Thursday, December 31, 2009
Happy New Year!
Wishing you all a happy New Year from Anab, Bilquees Press, and the Interrogative Imperative Institute. Thank you for helping us to make 2009 a wonderful year.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Rizq or Divine Apportionment
There is a concept of rizq in Islam which, usually, is rendered as referring to the Divine apportionment for Creation - both collectively and individually. Often times, when people speak about rizq, they do so in terms of permissible and impermissible means of striving for what is fated for one.
Rizq does not refer to just material goods. It encompasses everything, on every level, in every realm within Creation.
The rizq of spirituality transpires at the same time as the rizq of material gain and losses. In fact, Creation gives expression to a multi-dimensional set of rizq transactions ... everything which occurs is the manifestation of the principles of rizq at work, and rizq is but a simple term which is underwritten by the Divine play of Names and Attributes in accordance with Divine purpose.
The profits, the losses, the blessings, the Divine gifts, expansion, contraction, illness, well-being, family, talents, birth, death, spiritual progress, sin, repentance, wisdom, understanding, learning, forgetting, insight, faith, unbelief, redepmption, food, comforts, difficulties, poverty, and wealth are all manifestations of the principles of rizq transactions at work. Human beings stand at the heart of such transactions and, unlike the rest of creation (with the exception of the species of being known as jinn) have a unique role to play with respect to rizq transactions.
More specifically, through our choices, through the degrees of freedom which are extended to us, we align ourselves or oppose ourselves to the rizq transactions which take place. The choices we make will not affect the rizq transactions which take place one way or the other, but the intentions with which we engage those transactions matter - to us and to God.
To engage rizq transactions with the right intention is what forms the basis of, among other things, right livelihood. When the right intention is present, then, work becomes a form of ibadat and zikr, for one realizes that whatever happens this is a manifestation of the Divine Himma in the form of a rizq transaction of which one is a part.
All rizq transactions have a right over us because such transactions constitute the way in which God wishes events to unfold. We can work with such wishes or we can seek to treat them with kufr and shirk - that is, we can cover up/deny the truth of what is transpiring or we can propose alternative ways of accounting for what is going on that give explanations which are dependent on something other than Divinity as the causal principle for what takes place.
Everything in existence is unique - even if it shares some similarities with other beings of its class of Creation. The nature of Divine creation is such that nothing is repeated - everything manifests ever different modalities of Divine beauty and majesty in infinite combinations of possibility.
Each human being is unique. Each human being has a unique role to play with respect to the realm of rizq transactions. God uses each of us differently to serve as loci of manifestation for rizq transactions.
Our souls have a right over us in this respect for each of must seek to find what is uniquely inherent in the fitra which is our spiritual potential and, then, we must strive to, God willing, give expression to this. There is a beauty, harmony and spiritual quality which arises from rizq transactions which are engaged through the right niyat or intention ... a niyat which is rooted in awareness, understanding, faith, integrity, submission, dependence, love, and character ... such beauty, harmony and spiritual quality are, themselves, part of the rizq transactions which God ordains.
The lives of the prophets and saints bear witness to the foregoing. There is the aura of beauty, harmony, and spiritual quality emanating from their lives as they engage in the dance of rizq transactions which is utterly captivating.
One’s heart and mind are drawn to the purity and sincerity of intention by means of which rizq transactions are manifested through their lives. We seek to follow their example as best we can, according to the rizq of spiritual potential we have been apportioned.
To do what is right for oneself and, simultaneously, right for the world is to enter into rizq transactions with the quality of intention which is most pleasing to God. To achieve this level of quality is a very difficult thing to do for it consists of, God willing, purifying, calibrating, and bringing into active form all of the different dimensions of the human being - including mind, heart, sirr, spirit, kafi, and aqfah - which give expression to the ‘so-called’ perfect human being - which is not really perfection per se (for only God is perfect) but rather the expression of capacity to its fullest extent ... something which varies from person to person.
No matter what one does for an occupation, there should be a vocation or calling which underwrites it. The vocational aspect is the spiritual quality with which one seeks to embrace all of life, including the means through which God uses to provide one with the material rizq of day-to-day living.
There are many people who earn their livelihood through permissible means. There are very few people who do this with the sort of spiritual balance, beauty, wisdom, and quality which transforms such means of livelihood into the acts of worship and zikr which human beings have been given the capacity to achieve if God wishes.
Rizq does not refer to just material goods. It encompasses everything, on every level, in every realm within Creation.
The rizq of spirituality transpires at the same time as the rizq of material gain and losses. In fact, Creation gives expression to a multi-dimensional set of rizq transactions ... everything which occurs is the manifestation of the principles of rizq at work, and rizq is but a simple term which is underwritten by the Divine play of Names and Attributes in accordance with Divine purpose.
The profits, the losses, the blessings, the Divine gifts, expansion, contraction, illness, well-being, family, talents, birth, death, spiritual progress, sin, repentance, wisdom, understanding, learning, forgetting, insight, faith, unbelief, redepmption, food, comforts, difficulties, poverty, and wealth are all manifestations of the principles of rizq transactions at work. Human beings stand at the heart of such transactions and, unlike the rest of creation (with the exception of the species of being known as jinn) have a unique role to play with respect to rizq transactions.
More specifically, through our choices, through the degrees of freedom which are extended to us, we align ourselves or oppose ourselves to the rizq transactions which take place. The choices we make will not affect the rizq transactions which take place one way or the other, but the intentions with which we engage those transactions matter - to us and to God.
To engage rizq transactions with the right intention is what forms the basis of, among other things, right livelihood. When the right intention is present, then, work becomes a form of ibadat and zikr, for one realizes that whatever happens this is a manifestation of the Divine Himma in the form of a rizq transaction of which one is a part.
All rizq transactions have a right over us because such transactions constitute the way in which God wishes events to unfold. We can work with such wishes or we can seek to treat them with kufr and shirk - that is, we can cover up/deny the truth of what is transpiring or we can propose alternative ways of accounting for what is going on that give explanations which are dependent on something other than Divinity as the causal principle for what takes place.
Everything in existence is unique - even if it shares some similarities with other beings of its class of Creation. The nature of Divine creation is such that nothing is repeated - everything manifests ever different modalities of Divine beauty and majesty in infinite combinations of possibility.
Each human being is unique. Each human being has a unique role to play with respect to the realm of rizq transactions. God uses each of us differently to serve as loci of manifestation for rizq transactions.
Our souls have a right over us in this respect for each of must seek to find what is uniquely inherent in the fitra which is our spiritual potential and, then, we must strive to, God willing, give expression to this. There is a beauty, harmony and spiritual quality which arises from rizq transactions which are engaged through the right niyat or intention ... a niyat which is rooted in awareness, understanding, faith, integrity, submission, dependence, love, and character ... such beauty, harmony and spiritual quality are, themselves, part of the rizq transactions which God ordains.
The lives of the prophets and saints bear witness to the foregoing. There is the aura of beauty, harmony, and spiritual quality emanating from their lives as they engage in the dance of rizq transactions which is utterly captivating.
One’s heart and mind are drawn to the purity and sincerity of intention by means of which rizq transactions are manifested through their lives. We seek to follow their example as best we can, according to the rizq of spiritual potential we have been apportioned.
To do what is right for oneself and, simultaneously, right for the world is to enter into rizq transactions with the quality of intention which is most pleasing to God. To achieve this level of quality is a very difficult thing to do for it consists of, God willing, purifying, calibrating, and bringing into active form all of the different dimensions of the human being - including mind, heart, sirr, spirit, kafi, and aqfah - which give expression to the ‘so-called’ perfect human being - which is not really perfection per se (for only God is perfect) but rather the expression of capacity to its fullest extent ... something which varies from person to person.
No matter what one does for an occupation, there should be a vocation or calling which underwrites it. The vocational aspect is the spiritual quality with which one seeks to embrace all of life, including the means through which God uses to provide one with the material rizq of day-to-day living.
There are many people who earn their livelihood through permissible means. There are very few people who do this with the sort of spiritual balance, beauty, wisdom, and quality which transforms such means of livelihood into the acts of worship and zikr which human beings have been given the capacity to achieve if God wishes.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Ascension
Ascension is any spiritual experience which brings one closer to God. However, because God is always near, ascension involves any spiritual experience that brings one to a realization, of whatever degree, of God's nearness. In this sense, ascension involves a falling away of the veils obstructing the individual's awareness and understanding with respect to the intimate presence of God in our lives.
Since there are thousands of veils of darkness and ignorance and density which obscure our relationship with God, there can be many different kinds of ascension. Just because one has had certain experiences in which some of these veils are lifted, does not mean one has realized the presence of God to the fullest extent possible.
There can be much confusion about this on the Sufi path in particular, and with mystical journeys in general. More specifically, there have been instances in which people have had one, or more, intense spiritual experiences and concluded, incorrectly, that all veils between themselves and God had been removed. These are very subtle matters in which one can be easily led astray unless one clings tightly to the garment of the counsel of one's spiritual guide.
