry

Is, of course, an anomaly since they normally

Stick with search and destroy.

Freedom came today for unlucky Hassan

Who was trying to see his family, but ended up

Naked in Abu Ghraib, with dogs growling,

Devoid of shame, at his dignity.

Freedom came today for Ra’bia who was caressed

By white phosphorous which made her feel

All warm and fuzzy inside, right down to her small

Little bones. Surely, her cup runneth over.

Freedom came today for the masses who can,

Whenever they like, turn on faucets empty

Of water, or switch on lights with no electricity

To illumine tyranny’s just end.

Freedom came today in such neatly

Wrapped packages of hypocrisy

And lies … democracy at its best, sold as a

Capital idea to people hungry for sovereignty.

Freedom came today to greedy ones, who,

Out of duty, lobbied their way to no bid, cost-plus

Contracts, made in the secrecy of self-serving facts

That enriched only non-Iraqis.

Freedom came today in uncivil ways,

One brother, against another,

Locked in malignant enmity,

Set loose by U.S. magnanimity.

O’ beautiful with rapacious eyes.

 Freedom came today to plans, where bands

Of hired guns are inspired to kill sand-dwellers

So wars will not wash up on homeland shores,

And mangled lives can be sanitized through illusions.

Freedom came today when night-vision goggles

Found opportunity in their sights, and those who

Never saw it coming were liberated.

Strange how we see their bodies but not their hearts.

Freedom might come today if the good old USA --

Despite a touch of delusion about it’s assumed

Place in God’s space – would attend to the

Ten commandments and leave Iraq alone.

Freedom might come today if knowledge

Took hold in citizens’ souls about democracy’s

Decay through abuse of power, which shackles

Conscience, and mindless fears of created demons.



Saturday, October 14, 2023

The Voice of Innocence

 He eloquently speaks about the present (and past) in conjunction with his people, and his words carry a resonance which alludes to a fast-approaching possible future for many other peoples. May God have mercy on all of us ... those who have awakened (at least to a degree), and those who are struggling to awaken, as well as those who are still asleep but have the potential to awaken. Whether we are struggling to awaken, or we continue to sleep or, if (to whatever degree) we have awakened and are seeking to constructively act in some way, these are all choices for which we have a duty of care and from which there is no escape. This is at the heart of what is entailed by having been given the gift of life.



Saturday, August 26, 2023

Sufi Reverberations - Episode 16 - What's In A Name?

 

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is once reported to have said: “There are 71 sects among Jews, and only one of them is correct. There are 72 sects among Christians, and only one of them is correct. There are 73 sects among Muslims, and only one of them is correct.” Presumably, something of a similar nature could be voiced concerning: Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, many kinds of indigenous systems of belief, as well as in relation to various modalities of the so-called mystery schools.

We all want to think that whatever path we are on is the right one. However I’m not going to try to claim that my spiritual journey just happens to be fully compliant with the correct one alluded to in the foregoing.

I have tried hard to search for the truth, but Allah knows best what the reality of my situation is. Nonetheless, I can say with certainty that whatever my shortcomings might still be – and I am sure that they are many -- my life is better than it otherwise would have been and become had it continued on the path I was on prior to becoming initiated, by the Grace of Allah, through my first shaykh.

On the other hand, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has been reported to indicate: “The movements of nafs are more difficult to detect than the movements of a black ant on a smooth rock in the dead of night.” How much does one miss concerning the truth as a result of the machinations of nafs which through a network of desires, negative emotions, problematic motivations, and impulsive, ill-considered intentions constantly creates a variety of emotional, psychological, conceptual, social, and spiritual blind-spots, if not existential sink holes?

Plus, let’s add to the contributions of an individual’s nafs, the forces of dunya (which is the chaos generated by the manner in which the complex dynamics of our collective nafs interact with one another to generate a dysfunctional society) and, then, mix those dynamics with the constant entreaties of the shaytans that are urging human beings to pursue what is not in our best interests. Nafs, dunya, and shaytans are an unholy alliance constantly seeking to induce us to pursue things other than the truth concerning the essential nature of our relationship with Being, and if we are honest with ourselves, there are all too many times when we take a whipping from that alliance.

Even if we are fortunate enough, by the Grace of Allah, to win more of the foregoing battles than we lose, it has been said that the sins of the elect are the virtues of those who are less spiritually endowed. As a result, even if we believe we are doing well, this belief might only be because we have become intoxicated with a spiritual orientation which is nothing more than something which reverberates and resonates with the sins of the elect.

