Oh those who have been consuming the fruit
Of life while neglecting the deeper root,
This is like the false dawn that captures one’s
vision leading one to believe the sun
is close to rising when this is not so.
We have become immersed in games of no
Worth where we dream of scoring winning goals
And forget truths about losing our souls.
Like children, we chase after bubbles that
Glitter but elude our grasp or burst flat
With emptiness when caressed by our touch.
Soon we will lie down at death’s door with such
Regret, sensing that we’ve been chasing wind
As we leave the world behind and begin
The real life … knowing we have not prepared
For what may come … but spent our time ensnared
With worldly affairs made of vanity.
We carouse markets of inanity
And insanity, squandering our life’s
Potential while playing the ego’s fife.
The world is a hydra that must be fed;
Yet, no matter how much we give each head
What it desires, there are still further cries
Insisting on more … unsatisfied sighs
Like a greedy, rich fool who prays to God
To increase wealth and does not find this odd.
Remember Pharaoh whose claims were so bold
or Karun whose heart was obsessed with gold.
History is elusive, like blowing
Sand that buries memories of knowing.
The world is a prostitute who is dressed
With allure to trigger the body’s quest
To embrace the attractions which clothes hide
If we will just throw discretion aside.
Or, perhaps we will be seduced by lust for
Worldly glory to be found in the store
Of rich and powerful sultans or kings
Hypnotized by the illusion of things
Where banners of fortune change with the wind
Hoisted on ropes woven from finest sin.
The temptations of this life are the threads
Through which a worldly kind of spider spreads
Sticky filaments on the path that trap
Heedless humans and suck from them the sap
Of purpose and leave their carcass to rot
On flimsy strings of desire that have brought
Them each to an unfashionable end
Where they’ll have nothing of value to send
On to offer the Master with the broom
Who’s ready to sweep corpses from the room.
All of the things that we have sought and thought
Are creations of the Divine and not
Our own. God made the atoms that rebelled
And , then, to the truth would become impelled.
From God come stories of: sin, contrition,
Retribution owed, and the condition
Of forgiveness. God is the seeker, way
And knowledge masked by the struggle of clay.
The triumph that you believe to be your
Arrival is naught but God at God’s Door.
We’re but tain on a mirror from which we
Are able to reflect Divinity.
So, lost atoms, may we gain the wisdom
To unite with the light of God's prism.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Intoxication - A Sufi Perspective
Both spiritually induced intoxication, as well as intoxication induced by spirits of alcohol, involve departures from the realm of rationality. However, each does so in a completely different way from the other. Moreover, each form of intoxication leads an individual to totally different results and ramifications.
Alcohol is a general depressant of biological functioning, in general, and of neurophysiological functioning in particular. Different factors affect how quickly, and to what extent, any given person's biological functioning will be affected.
Nonetheless, on the whole, most people do not have to drink a great deal before their memory and thinking faculties become impaired. Not only does one begin to lose the ability to concentrate on, and carry out, a variety of logical/rational operations, but one's capacity for making different kinds of judgement also is diminished after drinking a certain amount of alcohol.
After drinking, all too many people get in their automobiles and cause death and tragedy, of one sort or another. Almost invariably, this is as a result of their impaired: reflexes, reasoning abilities and capacity to make rational judgements.
In addition, there is a strong link between the consumption of alcohol and both spousal abuse, as well as, the sexual and physical abuse of children. This sort of abuse may go on even independently of the presence of alcohol, but the problem becomes much worse when the influence of alcohol is added to the equation. Furthermore, the presence of alcohol consumption may, in many cases, induce abusive behavior with respect to one's spouse or children which might not happen were the abuser not under the influence of alcohol.
There also is a long history between consumption of alcohol and sexual assault. Perhaps alcohol is used as an excuse by some in order to diminish the moral blame associated with such acts. Maybe these people would indulge in acts of sexual assault even without the alcohol, but the alcohol becomes a convenient scapegoat. Alternatively, due to the diminished capacity induced by alcohol intoxication, people often find themselves doing things which would be repugnant and horrifying to any rational person.
Even when no sexual assault is involved, many people end up doing degrading, demeaning things to themselves and others while operating with impaired reasoning processes due to alcohol intoxication. People wake up the morning after the previous night of intoxication only to discover they have done terrible things of which they have either no, or only a foggy, recollection. One does not have to commit criminal acts in order to seriously injure, emotionally and psychologically, others or oneself.
None of the foregoing necessarily touches on the more complex problem of alcoholism. In other words, one does not have to be an alcoholic in order to become involved in the sort of problematic ramifications of alcohol consumption which have been outlined in the foregoing examples of impaired rational thinking and judgement.
Many people who get intoxicated may never, ever do anything injurious to anyone. Whatever impairments of reasoning and reflexes which occur with these people may be just harmlessly amusing. Nonetheless, this is just not so for millions of other human beings.
The nature of spiritually induced intoxication is an entirely different kettle of fish. Although this kind of intoxication also involves a departure from reasoning processes, this is not due to any sort of impairment of rationality or judgement.
In the case of alcohol induced intoxication, there is a sense in which one cannot keep up with the realities and requirements of rationality. On the other hand, in the case of spiritually induced intoxication, the processes of rationality cannot keep up with the realities and requirements of transcendence.
In relation to the condition of spiritual intoxication, rationality actually constitutes a state of diminished capacity. In fact, some Sufi masters liken the condition of rationality to a state of being inebriated with the wine of logic. No matter how good the vintage of this wine may be, it impairs one's spiritual judgement and interferes with mystical understanding.
The practitioners of the Sufi path note, however, that mystical understanding does not interfere with rational processes. Rather, such understanding informs and illuminates those processes.
Mystical understanding helps place rationality in its proper perspective. Mystical understanding shows some of the limitations of rationality.
When one spends time with Sufi masters, the nature of their logic, judgement and reasoning is impeccable. The counsel and advice they give is very practical, logical and down-to-earth.
Inwardly, these people are spiritually intoxicated, but outwardly they are sober. The outer sobriety entails an understanding of the nature of this world and how it works. The inner intoxication entails an understanding of the nature of the spiritual dimension of things and how that affects worldly matters.
Sufi masters use reason, logic, and rational judgement to help people with their worldly and spiritual problems. Nevertheless, in order to be of help, the reason and logic must be infused with, and oriented by, the realities of spirituality and mystical transcendence.
Rational processes, in and of themselves, are not enough. One cannot reason one's way to spiritual truth or wisdom.
Mystical truth and wisdom only can come through mystical experiences and only after these experiences are properly understood. Spiritually induced intoxication is one medium or channel through which such truth and wisdom come.
People who are spiritually intoxicated in the Sufi sense of the term never sexually assault anyone. Those who are in a condition of spiritual intoxication do not abuse their spouses or children. Somebody who is spiritually intoxicated does not get in her or his car and proceed to maim or kill others or herself or himself.
Although there may be certain theologians who would disagree, a person in a state of spiritual intoxication does not do anything to degrade or demean oneself. Moreover, a spiritually intoxicated individual does not sober up later on only to discover some terrible deed or deeds which had been committed while in an intoxicated condition.
At best, a person who becomes intoxicated through the consumption of alcohol may get a certain amount of relaxation and enjoyment from the experience. There are no deep truths or wisdom which arises out of alcohol intoxication. One is pretty much the same after the experience as one was before it.
Spiritual intoxication brings overwhelming ecstasy and joy. One comes away from the experience with a very different perspective concerning the nature of reality and one's relation with reality. In addition, there are deep truths and wisdom which are communicated during the experience of spiritual intoxication.
Not all conditions of spiritual intoxication are of the same intensity or depth. The vintage of the spiritual wine being imbibed by the individual will make a big difference in the quality and character of the experience of spiritual intoxication. Furthermore, the spiritual level of the individual who goes into a state of ecstasy is also an important factor affecting the intensity and depth of such experiences.
According to Sufi masters, outward manifestations of spiritual intoxication are, under certain circumstances and conditions, perfectly acceptable. Indeed, such mystical states are a sign of God's grace.