One can be making progress on the spiritual path and still be in considerable ignorance and darkness. Indeed, this is part and parcel of what a path is. It is a way filled with: twists and turns; hills and valleys, as well as dangers and places of relative safety.
One may come to know something of the portions of the path one has traversed or is currently traveling through. Nonetheless, what lies ahead is largely unknown.
There is often a very strong tendency on the part of travelers to believe - due to imperfections such as impatience, pride or arrogance - that they are near, or at, journey's end. Consequently, such people believe they have ascended to the heights of spiritual possibility.
However, as has been said in another context: "It ain't over & #145;till it's over". The spiritual journey is a very long one.
In fact, from a certain perspective, there really is no end to the process of ascension. God is infinite and, therefore, can be engaged through ever-new modalities of spiritual experience.
Some experiences of ascension are short-lived. They are transitory states which descend on the individual in the blink of an eye and may depart just as quickly. Such experiences may range from: the momentary feeling of compassion one may have for another human being, to flashes of insight which may be bestowed on the individual concerning some aspect of one's spiritual life or the nature of existence.
Some experiences of ascension last longer and may mark important way stations along the path. Qualities of: repentance, longing, patience, dependence, gratitude and love, when absorbed into the fabric of the individual's life, can all give expression to significant experiences of ascension.
Sometimes we are raised up to a certain height by the Grace of God, only to be lowered down again. Sometimes this happens as a sort of foretaste of what is to come at a later time in a more permanent manner. Sometimes this occurs in order to motivate the individual to struggle harder. Sometimes it is done to show the individual what might have been but will never be due to some flaw in that individual.
There are occasions in which people are transported tremendous spiritual distances as a pure gift of God's Grace. Unfortunately, people respond to this possibility in different ways.
Some try to make such a gift a function of causality in which they are, somehow, deserving recipients due to their character or devotions or the like. Such people fail to understand that gift's of Grace are entirely independent of considerations of being deserved. One could be a scoundrel and still be the beneficiary of God's magnanimity.
Other people hear about the possibility of what amounts to a "free lunch", spiritually speaking, and become like members of some modern day cargo cult. They just sit and wait for the Grace to descend and do nothing in the mean time, allowing their lives to slip away into stagnation and indolence.
On the spiritual path, one is either ascending, descending or standing still. If one is standing still, the slippery slope of descent is dangerously close by. If one is descending, reversing course may not always be possible.
Sometimes experiences of spiritual ascent are, from a certain perspective, a curse in disguise. This is so in those instances when a person permits his or her ego to assert its acquisitive nature and claim the experience for its own.
The desires of the ego undermine the whole purpose of the process of spiritual ascent. This process is designed to diminish, if not eliminate, one's awareness of the presence of the ego, while enhancing awareness of the presence of God.
This draws attention to one of the biggest obstacles - and some might say the only obstacle - on the path of ascent toward God, namely: our awareness of ourselves as beings separate from God. This awareness disguises itself in many different ways at various points along the path. In fact, we are so good at deluding ourselves that the very quest for spirituality can be feeding our ego rather than our essential selves.
In the foregoing sense, we all are truly our own worst enemies as far as spiritual ascent is concerned. Like golf duffers, we keep wanting to see how far we have hit the spiritual ball and what this says about us as individuals. We would be much better off paying attention to form, technique and discipline, and let the distance factor take care of itself.
Quite frequently, people - even people on the Sufi path, have a very distorted idea about the process of spiritual ascension. We read about the wondrous, reason-defying deeds of some of the practitioners of the path, and fantasize about having such powers and abilities ourselves. Sometimes we get so caught-up in all the talk about miracles, that the idea of spiritual ascent becomes, in our minds and hearts, reduced down to being nothing more than this.
To put the foregoing in perspective, one Sufi has indicated there are at least 100 stages to the spiritual path. The capacity to be a locus of manifestation for miracles weighs in at about the 17th stage.
If one's spiritual horizons are limited to this aspect of things, one will be deprived of the other 83 stages of spiritual ascent. In short, one will have completely misunderstood the nature and purpose of the spiritual path by getting mesmerized by peripheral matters involving miraculous deeds.
The spiritually mature people of the Sufi path consider such powers and gifts to be, at best, distractions, and, at worst, severe tests of one's spiritual character. From time to time, and for various constructive purposes, such powers and gifts may be exercised.
Among Sufi masters, however, the tendency to use the gifts of God is done sparingly. This is so, God willing, one will not become seduced by, and preoccupied with, such activities rather than concentrating on the real business of the path - becoming more and more immersed in the nearness and presence of God in one's life.
Spiritual ascent is about the process of coming to know one's essential self and how that dimension of being is capable of reflecting the Names and Attributes of God. To realize this kind of knowledge, and to engage existence through such knowledge, and to act in the light of that knowledge, is to fulfil the purpose of the quest for spiritual ascension.
Since there are thousands of veils of darkness and ignorance and density which obscure our relationship with God, there can be many different kinds of ascension. Just because one has had certain experiences in which some of these veils are lifted, does not mean one has realized the presence of God to the fullest extent possible.
There can be much confusion about this on the Sufi path in particular, and with mystical journeys in general. More specifically, there have been instances in which people have had one, or more, intense spiritual experiences and concluded, incorrectly, that all veils between themselves and God had been removed. These are very subtle matters in which one can be easily led astray unless one clings tightly to the garment of the counsel of one's spiritual guide.
One can be making progress on the spiritual path and still be in considerable ignorance and darkness. Indeed, this is part and parcel of what a path is. It is a way filled with: twists and turns; hills and valleys, as well as dangers and places of relative safety.
One may come to know something of the portions of the path one has traversed or is currently traveling through. Nonetheless, what lies ahead is largely unknown.
There is often a very strong tendency on the part of travelers to believe - due to imperfections such as impatience, pride or arrogance - that they are near, or at, journey's end. Consequently, such people believe they have ascended to the heights of spiritual possibility.
However, as has been said in another context: "It ain't over & #145;till it's over". The spiritual journey is a very long one.
In fact, from a certain perspective, there really is no end to the process of ascension. God is infinite and, therefore, can be engaged through ever-new modalities of spiritual experience.
Some experiences of ascension are short-lived. They are transitory states which descend on the individual in the blink of an eye and may depart just as quickly. Such experiences may range from: the momentary feeling of compassion one may have for another human being, to flashes of insight which may be bestowed on the individual concerning some aspect of one's spiritual life or the nature of existence.
Some experiences of ascension last longer and may mark important way stations along the path. Qualities of: repentance, longing, patience, dependence, gratitude and love, when absorbed into the fabric of the individual's life, can all give expression to significant experiences of ascension.
Sometimes we are raised up to a certain height by the Grace of God, only to be lowered down again. Sometimes this happens as a sort of foretaste of what is to come at a later time in a more permanent manner. Sometimes this occurs in order to motivate the individual to struggle harder. Sometimes it is done to show the individual what might have been but will never be due to some flaw in that individual.
There are occasions in which people are transported tremendous spiritual distances as a pure gift of God's Grace. Unfortunately, people respond to this possibility in different ways.
Some try to make such a gift a function of causality in which they are, somehow, deserving recipients due to their character or devotions or the like. Such people fail to understand that gift's of Grace are entirely independent of considerations of being deserved. One could be a scoundrel and still be the beneficiary of God's magnanimity.
Other people hear about the possibility of what amounts to a "free lunch", spiritually speaking, and become like members of some modern day cargo cult. They just sit and wait for the Grace to descend and do nothing in the mean time, allowing their lives to slip away into stagnation and indolence.
On the spiritual path, one is either ascending, descending or standing still. If one is standing still, the slippery slope of descent is dangerously close by. If one is descending, reversing course may not always be possible.
Sometimes experiences of spiritual ascent are, from a certain perspective, a curse in disguise. This is so in those instances when a person permits his or her ego to assert its acquisitive nature and claim the experience for its own.
The desires of the ego undermine the whole purpose of the process of spiritual ascent. This process is designed to diminish, if not eliminate, one's awareness of the presence of the ego, while enhancing awareness of the presence of God.
This draws attention to one of the biggest obstacles - and some might say the only obstacle - on the path of ascent toward God, namely: our awareness of ourselves as beings separate from God. This awareness disguises itself in many different ways at various points along the path. In fact, we are so good at deluding ourselves that the very quest for spirituality can be feeding our ego rather than our essential selves.
In the foregoing sense, we all are truly our own worst enemies as far as spiritual ascent is concerned. Like golf duffers, we keep wanting to see how far we have hit the spiritual ball and what this says about us as individuals. We would be much better off paying attention to form, technique and discipline, and let the distance factor take care of itself.
Quite frequently, people - even people on the Sufi path, have a very distorted idea about the process of spiritual ascension. We read about the wondrous, reason-defying deeds of some of the practitioners of the path, and fantasize about having such powers and abilities ourselves. Sometimes we get so caught-up in all the talk about miracles, that the idea of spiritual ascent becomes, in our minds and hearts, reduced down to being nothing more than this.