The foregoing consideration reminds one of the account that is associated with the life of Hazrat Ra’ bia (may Allah be pleased with her) who was reported to have been walking with a Sufi of some accomplishment on the side of a hill overlooking Basra. The latter individual looked upon the city below them and remarked that most of the people of that city did not keep their fasts or observe their prayers.

The man went on to indicate that he had never missed a fast or prayer in his life. Hazrat Ra’bia (may Allah be pleased with her) is reported to have given the man a hard look and said: “Thy existence is a sin with which none other can compare.”

There are those who maintain that the Sufi path is a sort of technology which entails a methodology which, if followed, leads to spiritual realization concerning, among other things, essential identity. Hazrat Bayazid Bistami (may Allah be pleased with him) indicates otherwise when he is reported to have said: “The Thing we tell of can never be found by seeking, but only seekers find it,” indicating that the sine qua none of the Sufi path is God’s Grace, for as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “Many are those among you who fast and, yet, gain nothing from it except hunger and thirst, and many are those who pray throughout the night and, yet, gain, nothing from it except wakefulness.” Presumably, one might add that there are many who give zakat but acquire nothing but a lessening of their bank account, or who go on Hajj and gain nothing but a trip, or who utter shahadah and gain only the sound of their own voice.

Irrespective of what one’s efforts might be, God is under no obligation to grant one spiritual realization. We are completely dependent on God’s Mercy for, as the Qur’an indicates: “O people, you are the poor towards God, and God is the Independent and Praiseworthy.” (35:15)

Whatever our rizq (or provision) might be, it is from Allah. We should be grateful for what comes to us, including the desire to seek the truth and worship the truths that are disclosed to us … whether these truths be simple or profound, and whether these truths come via ease or hardship.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “All people are doomed to perish except those of action, and all people of action will perish except for the sincere, and the sincere are at great risk.” As the Qur’an reminds us: “We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, being afraid thereof, and man accepted to bear it. He is, indeed, extremely oppressive and ignorant.” (33:72)  Again from the Qur’an: “And surely we shall test you with some fear and hunger and loss of wealth and lives and crops, but give glad tidings to the steadfast, who say when misfortune strikes them: surely to Allah we belong and to Allah we are returning.” (2: 155-156). Claims to sincerity will always be tested.

There are many people today – both within the Muslim and Christian communities – who talk about human beings having been created in the image of God. One should ask what the nature of an “image” is for it is neither God, nor other than God.

In one Hadith Qudsi – that is words which are uttered through the mouth of the Prophet, but which are said to be the words of God rather than those of a man and, yet, what is said does not constitute revelation – the following statement is reported to have been said: “In the beginning, I was alone, and I am now as I was in the beginning.” In another Hadith Qudsi, the following words were reported to have been said: “I am Ahmad without meem (m).“ In other words, God is Ahad.

Reflect on the foregoing. God is saying that God was alone in the beginning, and God is now as God was in the beginning. God is Ahad – the One, the Singular, the Only, the Alone.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is said to have cautioned people to: “Reflect upon all things but reflect not on God’s Essence.” The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is also reported to have said: “I have been given all the Names and have been sent to perfect good behavior.”

We can reflect on the Names – that is, we can reflect on all of the different levels of manifestation that are made possible by the way in which Nur, Divine Light, is defracted through the prism of the Names of Allah -- but we cannot reflect on the Essence or Dhat of God. The image of God is to be found in the Names and not in the Divine Essence for although in essence we human beings might be Divine, we are not Divinity in Essence. Indeed, as the Qur’an indicates: “God appointed for you stars that you might be guided in the darkness of the land and the sea.” (6:97) The Qur’an also states: “And God taught Adam all of the Names, then, showed them to the angels, saying: Inform me of the names of these, if ye are truthful. They said: Be glorified! We have no knowledge saving that which Thou hast taught us. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Knower, The Wise. God said: O Adam! Inform them of their names. God said: Did I not tell you that I know the secret of the heavens and the earth?” (2:31-33).

The Names of Divinity give active expression to the Divine Presence. Nonetheless, one cannot reduce the latter to the former, for if this were the case – that is, if the Names and Essence were identical -- then, to reflect on the Names (which is encouraged by God throughout the Qur’an) would be forbidden since, as stipulated earlier, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said that one should not reflect on the Divine Essence.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “All of the Revealed Books are contained in the Qur’an. And, the meaning of the Qur’an is contained within Surah al-Fatihah. And, the meaning of Surah al-Fatiha is contained in Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem, and the meaning of Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem is contained in Bimillah, and the meaning of Bismillah is contained in the dot beneath bey (b).” Look for the image that gives expression to the fitra or essential nature of human beings in the dot beneath bey in Bismillah. Names are Names, but Essence is beyond all Names even as Names give testimony to the Presence of Essence or Dhat.

