Category Archives: Metaphysics

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology, Sufism, Uncategorized

Lamentations of an Aspiring Spiritual Teacher

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Towards the end of his life, Freud made the following statement concerning his discovery of psychoanalysis; “I believe I have discovered the third type of human activity that is both necessary and doomed to failure.The other two being raising children and governing nations” Lol. Well I may have uncovered the fourth- Being a spiritual teacher!

Now, classically, the métier of spiritual teacher was considerably simpler.The teacher spoke and instructed and the murid(student) listened and obeyed.” Listen and obey” That is the instruction both in the Quran and in most Sufi tariqats.But somehow things have changed.That model seems to be outdated.It is still being attempted in many spiritual circles but I myself and many others in modern times have found it unworkable.For example,when we discover the teacher has made a mistake,sometimes a serious one,do we just keep quiet?! Or, even worse, do we deny that it occurred as many murids do? What do we do about it? Unfortunately denial is a very commonplace reaction.

I had a very good friend whose teacher was doing wrong things( many actually haram) on many levels.The evidence was growing by the year and the documentation became overwhelming.But he wouldn’t leave! It got so bad,I eventually had to terminate the friendship as the level of “falsehood” had become unsustainable.This is not uncommon btw!The loyalty to corrupt spiritual teachers is unbelievable at times.and the justifications are as clever as they are disingenuous.

I would like to backtrack a moment to my personal experience here.I say often and I believe it that I would have almost no understanding of life and spirituality if it were not for some extraordinary beings I have met along the route.These extraordinary beings include my first Sufi teacher-Pir Vilayat Khan-my first Tibetan Buddhist teacher,Geshe Lama Gajan, my fist Muslim teacher Sheikh Muhammad Jumal, Sheikh Bawa Muhayideen, Sheikh Nazim al Qubrusi,S heikh Nuh and my current teacher Sheikh Abu Qassim of Erdeyf,Tunisia and many others along the way.I learnt so much more from these people than from my miserable 12 years of University education lol! I would be nowhere without them.

And yet….they were all imperfect.And it usually didn’t take me long to detect their faults and their limitations.However,we were absolutely forbidden, by context,to raise these issues.”Our teachers are perfect.We need to idealize them and obey them” That was the Gestalt of it. No ‘ifs’,’ and’s and ‘buts’ lol.

Eventually,I had to break away from this Absolutist approach to spiritual development.It was not an easy decision.Most of my Sufi colleagues would consider my position as heretical.But my entire path seemed to be leading me in that direction-developing a more comprehensive,all-inclusive model.My heart led me there and my Istikharas confirmed it over and over again.Little did I expect what happened next?!

Once I took on this new role ,I was confronted quickly with a dilemma that I had not expected.The opposition forces grew and grew.Like our blessed Prophet saws I confronted the opposition-as he sal  confronted the ways of the Qurayshi ancestprs!I began to regret the loss of the “Listen and obey plus idealization” approach! So much easier.Excludes all opposition by diktat.But it was not to be.  These were new types of ancestors however- the ancestors of the modern world! And two of these “modern ancestral opponents” stood out from the crowd.One was “transference” (courtesy the psychoanalysts) and one was social-conditioning( social brain-washing if you wish). Let us explore these two in a little more detail.

1-Tranference: Transference was a deep secret in the human unconscious that Freud and his fellow analysts discovered by doing therapy with psychologically troubled people.What they found ,to their surprise initially, was that no matter how neutral and relatively silent they were,the patient eventually reproduced their parental relationships in the consulting room.Then it became the analysts job to “interpret the transference” and that would ultimately be the most important tool for healing.Until they came across the borderlines but that is another story Lol.

As a spiritual teacher,one comes across the very same phenomenon,in a different context.The teacher is trying to transmit knowledge and understanding and practices and even love only to come across reactiveness and obstinacy and stonewalling! “What is he is thinking?! I am trying my best to transmit goodness and life  and I am getting “flack” instead?!” What is happening?” he asks And the answer is usually transference!