To put the foregoing in perspective, one Sufi has indicated there are at least 100 stages to the spiritual path. The capacity to be a locus of manifestation for miracles weighs in at about the 17th stage.
If one's spiritual horizons are limited to this aspect of things, one will be deprived of the other 83 stages of spiritual ascent. In short, one will have completely misunderstood the nature and purpose of the spiritual path by getting mesmerized by peripheral matters involving miraculous deeds.
The spiritually mature people of the Sufi path consider such powers and gifts to be, at best, distractions, and, at worst, severe tests of one's spiritual character. From time to time, and for various constructive purposes, such powers and gifts may be exercised.
Among Sufi masters, however, the tendency to use the gifts of God is done sparingly. This is so, God willing, one will not become seduced by, and preoccupied with, such activities rather than concentrating on the real business of the path - becoming more and more immersed in the nearness and presence of God in one's life.
Spiritual ascent is about the process of coming to know one's essential self and how that dimension of being is capable of reflecting the Names and Attributes of God. To realize this kind of knowledge, and to engage existence through such knowledge, and to act in the light of that knowledge, is to fulfil the purpose of the quest for spiritual ascension.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Our ebooks at Barnes and Noble
Our ebooks are now at Barnes and Noble. To locate them at the Barnes and Noble website, just do a search for Bill Whitehouse.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Bilquees Press eBooks are now available at smashwords through the Stanza catalog
Anab's book are in the Stanza iPhone app bookstore smashwords catalog.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Signs
Signs are the signatures which mark the presence of the dialectic of Divine Names and Attributes. Signs are the ephemeral traces of continuously novel manifestation of God's uniqueness.
Signs are the transitory forms that give expression to the Divine Will which is producing, scripting, staging and directing the passion play of existence. Signs are the visible waves of the Divine Ocean which come into being and then disappear in accordance with the currents and eddies of the Unseen realm.
Signs exist within us. They are as plentiful as the molecules from which our bodies are fashioned and shaped.
Signs are manifested through the physiological and biochemical processes which set the parameters of our biological being. Signs are inherent in the various aspects of the immune system which differentiate self from non-self. Signs mark the stages of embryological unfolding. Signs are conducted through every neural impulse and muscle contraction.
Our capacity for consciousness, choice, language, rationality, creativity, emotion, and spirituality are all signs. Our tendencies toward rebellion, doubt, and selfishness are also signs, as are our potential for submission, certainty and love.
Signs exist everywhere in nature. The mineral, plant and animal realms are replete with signs. The sun, the moon, the stars, the heavens, and the earth each give expression to numerous signs.
There are signs manifest in realms beyond the physical/material universe. There are worlds no human eye has seen, nor mind conceived, yet which are, nonetheless, signs. There are many different "species" of angels, each giving expression to particular signs. There are signs of the Unseen.
Signs are one of the ways in which God communicates with Creation. Different signs address different dimensions and levels of being.
Signs are appropriate objects of contemplation. Signs provide material for reflection. Signs have meaning, significance, purpose and value.
Signs place things in perspective. Signs give evidence of God's love, compassion, generosity, patience, power, transcendence, nearness, mercy, kindness, justice, richness, subtlety and independence.
Signs are indices of God's gifts and favors. Signs reflect Divine warnings.
Signs offer us hope, as well as give us reason to fear. Signs are about the future and the past and the present.
Signs existed for millions of years prior to the current "Information Age". Signs were being decoded long before the emergence of algorithms, semiotics and hermeneutics. Signs were when time was not.
Signs are mysteries to be unraveled. Signs are clues to the nature of existence. Signs are problems to be solved.
Signs are maps that point the way to essential identity. Signs are keys to purpose and meaning. Signs provide a forum for exercises in humility.
Signs are veils that both conceal and disclose the reality of things. Signs live in what can be said as well as what cannot be said.
Within us are different instruments for engaging different kinds of signs. The language of mathematics is one kind of instrument for, among other things, examining some of the signs of nature. However, not all signs are capable of being fit into the structures and functions of mathematics.
There are signs which can be detected through various kinds of scientific instruments but which we are not yet able to capture in mathematical language. On the other hand, not all signs can be seen through microscopes or telescopes or particle detectors and so on.
The language of dreams is another kind of instrument for exploring some of the signs which manifest themselves during the state of sleep. Such signs, when properly understood, can provide deep insight into our spiritual condition and the nature of our lives.
There are other spiritual instruments within us which are capable of carrying us beyond the realm of the signs of the world of dreams. These spiritual instruments can, with God's blessings, allow the individual to have access to the significance(s) of many different kinds of sign on many different levels of existence.
The Sufi is someone who has undertaken a journey to explore, study and try to understand the meaning and function of signs in the context of human existence. The Sufi is someone who seeks to merge horizons with the character or nature of signs to whatever extent one's capacity and God permit.
The Sufi is an individual who wishes to know what is entailed by the significance of signs on different levels. A Sufi also wishes to incorporate such knowledge into his or her life in a way that will constructively shape, color and orient behavior.
Signs are the transitory forms that give expression to the Divine Will which is producing, scripting, staging and directing the passion play of existence. Signs are the visible waves of the Divine Ocean which come into being and then disappear in accordance with the currents and eddies of the Unseen realm.
Signs exist within us. They are as plentiful as the molecules from which our bodies are fashioned and shaped.
Signs are manifested through the physiological and biochemical processes which set the parameters of our biological being. Signs are inherent in the various aspects of the immune system which differentiate self from non-self. Signs mark the stages of embryological unfolding. Signs are conducted through every neural impulse and muscle contraction.
Our capacity for consciousness, choice, language, rationality, creativity, emotion, and spirituality are all signs. Our tendencies toward rebellion, doubt, and selfishness are also signs, as are our potential for submission, certainty and love.
Signs exist everywhere in nature. The mineral, plant and animal realms are replete with signs. The sun, the moon, the stars, the heavens, and the earth each give expression to numerous signs.
There are signs manifest in realms beyond the physical/material universe. There are worlds no human eye has seen, nor mind conceived, yet which are, nonetheless, signs. There are many different "species" of angels, each giving expression to particular signs. There are signs of the Unseen.
Signs are one of the ways in which God communicates with Creation. Different signs address different dimensions and levels of being.
Signs are appropriate objects of contemplation. Signs provide material for reflection. Signs have meaning, significance, purpose and value.
Signs place things in perspective. Signs give evidence of God's love, compassion, generosity, patience, power, transcendence, nearness, mercy, kindness, justice, richness, subtlety and independence.
Signs are indices of God's gifts and favors. Signs reflect Divine warnings.
Signs offer us hope, as well as give us reason to fear. Signs are about the future and the past and the present.
Signs existed for millions of years prior to the current "Information Age". Signs were being decoded long before the emergence of algorithms, semiotics and hermeneutics. Signs were when time was not.
Signs are mysteries to be unraveled. Signs are clues to the nature of existence. Signs are problems to be solved.
Signs are maps that point the way to essential identity. Signs are keys to purpose and meaning. Signs provide a forum for exercises in humility.
Signs are veils that both conceal and disclose the reality of things. Signs live in what can be said as well as what cannot be said.
Within us are different instruments for engaging different kinds of signs. The language of mathematics is one kind of instrument for, among other things, examining some of the signs of nature. However, not all signs are capable of being fit into the structures and functions of mathematics.
There are signs which can be detected through various kinds of scientific instruments but which we are not yet able to capture in mathematical language. On the other hand, not all signs can be seen through microscopes or telescopes or particle detectors and so on.
The language of dreams is another kind of instrument for exploring some of the signs which manifest themselves during the state of sleep. Such signs, when properly understood, can provide deep insight into our spiritual condition and the nature of our lives.
There are other spiritual instruments within us which are capable of carrying us beyond the realm of the signs of the world of dreams. These spiritual instruments can, with God's blessings, allow the individual to have access to the significance(s) of many different kinds of sign on many different levels of existence.
The Sufi is someone who has undertaken a journey to explore, study and try to understand the meaning and function of signs in the context of human existence. The Sufi is someone who seeks to merge horizons with the character or nature of signs to whatever extent one's capacity and God permit.
The Sufi is an individual who wishes to know what is entailed by the significance of signs on different levels. A Sufi also wishes to incorporate such knowledge into his or her life in a way that will constructively shape, color and orient behavior.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
Mapping Mental Spaces - Two new books by Anab Whitehouse
The two volumes which give expression to 'Mapping Mental Spaces' are a series of working exercises involving different problems which are entailed by issues of: hermeneutics, innate ideas, apodicticity or certainty, belief, meaning, model-building, psychology, mythology, mysticism, logic, fields, mathematics, quantum mechanics, and holographic theory. Perhaps, what is most important about these exercises is that they provide an individual with opportunities to engage issues, topics, and questions while critically reflecting on not only what is being said by the author but, as well, to critically reflect on what is going on within the reader as she or he works through the material.
To find out more, click on the "Mapping Mental Spaces" links to the right of the blog under "Anab's Books."