Earlier in this commentary, reference was made to my first shaykh. I have had two shaykhs – the first one was authentic and the second individual was a spiritual charlatan, and while the second “guide” might have been an imposter, nonetheless, he taught me some valuable lessons.

When my first shaykh passed away in 1988 I knew that I needed more guidance, and I knew that such an understanding of my unfinished spiritual condition was a sincere assessment of my condition. However, as indicated previously, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has indicated that “the sincere are at great risk.” Part of that risk is that one’s intentions will be rigorously tested.

Although, by the Grace of Allah, this unworthy individual had been permitted to spend considerable time in the company of a true saint of the 20th century and, thereby, had been provided with numerous opportunities to serve God through him, nonetheless, following the passing away of my guide, I was prepared to start all over again if I were to be fortunate enough to find another shaykh. There were no expectations on my part that I would be entitled to be given some sort of spiritual intimacy with another shaykh as had been the case with my first spiritual guide. I was just ready to learn whatever I could.

After several false starts, my life was brought into contact with someone who – on the surface – seemed to be a genuine shaykh. That individual could quote a seemingly endless litany of appropriate Hadiths and Quranic passages at the time that circumstances appeared to call for such words, and, as well, he could speak authoritatively on the history of the Sufi tradition and offer an endless stream of anecdotes that brought different dimensions of the spiritual journey to the attention of those who listened to him. I report the foregoing in the manner that I have because I had been listening to my first shaykh for nearly sixteen years and could see how what the second shaykh was saying reflected – at least on the surface -- what the first shaykh had been saying, but words are like icebergs which have a small, visible portion that is rooted in a reality that lies beneath the surface and is capable of giving surface words an impetus that is a function of the properties and qualities of the kind of reality which lies beneath the surface of spoken words.

The second shaykh was charismatic, had a great sense of humor, and was very approachable. On a number of occasions, I witnessed the way the second shaykh was able to induce fundamentalist oriented individuals to alter their approach to Islam, and this transformation often took place within a matter of hours, if not sooner.

At a certain point, after having had the opportunity to listen to the second shaykh, ask him questions, and watch how he interacted with a wide variety of individuals under an array of circumstances, I sought initiation. Upon being initiated – and none of what follows had so much as been hinted to me prior to initiation – I was made a shaykh and informed about an important role that I was to serve in the West – a role that my new shaykh had been instructed about – allegedly -- by his own shaykh a number of years previously.

I began to give talks, initiate mureeds, and undertake different tasks that I was being assigned by my second shaykh in Canada, the United States, and England. There were other presumptive shaykhs in North America with whom I came in contact that appeared to acknowledge that my second shaykh was the real deal.

However, to make a longer story much shorter, after about a decade of service, I was exposed to incontrovertible evidence that the second shaykh who was referred to as Baba, or spiritual father, was engaged in an array of unacceptable behaviors which were destroying people’s lives – including my own life. Among other things, the individual was a sexual predator.

Some people who hear the foregoing might ask: “Well, if your first shaykh was authentic and a saint, why didn’t he step in and help you in some way.” In truth, such help was extended to me several times. Once was in the form of a dream in which my first shaykh came to me and told me that I was travelling in the wrong, spiritual direction.

However, while I was quite prepared to accept the idea that I was making mistakes and needed to do some sort of course correction, I chose to ask the wrong person about what the dream might mean in specific terms. In other words, I went to the second, physically living shaykh and mentioned the dream in which my previous shaykh had indicated that I was journeying in the wrong direction, and, of course, the individual to whom I told the dream was a master of spinning things and spin he did. As I reflect upon that incident and, by the Grace of Allah, having gained some emotional distance from that time, the irony of that set of circumstances has not been lost on me.

In addition, prior to the foregoing incident and before I came into contact with the individual who would turn out to be a spiritual charlatan, I also had been given another warning by my first shaykh – the one who had passed away. More specifically, there was a Sufi gathering that was taking place and at that gathering someone else who had been a mureed of my first shaykh indicated to me that he had had a dream in which our shaykh had instructed him to tell me to look out for two wolves.

I subsequently came in contact with a number of individuals who turned out to have the qualities of a wolf. Consequently, I had a little difficulty distinguishing between the wheat and the chaff when it came to identifying which of the people I met were the two wolves to which my first shaykh was trying to draw my attention. As a result, by the time I came into the company of the second shaykh, I thought – incorrectly – that I already had been exposed to, and managed to free myself from, individuals who seemed to fit the description of the sort of individuals about which my shaykh had warned me in the dream of a friend that had been conveyed to me.