Nonetheless, Sufi shaykhs indicate that when an individual is permanently in a state of outwardly manifested intoxication, this condition is problematic as far as making continued spiritual progress is concerned. Such people are, in a sense, transfixed by their overwhelming experiences of spiritual intoxication.
Consequently, they are unlikely to move on to further stages of the mystical path. Their progress is arrested at a particular stage and state. Spiritually speaking, their permanent condition of intoxication sacrifices movement toward the full realization of human potential for the bliss and ecstasy of the on-going condition.
Although such permanently, spiritually intoxicated individuals are harmless and, quite often, are sources of blessings for many who come into contact with them, in their own way, many of these people (but not all) are the alcoholics of the spiritual world. This is so in the following senses.
These people are irresistibly drawn and, in a sense, addicted to the continuously intoxicating experiences with which their spiritual condition is saturated. Moreover, like their worldly alcoholic counterparts, those who permanently are in a condition of outwardly manifested intoxication frequently lose the capacity to function in a "normal" way in society and the work-a-day world.
Sufi shaykhs recommend travelers of the Sufi path should become outwardly sober, while remaining inwardly spiritually intoxicated. In other words, one needs a foot, so to speak, in both the physical world and the spiritual world in order to be a fully effective human being in both worlds.
Sobriety is expressed through the observance of spiritual etiquette. To be sober in the spiritual sense, one must fulfil one's spiritual duties and obligations on all levels of existence. Nevertheless, one cannot perform these duties properly unless sobriety is underwritten by the truths and wisdom of spiritual intoxication.
Alcohol is a general depressant of biological functioning, in general, and of neurophysiological functioning in particular. Different factors affect how quickly, and to what extent, any given person's biological functioning will be affected.
Nonetheless, on the whole, most people do not have to drink a great deal before their memory and thinking faculties become impaired. Not only does one begin to lose the ability to concentrate on, and carry out, a variety of logical/rational operations, but one's capacity for making different kinds of judgement also is diminished after drinking a certain amount of alcohol.
After drinking, all too many people get in their automobiles and cause death and tragedy, of one sort or another. Almost invariably, this is as a result of their impaired: reflexes, reasoning abilities and capacity to make rational judgements.
In addition, there is a strong link between the consumption of alcohol and both spousal abuse, as well as, the sexual and physical abuse of children. This sort of abuse may go on even independently of the presence of alcohol, but the problem becomes much worse when the influence of alcohol is added to the equation. Furthermore, the presence of alcohol consumption may, in many cases, induce abusive behavior with respect to one's spouse or children which might not happen were the abuser not under the influence of alcohol.
There also is a long history between consumption of alcohol and sexual assault. Perhaps alcohol is used as an excuse by some in order to diminish the moral blame associated with such acts. Maybe these people would indulge in acts of sexual assault even without the alcohol, but the alcohol becomes a convenient scapegoat. Alternatively, due to the diminished capacity induced by alcohol intoxication, people often find themselves doing things which would be repugnant and horrifying to any rational person.
Even when no sexual assault is involved, many people end up doing degrading, demeaning things to themselves and others while operating with impaired reasoning processes due to alcohol intoxication. People wake up the morning after the previous night of intoxication only to discover they have done terrible things of which they have either no, or only a foggy, recollection. One does not have to commit criminal acts in order to seriously injure, emotionally and psychologically, others or oneself.
None of the foregoing necessarily touches on the more complex problem of alcoholism. In other words, one does not have to be an alcoholic in order to become involved in the sort of problematic ramifications of alcohol consumption which have been outlined in the foregoing examples of impaired rational thinking and judgement.
Many people who get intoxicated may never, ever do anything injurious to anyone. Whatever impairments of reasoning and reflexes which occur with these people may be just harmlessly amusing. Nonetheless, this is just not so for millions of other human beings.
The nature of spiritually induced intoxication is an entirely different kettle of fish. Although this kind of intoxication also involves a departure from reasoning processes, this is not due to any sort of impairment of rationality or judgement.
In the case of alcohol induced intoxication, there is a sense in which one cannot keep up with the realities and requirements of rationality. On the other hand, in the case of spiritually induced intoxication, the processes of rationality cannot keep up with the realities and requirements of transcendence.
In relation to the condition of spiritual intoxication, rationality actually constitutes a state of diminished capacity. In fact, some Sufi masters liken the condition of rationality to a state of being inebriated with the wine of logic. No matter how good the vintage of this wine may be, it impairs one's spiritual judgement and interferes with mystical understanding.
The practitioners of the Sufi path note, however, that mystical understanding does not interfere with rational processes. Rather, such understanding informs and illuminates those processes.
Mystical understanding helps place rationality in its proper perspective. Mystical understanding shows some of the limitations of rationality.
When one spends time with Sufi masters, the nature of their logic, judgement and reasoning is impeccable. The counsel and advice they give is very practical, logical and down-to-earth.
Inwardly, these people are spiritually intoxicated, but outwardly they are sober. The outer sobriety entails an understanding of the nature of this world and how it works. The inner intoxication entails an understanding of the nature of the spiritual dimension of things and how that affects worldly matters.
Sufi masters use reason, logic, and rational judgement to help people with their worldly and spiritual problems. Nevertheless, in order to be of help, the reason and logic must be infused with, and oriented by, the realities of spirituality and mystical transcendence.
Rational processes, in and of themselves, are not enough. One cannot reason one's way to spiritual truth or wisdom.
Mystical truth and wisdom only can come through mystical experiences and only after these experiences are properly understood. Spiritually induced intoxication is one medium or channel through which such truth and wisdom come.
People who are spiritually intoxicated in the Sufi sense of the term never sexually assault anyone. Those who are in a condition of spiritual intoxication do not abuse their spouses or children. Somebody who is spiritually intoxicated does not get in her or his car and proceed to maim or kill others or herself or himself.
Although there may be certain theologians who would disagree, a person in a state of spiritual intoxication does not do anything to degrade or demean oneself. Moreover, a spiritually intoxicated individual does not sober up later on only to discover some terrible deed or deeds which had been committed while in an intoxicated condition.
At best, a person who becomes intoxicated through the consumption of alcohol may get a certain amount of relaxation and enjoyment from the experience. There are no deep truths or wisdom which arises out of alcohol intoxication. One is pretty much the same after the experience as one was before it.
Spiritual intoxication brings overwhelming ecstasy and joy. One comes away from the experience with a very different perspective concerning the nature of reality and one's relation with reality. In addition, there are deep truths and wisdom which are communicated during the experience of spiritual intoxication.
Not all conditions of spiritual intoxication are of the same intensity or depth. The vintage of the spiritual wine being imbibed by the individual will make a big difference in the quality and character of the experience of spiritual intoxication. Furthermore, the spiritual level of the individual who goes into a state of ecstasy is also an important factor affecting the intensity and depth of such experiences.
According to Sufi masters, outward manifestations of spiritual intoxication are, under certain circumstances and conditions, perfectly acceptable. Indeed, such mystical states are a sign of God's grace.
Nonetheless, Sufi shaykhs indicate that when an individual is permanently in a state of outwardly manifested intoxication, this condition is problematic as far as making continued spiritual progress is concerned. Such people are, in a sense, transfixed by their overwhelming experiences of spiritual intoxication.
Consequently, they are unlikely to move on to further stages of the mystical path. Their progress is arrested at a particular stage and state. Spiritually speaking, their permanent condition of intoxication sacrifices movement toward the full realization of human potential for the bliss and ecstasy of the on-going condition.
Although such permanently, spiritually intoxicated individuals are harmless and, quite often, are sources of blessings for many who come into contact with them, in their own way, many of these people (but not all) are the alcoholics of the spiritual world. This is so in the following senses.
These people are irresistibly drawn and, in a sense, addicted to the continuously intoxicating experiences with which their spiritual condition is saturated. Moreover, like their worldly alcoholic counterparts, those who permanently are in a condition of outwardly manifested intoxication frequently lose the capacity to function in a "normal" way in society and the work-a-day world.
Sufi shaykhs recommend travelers of the Sufi path should become outwardly sober, while remaining inwardly spiritually intoxicated. In other words, one needs a foot, so to speak, in both the physical world and the spiritual world in order to be a fully effective human being in both worlds.