Monday, July 06, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
We are all equal before God
Inequalities seem to permeate every level of human existence. Only a little observation and reflection is required to confirm the seeming omnipresence of inequalities.
Intelligence is not distributed equally across humanity. There are huge discrepancies between, say, severely challenged Down's syndrome individuals and the intellectually gifted.
The chasm between the rich and poor appears to have existed since the beginning of recorded history. In between these two extremes has been a fluctuating number of moderately rich and moderately poor people.
Any quality one cares to mention reflects this same inequality of distribution. Creativity, health, beauty, handsomeness, spirituality, talent, ambition, leadership, business sense, athletic ability, power, charisma, status, illness, fame, honesty, kindness, and so on, are all unequally distributed.
This is true within, as well as across, all racial, ethnic, and national groups. Moreover, it holds, as well, across history.
The distribution of most, perhaps all, of these qualities probably could be reflected fairly accurately by a bell-curve. In other words, there would be relatively few people on the low and high ends of a scale depicting the degree to which a person possessed a given quality. As one approached the median from either end of the scale, the numbers would gradually increase until they peaked at the median point.
Despite all of this inequality, Sufi masters maintain we are all equal before God. How does one reconcile the overwhelming evidence of inequality with the statement of Sufi masters concerning our equality in relation to God?
According to the practitioners of the Sufi path, we each have a unique essential or spiritual capacity. This capacity refers to our potential for reflecting the Names and Attributes of Divinity. Consequently, no two individuals have the same reflective properties of spirituality.
Sufi masters indicate every modality of spiritual reflectivity is precious to God. God cherishes each capacity because each potential has a uniqueness about it.
Uniqueness does not fit a normal distribution. Indeed, God has equipped essential human capacity for maximum distributive dispersal. Nothing is ever repeated.
According to Sufi masters, the Divine will desires for all uniqueness to be manifested. Every instance of uniqueness displays, in reflected form, more and more of Divine beauty and majesty. Every modality of uniqueness brings into existence a potential for unique reflectivity which has not been displayed previously and which will not be displayed again.
No matter how beautiful a given expression of spiritual reflection may be, there are other potentials for reflection which have a dimension of uniqueness to them not found in the first potential. The reverse, of course, is also true.
We each have been brought into existence to bring to dynamic realization our respective unique capacities for spiritual reflection of the Divine Names and Attributes. Since our potentials are unique, different circumstances are necessary to activate them.
The package of qualities associated with each of us is not arbitrary, nor is it a matter of the luck of the draw. These packages of qualities have been assigned to us by God.
The assignment of these qualities is related to our essential spiritual capacity for reflecting Divine Names and Attributes in a unique fashion. More specifically, each package of qualities is uniquely designed to provide the individual to whom they have been assigned with the sort of experiential challenges, struggles and possibilities out of which essential capacity may be brought to mature fruition.
The inequalities inherent in the various quality packages are necessary so that the different capacities for uniqueness can develop. However, one must be careful not to misunderstand what is being said here.
There is often a difference between the quality package which God assigns to certain individuals and the quality package which people try to impose on those same individuals. The quality packages which people try to impose are shaped by ignorance, bias, injustice, evil and so on. These human generated quality packages are not, taken in and of themselves, conducive to the realization of our unique spiritual capacities. For example, if a government or ruler wanted to impose hunger, poverty, torture, danger, homelessness, and various forms of other abuse on a given group of people, this "quality" package could generate many problems for individuals trying to realize their essential spiritual capacity.
At the same time, the attempted imposition of such human generated quality packages is part of the quality package which God has assigned to us. The attempted imposition of the human generated quality packages constitutes obstacles, challenges and injustice which we are being asked to struggle with and against.
Consequently, one is not being asked by God to endorse those processes involving the attempted imposition of human generated quality packages onto humanity. One is being asked to resist them but to do so in ways which will help one to realize one's essential spiritual capacity. Knowing how to accomplish this is very difficult.
The challenge each of us faces is to engage and embrace the quality package assigned to us by God in accordance with the manner in which God intended such packages to be used. Those packages, when properly understood and utilized, become the key to finding our way to realization of our essential spiritual capacity.
Among other things, the quality packages assigned to each of us by God involve a mixture of trials, tests, struggles, conflicts, and challenges. Those packages also contain what ever assets are necessary for the realization of our capacity for spiritual reflection.
The assets necessary for spiritual realization are not necessarily money, power, status, education, talent, creativity and so on. In fact, such qualities, more often than not, can be obstacles and trials with which one must struggle in order to overcome their potential for undermining one's quest for spiritual realization.
On the other hand, low-tech and low-capital qualities such as kindness, perseverance, simplicity, openness, sincerity, and so on, may be very important assets to have in one's quality package. What counts as a potential asset and what counts as a potential liability will vary from case to case, according to what is necessary for spiritual realization.
Having something can be just as much a problem as not having something. Each of these conditions entails its own brand of difficulty. Each of these conditions contains its own potential for benefit and development.
We each are being given, by God, an equal opportunity, in the form of our present lives, to realize our unique, essential, spiritual capacity. Each of these unique capacities has a dimension which renders them equally important to God as far as God's desire for the manifestation of all uniqueness is concerned.
Each of us has been given a quality package of equal functional value with respect to what is necessary for the realization of our essential spiritual capacity. Since the quality package assigned by God fits essential spiritual capacity like an appropriate key fits a certain lock, any given individual's quality package is useless to everyone else. This is so because that package has the potential for unlocking only a specific lock in the form of a certain capacity.
Ultimately, no quality is of value unless it can be utilized advantageously in the quest for the realization of our spiritual uniqueness. According to Sufi masters, whatever inequalities exist in the composition of the qualities in the packages that have been assigned to us by God, such inequalities need to be seen in the light of the underlying equalities which they are intended to serve.
Apparent exceptions to the foregoing relationship between inequality and equality do exist. For example, there are people (i.e., infants, children and some adolescents) who do not seem to live long enough to really say they are being given an equal opportunity to realize their unique spiritual capacity.
However, for every departure from the relationship between inequality and equality, there are Divine concessions and compensations which become operative. Those who have not had an equal opportunity in the above sense will be subject to different considerations, none of which will be to the person's disadvantage.
These exceptions to the rule give expression to their own mode of uniqueness. As such, they are exceptions which prove the rule concerning God's desire for all modes of uniqueness to be manifested.
(This essay is from the book Streams to the Ocean by Dr. Anab Whitehouse,)
Intelligence is not distributed equally across humanity. There are huge discrepancies between, say, severely challenged Down's syndrome individuals and the intellectually gifted.
The chasm between the rich and poor appears to have existed since the beginning of recorded history. In between these two extremes has been a fluctuating number of moderately rich and moderately poor people.
Any quality one cares to mention reflects this same inequality of distribution. Creativity, health, beauty, handsomeness, spirituality, talent, ambition, leadership, business sense, athletic ability, power, charisma, status, illness, fame, honesty, kindness, and so on, are all unequally distributed.
This is true within, as well as across, all racial, ethnic, and national groups. Moreover, it holds, as well, across history.
The distribution of most, perhaps all, of these qualities probably could be reflected fairly accurately by a bell-curve. In other words, there would be relatively few people on the low and high ends of a scale depicting the degree to which a person possessed a given quality. As one approached the median from either end of the scale, the numbers would gradually increase until they peaked at the median point.
Despite all of this inequality, Sufi masters maintain we are all equal before God. How does one reconcile the overwhelming evidence of inequality with the statement of Sufi masters concerning our equality in relation to God?
According to the practitioners of the Sufi path, we each have a unique essential or spiritual capacity. This capacity refers to our potential for reflecting the Names and Attributes of Divinity. Consequently, no two individuals have the same reflective properties of spirituality.
Sufi masters indicate every modality of spiritual reflectivity is precious to God. God cherishes each capacity because each potential has a uniqueness about it.
Uniqueness does not fit a normal distribution. Indeed, God has equipped essential human capacity for maximum distributive dispersal. Nothing is ever repeated.
According to Sufi masters, the Divine will desires for all uniqueness to be manifested. Every instance of uniqueness displays, in reflected form, more and more of Divine beauty and majesty. Every modality of uniqueness brings into existence a potential for unique reflectivity which has not been displayed previously and which will not be displayed again.
No matter how beautiful a given expression of spiritual reflection may be, there are other potentials for reflection which have a dimension of uniqueness to them not found in the first potential. The reverse, of course, is also true.
We each have been brought into existence to bring to dynamic realization our respective unique capacities for spiritual reflection of the Divine Names and Attributes. Since our potentials are unique, different circumstances are necessary to activate them.
The package of qualities associated with each of us is not arbitrary, nor is it a matter of the luck of the draw. These packages of qualities have been assigned to us by God.
The assignment of these qualities is related to our essential spiritual capacity for reflecting Divine Names and Attributes in a unique fashion. More specifically, each package of qualities is uniquely designed to provide the individual to whom they have been assigned with the sort of experiential challenges, struggles and possibilities out of which essential capacity may be brought to mature fruition.