Notwithstanding the foregoing missteps, and despite being a little slow on the uptake with respect to the understanding that was necessary to realize some of the truth of what was transpiring, I did come across the evidence that was needed to break free from the second, alleged shaykh -- the spiritual charlatan. Moreover, without going into details, the realization has gradually dawned on me over time that the spiritual charlatan had been trying to destroy me and my life for quite some time, including doing things behind my back that were intended to isolate me from my family and friends.

Although there have been many truths that, gradually, have surfaced as a result of those ten years in the spiritual desert, the learning process has been soaked with considerable pain. However, life is not just about the jamali names of Divinity – the names of ease, bounty, beauty, and mercy, because whether one likes it or not, life is also about being exposed to the jalali names as well – the names of rigor, severity, and hardship.

The aforementioned spiritual charlatan induced many people to lose their faith. Yet, irrespective of whatever role spiritual charlatans play in the lives of people, the choice of what one does with the events that come into one’s  life – whether on refers to them as being “good” or “bad” -- always belongs to the individual.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “Knowledge is of two kinds: Formal knowledge which does not go beyond verbal profession. It is the evidence of God against those people who profess such knowledge, and according to it, God will judge them; and, genuine knowledge, which is deep rooted in the heart – this is the knowledge which is most useful.”

God has provided me with bits of genuine knowledge that were derived from the time I spent in the company of a real shaykh. God also has instilled genuine knowledge in me that arose, like a phoenix, from the ashes of my relationship with the false shaykh.

The Qur’an informs us that: “If Allah were to take humankind to task for their wrong-doing, God would not leave hereon a living creature, but God reprieveth them to an appointed term.” (16:61) I have tried to learn as much as I can about the nature of my own wrong-doing in the time that has been reprieved to me by God, and both of the aforementioned shaykhs, each in his own inimical way, has helped me to become aware of my mistakes and, slowly, with the help of Allah, I have sought to move in the direction of seeking to realize my fitra and away from ceding my agency to the influence of nafs, dunya, shaytans, and a false shaykh.

Back in the late 1960s, early 1970s, I remember coming across a book and a set of records by Baba Ram Das who, previously, had gone under the name: Richard Alpert. He, along with Timothy Leary, had been professors of psychology at Harvard when I was there, and during that time they both were fired from their jobs for experimenting with psilocybin as well as a few other consciousness-bending substances. A few years later Alpert wrote a book, accompanied by a set of records, called: Be Here, Now.

I had listened to the recordings and was quite moved by them, and, as a result, began to explore various mystical ideas and practices. My journey traversed a different path than his did, but, I tend to think that we both have been trying to move in the general direction of essential truths.

The series of words: “Be Here, Now” trips so easily off the lips, and, yet, to really understand what it is to “Be” and what the nature of the “Here” and the “Now” are, is profoundly difficult. The depth of the significance of that statement runs into the Unseen, for, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “Truly, the Qur’an has an outward and an inward dimension, and so on up to seven dimensions,” and, therefore, to properly understand what is entailed by the notion of “Be Here, Now,” from a Sufi perspective, one would need to travel to the most inward dimension – the seventh level -- of the Qur’an … and, maybe, beyond.

As the Qur’an indicates: “… if all of the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea, with seven more seas to help it (were ink), the words of Allah could not be exhausted.” (31:27) Or, approached in another way, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “God has seventy thousands veils of light and darkness; were they to be removed, the Glories of God’s face would burn away everything perceived by the sight of God’s creatures.”

We spend our lives sailing through the mysteries of those seventy thousand veils. We try to learn the intricacies of spiritual navigation that will enable us to find the way back to our essential selves and the truth of the nature of our relationship to the One Who has thrown us into the many currents of life.

At the beginning of this commentary, I referred to the Prophetic saying that includes the stipulation that: “there are 73 sects among Muslims, and only one of them is correct”. The considerations put forth throughout the present commentary allude to why there are so many paths that might be followed which will lead toward, or to, one of the 72 incorrect sects, and, how although the one correct way might be steeped in considerable mystery, yet, nonetheless, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) confirmed its reality when he is reported to have said: “There are hidden gems of knowledge unknown to all but those who know Allah. If they are spoken of, none denies them except those arrogant toward Allah.”

My first shaykh knew of such gems but was very guarded in his speech concerning them. My second shaykh – the spiritual fraud – did not know such gems but tried to speak as if he did, and, as a result, was thoroughly ensconced in one of the 72 incorrect ways of engaging Islam.