The transference can take several forms.If we are talking about a male teacher it will often involve a father transference.”My father is critical,so you are critical.My father is explosive so you are explosive.My father puts me down so you,the spiritual teachers are putting me down” The themes are endless.Occasionally a gender shift may be operative.For example if the mother was domineering and harsh or the micro-managing type, the transference can be a maternal one.

The other possibility, in the domain of the unconscious, comes from the school of “object relations” in psychoanalysis.They clearly identified the process of identification or parental internalization(the inner parental imago). So, in that case, the murid,instead of reacting to the parent becomes the parent.This often happens in marriage,unfortunately.But it can also happen within a teacher/student relationship!

In a classical Sheikh/Murid relationship this phenomenon is either hidden or short-circuited but in the newer model I am presenting it needs to be addressed.This makes the work a lot more difficult but on the other hand more complete and more satisfying.In other words, with this approach we are doing psychotherapy at the same time as spiritual work.Very satisfying for someone who has been advocating the bio-psycho-socio-spiritual approach(i.e a complete approach to human development) for decades!

2_ Social Conditioning: I realized quite quickly that there was another adversary in this process that was at least as formidable ,if not more so,than the transference.And that is social conditioning- the way we have been trained by our parents ,the society around us, and most notably our schools, to think.And that thinking involves at least three elements- Rationnality/Logic; Democratic values(what I call the Democratic Illusions); and Secularism. I am convinced there is much more to this story but let us start with those three;

a) Rationnality/Logic: From an early age, and certainly as soon as we start our formal education, we are trained to be Reasonable and Logical. I only really became aware of this bias when I did an EST training in San Francisco in the 70’s and the trainer at the front began unpacking “the stages of spiritual development“Reasonableness is the lowest level of spiritual development” he stated  i.e. just one notch above animality lol.And yet all around us we can see this emphasis-not only in our schools but in our businesses which are constantly calculating their self-interest and in our governments that are always looking at “the data”. You see gathering of the data and then analyzing it or “crunching it” as they say is one of the most basic aspects of our social processes and our decision -making .

So the Greek Philosophers and particularly Aristotle have found their way into our thinking-actually into our unconscious! And this internalization raises its hoary head as soon as you begin trying to teach people.One of the first manifestations of this is “the contradiction detectors”.They are on all the time in hyperactive,hypersensitive mode!Remember Aristotle taught us that A could not be not-A. Unfortunately it often is lol. “But teacher, you said this yesterday and now you are saying that.How could that be?! It’s a contradiction!” Yes,we are all playing  “gotcha”CNN games with each other and with our teachers.

For the Muslims amongst you and even the sincere Christians ,try to find those kind of interactions amongst the disciples of Mohammad saws or Jesus a.s. or Moses.I have been unable.Take note that we are not talking abort Muslim scholars or Talmudic traditions or Christian theologians.They are all infected with the Aristotelian virus and its variants lol.We are talking about original sources.I have not been able ,in our Islamic tradition, to find one interaction and there were many ,many of those reported,of one of the Sahhabbis saying to the Prophet saws”You said this,but the Quran said that.How could that be.?” Thank God,they had no contradiction detectors as far as I can see.That would come much later! (PS some obsessive scholarly type is sure to contradict me here lol)

2- Democratic Illusions: Make no mistake about it .Our schools are centers of indoctrination! And one of the forms of indoctrination is transmitting “Democratic values“..Some of these include ” We are all created equal”; the best way to arrive at Truth or make dicisions is through discussions”.”All opinions are equally valid”: Each of these is demonstrably false.But that in no way prevents the promoters of democracy from believing them.After all it’s an article of faith,no.

