(From a dream message) “Don’t ever try to be a Sheikh or a guru if you are Narcissistic or Prone to angry outbursts or Corrupt.” But don’t despair. There are plenty of other career options open to you. You can still be a President of a country or a Supreme Court Judge or a banker lol
Category Archives: Modern Living
Obsessional Processes -The Social Norm!
I guess my theory is once again confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Comittee in its decision re Brett Kavanaugh.I used to believe that the American, and by extension most Western judicial systems, get results that are only randomly connected to reality. I have come to believe,on the contrary, that the protocol-based, obsessional processes that are endemic in all our legal and political systems actually come to conclusions that are inversely related to reality. That is, that they get it regularly and systematically wrong. The equivalent process occurs in obsessive individuals , who I have observed over the years in my practice, who regularly make bad decisions because they “can’t see the forest for the trees”! God help us all. And the way He helps us the most is keeping us at a maximum distance from these processes that the “blind, deaf and dumb” lawyers and politicians like Judge Kavanaugh and his Senate enablers call “due process”.
Jihad-a-nafs -2
After publishing my recent post on the battle with the ego,I felt the need to give a more complete version, since I had only really covered 3 1/2 of the 7 cardinal sins.Those were the ones that required the most explanation but let us complete the account here.
4) Anger-2 None of us can avoid totally becoming angry.For sure, there are certain personalities more prone to anger than others. The Greek physician,Galen, called them the ‘coleric’ types.In modern English we could describe them as irascible ,irritable or even ‘paranoid’ at times.Narcissistic people,like the current president of the U.S.A. ,are particularly susceptible to this disease.They regularly feel slighted and then need to reply with Narcissistic rage.This can be done by shouting,by belittling,even humiliating the other and nowadays we have a wonderful panoply of tools like Twitter,to express our hostility whenever we want.
But our question here is: what is the right way to be with this emotion?Should we simply ignore it and repress it or should we look for the kernel of truth within it and try to find a way to communicate that.That was a rhetorical question? I hope you don’t feel slighted lol.
The psychologists teach us that we should transform our aggression into affirmation and there is certainly wisdom in that approach.But even the affirmation has to be appropriately formulated and delivered in a timely fashion.If it is said in the wrong way or at the wrong time,it will just inflame the passions even more.Even at the right time,it may elicit a negative or indifferent response as the ego hates to be corrected(pride is our next subject).
How not to do it! When I first entered the fold of Islam ,I was in Jerusalem.I was eager to read about Islam but could find no bookstores with interesting material.So I used to cross the city from East to West and go to the library at The Hebrew University .There I was able to find the collection of Bukhari hadith -in French!
One day I came into the library and there was a man probably in his early seventies yelling at the receptionist. When he had finished his tirade I went up to the clerk and asked her what that was about.”Do you know who that man is?” she said. “No,not at all” “He’s the head of our history department”. “Oh”,I responded.”What was he so upset about?” “He had asked for a book and it has taken us longer than expected to get it!”. Wow! I knew intellectuals were a dubious lot but that was too much.I confirmed at that point something I had suspected all along.Intellectual training is a weak tool for character development.Got it!
In the Naqshbandi protocol of the night prayer,we are called upon to repeat Ya Halim (O Gentle One) in order to calm our anger.There is a hadith reported by Abu Dharr,one of the most ascetic of the Sahhabbas which says””If one of you is angry when he is standing,let him sit down so that the anger will leave him .Otherwise let him lie down.” In all honesty ,I have not met many Muslims,including pious ones able or willing to do that.That is because anger has a way of taking us over that is hard to resist.It is a formidable opponent.
So the first and perhaps the best thing to do is quickly identify it.That is called mindfulness.(You can look up the posting on Mindfulness Practice on this blog for further details.Then we have to make a conscious decision not to act on it. And then be patient as anger is an emotion like several others and it tends to come in waves and then die down.When it does so,then we can decide what to do with its content.