The present podcast will be my last in the Sufi Reverberations series – at least for the foreseeable future. I started these presentations not because I was a shaykh but because I wanted to share whatever I could that might offer a form of remembrance and support for whomever might happen onto the presentations while travelling through the darkness which is growing all about us. Indeed, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “Verily, God doth not take away knowledge from the hands of Divine servants, but taketh it by taking away the learned, so that when no learned people remain, the ignorant will be placed at the head of affairs. Causes will be submitted to their decision, and they will pass sentence without knowledge, and they will err themselves, and lead others into error.” These are the times in which we live.

For those who are interested, I have written more than forty books on an array of topics, ranging from: Medicine, to: Evolution, the Sufi path, 9/11, spiritual abuse, Sam Harris, Tolstoy, Islam, shari’ah, education, quantum mechanics, cosmology, religion, constitutional issues, philosophy, psychology, sovereignty, and more. The books are all free for the taking and can be found at: https://billwhitehouse.com/press.htm . No e-mail addresses will be required, nor will donations be asked for. Take what you like and leave the rest.

If books are not your thing, then, there are some videos that might be of interest to you. These can be found at: https://billwhitehouse.com/video.htm -- the last two videos on the page might have the most value.

As-Salaam-u-‘alaykum and khuda hafiz. (What's In A Name)

 

Thursday, June 08, 2023

Sovereignty: A Play in Three Acts (Audio-Video Edition) by Anab Whitehouse

 



Nine characters are cast into a set of circumstances that cannot be explained but with which those individuals must engage. The fate of humanity rides on what they do. Their task is to come to grips with the issue of self-governance. With no resources on which to draw except their own ideas, intelligence, moral integrity, and understanding, they must try to work out the essential principles of sovereignty. The challenge is time-limited, but they do not how much time is left before the final buzzer is sounded. In addition, there is a war, of some kind, that is raging all around them, and the explosions are coming closer and closer to their location. The discussions which ensue are far-reaching. They range from: the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, to: issues of ratification, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, constitutionality, the rule of law, judicial interpretation, sovereignty, the nature of power, education, cults, the scientific problem of origins, militarism, and more. Finally, a number of the characters are suspected of terrorism and treason. As a result, they must face an investigation into their activities. The truth might not be enough to save those individuals, but an unexpected decision is rendered leading to ... To engage an audio-video (mostly audio) rendering of the foregoing play, please go to: 

Sovereignty: A Play in Three Acts

Friday, May 12, 2023

Follow The What? - An Introduction By Anab Whitehouse


 

The Canadian sociologist, Irving Goffman, developed a method for analyzing experience. That technique is known as “framing analysis,” and, among other things, it involves a process of critically reflecting on the way in which actions, ideas, images, and so on are presented by someone.

The current book offers its own inimitable exercise in framing analysis concerning allopathic medicine. More specifically, the pages of Follow the What? – An Introduction seek to explore a variety of ways in which experience might be organized – that is, ways which involve framing ideas concerning the nature of experience – that seek to place one’s relationship with the issue of health in a very different sort of hermeneutical context than the proponents of allopathic medicine normally might be inclined to do. As such, the material in this book is intended to induce a reader to consider how different conceptual lenses, filters, and the like might alter how one understands or goes about engaging the nature of one’s relationship with reality – especially one’s lived reality as a biological being.

Among the topics to be explored are: Framing analysis; technocracy; the research of Louis Pasteur, Antoine Béchamp, Günther Enderlein, Royal Rife and Gaston Naessens; monomorphism; pleiomorphism; germ theory versus terrain theory; the alleged great influenza of 1918-19; virology; immunology; vaccinology; smallpox research; epigenetics; the resonance effect; frequency following behavior; energy; fields; quantum dynamics; zero-point energy; transduction; some of the work of Rupert Sheldrake on morphogenesis; polio research; the swine flu phenomenon of 1976; the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1786; the PREP act of 2005, the Supreme Court decision in the 1905 Jacobson v. Massachusetts case; rights; public health, and issues of constitutionality.

Follow The What? An Introduction

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Sufi Reverberations Episode 12 - Mystical Science

Mystical Science

(Right Click on above link to download MP3)

Many people today believe that science and religion stand at opposite ends of any process of inquiry. For example, many individuals might claim, among other things, that science is rooted in methodology whereas religion is a function of theology. Or, alternatively, many people maintain that science seeks to provide hard evidence and work out rigorous proofs in support of various claims, whereas religion bases its assertions on professions of faith and speculation.