Sobriety is expressed through the observance of spiritual etiquette. To be sober in the spiritual sense, one must fulfil one's spiritual duties and obligations on all levels of existence. Nevertheless, one cannot perform these duties properly unless sobriety is underwritten by the truths and wisdom of spiritual intoxication.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
The origins of Evil -- A Sufi Perspective
All the great shaykhs of the way of tasawwuf - that is, the mystical science of love, truth, and Self-realization, have taught there is a huge difference in understanding between those who have, by the grace of Allah, attained to a station of Divine intimacy and those who, unfortunately, have not. This difference in knowledge, wisdom, and insight has a great many ramifications in the nature and quality of life, but, perhaps, one of the most critical differences revolves around the consequences of ignorance.
Individuals who have been blessed by unveiling know - in a profound, intense, intimate, varied, and on-going manner - that all of creation is woven together as a set of manifestations giving expression to an underlying Divine Purpose which is complex, yet, unified. The nature of this unity is such that whatever we do affects the rest of Creation ... for better or worse.
Our actions cannot alter or undermine the Divine Purpose being manifested through creation, but we serve as loci through which certain kinds of Divine transactions enter into the world of appearances. And, the sort of transactions for which we are the cosmic doorway can be affected, within certain degrees of freedom, by the way we filter what is being transmitted through us.
The 'Divine transactions' mentioned above have to do, in part, with the realm of 'rizq' which determines, from birth to the grave, what will be provided to us, as well as whether we will have to: (a) satisfy certain conditions in order to draw from the Divine storehouse, or (b) merely be given certain things independently of effort. Whatever comes to us - through efforts, or not - in the way of material goods, possessions, career achievement, health, family, monetary wealth, fame, physical qualities, intellectual abilities, talents, friends, and spirituality is pre-set, so to speak.
There are many things that we all receive quite apart from any efforts on our part. Existence, air, oceans, sun, mountains, the moon, earth, stars, rain, consciousness, seasons, weather, night, day, and a soul, are just a few examples of this.
Furthermore, each of us receives certain 'gifts' in life which find their way to us even if we do not seek them or try to acquire them. These sorts of things vary from person to person.
On the other hand, there are other facets of life for which conditions have been laid down. For these, aspects of life, efforts must be made.
Looked at from the foregoing perspective, life consists of an extremely large collection of rizq transactions, and you and I serve as so many loci of manifestation through which many, but not all, of these sorts of transaction are conducted. However, our intentions, attitudes, understanding, and spiritual condition can lend 'color' to these events.
More specifically, while Divinity establishes the parameters of conditions, gifts, and assigned portions which are destined for us in relation to every dimension of our lives, and while fundamental aspects of these parameters are entangled in struggle, you and I tend to filter the character of what is being transmitted through us in positive and negative ways. These positive and negative qualities are the ways in which we lend color to those facets of rizq transactions with which we are associated - facets, one might add, that give expression to part of our assigned rizq even as we are serving as loci of manifestation for rizq transactions that are being directed to others.
For example, if we are charitable - the positive way in which we serve as a loci for giving, is part of our rizq destiny, just as the giving that flows through us to someone else is part of the other individual's rizq destiny. At the same time, our charitable nature may be a gift of God for which little, or no, effort needed to be expended in order to be acquired, or we may have had to struggle long and hard to be able to act in a charitable fashion.
Alternatively, if we are selfish, resentful, and/or hateful with respect to various rizq transactions that are manifested through us and in which something we have (possessions, money, time, talents, and so on) is transferred to someone else to whom it has been assigned by God - at least on a temporary basis - then, although we serve as a locus of transference, we have colored the transaction with various sorts of negative attitudes, feelings, and intentions. In short, we have added a certain degree of malevolence, negativity, destructiveness, or evil, if you will, to the transaction.
The person who has been assigned, by Divinity, to be the recipient in the foregoing transaction is acquiring at least three portions of rizq. First, there is whatever money, material object, possession, help and so on which is being transmitted through the person who has been assigned to serve as locus of giving. Secondly, there is the negative coloring of the transaction which has been added by the one through whom the giving is manifested. Thirdly, there is the opportunity being extended to the recipient, by God, to deal with both the giving and the 'value added' coloring in a spiritually appropriate or inappropriate manner - and the choices made concerning the form that this 'dealing' will take becomes a locus through which further rizq transactions are conducted.
The individual who, by the grace of God, has been given knowledge of the Self, understands that all of existence is a theater of Divine manifestation which gives expression to Creation's Purpose by means of a woven mosaic of rizq transactions in which human beings - and, indeed, all created being - are rooted as loci of transmission and receipt with respect to the play of Divine Names and Attributes - a play which is for the benefit of all Creation. The individual who, through the blessings of Divinity, has attained to Self-knowledge understands her or his role in the scheme of things and seeks to be a loci - whether of transmission or receipt - that filters the rizq transactions through a pure process of submission to Divine purpose and a desire to serve all of Creation, not to rule over Creation. The person who, by the mercy of Allah, has had the nature of the Self unveiled, understands that God's Purpose intends nothing but good for all of Creation, including human kind, and such people dedicate their lives to doing whatever they can to share with others whatever they know concerning this good.
The individual who has not, by the grace of his or her own lower self, attained to knowledge of the Self, and, as a result, knows only the 'self', has not acquired something of the 'taste' of Divine purpose, and, consequently, fails to grasp the manner in which all of creation is united in the tapestry of rizq transactions for a common Divine Purpose. The person who, due to the ignorance in which such an individual is entangled, does not grasp his or her role in the scheme of things, and, therefore, tends, in a variety of ways, to resist and rebel against the rizq transactions which are being transmitted through that person - ways which may not serve the best, long-term interests of the individual but which do not deter the Divine Purpose from being given unfettered manifestation through a multiplicity of dimensions entailed by the complex set of rizq transactions that constitute Creation. The person who, through self-absorption, tends to undermine and sacrifice the Divinely-given opportunity to be opened up to spiritual unveiling, does not understand that God's intentions toward creation and human kind are beneficent in nature.
Ignorance sees though lenses of spiritual darkness. All events in the view of ignorance are filtered through, and colored by, those lenses.
Ignorance seeks to usurp the role of God, because the nature of ignorance is not to know any better since ignorance veils, and is veiled from, the truth of Divine Purpose. Ignorance, by 'virtue' of the very nature of ignorance, is steeped in impatience and wishes to place its own time table upon God's Plan. Ignorance, due to its essential lack of knowledge and understanding, seeks to impose its darkness on everyone else, and will not be content until all of creation falls beneath its shadow.
The shaykhs of the path of tasawwuf indicate that one must struggle toward repentance, sincerity, tolerance, patience, forgiveness, nobility, justice, kindness, love, compassion, and remembrance because the way to Self-realization is lit by these spiritual stations. Ignorance has little regard for such qualities and believes that, somehow, a lack of wisdom, insight, and understanding will be triumphant.
The nature of ignorance is to not understand its own presence. Ignorance is inclined to miss the fact that the shapes it sees are merely ones that have been superimposed upon reality by the character of the ignorance involved.
Ignorance kills. Ignorance destroys. Ignorance tortures. Ignorance distorts. Ignorance persecutes. Ignorance oppresses. Ignorance terrorizes.
To whatever extent we permit ourselves to filter the network of Divinely ordained rizq transactions that give expression to the Purpose of Creation through the lenses of ignorance, to that extent will we be inclined to kill, destroy, torture, distort, persecute, oppress, and terrorize - both others and ourselves. If we wish to understand the origins of evil, then let us look to the spiritual ignorance within us - for, that is where it all begins.
Individuals who have been blessed by unveiling know - in a profound, intense, intimate, varied, and on-going manner - that all of creation is woven together as a set of manifestations giving expression to an underlying Divine Purpose which is complex, yet, unified. The nature of this unity is such that whatever we do affects the rest of Creation ... for better or worse.
Our actions cannot alter or undermine the Divine Purpose being manifested through creation, but we serve as loci through which certain kinds of Divine transactions enter into the world of appearances. And, the sort of transactions for which we are the cosmic doorway can be affected, within certain degrees of freedom, by the way we filter what is being transmitted through us.