So,for example,all men are created equal” Really?! Have you not noticed?! Want to come to the Children’s section of  the Douglas hospital where I worked and taught  for several years and see the multiply -handicapped(May Allah have Mercy upon them) from birth?Have you not noticed that some people are tall and others short,some are strong and others weak,some are smart and others stupid.How can you possibly believe in this equality.And the same holds for opinions,Many are outrightly wrong and some are really primitive and foolish! So give me a break. And btw an old aphorism of mine “any system or person that denies reality is unlikely to succeed”! Any wonder that we are in such a state in the world?!

And how does this play out in a context of spiritual teaching?! Well,the Westerner believes firmly that his ideas are as good as anyone else s-including,of course the teachers. If they happen to be talented at robotic schoolwork and thus get excellent grades at school,they are even more arrogant.I had  a 19-year old niece who had just taken her first Comparative Religion 101 course vociferously arguing with me about Buddhism! The “chutzpah ” of it is astounding.But, democratically, her opinion is as valid as someone on the path of seeking truth for the last 50 years?! Her democratic right,no?!

c) Secularism; This is another huge subject, all around us, that merits more attention at another time..Fortunately most of the students that enter a spiritual path have graduated from that low level of understanding.But vestiges do remain! And those vestiges often take the form of “doubting”. It is a short step from doubting the existence of God to doubting that the teacher in front of you basically knows what he is talking about-even if he errs on the details at times. PS Obsessionalism, which is another derivative  of doubt is one more obstacle.”How could my teacher be authentic if his Arabic pronunciation is not perfect?” could be an example in the Islamic context.Or ” his pants go beyond his ankles” or “her hair is appearing beneath her hijab” .Yes,I have heard it all, lol

Given all these obstacles,this is ceratinly not a path for the frail-hearted or the weak and weary.This is a path for the “rijal”(the men and women of courage and integrity). Join us if you have the desire and the sincerity to do so.We will welcome you with open arms and  stern admonishments lol

 

 

Islam, Metaphysics, Psychology, Uncategorized

The Real Problem of the Taliban-Religious Materialism

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The Taliban have recaptured Afghanistan!So we see these noble,dignified soldiers dressed in sunnat clothing and if we look no further,we could be impressed.Personally,I find their dress,at least for the males,much more appealing than that of Western politicians who are essentially wearing the garb of the lower echelons of the royal courts-the jacks of the monarchy!.As to the women,the imposed dress code is both awful and unnatural-the product of a misplaced principle of modesty.We will look into the issue of “principles” a little later in the article as they seem to go hand in hand with “Materialism”.

Now,when I say materialism I am not referring to its sense of greediness and avarice as it is commonly used.I am referring to a philosophical,attitudinal position where the concrete is the predominant and determinant reality.So the Marxists say they are “dialectical materialists”. The scientific types say they are empirically-based .But Empiricism is just another form of materialism.And many of our religions are carrying another and even deeper form of materialism-the dress,the rituals the rules of the religion in its outer form.I call that”Religious Materialism”.

Now this is not what religion is supposed to be.This is not what the Prophets and founders and mystics of the religion were teaching.In fact,this common distinction between spirituality and religion is moot,in fact.True religion IS spiritual,by definition.But it appears that the human mind has a need to concretize and codify everything.And therein the problem begins.Now codification may well be necessary to some extant but it musn’t become predominant.Otherwise we are into religious bureaucracuy -an inevitable consequence of Religious Materialism.At that point,we have “thrown out the baby with the bathwater” so to speak.

So, paradoxically the Taliban have fallen into the same trap as the Marxists.The Marxists believed that if you changed the outward,economic situation of the people their inward state would change.And the Taliban believe that if you set up the structure of an Islamic state,people will become good and virtuous.So they are deeply misled.Au contraire what they become is rigid (uncompassionate) or hypocritical! Neither is a good outcome.Neither is what the founders of religion including our Prophet wished for!