The inequalities inherent in the various quality packages are necessary so that the different capacities for uniqueness can develop. However, one must be careful not to misunderstand what is being said here.
There is often a difference between the quality package which God assigns to certain individuals and the quality package which people try to impose on those same individuals. The quality packages which people try to impose are shaped by ignorance, bias, injustice, evil and so on. These human generated quality packages are not, taken in and of themselves, conducive to the realization of our unique spiritual capacities. For example, if a government or ruler wanted to impose hunger, poverty, torture, danger, homelessness, and various forms of other abuse on a given group of people, this "quality" package could generate many problems for individuals trying to realize their essential spiritual capacity.
At the same time, the attempted imposition of such human generated quality packages is part of the quality package which God has assigned to us. The attempted imposition of the human generated quality packages constitutes obstacles, challenges and injustice which we are being asked to struggle with and against.
Consequently, one is not being asked by God to endorse those processes involving the attempted imposition of human generated quality packages onto humanity. One is being asked to resist them but to do so in ways which will help one to realize one's essential spiritual capacity. Knowing how to accomplish this is very difficult.
The challenge each of us faces is to engage and embrace the quality package assigned to us by God in accordance with the manner in which God intended such packages to be used. Those packages, when properly understood and utilized, become the key to finding our way to realization of our essential spiritual capacity.
Among other things, the quality packages assigned to each of us by God involve a mixture of trials, tests, struggles, conflicts, and challenges. Those packages also contain what ever assets are necessary for the realization of our capacity for spiritual reflection.
The assets necessary for spiritual realization are not necessarily money, power, status, education, talent, creativity and so on. In fact, such qualities, more often than not, can be obstacles and trials with which one must struggle in order to overcome their potential for undermining one's quest for spiritual realization.
On the other hand, low-tech and low-capital qualities such as kindness, perseverance, simplicity, openness, sincerity, and so on, may be very important assets to have in one's quality package. What counts as a potential asset and what counts as a potential liability will vary from case to case, according to what is necessary for spiritual realization.
Having something can be just as much a problem as not having something. Each of these conditions entails its own brand of difficulty. Each of these conditions contains its own potential for benefit and development.
We each are being given, by God, an equal opportunity, in the form of our present lives, to realize our unique, essential, spiritual capacity. Each of these unique capacities has a dimension which renders them equally important to God as far as God's desire for the manifestation of all uniqueness is concerned.
Each of us has been given a quality package of equal functional value with respect to what is necessary for the realization of our essential spiritual capacity. Since the quality package assigned by God fits essential spiritual capacity like an appropriate key fits a certain lock, any given individual's quality package is useless to everyone else. This is so because that package has the potential for unlocking only a specific lock in the form of a certain capacity.
Ultimately, no quality is of value unless it can be utilized advantageously in the quest for the realization of our spiritual uniqueness. According to Sufi masters, whatever inequalities exist in the composition of the qualities in the packages that have been assigned to us by God, such inequalities need to be seen in the light of the underlying equalities which they are intended to serve.
Apparent exceptions to the foregoing relationship between inequality and equality do exist. For example, there are people (i.e., infants, children and some adolescents) who do not seem to live long enough to really say they are being given an equal opportunity to realize their unique spiritual capacity.
However, for every departure from the relationship between inequality and equality, there are Divine concessions and compensations which become operative. Those who have not had an equal opportunity in the above sense will be subject to different considerations, none of which will be to the person's disadvantage.
These exceptions to the rule give expression to their own mode of uniqueness. As such, they are exceptions which prove the rule concerning God's desire for all modes of uniqueness to be manifested.
(This essay is from the book Streams to the Ocean by Dr. Anab Whitehouse,)
Monday, June 15, 2009
New Book: Sufi Reflections by Bill Whitehouse
554 pages
The fifty-three chapters (not counting five appendices) which make up the main body of this book encompass lectures, articles, and letters/e-mails written over a period of about eleven years (from about 1998 through 2009). The material covers a variety of thematic topics both within Islam, in general, as well as with respect to its mystical dimension of tasawwuf - known in the West as 'the Sufi path' or 'sufism' - in particular. Taken collectively, the chapters and appendices provide a very good introduction to both the Sufi path and Islam.
To purchase Sufi Reflections, you may either click on the following link or go directly to Amazon: Sufi Reflections
Friday, June 05, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Government - A Sufi Perspective
If we were asked, and sometimes even if we were not asked, about what we believe to be the problem, if any, with the way various public officials go about their duties, most of us would be quite prepared to share our opinions on this matter. We all seem to feel we have some insight to offer about the difference between good and not-so-good government.
Interestingly enough, whatever the accuracy of our perceptions about the political process may be, many of us tend to be oblivious to the quality and character of governmental operations within ourselves. This lack of awareness could be because many of us may not consider what goes on inside of us to be much like a governmental process.
However, the politics which goes on in the external world does not rise ex nihilo. It comes from within us. Indeed, external politics is, in a sense, internal politics writ large.
The characteristics of internal politics are quite similar to properties found in external political processes. For example, there is a need for decision making and the implementation of such decisions. In addition, within us, there are activities which resemble: think-tanks, spin doctors, lobby groups, image consultants, intelligence gathering operations, ethics committees, regulatory agencies, judicial review boards, dirty tricks operations, military forces, legislative bodies, prison systems, and revenue generating enterprises.
All of the foregoing internal processes affect the character and quality of the decisions made by the individual. Moreover, because of the problems and pressures generated by the dynamics of the decision making process, one finds many other features of our inner government which share some common themes with certain aspects of politics.
For instance, many of our internal governments are capable, in various ways and degrees, of: biased agendas; partisan politics; corruption; dereliction of duty; human rights violations; grid-lock; revolution (both peaceful and violent); fraudulent conduct; cover-ups; repressive measures; irresponsible spending programs; breaking promises; and both minor, as well as, major scandals of one sort or another.
Like external governments, our internal governments: make both good and bad decisions. Similarly, our internal governments, like their external counterparts, get both good and bad advice from a variety of sources.
Again, like external governments, our internal political systems often are involved in crisis management operations. These operations, frequently, are as much a reflection of the problematic way we govern ourselves, than they are an expression of life-problems arising independently of our style of mismanaging our internal government.
When the ego is running our internal government, our affairs are in the hands of a politician exemplifying all of the characteristics we tend to associate with the stereotypical bad politician. Indeed, bad politics on whatever level is, in general, a function of the activities of the ego.
The ego, like many politicians, tends to be very charismatic and polished in public situations. However, at the same time, the ego is ambitious, vain, and arrogant.
The ego knows, as almost any politician does, how to get things accomplished through pushing the right emotional and psychological buttons. In fact, a considerable portion of the resources available to the ego, are expended to gather intelligence about the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the various players in the political game.
In addition, the ego has the gift of gab and is always on the stump making internal political speeches, filled with stirring platitudes, about this and that issue or situation or person. Like its external world twin brother, the ego is forever making solemn promises and undertakings which are rarely kept.
The ego, as either head of the internal government or as leader of the 'loyal' opposition, knows how to threaten, cajole, manipulate, flatter, pressure, compromise, bribe, neutralize, and cheat for purposes of political gain. Political gain, however, is not necessarily measured in terms of worthwhile accomplishments.
More often than not, political gain is a matter of doing whatever is required to stay in power or to be able to influence the decision making process in a manner which is favorable to one's interests. The doing of things, whether good or bad, are merely means to the more important issue of securing or maintaining control.
The ego, of course, is not as much in charge of things as it often likes to give the impression is the case. The ego is under constant pressure from a variety of intense lobbying groups that are extremely demanding, temperamental and fickle. Some of these lobby groups are: jealousy, revenge, malice, prejudice, hostility, lethargy, lust, greed, and desire.
When the ego blunders and commits public relation gaffes in its dealings with the external world, the spin doctors of the ego go to work. Their assignment is to try to make things appear as if what everyone knows is the case is not the case. The spin doctors are incessantly trying to give a take or a slant on things which puts the ego in the best possible light with respect to its intentions, motives, and conduct.
In ways reminiscent of its external, political counterpart, the ego is subject to becoming entangled in bribery, corruption, scandals and kick-backs of one sort or another. For the ego, such things are just unfortunate risks it runs, on occasion, in order to get, or keep, its government up and running.
Like many politicians in the external world, the ego doesn't really care what damage it does to others or to the environment in the pursuit of its political agenda. Compassion, generosity, fairness, kindness, servitude, sincerity, honesty, integrity, justice, equality, rights, freedom and so on are, all too frequently, just empty words which are trotted out every so often to enhance the image and dazzle the suckers.
Nonetheless, the ego understands, as do many politicians in the external world of government, some degree of discretion must be exercised in the implementation of its governmental policies. If one steps on too many toes or ruffles too many feathers, there will be negative, perhaps, embarrassing, political fallout.