The 'Divine transactions' mentioned above have to do, in part, with the realm of 'rizq' which determines, from birth to the grave, what will be provided to us, as well as whether we will have to: (a) satisfy certain conditions in order to draw from the Divine storehouse, or (b) merely be given certain things independently of effort. Whatever comes to us - through efforts, or not - in the way of material goods, possessions, career achievement, health, family, monetary wealth, fame, physical qualities, intellectual abilities, talents, friends, and spirituality is pre-set, so to speak.
There are many things that we all receive quite apart from any efforts on our part. Existence, air, oceans, sun, mountains, the moon, earth, stars, rain, consciousness, seasons, weather, night, day, and a soul, are just a few examples of this.
Furthermore, each of us receives certain 'gifts' in life which find their way to us even if we do not seek them or try to acquire them. These sorts of things vary from person to person.
On the other hand, there are other facets of life for which conditions have been laid down. For these, aspects of life, efforts must be made.
Looked at from the foregoing perspective, life consists of an extremely large collection of rizq transactions, and you and I serve as so many loci of manifestation through which many, but not all, of these sorts of transaction are conducted. However, our intentions, attitudes, understanding, and spiritual condition can lend 'color' to these events.
More specifically, while Divinity establishes the parameters of conditions, gifts, and assigned portions which are destined for us in relation to every dimension of our lives, and while fundamental aspects of these parameters are entangled in struggle, you and I tend to filter the character of what is being transmitted through us in positive and negative ways. These positive and negative qualities are the ways in which we lend color to those facets of rizq transactions with which we are associated - facets, one might add, that give expression to part of our assigned rizq even as we are serving as loci of manifestation for rizq transactions that are being directed to others.
For example, if we are charitable - the positive way in which we serve as a loci for giving, is part of our rizq destiny, just as the giving that flows through us to someone else is part of the other individual's rizq destiny. At the same time, our charitable nature may be a gift of God for which little, or no, effort needed to be expended in order to be acquired, or we may have had to struggle long and hard to be able to act in a charitable fashion.
Alternatively, if we are selfish, resentful, and/or hateful with respect to various rizq transactions that are manifested through us and in which something we have (possessions, money, time, talents, and so on) is transferred to someone else to whom it has been assigned by God - at least on a temporary basis - then, although we serve as a locus of transference, we have colored the transaction with various sorts of negative attitudes, feelings, and intentions. In short, we have added a certain degree of malevolence, negativity, destructiveness, or evil, if you will, to the transaction.
The person who has been assigned, by Divinity, to be the recipient in the foregoing transaction is acquiring at least three portions of rizq. First, there is whatever money, material object, possession, help and so on which is being transmitted through the person who has been assigned to serve as locus of giving. Secondly, there is the negative coloring of the transaction which has been added by the one through whom the giving is manifested. Thirdly, there is the opportunity being extended to the recipient, by God, to deal with both the giving and the 'value added' coloring in a spiritually appropriate or inappropriate manner - and the choices made concerning the form that this 'dealing' will take becomes a locus through which further rizq transactions are conducted.
The individual who, by the grace of God, has been given knowledge of the Self, understands that all of existence is a theater of Divine manifestation which gives expression to Creation's Purpose by means of a woven mosaic of rizq transactions in which human beings - and, indeed, all created being - are rooted as loci of transmission and receipt with respect to the play of Divine Names and Attributes - a play which is for the benefit of all Creation. The individual who, through the blessings of Divinity, has attained to Self-knowledge understands her or his role in the scheme of things and seeks to be a loci - whether of transmission or receipt - that filters the rizq transactions through a pure process of submission to Divine purpose and a desire to serve all of Creation, not to rule over Creation. The person who, by the mercy of Allah, has had the nature of the Self unveiled, understands that God's Purpose intends nothing but good for all of Creation, including human kind, and such people dedicate their lives to doing whatever they can to share with others whatever they know concerning this good.
The individual who has not, by the grace of his or her own lower self, attained to knowledge of the Self, and, as a result, knows only the 'self', has not acquired something of the 'taste' of Divine purpose, and, consequently, fails to grasp the manner in which all of creation is united in the tapestry of rizq transactions for a common Divine Purpose. The person who, due to the ignorance in which such an individual is entangled, does not grasp his or her role in the scheme of things, and, therefore, tends, in a variety of ways, to resist and rebel against the rizq transactions which are being transmitted through that person - ways which may not serve the best, long-term interests of the individual but which do not deter the Divine Purpose from being given unfettered manifestation through a multiplicity of dimensions entailed by the complex set of rizq transactions that constitute Creation. The person who, through self-absorption, tends to undermine and sacrifice the Divinely-given opportunity to be opened up to spiritual unveiling, does not understand that God's intentions toward creation and human kind are beneficent in nature.
Ignorance sees though lenses of spiritual darkness. All events in the view of ignorance are filtered through, and colored by, those lenses.
Ignorance seeks to usurp the role of God, because the nature of ignorance is not to know any better since ignorance veils, and is veiled from, the truth of Divine Purpose. Ignorance, by 'virtue' of the very nature of ignorance, is steeped in impatience and wishes to place its own time table upon God's Plan. Ignorance, due to its essential lack of knowledge and understanding, seeks to impose its darkness on everyone else, and will not be content until all of creation falls beneath its shadow.
The shaykhs of the path of tasawwuf indicate that one must struggle toward repentance, sincerity, tolerance, patience, forgiveness, nobility, justice, kindness, love, compassion, and remembrance because the way to Self-realization is lit by these spiritual stations. Ignorance has little regard for such qualities and believes that, somehow, a lack of wisdom, insight, and understanding will be triumphant.
The nature of ignorance is to not understand its own presence. Ignorance is inclined to miss the fact that the shapes it sees are merely ones that have been superimposed upon reality by the character of the ignorance involved.
Ignorance kills. Ignorance destroys. Ignorance tortures. Ignorance distorts. Ignorance persecutes. Ignorance oppresses. Ignorance terrorizes.
To whatever extent we permit ourselves to filter the network of Divinely ordained rizq transactions that give expression to the Purpose of Creation through the lenses of ignorance, to that extent will we be inclined to kill, destroy, torture, distort, persecute, oppress, and terrorize - both others and ourselves. If we wish to understand the origins of evil, then let us look to the spiritual ignorance within us - for, that is where it all begins.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
States, Stations, Stages, and Practice
To borrow a phrase from fractal mathematics, the Sufi path tends to be ‘self-similar’, rather than ‘self-same’, when considering the experience of different individuals. In other words, since every human being is unique, even while sharing in the general set of properties which differentiate human beings from other species of being, and since the tajalli of Divinity (the descent or rupture of Divine modalities into manifested form) do not repeat themselves in any self-same manner, one cannot necessarily speak of suluk, or spiritual travel, as consisting of a linear sequence of states (hal) and stations (maqam).
Different individuals have outlined the path in varied ways which reflects their own experience of suluk rather than necessarily reflecting some set of hard and fast steps which must be taken in a ‘just so’ order. Thus, some people say the Sufi path consists of ‘x’ number of states and ‘y’ number of stations, while other commentators say that tasawwuf entails ‘r’ number of states, and ‘t’ number of stations.
In addition, there are, sometimes, disagreements about whether a certain stage of spiritual travel involves a hal or a maqam. Again, such variation in opinion are more indicative of the differences which people bring with them to the path than they are necessarily reflective of ‘truths’ independent of human engagement of reality.
Generally speaking, a hal is characterized as a temporary spiritual condition in relation to which intentional effort of striving has not been expended or directed, and, therefore, comes as a gift of Divinity. Maqam, or station, on the other hand, is often characterized as more permanent than are hal, and, as well, are said to be spiritual conditions for which struggle and striving must be exerted in a concerned manner. As such, maqam tend to be described as spiritual conditions which must be earned, while hal are not earned, per se.
However, since spiritual effort does not cause spiritual progress, but is, at best, a necessary condition, then, whether one is talking about states or stations, these are both gifts of God and could not be experienced or sustained without Divine succor. Moreover, although there are instances in which individuals who are not on any particular spiritual path are recipients of Divine Grace in the form of this or that manner of hal, the likelihood of undergoing one or another spiritual hal tends to be increased when one is actively and sincerely pursuing the mystical path under the guidance and care of an authentic shaykh.