So,when I look at the Taliban,I don’t see any of the “nur”(light) of Islam in their faces.I am sure this was not the case with the original Muslims around the Prophet saws.The unbelievers began seeing this transformatioin two generations after the Prophet saws where the nur of the Sahhabbas was beginning to diminish in the Muslim community.At this point in time you have to search it out unfortunately.I remember being in Mecca and looking and looking for it.I finally found it in a group of Bangladeshi people who belonged to the Naqshbandi order.And yes,it is the Sufis who are carrying this nur most clearly.It is not there-neither in the Taliban nor the Salafis nor the Shia generally.

Now,this is a universal phenomenon-not unique to Islam.We can find it in all religions.The original light and baraka and Love becomes a set of rules and regulations and customs and rituals.And the life is lost.No matter how noble the principles,how accurate the scriptrural exegeses,how clever the scholars,the very essence of the religion,the sap of the tree so to speak, is lost.And then we too are lost.

One of the paradoxes of this Materialism is that it is almost inevitably tied to a series of principles -i.e. things that are not material in themselves but of course end up being materialized in ways that are often contrary to the origins of the principles themselves! So the Marxists are bound to the notion of “The Dictatorship of the Proletariat” which then becomes the dictatorship of the top echelons of the Communist party.The Scientific Materialists become the advocates of the “randomized,placebo-controlled, multi-centered , peer-reviewed articles in published  prestigious journals”(That IS a mouthful lol) and then miss the Reality on the ground as they did so ignobly with early treatment of Covid epidemic.That one cost millions of lives on its own!The Christian Materialists massacre those from a different faith as in the Spanish inquisition and the Crusades and burn the witches at the stake in the name of “The Love of Jesus” Wa la howla wala quwatta.And the Muslim Materialists continually talk about “Quran and sunnat” while missing the wisdom ,compassion and humanity of both.These contradictions tend to supplant the original intentions and tend to have a very long life,unfortunately.

Once the essence is lost,the entire structure is compromised.Peoples hearts are dry and all sorts of excesses and cruelties become possible.Thence the critique of the secularists against religions.And unfortunately they have a point.

So now we can see it, in its full manifestation, in the Taliban.Outer,materialistic religion.what a trap?! The devil must be rubbing his hands in glee.And yet,these people think what they are doing is right and pure.Little do they know what trap they have fallen into.I will let God decide their fate but for sure I will not be part of it and I will call them out as I have done many times in the past to the other Islamic Materialists-the Wahhabbis.I clearly remember leaving one of their dinner invitations saying to them bluntly:”I do not see any light in your faces.How can I possibly believe your words” And I said the same to a group of Shia who were also trying to convince me of their ideas.Until I see the light and feel the Love,their empty words are meaningless.

So,is there a way out?! Of course there is!. Allah would not leave us with a problem for which there is no solution.But the way out requires something that few people seem willing to do-self-observation(muraqabat). Let me give you an example!

About twelve years ago, in Jordan, I met an ex-Wahhabbi who had come to spend time with my sheikh of the time-Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller.”How did you get here?” I asked” Wahhabbis never come to see the Sufis.” He told me that he was earnestly following the Wahhabbi way(now they cal themsaelves Salafis after the early generation of Muslims but they are very far from the state of those noble ones!). He continued to tell me his story;’My heart was dry .I could feel nothing.And then I appealed to my Lord for help.He swt sent me a dream in which the Prophet saws was driving a Chevrolet?! ” I knew then that Sheikh Nuh was a true representative of our Prophet and my Wahhabbi teachers were a mere shadow of that reality-at best.That is the kind of lucidity required to break out of the Materialist conundrum that troubles all the religions.May Allah help us to remain inwardly rich and alive and not to fall into the trap of outwardliness. Salaams,Ibrahim