While I am quite willing to concede that there often is a great deal of truth in the foregoing ways of characterizing and comparing science and religion, I don’t feel that such a perspective necessarily does justice to the discipline of authentic mysticism. Although the impression of some people concerning the nature of mysticism is that it tends to become entangled in notions of flights of fancy of one kind or another, the essential nature of authentic mysticism is quite different from such considerations.

If one were to characterize scientific methodology, one might indicate that it consists of the following sorts of procedures or protocols: (1) empirical observation; (2) the use of instrumentation; (3) recursive methodology; (4) objectivity; (5) a community of expertise; (6) experimental replication, and (7) reliable prediction. My contention is that authentic mysticism gives expression to all of the aforementioned aspects of scientific methodology, and the following discussion seeks to provide something of an overview that lends support to the foregoing contention concerning the scientific nature of mysticism when this existential orientation is properly pursued, and I will use the Sufi path as a specific case study.

(1)The empirical roots of the Sufi path come in many forms. Not only do the normal, external sensory channels provide empirical data, there are internal channels of empirical data as well.

Dreams, hal (that is, mystical states), maqam (spiritual stations), Kashf (mystical unveilings), and ilham (flashes of Divine intuition) also provide infinite sources of empirical data. Furthermore, these internal sources of empirical data come in different manifested forms of intensity and levels of certainty.

As is true in the case of modern sciences, there is a considerable difference between the empirical character of the reports of a trained observer and the reports of an untrained individual concerning the nature of a given observation or experience. For example, not everyone who looks at an X-ray or who examines a photograph of the traces of a sub-atomic event can correctly interpret this empirical data. Similarly, not everyone who undergoes a mystical dream, state, station or unveiling – assuming the experience is veridical -- is able to understand, correctly, the empirical data to which such experiences give expression.

The Sufi path provides an intense program that trains its adherents to be competent, exacting, empirical observers. The intensity and rigor of such a program rivals -- if not exceeds -- anything which modern science offers in the way of training its own observers. 

If an individual were critical of the scientific method but had never tried to engage its procedures or perform any of its experiments, or never worked with any of its instruments, then, a modern proponent of science might be justified if she or he were to say that such a would-be critic should try to acquire some minimal amount of experience concerning such matters before giving voice to an uninformed sort of opposition. Similarly, if a proponent of modern science were to express reservations concerning the potential value of the mystical path without, say, having gone into spiritual seclusion for an extended period of time in order to participate in an essential form of methodology and experimentation concerning the nature of the ego and other dimensions of human nature, then,  a practitioner of the mystical dimension of Islam might well be justified in advising that such a would-be critic of the Sufi path should acquire some first-hand knowledge of the rigorous character of that tradition before trying to pass judgment on that perspective.

(2) Modern science employs a variety of instruments in its pursuit of understanding. On the one hand, there are what might be termed "natural" instruments such as logic, reason, and mathematics. On the other hand, there are different kinds of external, constructed tools or instruments used in the detection and measurement of various physical phenomena.

The physical sciences provide different way of engaging and probing the nature of the universe. For instance, light telescopes, radio telescopes, infrared telescopes, and X-ray telescopes will all gather different information concerning the character of the universe

Like the physical sciences, the Sufi mystical path also employs a number of different instruments that are capable of exploring different facets of existence. To begin with, mysticism shares a common commitment with the physical sciences to the properties of the mind and its qualities of logic and reasoning.

In addition, according to Sufi masters, the heart (the spiritual entity, not the physical object) is the locus of gnosis, or knowledge This provides a direct, conceptually unmediated engagement of different dimensions of Divine reality.

Another instrument spoken of by Sufi masters is the sirr or mystery. The sirr is said to be the locus of spiritual witnessing with respect to whatever God may disclose to the individual and helps to protect the heart from remembering other than, or becoming preoccupied with other than, the presence of Divinity. 

A further instrument of the Sufi path is referred to as the kafi or “the hidden”. The kafi is described as being the locus of manifestation for the spiritual illumination, wisdom, knowledge and understanding which comes through encounters with the Divine lights and colors of a certain realm of God’s Dominion. 

Beyond the kafi, there is further potential for spiritual instrumentation capable of engaging still further dimensions of Reality through the agency of the aqfah – the “more hidden”. These concern certain modalities of Divine mysteries and secrets which are breathed into the essential capacity of human beings through the Spirit of God.

Another modality of mystical instrumentation comes via the ruh or spirit. Sufi masters describe the spirit as being the locus of love for Divinity. When the potential for love that is inherent in the spirit is realized, this enables the individual to experience, know and understand life, identity and one’s relationship with Divinity in a manner which is different from, but supplemental to, the other spiritual instruments of mind, heart, sirr, kafi, and aqfah. 