Consequently, the ego tends to play a maxima/minima game. The object of this game is to generate strategies which will permit the ego to give up the least for the most return on it's efforts. Quite a few rational think-tanks in the employ of the ego are set to work on this task.
In an attempt to establish, at least, the appearance of order and intelligibility within the world of internal politics, the ego sets up: various planning groups; watchdog committees on ethics; regulatory agencies, and assorted judicial bodies. Unfortunately, like its external world Doppelganger: plans are not carried out; violations of the ethical codes are often overlooked; regulations are not enforced, and a great many arbitrary, unjust and inconsistent judgements emerge from the appointed judicial bodies.
The ego's short-term and long-term goal is control along with the perks which come with such power. Everything and everybody else must be accommodated to this program.
One of the biggest fears of the ego in this respect concerns the possibility that the rightful heir to leadership of the internal government should seek to return from the exile to which it is has been banished by the ego.
The rightful heir is the spiritual essence of the individual.
The ego has powerful resources and allies on which it can call if there is such an uprising. The body, emotions, desires and the rational mind can all be employed to suppress any move toward spiritual liberation of the homeland.
Dirty tricks, negative campaigning, disinformation, filibusters, procedural delays, and terror campaigns can all be used by the ego to prevent the rightful heir from returning to the seat of executive power. Moreover, the ego can lead the internal government into an emotional and intellectual gridlock so that nothing gets accomplished and, thereby, the status quo is preserved.
Fiery, impassioned addresses will be given by the ego. In these speeches, numerous charges of censorship, repression, rights abuses, and curtailment of freedoms will be leveled against the spirit and its supporters. The spirit will be painted as a threat against all that is good and right with the present, incumbent government of the ego.
If necessary, steps will be taken to imprison, or lay siege to, the one who would depose the ego. Various deployment of troops, blockades, minefields, and ambushes can be arranged by the ego for these purposes.
Through years of mismanagement, bungling, neglect, short-sightedness, selfishness, and corruption, the ego has done tremendous damage to the spiritual infrastructure and the ecological balance of the internal world. Therefore, a tremendous amount of work is necessary to bring about a reform of government.
There are many frustrations, setbacks, difficulties, and obstacles involved in such a spiritual reclamation project. Many sacrifices will have to made before the internal government starts operating according to its potential.
This, too, the ego will try to use to its tactical advantage. As with all corrupt governments, there is an inertia and malaise which settles on the land.
The ego has distributed patronage in various forms. Pleasures, ease influence, status and comfort are at risk if the ego loses control.
To resist the flow of things in such a world, is extremely hard, dangerous work. It takes a lot of effort.
The ego can offer, in the present, ease, comfort, gratification, diversions, and so on. Alternatively, the spiritual side only can offer a future dream of realizing our essential potential through struggle and sacrifice in the present.
The psychological and emotional advantages all seem to be on the side of the ego. Yet, the spirit has a nobility of cause and purpose which resonates very deeply and powerfully in the halls of internal government.
The call of spirituality has a purity and integrity which is very appealing and alluring. Furthermore, there is a sense of justice, beauty and truth inherent in the call of spirituality which cannot even be remotely simulated by the tawdry, impoverished political style of the ego. The possibility of happiness, peace, satisfaction, contentment and love which are part of the platform on which spirituality runs is very attractive.
Restoring decency, honor, and integrity to internal government is a very complex task. The magnitude of the challenge intimidates many of us.
Many of us believe reforming external government is somewhat easier and more practical than to attempt to reform internal government. We often tend to believe, under the influence of the ego, that the problems of the world are generated, for the most part, by others and not by ourselves.
Consequently, many people direct their efforts, energies, time and resources toward working on the problems of the governments of the external world. In effect, we embark on a quest which is dedicated to get other people to change in certain desirable ways, when we, ourselves, often are not prepared to change in equivalently desirable ways.
However, according to the Sufi masters, this kind of thinking has its priorities confused. We will not be able to reform the governments of the world until we have reformed our own internal governments. The chaos of the world is but a reflection and projection of the chaos of our internal worlds.
The foregoing priority of the Sufi masters does not mean we have to abandon the external world until after one has completed the task of reforming the internal government. Instead, they suggest we see our interaction with the outside world as opportunities to work toward developing programs, policies and projects which operate in line with, and give expression to, the spiritual principles necessary for the reform, care and maintenance of good internal government.
Acting in accordance with the foregoing dialectic cannot help but have, if God wishes, positive, constructive ramifications for enhancing the quality of the social and political atmosphere in the external world. The development of better communities and governments in the external world requires that we repair the problems in our spiritual infrastructure. We, then, need to take the benefits which are made possible by these repairs and invest them in, among other things, rebuilding our families and communities through the spiritual lessons learned while reconstructing the infrastructure of our souls.
Interestingly enough, whatever the accuracy of our perceptions about the political process may be, many of us tend to be oblivious to the quality and character of governmental operations within ourselves. This lack of awareness could be because many of us may not consider what goes on inside of us to be much like a governmental process.
However, the politics which goes on in the external world does not rise ex nihilo. It comes from within us. Indeed, external politics is, in a sense, internal politics writ large.
The characteristics of internal politics are quite similar to properties found in external political processes. For example, there is a need for decision making and the implementation of such decisions. In addition, within us, there are activities which resemble: think-tanks, spin doctors, lobby groups, image consultants, intelligence gathering operations, ethics committees, regulatory agencies, judicial review boards, dirty tricks operations, military forces, legislative bodies, prison systems, and revenue generating enterprises.
All of the foregoing internal processes affect the character and quality of the decisions made by the individual. Moreover, because of the problems and pressures generated by the dynamics of the decision making process, one finds many other features of our inner government which share some common themes with certain aspects of politics.
For instance, many of our internal governments are capable, in various ways and degrees, of: biased agendas; partisan politics; corruption; dereliction of duty; human rights violations; grid-lock; revolution (both peaceful and violent); fraudulent conduct; cover-ups; repressive measures; irresponsible spending programs; breaking promises; and both minor, as well as, major scandals of one sort or another.
Like external governments, our internal governments: make both good and bad decisions. Similarly, our internal governments, like their external counterparts, get both good and bad advice from a variety of sources.
Again, like external governments, our internal political systems often are involved in crisis management operations. These operations, frequently, are as much a reflection of the problematic way we govern ourselves, than they are an expression of life-problems arising independently of our style of mismanaging our internal government.
When the ego is running our internal government, our affairs are in the hands of a politician exemplifying all of the characteristics we tend to associate with the stereotypical bad politician. Indeed, bad politics on whatever level is, in general, a function of the activities of the ego.
The ego, like many politicians, tends to be very charismatic and polished in public situations. However, at the same time, the ego is ambitious, vain, and arrogant.
The ego knows, as almost any politician does, how to get things accomplished through pushing the right emotional and psychological buttons. In fact, a considerable portion of the resources available to the ego, are expended to gather intelligence about the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the various players in the political game.
In addition, the ego has the gift of gab and is always on the stump making internal political speeches, filled with stirring platitudes, about this and that issue or situation or person. Like its external world twin brother, the ego is forever making solemn promises and undertakings which are rarely kept.
The ego, as either head of the internal government or as leader of the 'loyal' opposition, knows how to threaten, cajole, manipulate, flatter, pressure, compromise, bribe, neutralize, and cheat for purposes of political gain. Political gain, however, is not necessarily measured in terms of worthwhile accomplishments.
More often than not, political gain is a matter of doing whatever is required to stay in power or to be able to influence the decision making process in a manner which is favorable to one's interests. The doing of things, whether good or bad, are merely means to the more important issue of securing or maintaining control.
The ego, of course, is not as much in charge of things as it often likes to give the impression is the case. The ego is under constant pressure from a variety of intense lobbying groups that are extremely demanding, temperamental and fickle. Some of these lobby groups are: jealousy, revenge, malice, prejudice, hostility, lethargy, lust, greed, and desire.
When the ego blunders and commits public relation gaffes in its dealings with the external world, the spin doctors of the ego go to work. Their assignment is to try to make things appear as if what everyone knows is the case is not the case. The spin doctors are incessantly trying to give a take or a slant on things which puts the ego in the best possible light with respect to its intentions, motives, and conduct.
In ways reminiscent of its external, political counterpart, the ego is subject to becoming entangled in bribery, corruption, scandals and kick-backs of one sort or another. For the ego, such things are just unfortunate risks it runs, on occasion, in order to get, or keep, its government up and running.
Like many politicians in the external world, the ego doesn't really care what damage it does to others or to the environment in the pursuit of its political agenda. Compassion, generosity, fairness, kindness, servitude, sincerity, honesty, integrity, justice, equality, rights, freedom and so on are, all too frequently, just empty words which are trotted out every so often to enhance the image and dazzle the suckers.
Nonetheless, the ego understands, as do many politicians in the external world of government, some degree of discretion must be exercised in the implementation of its governmental policies. If one steps on too many toes or ruffles too many feathers, there will be negative, perhaps, embarrassing, political fallout.