Yet, one might keep in mind that the Qur’an stipulates: “If Allah were to take humankind to task for their wrong-doing, God would not leave hereon a living creature, but God reprieves them to an appointed term.” (16:61) So, whether one is talking about hal or maqam, neither is deserved but comes by the Grace of Allah.
Finally, some expressions of hal are longer lived than are other manifestations of hal. Therefore, whether one believes one is talking about a condition of hal rather than maqam may be somewhat arbitrarily decided.
Spiritual conditions share some of the same qualities as dreams. This is especially so in the sense that both dreams and spiritual conditions require the presence of insight by an experienced guide or knowledgeable and Divinely supported individual in order to properly appreciate the nature of what is transpiring through either the dream or a given spiritual condition.
Najm al-Din Razi (may Allah be pleased with him), in his book: The Path of God’s Bondsmen from Origin to Return uses the example of fire to illustrate the complexity of the problem. Someone who is traversingthe path of tasawwuf may see the attribute of fire and, depending on the nature of one’s spiritual condition, this attribute will have a different meaning in different states and stations.
For some, the appearance of fire is an indication that the quality of anger is dominant. For others, the presence of fire may signify the light of zikr or the individual’s ardor for the spiritual quest. For still others, the fire may exemplify the presence of guidance as with the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), or it may give expression to the quality of devilry as with Iblis. And, for still other individuals, the quality of fire may symbolize the condition of gnosis or love or witnessing. There also are additional modalities of fire which indicate the presence of other manner of states and stations.
The attribute of fire is but one of many, many qualities which may emerge within an individual’s experience and serve as a tell-tale sign of a person’s spiritual condition. However, as with dreams, insight is needed to understand the significance of the presence of a given quality.
Similarly, when an individual passes through stations involving the attributes of clay, water, air, fire, firmaments, heavenly bodies, the malakut (or soul) of the planets and the stars, animals, and a thousand other realms, different kinds of tajalli may be manifested according to circumstances and an individual’s spiritual condition. Just as there is no reliable book of dream interpretation in which all one has to do is scour the index for a given dream and, then, proceed to the page with ‘the’ correct interpretation, so, to, there is no standard dictionary of spiritual states and stations which always are manifested in the same way across individual experiences.
I recall, once, when my shaykh, Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him), talked about such matters. He indicated that in very special cases - and he referred to such instances as being among the most supreme of spiritual conditions - an individual may traverse the journey of suluk and not have even one ‘mystical’ or anomalous, non-ordinary experience. These are individuals from whom God has kept secret the nature of their own spiritual condition.
Many people speak about the alleged great differences between, say, the doctrine of Wahdat-i-Shuhud (the Unity or Oneness of Witnessing) and Wahdat-i-Wujud (the Unity or Oneness of Being). In fact, great controversies have been instigated on the basis of such differences of approach to the hermeneutics of experience, and, yet, again, I remember that my shaykh, Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him), said that after all was said and done, there really wasn’t much difference between the two.
I might add a brief note at this point to indicate that Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote his doctoral dissertation on the life and teachings of Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him). The latter shaykh was a champion of the doctrine of Wahdat-i-Shuhud. One of the examiners for Dr. Baig's (may Allah be pleased with him) thesis was no less an authority than A.J. Arberry who considered the thesis to be the best exposition of the Sufi path to be written in the English language up to that time.
Following many of his 40-day seclusions, Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) would set about revising and improving his thesis on the basis of what had been experienced and disclosed during the previous period of seclusion. In many ways this was a life-long project for him which never saw the light of day - that is, it was never released to either the general public or even to his mureeds.
Among other things, the process of constant revision in the light of subsequent experience is a hallmark of the path. This process of needing to continuously revise one's understanding represents one of the reasons why one should refrain from speaking about the path as if it were a static thing in which one can sum up its components in some simple, linear fashion.
When I first stepped onto the path, more than 30 years ago, I must confess that my head was filled, to a certain extent, with ideas of ‘wondrous deeds, powers, exalted, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and other such artifacts of ignorance. Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) had an interesting way of dealing with such nonsense.
To those who came to the path from a very conceptually- laden direction - treating the Sufi Path as if it were just another species of philosophy about which one could read, learn, and debate - Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) would assign some treatise of one, or another, Sufi Shaykh which was of such a difficult nature that the individual would soon come to the realization that he or she didn’t really know much of anything, irrespective of how much they had read. To others, such as myself, whose heads were preoccupied with other-worldly states and stations, he would assign the book Introduction to Islam by Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah (may Allah be pleased with him) which was quite excellent, but very down-to-earth, dry, and rooted in practicality.
Many people are familiar with the following prayer of Ra’bia of Basra (may Allah be pleased with her). “O Lord, if I worship Thee out of desire of Paradise, then, deny me Paradise, and if I worship Thee out of fear of Hell, then, throw me into Hell, but if I worship Thee out of love for Thee and Thee alone, then, grant me Thy vision.”
Without wishing to criticize this great saint - because I really am not fit to carry her sandles (if she had any) - nevertheless, I do have a question. Why make the last part of the prayer conditional?
Is not Divinity present in the state and/or station of sincere love? Is not Divinity present in every aspect of experience, and, indeed, experience is not possible without giving expression to the underlying play of Divine Names and Attributes which makes such experiences possible and provides them with their structural character?
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “This world is prohibited to the people of the next world, and the next world is forbidden to the people of this world, and they are both forbidden to the people of Allah.”
Seekers are seeking what? They are seeking something beyond what they believe to be present, and, yet, what they are actually seeking - as a poem of Hazrat Muin-ud-deen Chishti (May Allah be pleased with him) points out - is with us night and day ... hiding in plain sight. And, yet, we go seeking - from horizon to horizon - for what is already present.
Instead of seeing Divinity, we see veils. The veils, of course, mark the presence of Divinity, as well, but we want an unveiled look at Divinity, when, in truth, we can only see what God has given us the capacity to see at any given time or instance.
All practices - from: shahadah, to: prayers, zikr, fasting, seclusion, fatiha, hajj, contemplation, meditation, sacred turning, various forms of charitableness, service to the shaykh, and the performance of good deeds - have one thing in common: namely, the realization and expression of truth. Each kind of practice engages the truth, reality, Haqq from the perspective of its own form and character.
When we exclude practices, then, we cut ourselves off from ways of engaging different facets and dimensions of the truth. As one friend of Allah said, ‘there are many keys to spiritual realization, if one key does not work, then, try another’ - and one might add, if it is not already implicit in what was said, one should not just try a given key once but on many different occasions, because one never knows when all the tumblers will fall into place and be receptive to the use of a given key.
Similarly, each state and station serves as a locus of manifestation for the kind of truth to which such a state or station gives expression. The truth of expansion is not the truth of contraction. The truth of patience is not the truth of repentance. The truth of longing is not the truth of arrival. The truth of love is not the truth of dependence. The truth of difficulty is not the truth of ease. The truth of chastisement is not the truth of ascension.
Yet, when one weaves together all of these different modalities of truth in the form of experiential tajalli, then, an individual approaches the fullness of truth as a limit, and in mathematics, as in life, a limit is a function which approaches more and more closely to a given point, without ever reaching that point except, theoretically, at infinity. However, in the latter case, the Qur’an has something of relevance to say here: “and over every lord of knowledge, there is one more knowing.” (12:76)
The truth - reality - cannot be exhausted. It is infinite, and, consequently, there are no set of stages, states, or conditions which can encompass the infinite.
We engage truth according to our essential capacity, fitra, or ‘ayn al-thabita. We engage truth according to the condition of being veiled which constitutes our spiritual condition and degree to which our spiritual potential has been realized.
Different individuals have different capacities. The spiritual capacity of the Prophets is not the spiritual capacity of non-Prophetic saints, and the spiritual capacity of ordinary believers is not the spiritual capacity of the saints, whether Prophets or other manner of awliya. Moreover, within these different categories of human beings, there are gradations - as indicated in the Qur’an: “We have made some of these prophets to excel others” (17:55) and, “We raise by grades (of Mercy) whom We will.” (12:76)
Mind, heart, sirr, ruh, kafi, and aqhfah are potentials of fitra. Consequently, these potentials cannot exceed their limits.