Of course, in the matter of the physical sciences, one can be like the Church elders during the time of Galileo and refuse to look at reality through the lens of a telescope. Similarly, one can refuse to become trained in the use of, and take advantage of, the instruments to which the Sufi masters allude through which one can engage different dimensions of reality. However, failing to use instruments – whether in the physical sciences or the mystical sciences – does not justify claims that such instruments have nothing to tell one about the nature of Reality or Being.

Finally, the instruments that are used in modern science must all be calibrated to provide reliable readings. This also is the case on the Sufi path. Mystical instruments, like their physical counterparts, only produce reliable results after a process of calibration in which a variety of adjustments are necessary in the use of a given form of instrumentation so that various sources of distortion and inconsistent readings can be eliminated.

(3) Modern science employs a recursive methodology which entails a series of repetitive steps that, hopefully, permits one, to come closer and closer to the true character of some aspect of reality being encountered through experience. In effect, one feeds the results from one cycle of repetitive, methodological activity back into the next cycle of such activity in order to generate improved accuracy, understanding, and so on, over time.

On the Sufi path, recursive methodology plays a key role. One starts out by, if God wishes, cleansing, balancing and transforming the ego or false self through repetitive cycles of prayer, fasting, charity and so on. This constitutes the first set of repetitive steps.

One takes the results from the first application of recursive methodology concerning the ego and proceeds, God willing, to purify the heart through zikr or remembrance of God. This is a second cycle of repetitive steps which builds on the accomplishments of the first cycle.

The next set of repetitive steps involves the sirr or mystery. If God wishes, through a process referred to, by Sufi masters, as emptying the sirr of other than God, the understanding of the individual is further supplemented and complemented.

A further cycle of the process of recursive methodology is encountered when, God willing, the spirit undergoes the perfection of its spiritual potential. Once again, the application of recursive methodology through a process of perfecting the spirit brings the individual, by the grace of God, to a deeper, fuller, richer understanding of different dimensions of the reality of Being.

(4) To be objective, one needs to eliminate as many sources of bias, prejudice, distortion and error as is possible. The search for truth must be freed from all forces which would compromise the integrity of that search.

Sufi masters outline two major expressions of objectivity on the mystical path. The first concerns the condition known as "fana".

Fana occurs when the false self dissolves before the Presence of Divinity. Since the false self is a major source of error and distortion, the condition of fana enhances the degree of objectivity in one’s engagement of Reality.

The second source of objectivity on the Sufi path comes through the spiritual condition of "baqa". This condition occurs when the true self and essential capacity of the individual become established.

In a sense, baqa is a spiritual version of an unobtrusive measure. In baqa one sees by the vision of God and one hears by the hearing of God, and so on. Consequently, there is nothing which one does which intrudes into the engagement of experience and distorts the nature of that experience, and, as a result, one is able to engage Reality according to one’s spiritual capacity to do so. 

In other words, while what one experiences during the foregoing states or conditions is not distorted, nonetheless, it might be limited due to the nature of one’s inherent spiritual capabilities.One cannot experience or know more than one has the capacity to experience and know.

Spiritual capacity, however, does not distort or introduce error. Whatever is experienced is true and real as far as it goes. On the other hand, the spiritual experience, knowledge and understanding made possible, by the grace of God, through the full realization of one’s spiritual capacity do not exhaust what can be experienced, known or understood with respect to Divine realities by those who have been more spiritually gifted by God.

(5) The community of expertise in modern science plays an important role with respect to considerations of methodology, evaluation, and understanding. The community of expertise establishes the parameters of agreement and degrees of freedom concerning disagreement within which the process of science is to be conducted.

There is a similar community of expertise in the Sufi mystical tradition. Unlike modern science, however, the essence of what is agreed upon by the mystical community of expertise has not changed since the inception of such a community.

The Sufi mystical community of expertise consists of all the Sufi masters of the path, both present and past. All of these masters are in agreement concerning the structural character of human beings and what is necessary in order to be able to work toward the full realization of the essential, spiritual potential of being human.

Sufi masters do not always share the same understanding in all matters. Like their counterparts in the community of expertise in modern science, not all Sufi masters are equal in spiritual capacity. First there are the Prophets, and, then, there are those who have followed, and realized, to varying degrees, the way of the Prophets, and, then, there are those who are sincerely and actively seeking the truth and might have realized varying degrees of the truth, and, finally, there are the commonality of believers, each of whom has his or her own potential relationship with Divinity.