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics

The Corruption of the Scientific Mind

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Public
So typical! Dr. Francis Collins,head of the N.I.H.,the absolute top of the scientific food chain lol,now says there may be some possibility that the virus of Covid 19 escaped from a lab! He is still denying that the virus is man-made.So 1 1/2 years after astute observers like Dr. Montaigne and others,said clearly it was man-made and escaped from the lab,the esteemed head of the most important medical research organization in the U.S. and probably in the world is now able to admit the possibility of 50% of the truth! No wonder we are in trouble.Our top leaders are suffering from mental corruption. In Islamic terms that is another sign of the end of times.No wonder so many people are “vaccine hesitant” as they call it.They are being lied to on a regular basis by supposedly intelligent,credible people! The level of justified mistrust is beyond the pale at this point.
Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics

Science Gone Awry!

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Salaams to everyone and tighten your seat belts.We are in for a turbulent ride! And the Covid is just a mild intro to what is coming!

One of the major reasons we are in for this ride,is that science,our contemporary consensus belief system, has gone awry! As opposed to the original formulation-Observation-Hypothesis-Experimentation-Conclusion– “scientism” has replaced it with consensus foregone conclusions determined by experts with hypertrophied minds and atrophic, anemic hearts that can no longer feel!

Instead of the spirit of inquiry and open-mindedness that is intrinsic to real science we now have fixed positions and an international    echo-chamber! Observational skills are at a minimum and ideological catechisms are at a maximum.All around us we hear such fixed,black and white statements like “vaccines are safe” and “climate change is due to human activity” or the most recent one,-hugely harmful in its effects on human health “there are no good early treatments for Covid infection”..What a travesty of Truth and what a catastrophe of consequences.But the “scientific” consensus propaganda machine keeps marching on- leading us blindly to the cliff!

Ever noticed that we are on the cliff?!Lol  A pandemic that should never have occurred.An epidemic of autism and ADHD and asthma in  children.An epidemic of cancer and Alzheimer’s and Autoimmune disorders including neurological ones in the adults.And fires and droughts and floods everywhere! Looks like the cliff to me!

So what do we hear in response? “We need more science” Really?! When most of these catastrophes have been caused by science?! Even if you believe the anthropogenic origin of climate change that, too, is due to science, n’est-ce p;as?

Let me give you something more specific to think about here-in the domain of climate change in particular..As I was watching the fires burning in California and British Columbia,I decided to look up the events around 9/11 in NYC. All the U.S. and international planes were grounded and the air cleared quite rapidly.That translated into clearing out the contrails of the planes i.e. their carbon imprint! According to the current theories that blame these same carbon particles for global warming,that should have caused cooling rather than warming.We’ve got rid of the carbon so the temperature should start to cool,no? But,in fact,the opposite happened! The weather got warmer.Intriguing,no? At least for someone who is still thinking rather than chanting the scientific mantras.

Then I looked at another bit of information-what happens with forest fires? Do they heat up the climate as we would expect? No,the opposite.The weather cools down! So the fires produce carbon in the air and the weather cools down.I thus understand that the carbon is a filter for the sun’s heat.Intriguing,no?

Why am I mentioning all this? Because we may( notice-this is a hypothesis not an assertion) be doing the exact opposite thing to what we should be doing! By reducing carbon emissions,we may be increasing the temperature of the Earth.! Pretty significant,no?!

N.B. This is a hypothesis-not a firm conclusion.But the more important issue, as far as I am concerned,is that the so-called “scientists” refuse to study these hypotheses-especially if they go against the current scientific catechisms(like global warming is man-made). So just as it took them at least 25 years to do  proper studies on vaccine mandates(They are harmful btw but they are still not admitting it!) this global warming problem,and it IS a problem,may take even longer to understand! Unfortunately,we may not be around to see the results of that process! God help us!

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology

Transhumans Rule?!

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Watching Richard Branson being interviewed on CNN after launching into space)These prominent billionaire types- Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, to name a few -are simply WEIRD!.Call it what you will- transhuman? robotic?humanoid? extraterrestrial? Can you not see that?! This must be another sign of the end of Days.The leaders are barely human?!
Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics

The American Legal System?!