On one occasion, the son of Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the shaykh and presented something of a conundrum to the shaykh. The young man indicated that he had an experience in which he seemed to rise higher than the station of the Prophets, and, since this contradicted what was understood to be possible, the young man was confused by the experience.
Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him) resolved the problem in the following manner. He said that associated with every human being, there are two points - one marking the station of origin and the other marking the station of ascension.
He further indicated that, on occasion, the ascension of a non-Prophet might rise higher than the station of origin of a Prophet. However, in no case would the station of ascension of a non-Prophet ever rise higher or approach the station of ascension of a Prophet of God.
Thus, for each of us, the station of origin and the station of ascension are fixed within the degrees of freedom which are permitted by Divinity. Consequently, the ways in which mind, heart, sirr, kafi, ruh, and aqfah are given expression depends on the character of the fitra or fixed form in question.
Some people define heart, mind, spirit, and soul in ways which are all-inclusive. In other words, for such people, the heart constitutes our entire potential for realizing the truth, and, then, they proceed to describe different stages, states and stations of the heart which outline the path to ultimate realization - such as: (a) breast, (b) qalb, (c) the aspect of the heart which is preoccupied with the love of human kind; (d) fo’ad (the seat of vision), (e) the dimension of the heart which gives expression to an exclusive love for Divinity; (f) the core of the heart which involves spiritual kashf or unveiling concerning the realms of the unseen about which angels have no knowledge; and, finally, (g) mohjat al-qalb which, when realized, gives expression to the lights of Divine attributes.
Other people do this in conjunction with the nafs. For example, people speak in terms of: (1) nafs-i-ammara (the soul which commands to evil); (2) nafs-i-mulhameh (the soul which is inspired by God with knowledge of lewdness and God-fearing; (3) nafs-i-lawwama ( the reproachful soul); (4) nafs-i-mutma’inneh (the tranquil soul); (5) nafs-i-radiya (the contented soul in which God is well pleased with them, and they are well-pleased with God); and, (6) nafs-i-safiya, the pure soul.
Others talk about the attributes of the spirit: (1) luminosity (with its branches of hearing, speech, and vision); (2) love (with its branches of sincerity, yearning and seeking); (3) knowledge (with its branches of will and cognition); (4) forbearance (with its branches of modesty, tranquility, dignity, and endurance); (5) familiarity or uns (which gives expression to a primordial intimacy with one’s Creator and encompasses the branches of compassion and pity);(6) permanence or baqa (with its branches of persistence and steadfastness); and, finally, (7) life (with its branches of intelligence and understanding).
However one parses human nature - and, therefore, irrespective of where in one’s theoretical typography one locates such faculties as mind, heart, sirr, ruh, kafi, and aqfah - there have been different practices which have been recommended by shaykhs down through the ages as aides to drawing out the potential of such faculties. For example, the practice of zikr is often mentioned in conjunction with the qualities of the heart - as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “There is a polish for everything which takes away the rust of that which is polished, and the polish for the heart is the remembrance (zikr) of God.”
Nevertheless, there are many forms of zikr, and different shaykhs go about this in different ways. Zikrs vary in length, content, whether they are open-ended (said as many times as one likes), or closed-ended), said aloud or quietly, as well as the time of day and circumstances in which they are said.
Moreover, the nature of zikr may not be encapsulated within a certain Quranic formula. In other words, since every event is a word in the lexicon of the All Merciful which is Self-referential, there are many ways of doing remembrance which are not necessarily tied to the saying of phrase or ayat from the Qur'an.
Furthermore, some may suppose one can remove a zikr from the context of its spiritual ecology and the zikr will continue to operate with the same efficacy as is the case when that zikr is recited within the context of a specific spiritual ecology - that is, having a relationship with an authentic shaykh in a given silsilah. This is not necessarily so, and one proceeds at one’s own risk.
Another practice is that of muraqabah. This is described, alternatively, as a careful watching of, or over, of the condition of the heart or as an emptying out of the sirr which, when the latter is operating properly, is said to guard the heart from being receptive to any influences which are other than the remembrance of God.
Alternatively, there is the process of fana in which - seemingly sequentially, but, in reality, these are all different variations on the same theme - one ‘passes away’ in a loving awareness of one’s shaykh, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and, ultimately, Divinity. There is no one way or no one set of steps which leads to the evaporation of self (small-s)-awareness.
Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him) described the process of fana in the following way. If one is outside at night on a clear evening and far from the lights of a city, one can see the stars very clearly. But, when the sun rises, the starts are no longer visible to the naked eye due to the over-powering radiance of the sun.
Similarly, when something of the reality of one’s shaykh, the Prophet, or Divinity rises in one’s consciousness, then, awareness of the self disappears. Yet, the self still exists just as the stars continue to exist despite being rendered invisible by the presence of the sun.
There are many ways to help an individual to struggle toward fana. There are many ways to induce an individual to remember Allah. There are many ways to assist a person to empty the sirr of all other influences other than Allah and to keep a close watch on the condition of the heart. There are many ways to illumine the heart. There are many ways to traverse the stations of repentance, longing, dependence, sincerity, gratitude, patience, piety, and love.
How does one clean and furnish a house? One uses whatever works as long as such means fall within the code book for permissible house cleaning practices, and as long as the method of equipping the house takes into account the structural limitations of that house .
Similarly, there is no set recipe for spiritual realization, although there are a variety of general guidelines which are intended to be used in flexible ways within variable contexts. Everything depends on the nisbath or relationship between an authentic shaykh and the seeker.
Whatever is given, whatever is undertaken, the purpose is always to provide one with another opportunity to engage the Real and to revise one’s understanding of the True and to act in accordance with what one knows on the basis of what has been disclosed to one through direct experience. There are many ways, God willing, of helping to transform the nafs, or purify the heart, or illumine the spirit. These ways are overlapping, reinforcing and not mutually exclusive in the sense that, for instance, what helps the heart, helps the nafs to transform, and the spirit to be enlivened, and, similarly, what transforms the nafs also has benefits for the heart and spirit, and so on.
Ultimately, the only thing which really matters is the presence of Divine Grace. Talk of methodology, states, stations and stages have their place, but one should never confuse the surface phenomenon for the Realities which make such contingencies possible.
One follows the teachings and practices of a shaykh because, God willing, these have the capacity to help open us up to the barakah which courses through these practices and teachings as extensions of the presence and support of a silsilah rooted in the Prophetic tradition. These practices and teachings are the excuses which Divinity uses to extend different kinds of blessings to us, and through these blessings our understanding and behavior are affected.
Once, back in my days of even greater ignorance, I happened into a store in a rural area and, along with some friends, got an ice cream cone - one which was hand-scooped by one of the employees of the store. The ice cream cone I got was enormous, and I muttered words to the effect of: “Boy, I’ll have to remember this place.” The person behind the counter responded with: “You should remember the person who gave you the cone.”
Many people think aboutf the Sufi path as a supply depot from which one can acquire whatever one needs in the way of teachings, practices, and format in order to be able to make progress on the spiritual path. In truth, as with the ice cream story above, one needs to remember the person through whom one gets whatever one gets for it is the person who, by the Grace of Allah, makes all the difference ... not the place.
Different individuals have outlined the path in varied ways which reflects their own experience of suluk rather than necessarily reflecting some set of hard and fast steps which must be taken in a ‘just so’ order. Thus, some people say the Sufi path consists of ‘x’ number of states and ‘y’ number of stations, while other commentators say that tasawwuf entails ‘r’ number of states, and ‘t’ number of stations.
In addition, there are, sometimes, disagreements about whether a certain stage of spiritual travel involves a hal or a maqam. Again, such variation in opinion are more indicative of the differences which people bring with them to the path than they are necessarily reflective of ‘truths’ independent of human engagement of reality.