Consequently, the ego tends to play a maxima/minima game. The object of this game is to generate strategies which will permit the ego to give up the least for the most return on it's efforts. Quite a few rational think-tanks in the employ of the ego are set to work on this task.
In an attempt to establish, at least, the appearance of order and intelligibility within the world of internal politics, the ego sets up: various planning groups; watchdog committees on ethics; regulatory agencies, and assorted judicial bodies. Unfortunately, like its external world Doppelganger: plans are not carried out; violations of the ethical codes are often overlooked; regulations are not enforced, and a great many arbitrary, unjust and inconsistent judgements emerge from the appointed judicial bodies.
The ego's short-term and long-term goal is control along with the perks which come with such power. Everything and everybody else must be accommodated to this program.
One of the biggest fears of the ego in this respect concerns the possibility that the rightful heir to leadership of the internal government should seek to return from the exile to which it is has been banished by the ego.
The rightful heir is the spiritual essence of the individual.
The ego has powerful resources and allies on which it can call if there is such an uprising. The body, emotions, desires and the rational mind can all be employed to suppress any move toward spiritual liberation of the homeland.
Dirty tricks, negative campaigning, disinformation, filibusters, procedural delays, and terror campaigns can all be used by the ego to prevent the rightful heir from returning to the seat of executive power. Moreover, the ego can lead the internal government into an emotional and intellectual gridlock so that nothing gets accomplished and, thereby, the status quo is preserved.
Fiery, impassioned addresses will be given by the ego. In these speeches, numerous charges of censorship, repression, rights abuses, and curtailment of freedoms will be leveled against the spirit and its supporters. The spirit will be painted as a threat against all that is good and right with the present, incumbent government of the ego.
If necessary, steps will be taken to imprison, or lay siege to, the one who would depose the ego. Various deployment of troops, blockades, minefields, and ambushes can be arranged by the ego for these purposes.
Through years of mismanagement, bungling, neglect, short-sightedness, selfishness, and corruption, the ego has done tremendous damage to the spiritual infrastructure and the ecological balance of the internal world. Therefore, a tremendous amount of work is necessary to bring about a reform of government.
There are many frustrations, setbacks, difficulties, and obstacles involved in such a spiritual reclamation project. Many sacrifices will have to made before the internal government starts operating according to its potential.
This, too, the ego will try to use to its tactical advantage. As with all corrupt governments, there is an inertia and malaise which settles on the land.
The ego has distributed patronage in various forms. Pleasures, ease influence, status and comfort are at risk if the ego loses control.
To resist the flow of things in such a world, is extremely hard, dangerous work. It takes a lot of effort.
The ego can offer, in the present, ease, comfort, gratification, diversions, and so on. Alternatively, the spiritual side only can offer a future dream of realizing our essential potential through struggle and sacrifice in the present.
The psychological and emotional advantages all seem to be on the side of the ego. Yet, the spirit has a nobility of cause and purpose which resonates very deeply and powerfully in the halls of internal government.
The call of spirituality has a purity and integrity which is very appealing and alluring. Furthermore, there is a sense of justice, beauty and truth inherent in the call of spirituality which cannot even be remotely simulated by the tawdry, impoverished political style of the ego. The possibility of happiness, peace, satisfaction, contentment and love which are part of the platform on which spirituality runs is very attractive.
Restoring decency, honor, and integrity to internal government is a very complex task. The magnitude of the challenge intimidates many of us.
Many of us believe reforming external government is somewhat easier and more practical than to attempt to reform internal government. We often tend to believe, under the influence of the ego, that the problems of the world are generated, for the most part, by others and not by ourselves.
Consequently, many people direct their efforts, energies, time and resources toward working on the problems of the governments of the external world. In effect, we embark on a quest which is dedicated to get other people to change in certain desirable ways, when we, ourselves, often are not prepared to change in equivalently desirable ways.
However, according to the Sufi masters, this kind of thinking has its priorities confused. We will not be able to reform the governments of the world until we have reformed our own internal governments. The chaos of the world is but a reflection and projection of the chaos of our internal worlds.
The foregoing priority of the Sufi masters does not mean we have to abandon the external world until after one has completed the task of reforming the internal government. Instead, they suggest we see our interaction with the outside world as opportunities to work toward developing programs, policies and projects which operate in line with, and give expression to, the spiritual principles necessary for the reform, care and maintenance of good internal government.
Acting in accordance with the foregoing dialectic cannot help but have, if God wishes, positive, constructive ramifications for enhancing the quality of the social and political atmosphere in the external world. The development of better communities and governments in the external world requires that we repair the problems in our spiritual infrastructure. We, then, need to take the benefits which are made possible by these repairs and invest them in, among other things, rebuilding our families and communities through the spiritual lessons learned while reconstructing the infrastructure of our souls.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Expansion
Becoming initiated and stepping onto the mystical path is a very exciting time for an individual. It is a period of expansion.
The person feels exhilaration. One has started the most important journey of one's life. Perhaps, one feels a sense of direction, purpose and belonging which previously had been absent or marginalized in one's life.
Very likely, initiation has been the culmination of a fairly intense period of: uncertainty; wavering back and forth; doubt; anxiety; exploration; and, reflection. Somehow, whether by careful consideration or a feeling in one's heart or in some other way, one finally decides to commit oneself to the mystical path. One experiences a lifting of tension and a accompanying sigh of relief.
One can't wait to read about the path and talk with one's fellow travelers. One looks forward to spending time with the teacher and receiving instructions concerning practices.
One entertains the future with a mixture of anticipation and bewilderment. One doesn't know what to expect. One wonders when one will have a mystical experience and what it will be like.
One thinks about stories one has heard or read concerning the great mystics of the past. One marvels at their wisdom and wonderful moral qualities. One feels a degree of pride for being permitted entry to the same path on which they have been wayfarers.
Enthusiasm courses through one's body and mind. One tries not to miss anything which is said, or goes on around one, concerning the path.
This initial encounter with a species of expansion lasts various lengths of time for different people. For some, it lasts for a few days. For others, it lasts for a week or a month. For others, it lasts longer. Moreover, different people experience it to varying degrees of intensity.
Eventually, however, many of these feelings fade. One may still feel excited about, enthusiastic toward and happy with the decision to step onto the path and, finally, be underway on one's journey. Nonetheless, one's feelings in these respects do not remain as intense or as focused as they had been earlier. The feelings are not as pervasive and constant as they had been. They are somewhat sporadic.
The problems of the world or with one's life begin to seep back into the center stage of one's consciousness. One's ego begins to create problems in a number of different ways. Doubts, questions and anxieties may begin to assert themselves.
One may be having difficulty in establishing a regular pattern in relation to one's spiritual work. Perhaps, one is encountering difficulty in freeing up time for the practices one has been given. One may be experiencing some sort of tension or resistance in relation to certain aspects of the path which are troubling to one.
One may begin to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the undertaking to which one has become committed. One may be confused by some of the teachings or wonder how they can be implemented in a feasible manner in modern society.
Now, one is experiencing a form of spiritual contraction. Everything seems difficult, frustrating, problematic, and somewhat of an unmanageable burden.
Before, during the experience of the expansionary aspects of initiation, everything kind of bubbled and flowed. Things seemed to come easily. Life was light and happy or pleasant.
In contraction, things appear to drag and have a heaviness about them. Events do not flow. They trickle and, maybe, not even that.
Everything seems to come with tension and conflict attached to it. One may feel somewhat alienated and out of sorts. One has to struggle.
These cycles of expansion and contraction will continue to occur on the Sufi path. They may change their modalities of manifestation as one makes, God willing, spiritual progress along the mystical path, but they are an important structural feature of the path.
When the heart is opened up, when one feels close to God, when one is gaining spiritual insights and understanding, when one embraces submission, and so on, then one experiences various kinds of happiness, joy, peace, and contentedness. These are expressions of spiritual expansion.
On the other hand, when, spiritually, one's heart feels closed down, when one feels far away from God, when one does not seem to be acquiring any spiritual insight or understanding, and when one is struggling with one or more aspects of the process of submission, one experiences being down, separate, restless and uneasy. These are expressions of spiritual contraction.
Both expansion and contraction have much to teach one. In a sense, the lessons of contraction till the soil of the soul and heart and prepare them to receive the seeds of expansion so that the latter may grow.
The lessons of expansion, on the other hand, provide spiritual strength, sustenance and consolations. Through the spiritual support which comes, by the grace of God, from the experience of expansion, one is enabled to continue with the aspects of the spiritual journey involving the struggle and work of contraction.
The difficulties of contraction, in turn, will pave the way for further expansion. The tears of contraction will be exchanged for the tears of expansion. The tears of struggle will be transformed into the tears of joy and ecstasy.
Along the Sufi path there are many different stations. These stations deal with themes such as repentance, longing, patience, dependence, gratitude, and love, to name but a few.
When one is struggling with the challenges and trials peculiar to such stations, one goes through a form of contraction which is appropriate to that station. When, by the grace of God, one is opened up to the mysteries of such stations and becomes adorned in the qualities of those stations, one experiences a form of expansion which is consonant with those stations.