Nevertheless, irrespective of whatever differences in spiritual capacity exist among Sufi masters, none of this affects their agreement concerning the general character of what constitutes spiritual progress on the path. One goes from: seeking, to finding, to gnosis or knowledge, to loving, to fana (extinction), and, finally, to unity concerning the relationship between human potential and Reality (i.e., baqa) .

Different people may experience these stages in self-similar rather than self-same ways. However, the essence of Unity remains in the midst of whatever differences might be present.

(6) The issue of replication is at the heart of modern science. If the results of a research project cannot be repeated by other investigators, the original research cannot be confirmed and, therefore, lacks scientific credibility and reliability.

The procedures for setting up and carrying out a given line of inquiry must be clearly stated. This is necessary so that any qualified and competent researcher can follow those procedures and produce a result which reflects, within certain allowable limits of difference, the outcome of the original research.

The process of replication is also central to the Sufi mystical path. Indeed, the nature of the mystical path is itself the process of replication which clearly has been described by all competent and qualified spiritual researchers who have preceded one on that path.

If one follows the procedures and methods indicated, then, God willing, one will arrive at the same sort of outcome and conclusions as did the original researchers. These results are expressions of universal laws concerning the inherent nature of the relationship between human beings and Divinity. 

However, just as many scientists of the physical world work under, and with, the guidance of some senior research leader, so too is this the case with respect to the Sufi path. Until a certain point of investigative sophistication has been reached, a Sufi scientist tends to work with the assistance of someone who has achieved a certain degree of scientific advancement.

(7) Finally, although not all sciences exhibit the capacity to predict, on the basis of known principles, how certain phenomena will unfold over time, mystical science does have this capability. However, for a variety of reasons, Sufi masters often will not indulge others or themselves with public exhibitions of their God given gifts to predict how events will unfold.

There are many well documented accounts of the ability of Sufi masters and Sufi saints to tell what will happen before a given event manifests itself in the physical world. There are also well known accounts of the ability, by the grace of God, of various practitioners of the Sufi path to be able to describe, and, subsequently, have corroborated, what is going on, simultaneously, at considerable distance from them. 

For example, there was a renowned shaykh who was being visited by a woman whose son had gone away and whom she was deeply missing. She kept asking the shaykh to do something about her situation, and the shaykh kept saying that, God willing, her son would return.

On a particular day, the woman had approached the shaykh on a number of occasions concerning her son. Finally, after a number of visits by that woman on a given day, he said: “Go home, your son will be waiting for you,” whereupon the woman quickly left, quite happy with what she had been told.

Later in the day, the woman returned with her son. She introduced her son to the shaykh and thanked him for his assistance.

After the woman left, one of the companions of the shaykh asked the latter how he had known that the son would be at the woman’s house waiting for her given that the shaykh had not left their present location all day? The shaykh is reported to have said: “There is certainty in my prayer.”

Above and beyond such favors of God, there is a precision to the predictive understanding which Sufi masters have concerning the effect on the individual of different spiritual practices, or lack thereof. This understanding comes from the light of God and allows the Sufi master to be able to guide initiates along the Sufi path, with precision, as a result of that understanding.

According to Sufi masters, there are different levels of reality. The lowest realm concerns the world of corporeal bodies. This is known as Nasut.

Next, is the realm of the souls of all created things. This is the level of Malakut.

Beyond this is the realm of Jabarut. This level concerns the Attributes of Divinity.

After the realm of Jabarut, is the level of Lahut. This concerns the fixed forms of non-existence which, if God wishes, are given reflected existence through the Divine command of creation: "Kun! (Be)".

Beyond the realm of Lahut, is Hahut. This is the Divine Essence which makes all the other levels possible.

For the most part, modern science only explores the lowest realm of existence—namely, Nasut, which is the realm of corporeal bodies. Modern physical science, unlike mystical science, has no capacity to explore any of the other realms of Being.

Unfortunately, all too many physical scientists rationalize the foregoing limitation by dismissing the other realms as being irrelevant to the process of science. Mystical scientists (i.e., Sufi masters) indicate that, in a very fundamental way, such realms are not irrelevant to the process of science.

In fact, according to practitioners of the Sufi path, the very first act one must perform in order to seek the truth is to cleanse and purify the self. As such, science, of whatever kind, is, in essence, a moral and spiritual activity.

Scientific methodology has value and appeal precisely because, among other things, it gives expression to a way of trying to preserve the integrity of the scientific process and protect the results of that process from being compromised and rendered unreliable. Mystical science pursues the value and integrity of such methodology to the furthest limits of possibility for human beings.