Generally speaking, a hal is characterized as a temporary spiritual condition in relation to which intentional effort of striving has not been expended or directed, and, therefore, comes as a gift of Divinity. Maqam, or station, on the other hand, is often characterized as more permanent than are hal, and, as well, are said to be spiritual conditions for which struggle and striving must be exerted in a concerned manner. As such, maqam tend to be described as spiritual conditions which must be earned, while hal are not earned, per se.
However, since spiritual effort does not cause spiritual progress, but is, at best, a necessary condition, then, whether one is talking about states or stations, these are both gifts of God and could not be experienced or sustained without Divine succor. Moreover, although there are instances in which individuals who are not on any particular spiritual path are recipients of Divine Grace in the form of this or that manner of hal, the likelihood of undergoing one or another spiritual hal tends to be increased when one is actively and sincerely pursuing the mystical path under the guidance and care of an authentic shaykh.
Yet, one might keep in mind that the Qur’an stipulates: “If Allah were to take humankind to task for their wrong-doing, God would not leave hereon a living creature, but God reprieves them to an appointed term.” (16:61) So, whether one is talking about hal or maqam, neither is deserved but comes by the Grace of Allah.
Finally, some expressions of hal are longer lived than are other manifestations of hal. Therefore, whether one believes one is talking about a condition of hal rather than maqam may be somewhat arbitrarily decided.
Spiritual conditions share some of the same qualities as dreams. This is especially so in the sense that both dreams and spiritual conditions require the presence of insight by an experienced guide or knowledgeable and Divinely supported individual in order to properly appreciate the nature of what is transpiring through either the dream or a given spiritual condition.
Najm al-Din Razi (may Allah be pleased with him), in his book: The Path of God’s Bondsmen from Origin to Return uses the example of fire to illustrate the complexity of the problem. Someone who is traversingthe path of tasawwuf may see the attribute of fire and, depending on the nature of one’s spiritual condition, this attribute will have a different meaning in different states and stations.
For some, the appearance of fire is an indication that the quality of anger is dominant. For others, the presence of fire may signify the light of zikr or the individual’s ardor for the spiritual quest. For still others, the fire may exemplify the presence of guidance as with the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), or it may give expression to the quality of devilry as with Iblis. And, for still other individuals, the quality of fire may symbolize the condition of gnosis or love or witnessing. There also are additional modalities of fire which indicate the presence of other manner of states and stations.
The attribute of fire is but one of many, many qualities which may emerge within an individual’s experience and serve as a tell-tale sign of a person’s spiritual condition. However, as with dreams, insight is needed to understand the significance of the presence of a given quality.
Similarly, when an individual passes through stations involving the attributes of clay, water, air, fire, firmaments, heavenly bodies, the malakut (or soul) of the planets and the stars, animals, and a thousand other realms, different kinds of tajalli may be manifested according to circumstances and an individual’s spiritual condition. Just as there is no reliable book of dream interpretation in which all one has to do is scour the index for a given dream and, then, proceed to the page with ‘the’ correct interpretation, so, to, there is no standard dictionary of spiritual states and stations which always are manifested in the same way across individual experiences.
I recall, once, when my shaykh, Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him), talked about such matters. He indicated that in very special cases - and he referred to such instances as being among the most supreme of spiritual conditions - an individual may traverse the journey of suluk and not have even one ‘mystical’ or anomalous, non-ordinary experience. These are individuals from whom God has kept secret the nature of their own spiritual condition.
Many people speak about the alleged great differences between, say, the doctrine of Wahdat-i-Shuhud (the Unity or Oneness of Witnessing) and Wahdat-i-Wujud (the Unity or Oneness of Being). In fact, great controversies have been instigated on the basis of such differences of approach to the hermeneutics of experience, and, yet, again, I remember that my shaykh, Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him), said that after all was said and done, there really wasn’t much difference between the two.
I might add a brief note at this point to indicate that Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote his doctoral dissertation on the life and teachings of Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him). The latter shaykh was a champion of the doctrine of Wahdat-i-Shuhud. One of the examiners for Dr. Baig's (may Allah be pleased with him) thesis was no less an authority than A.J. Arberry who considered the thesis to be the best exposition of the Sufi path to be written in the English language up to that time.
Following many of his 40-day seclusions, Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) would set about revising and improving his thesis on the basis of what had been experienced and disclosed during the previous period of seclusion. In many ways this was a life-long project for him which never saw the light of day - that is, it was never released to either the general public or even to his mureeds.
Among other things, the process of constant revision in the light of subsequent experience is a hallmark of the path. This process of needing to continuously revise one's understanding represents one of the reasons why one should refrain from speaking about the path as if it were a static thing in which one can sum up its components in some simple, linear fashion.
When I first stepped onto the path, more than 30 years ago, I must confess that my head was filled, to a certain extent, with ideas of ‘wondrous deeds, powers, exalted, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and other such artifacts of ignorance. Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) had an interesting way of dealing with such nonsense.
To those who came to the path from a very conceptually- laden direction - treating the Sufi Path as if it were just another species of philosophy about which one could read, learn, and debate - Dr. Baig (may Allah be pleased with him) would assign some treatise of one, or another, Sufi Shaykh which was of such a difficult nature that the individual would soon come to the realization that he or she didn’t really know much of anything, irrespective of how much they had read. To others, such as myself, whose heads were preoccupied with other-worldly states and stations, he would assign the book Introduction to Islam by Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah (may Allah be pleased with him) which was quite excellent, but very down-to-earth, dry, and rooted in practicality.
Many people are familiar with the following prayer of Ra’bia of Basra (may Allah be pleased with her). “O Lord, if I worship Thee out of desire of Paradise, then, deny me Paradise, and if I worship Thee out of fear of Hell, then, throw me into Hell, but if I worship Thee out of love for Thee and Thee alone, then, grant me Thy vision.”
Without wishing to criticize this great saint - because I really am not fit to carry her sandles (if she had any) - nevertheless, I do have a question. Why make the last part of the prayer conditional?
Is not Divinity present in the state and/or station of sincere love? Is not Divinity present in every aspect of experience, and, indeed, experience is not possible without giving expression to the underlying play of Divine Names and Attributes which makes such experiences possible and provides them with their structural character?
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “This world is prohibited to the people of the next world, and the next world is forbidden to the people of this world, and they are both forbidden to the people of Allah.”
Seekers are seeking what? They are seeking something beyond what they believe to be present, and, yet, what they are actually seeking - as a poem of Hazrat Muin-ud-deen Chishti (May Allah be pleased with him) points out - is with us night and day ... hiding in plain sight. And, yet, we go seeking - from horizon to horizon - for what is already present.
Instead of seeing Divinity, we see veils. The veils, of course, mark the presence of Divinity, as well, but we want an unveiled look at Divinity, when, in truth, we can only see what God has given us the capacity to see at any given time or instance.
All practices - from: shahadah, to: prayers, zikr, fasting, seclusion, fatiha, hajj, contemplation, meditation, sacred turning, various forms of charitableness, service to the shaykh, and the performance of good deeds - have one thing in common: namely, the realization and expression of truth. Each kind of practice engages the truth, reality, Haqq from the perspective of its own form and character.
When we exclude practices, then, we cut ourselves off from ways of engaging different facets and dimensions of the truth. As one friend of Allah said, ‘there are many keys to spiritual realization, if one key does not work, then, try another’ - and one might add, if it is not already implicit in what was said, one should not just try a given key once but on many different occasions, because one never knows when all the tumblers will fall into place and be receptive to the use of a given key.
Similarly, each state and station serves as a locus of manifestation for the kind of truth to which such a state or station gives expression. The truth of expansion is not the truth of contraction. The truth of patience is not the truth of repentance. The truth of longing is not the truth of arrival. The truth of love is not the truth of dependence. The truth of difficulty is not the truth of ease. The truth of chastisement is not the truth of ascension.
Yet, when one weaves together all of these different modalities of truth in the form of experiential tajalli, then, an individual approaches the fullness of truth as a limit, and in mathematics, as in life, a limit is a function which approaches more and more closely to a given point, without ever reaching that point except, theoretically, at infinity. However, in the latter case, the Qur’an has something of relevance to say here: “and over every lord of knowledge, there is one more knowing.” (12:76)
The truth - reality - cannot be exhausted. It is infinite, and, consequently, there are no set of stages, states, or conditions which can encompass the infinite.