Some people are able, by the grace of God, to find peace, contentment and even happiness during periods of contraction. They have been given a deep rooted understanding that all things, including contraction, come from God.
Consequently, they are at peace with, and discover contentment in, the condition of contraction because it has been sent by their Lord especially for them and their spiritual progress. For them, contraction becomes a gift to be savored, appreciated and, yes, enjoyed.
Alternatively, by the grace of God, some people, while in a condition of spiritual expansion, nonetheless, feel a special form of contraction which has its own bliss and beauty. This species of contraction concerns the condition of being true servants of God. Although these people have been raised to the highest spiritual realms, they humble themselves before God and do not have any desire other than to be the servants of Divinity.
Those who undergo this sort of "contraction" are extremely happy and well-satisfied with such a condition. They do not feel down or uneasy or restless. There is no heaviness or difficulty associated with it. There is no sense of its being a burden or a struggle. Those who enjoy this spiritual condition have found an essential kind of contentment and peace.
In fact their experience is characterized by all of the qualities of expansion. However, the people of this condition know they are the servants of God. They are not God in any essential way.
This distinction between Divinity and the servant is sometimes marginalized in certain conditions of expansion. Nonetheless, the distinction is always present, and it is absolute.
The placing of the above distinction at the center of consciousness, understanding and actions constitutes, relative to the transcendence of God, a contraction of sorts. The distinction between Divinity and servant indicates that no matter how great the spiritual expansion of an individual may be, it is insignificant in the context of God's incomparable greatness.
In many ways, distinctions between expansion and contraction tend to lose significance in these advanced mystical stations. Whatever may be the truth in relation to such stations, these lofty spiritual heights are a long, long way from the point of departure at the time of initiation and one's initial taste of expansion.
The person feels exhilaration. One has started the most important journey of one's life. Perhaps, one feels a sense of direction, purpose and belonging which previously had been absent or marginalized in one's life.
Very likely, initiation has been the culmination of a fairly intense period of: uncertainty; wavering back and forth; doubt; anxiety; exploration; and, reflection. Somehow, whether by careful consideration or a feeling in one's heart or in some other way, one finally decides to commit oneself to the mystical path. One experiences a lifting of tension and a accompanying sigh of relief.
One can't wait to read about the path and talk with one's fellow travelers. One looks forward to spending time with the teacher and receiving instructions concerning practices.
One entertains the future with a mixture of anticipation and bewilderment. One doesn't know what to expect. One wonders when one will have a mystical experience and what it will be like.
One thinks about stories one has heard or read concerning the great mystics of the past. One marvels at their wisdom and wonderful moral qualities. One feels a degree of pride for being permitted entry to the same path on which they have been wayfarers.
Enthusiasm courses through one's body and mind. One tries not to miss anything which is said, or goes on around one, concerning the path.
This initial encounter with a species of expansion lasts various lengths of time for different people. For some, it lasts for a few days. For others, it lasts for a week or a month. For others, it lasts longer. Moreover, different people experience it to varying degrees of intensity.
Eventually, however, many of these feelings fade. One may still feel excited about, enthusiastic toward and happy with the decision to step onto the path and, finally, be underway on one's journey. Nonetheless, one's feelings in these respects do not remain as intense or as focused as they had been earlier. The feelings are not as pervasive and constant as they had been. They are somewhat sporadic.
The problems of the world or with one's life begin to seep back into the center stage of one's consciousness. One's ego begins to create problems in a number of different ways. Doubts, questions and anxieties may begin to assert themselves.
One may be having difficulty in establishing a regular pattern in relation to one's spiritual work. Perhaps, one is encountering difficulty in freeing up time for the practices one has been given. One may be experiencing some sort of tension or resistance in relation to certain aspects of the path which are troubling to one.
One may begin to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the undertaking to which one has become committed. One may be confused by some of the teachings or wonder how they can be implemented in a feasible manner in modern society.
Now, one is experiencing a form of spiritual contraction. Everything seems difficult, frustrating, problematic, and somewhat of an unmanageable burden.
Before, during the experience of the expansionary aspects of initiation, everything kind of bubbled and flowed. Things seemed to come easily. Life was light and happy or pleasant.
In contraction, things appear to drag and have a heaviness about them. Events do not flow. They trickle and, maybe, not even that.
Everything seems to come with tension and conflict attached to it. One may feel somewhat alienated and out of sorts. One has to struggle.
These cycles of expansion and contraction will continue to occur on the Sufi path. They may change their modalities of manifestation as one makes, God willing, spiritual progress along the mystical path, but they are an important structural feature of the path.
When the heart is opened up, when one feels close to God, when one is gaining spiritual insights and understanding, when one embraces submission, and so on, then one experiences various kinds of happiness, joy, peace, and contentedness. These are expressions of spiritual expansion.
On the other hand, when, spiritually, one's heart feels closed down, when one feels far away from God, when one does not seem to be acquiring any spiritual insight or understanding, and when one is struggling with one or more aspects of the process of submission, one experiences being down, separate, restless and uneasy. These are expressions of spiritual contraction.
Both expansion and contraction have much to teach one. In a sense, the lessons of contraction till the soil of the soul and heart and prepare them to receive the seeds of expansion so that the latter may grow.
The lessons of expansion, on the other hand, provide spiritual strength, sustenance and consolations. Through the spiritual support which comes, by the grace of God, from the experience of expansion, one is enabled to continue with the aspects of the spiritual journey involving the struggle and work of contraction.
The difficulties of contraction, in turn, will pave the way for further expansion. The tears of contraction will be exchanged for the tears of expansion. The tears of struggle will be transformed into the tears of joy and ecstasy.
Along the Sufi path there are many different stations. These stations deal with themes such as repentance, longing, patience, dependence, gratitude, and love, to name but a few.
When one is struggling with the challenges and trials peculiar to such stations, one goes through a form of contraction which is appropriate to that station. When, by the grace of God, one is opened up to the mysteries of such stations and becomes adorned in the qualities of those stations, one experiences a form of expansion which is consonant with those stations.
Some people are able, by the grace of God, to find peace, contentment and even happiness during periods of contraction. They have been given a deep rooted understanding that all things, including contraction, come from God.
Consequently, they are at peace with, and discover contentment in, the condition of contraction because it has been sent by their Lord especially for them and their spiritual progress. For them, contraction becomes a gift to be savored, appreciated and, yes, enjoyed.
Alternatively, by the grace of God, some people, while in a condition of spiritual expansion, nonetheless, feel a special form of contraction which has its own bliss and beauty. This species of contraction concerns the condition of being true servants of God. Although these people have been raised to the highest spiritual realms, they humble themselves before God and do not have any desire other than to be the servants of Divinity.
Those who undergo this sort of "contraction" are extremely happy and well-satisfied with such a condition. They do not feel down or uneasy or restless. There is no heaviness or difficulty associated with it. There is no sense of its being a burden or a struggle. Those who enjoy this spiritual condition have found an essential kind of contentment and peace.
In fact their experience is characterized by all of the qualities of expansion. However, the people of this condition know they are the servants of God. They are not God in any essential way.
This distinction between Divinity and the servant is sometimes marginalized in certain conditions of expansion. Nonetheless, the distinction is always present, and it is absolute.
The placing of the above distinction at the center of consciousness, understanding and actions constitutes, relative to the transcendence of God, a contraction of sorts. The distinction between Divinity and servant indicates that no matter how great the spiritual expansion of an individual may be, it is insignificant in the context of God's incomparable greatness.
In many ways, distinctions between expansion and contraction tend to lose significance in these advanced mystical stations. Whatever may be the truth in relation to such stations, these lofty spiritual heights are a long, long way from the point of departure at the time of initiation and one's initial taste of expansion.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Sufi Reflections Podcast No. 29
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Sufi Reflections Podcast No. 29 is now available for downloading. This edition includes poetry, Quranic recitation, music, an original story entitled The Sufi and the Snowman, an essay entitled Devolution, and a commentary entitled Shari'ah, Part 2. We hope you will join us.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Anab's Kindle Books for iPhone
There is a new FREE Amazon Kindle app for the iPhone. All kindle books can now be read on the iPhone without an Amazon Kindle. The app seems to work very well.
If you have an iPhone and would like to find out more, just visit the iTunes app store on your computer or on your iPhone and download the free app. You will then need to enter your Amazon account user name and password after clicking on app on your iPhone. Then sync your phone and computer. You will then be all set to visit the Amazon Kindle store and start getting books for your iPhone.
If you have an iPhone and would like to find out more, just visit the iTunes app store on your computer or on your iPhone and download the free app. You will then need to enter your Amazon account user name and password after clicking on app on your iPhone. Then sync your phone and computer. You will then be all set to visit the Amazon Kindle store and start getting books for your iPhone.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Anab's Spiritual Peaks and Valleys MP3s are now available at Amazon for instant downloading. If you would like to listen to previews, click on this link:
Amazon Spiritual Peaks and Valleys
Amazon Spiritual Peaks and Valleys
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