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If you want to get a sense of how pathetic Western justice systems are just look at what happened to Trump in NYC.! After years of
Investigations of this well-known cheat and liar and overall bad actor , what do they come up with?! An indictment of the CFO of the Trump Organization for not paying taxes on the perks he received for his job! Really?! If I were an American in the legal profession I would hang my head in shame.That would be like America losing a war with Fiji! Oops, they already did that in Vietnam and Afghanistan lol
Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics, Psychology

The Delusion- of Objectivity- Continues

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(Answer to an old friend saying he doesn’t believe anything said by Tucker Carlson)-More black and white thinking ., Jim..! If you are seriously interested in the Truth you have to learn discernment- as opposed to fixed positions.It is a testimony to the total failure of our educational system that intelligent, well- educated people like yourself still take fixed positions dependent on their philosophical and political biases.

That should be the domain of theology and many, many people who say they believe in science have actually become theologians of ” “scientism”,instead of learning how to observe properly.This theological position has cost literally millions of lives in the current pandemic as the theologians have refused to acknowledge the efficacy of off-label drugs like hydroxychloroquine and Ivermecton in favor of the catechism of “double-blind , placebo-controlled,peer-reviewed large-scale studies published in prestigious medical journals” What a mouthful lol! Would make even the most pedantic of Christian and Talmudic scholars choke on while swallowing lol Just like it’s predecessors “The Dictatorship of the Proletariat” and “the Analysis of the Transference ” as solutions to our deepest problems, it is bound to disappoint!

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics

Science is NOT Beautiful!

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Joel Ibrahim Kreps

Btw. I appreciate what Kory and Weinstein and Chris Matenson and RFK jr. amongst others are saying.And I have learnt a lot from all of them.But I disagree with one fundamental issue! Science is NOT beautiful and it is certainly NOT the answer,In fact at this point ,it is safe to say that science is now causing more harm than help.The Covid epidemic was caused by science!( the gain of function research started in the USA and continued in Wuhan,China).Science is responsible for the epidemics of cancer and Alzheimer’s and autism and auto-immune disrders.Science is responsible for the contamination of our food and water and air.So making a God of science ,besides being heretical,is simply not supported by the evidence.And now that great science is promoting electrical cars and solar panels and windmills-all of which produce toxic dirty electricity.So  the statement by Weinstein that “science is beautiful” is more B.S. Camels and horses are beautiful;cars are ugly.Fields are beautiful;concrete highways are ugly.Birds are beautiful;airplanes are ugly etc.,etc.So lets stop praising science and start “Praising the Lord” as the Christians say lol.Salaams,Ibrahim
Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology

Science is NOT Beautiful!

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Joel Ibrahim Kreps

8:38 PM (0 minutes ago)
to Gabriel
Btw. I appreciate what Kory and Weinstein and Chris Matenson and RFK jr. amongst others are saying.And I have learnt a lot from all of them.But I disagree with one fundamental issue! Science is NOT beautiful and it is certainly NOT the answer,In fact at this point ,it is safe to say that science is now causing more harm than good.The Covid epidemic was caused by science!( the gain of function research started in the USA and continued in Wuhan,China)Science is responsible for the epidemics of cancer and Alzheimer’s and autism and auto-immune disrders and antibiotic-resistant bacteria..Science is responsible for the contamination of our food and water and air.So making a God of science ,besides being heretical,is simply not supported by the evidence.And now that our wonderful science is promoting electrical cars and solar panels and windmills-all of which produce toxic dirty electricity.So  the statement by Weinstein that “science is beautiful” is more B.S. Camels are beautiful;cars are ugly.Fields are beautiful;concrete highways are ugly.Birds are beautiful;airplanes are ugly etc.,etc.So lets stop praising science and start “Praising the Lord” as the Christians say lol.Salaams,Ibrahim