We engage truth according to our essential capacity, fitra, or ‘ayn al-thabita. We engage truth according to the condition of being veiled which constitutes our spiritual condition and degree to which our spiritual potential has been realized.
Different individuals have different capacities. The spiritual capacity of the Prophets is not the spiritual capacity of non-Prophetic saints, and the spiritual capacity of ordinary believers is not the spiritual capacity of the saints, whether Prophets or other manner of awliya. Moreover, within these different categories of human beings, there are gradations - as indicated in the Qur’an: “We have made some of these prophets to excel others” (17:55) and, “We raise by grades (of Mercy) whom We will.” (12:76)
Mind, heart, sirr, ruh, kafi, and aqhfah are potentials of fitra. Consequently, these potentials cannot exceed their limits.
On one occasion, the son of Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the shaykh and presented something of a conundrum to the shaykh. The young man indicated that he had an experience in which he seemed to rise higher than the station of the Prophets, and, since this contradicted what was understood to be possible, the young man was confused by the experience.
Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him) resolved the problem in the following manner. He said that associated with every human being, there are two points - one marking the station of origin and the other marking the station of ascension.
He further indicated that, on occasion, the ascension of a non-Prophet might rise higher than the station of origin of a Prophet. However, in no case would the station of ascension of a non-Prophet ever rise higher or approach the station of ascension of a Prophet of God.
Thus, for each of us, the station of origin and the station of ascension are fixed within the degrees of freedom which are permitted by Divinity. Consequently, the ways in which mind, heart, sirr, kafi, ruh, and aqfah are given expression depends on the character of the fitra or fixed form in question.
Some people define heart, mind, spirit, and soul in ways which are all-inclusive. In other words, for such people, the heart constitutes our entire potential for realizing the truth, and, then, they proceed to describe different stages, states and stations of the heart which outline the path to ultimate realization - such as: (a) breast, (b) qalb, (c) the aspect of the heart which is preoccupied with the love of human kind; (d) fo’ad (the seat of vision), (e) the dimension of the heart which gives expression to an exclusive love for Divinity; (f) the core of the heart which involves spiritual kashf or unveiling concerning the realms of the unseen about which angels have no knowledge; and, finally, (g) mohjat al-qalb which, when realized, gives expression to the lights of Divine attributes.
Other people do this in conjunction with the nafs. For example, people speak in terms of: (1) nafs-i-ammara (the soul which commands to evil); (2) nafs-i-mulhameh (the soul which is inspired by God with knowledge of lewdness and God-fearing; (3) nafs-i-lawwama ( the reproachful soul); (4) nafs-i-mutma’inneh (the tranquil soul); (5) nafs-i-radiya (the contented soul in which God is well pleased with them, and they are well-pleased with God); and, (6) nafs-i-safiya, the pure soul.
Others talk about the attributes of the spirit: (1) luminosity (with its branches of hearing, speech, and vision); (2) love (with its branches of sincerity, yearning and seeking); (3) knowledge (with its branches of will and cognition); (4) forbearance (with its branches of modesty, tranquility, dignity, and endurance); (5) familiarity or uns (which gives expression to a primordial intimacy with one’s Creator and encompasses the branches of compassion and pity);(6) permanence or baqa (with its branches of persistence and steadfastness); and, finally, (7) life (with its branches of intelligence and understanding).
However one parses human nature - and, therefore, irrespective of where in one’s theoretical typography one locates such faculties as mind, heart, sirr, ruh, kafi, and aqfah - there have been different practices which have been recommended by shaykhs down through the ages as aides to drawing out the potential of such faculties. For example, the practice of zikr is often mentioned in conjunction with the qualities of the heart - as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “There is a polish for everything which takes away the rust of that which is polished, and the polish for the heart is the remembrance (zikr) of God.”
Nevertheless, there are many forms of zikr, and different shaykhs go about this in different ways. Zikrs vary in length, content, whether they are open-ended (said as many times as one likes), or closed-ended), said aloud or quietly, as well as the time of day and circumstances in which they are said.
Moreover, the nature of zikr may not be encapsulated within a certain Quranic formula. In other words, since every event is a word in the lexicon of the All Merciful which is Self-referential, there are many ways of doing remembrance which are not necessarily tied to the saying of phrase or ayat from the Qur'an.
Furthermore, some may suppose one can remove a zikr from the context of its spiritual ecology and the zikr will continue to operate with the same efficacy as is the case when that zikr is recited within the context of a specific spiritual ecology - that is, having a relationship with an authentic shaykh in a given silsilah. This is not necessarily so, and one proceeds at one’s own risk.
Another practice is that of muraqabah. This is described, alternatively, as a careful watching of, or over, of the condition of the heart or as an emptying out of the sirr which, when the latter is operating properly, is said to guard the heart from being receptive to any influences which are other than the remembrance of God.
Alternatively, there is the process of fana in which - seemingly sequentially, but, in reality, these are all different variations on the same theme - one ‘passes away’ in a loving awareness of one’s shaykh, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and, ultimately, Divinity. There is no one way or no one set of steps which leads to the evaporation of self (small-s)-awareness.
Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with him) described the process of fana in the following way. If one is outside at night on a clear evening and far from the lights of a city, one can see the stars very clearly. But, when the sun rises, the starts are no longer visible to the naked eye due to the over-powering radiance of the sun.
Similarly, when something of the reality of one’s shaykh, the Prophet, or Divinity rises in one’s consciousness, then, awareness of the self disappears. Yet, the self still exists just as the stars continue to exist despite being rendered invisible by the presence of the sun.
There are many ways to help an individual to struggle toward fana. There are many ways to induce an individual to remember Allah. There are many ways to assist a person to empty the sirr of all other influences other than Allah and to keep a close watch on the condition of the heart. There are many ways to illumine the heart. There are many ways to traverse the stations of repentance, longing, dependence, sincerity, gratitude, patience, piety, and love.
How does one clean and furnish a house? One uses whatever works as long as such means fall within the code book for permissible house cleaning practices, and as long as the method of equipping the house takes into account the structural limitations of that house .
Similarly, there is no set recipe for spiritual realization, although there are a variety of general guidelines which are intended to be used in flexible ways within variable contexts. Everything depends on the nisbath or relationship between an authentic shaykh and the seeker.
Whatever is given, whatever is undertaken, the purpose is always to provide one with another opportunity to engage the Real and to revise one’s understanding of the True and to act in accordance with what one knows on the basis of what has been disclosed to one through direct experience. There are many ways, God willing, of helping to transform the nafs, or purify the heart, or illumine the spirit. These ways are overlapping, reinforcing and not mutually exclusive in the sense that, for instance, what helps the heart, helps the nafs to transform, and the spirit to be enlivened, and, similarly, what transforms the nafs also has benefits for the heart and spirit, and so on.
Ultimately, the only thing which really matters is the presence of Divine Grace. Talk of methodology, states, stations and stages have their place, but one should never confuse the surface phenomenon for the Realities which make such contingencies possible.
One follows the teachings and practices of a shaykh because, God willing, these have the capacity to help open us up to the barakah which courses through these practices and teachings as extensions of the presence and support of a silsilah rooted in the Prophetic tradition. These practices and teachings are the excuses which Divinity uses to extend different kinds of blessings to us, and through these blessings our understanding and behavior are affected.
Once, back in my days of even greater ignorance, I happened into a store in a rural area and, along with some friends, got an ice cream cone - one which was hand-scooped by one of the employees of the store. The ice cream cone I got was enormous, and I muttered words to the effect of: “Boy, I’ll have to remember this place.” The person behind the counter responded with: “You should remember the person who gave you the cone.”
Many people think aboutf the Sufi path as a supply depot from which one can acquire whatever one needs in the way of teachings, practices, and format in order to be able to make progress on the spiritual path. In truth, as with the ice cream story above, one needs to remember the person through whom one gets whatever one gets for it is the person who, by the Grace of Allah, makes all the difference ... not the place.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Bilquees Press
Bilquees Press books by Bill Whitehouse (Anab) are now available at Amazon.com in the UK, France, Germany, and Canada.
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
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