Now,sometimes the anger can turn into resentment and bitterness and grudges and hatred.Then it becomes a long-term problem which can be even more serious.If we study the lives of some of those American mass murderers,like the boys at Columbine,we will discover people whose bitterness and hatred of others had been building up over years until it gets acted upon.Often,the people queried about these massacres will say”But he seemed like such a quiet,well-behaved boy!” So the anger is hidden.Other people,of course,erupt regularly and create a lot of social chaos around themselves.Some lose jobs or partners or friends because of their bad character.So the consequences are serious indeed.Ya Halim!
A few hadith related to this issue.
a)”A man said to the Prophet,’ Give me advice’ The Prophet saws said: ‘Do not get angry'(Meaning ‘Don’t express your anger’)The man asked repeatedly and the Prophet answered each time:’Do not get angry”
b)from Abu Hurayra”The Prophet saws said”The strong man is not the one is is able to defeat others in wrestling:the song man is the one who controls himself at times of anger”
c)”Anger comes from the devil,the devil was created of fire,and fire is extinguished only by water:so when one of you becomes angry,he should perform ablution”.(Sunan Abu Dawood)This is another hadith that is rarely applied,in my experience, because the anger tends to be such an overwhelming sensation.However,the indication of fire and thus heat within gives us a tool by which to identify it and track it which makes it easier to resist.
From the point of view of psychology:I went to a seminar in Berkely,California, of all places, in 1975.The seminar was given by an avant-garde chiropractor/therapist named Stanley Keleman.He had been a student of Lowen and Pierrakos who were direct stidents of Wilhelm Reich,the developer Of Bioenergetic Therapy and himself a student of Sigmund Freud.(I guess there is a silsila-chain of transmission in psychology as well lol) He made a statement that shocked the group of New-Age Humanistic therapists who had been taught that the key to managing anger was to express it by hitting pillows and shouting it out- which was common in both Gestalt Therapy and Bioenergetics.
He said the following:”I have been doing this catharsis stuff for years but it doesn’t work! The more you express the anger the more it just comes back like a deep well from which you have drawn water.” So what do we do?” the audience responded,taken aback by his claims.”Just observe it and it will slowly abate” This may well have been the first whiffs of the Mindfulness Movement in America.Keleman had somehow stumbled his way into Buddhist practice- which in this case is the same as Islamic practice.
We may all do well to stumble into the same behaviour,despite our nafs lol
5)Pride-The Biggie The Christians consider this one the biggest of the big. In the Quran Satan refuses to bow down to Adam because he considers himself superior to him.In that way he becomes disobedient to his Lord.Then he becomes ‘adoo mubin” -a clear-cut enemy to man.The result of this pride and Satan’s vow to make us miserable and wretched is all around us.
Now pride can often be subtle.Most proud people are not aware of being proud.They think it is normal.After all they are so good shouldn’t they be proud?And there are probably things that are ok to be proud of.Our own Prophet saws said to his companions”And I am the best of you with his family” and also “And I am the most God-fearing of you” so appropriate recognition of our qualities is not always a bad thing.In modern parlance,we could say it is good for our self-esteem and self-esteem is important, up to a certain extent.
But we all know people who have an inflated sense of self(which psychoanalytically usually represents an inner insecurity). The current president of the U.S.A. is a perfect example.We should be thankful for him lol.There is so much to learn about how not to be from him!One of the problems with this pride is that the person is unwilling to accept criticism,unwilling to examine his own behaviour and attitudes.Then he becomes unable to improve,unable to evolve properly.
Also ,he may be seriously deficient in problem-solving as he cannot integrate the ideas of others into his plan of action.Doing so would make him feel inadequate.The other effect of this attitude is in his/her relationships.Around the proud person, others feel put down and belittled constantly.At some point they just give up and leave!
So what is the solution? Self-awareness,humility.God-consciousness.None of those are easy.When I first came to Jerusalem,I started my explorations on the Jewish side as that is where I came from in my family.I met a holy Rabbi of the Reb Nachman of Bratislava Hassidic tradition.He seemed to have clairvoyant powers as well.He looked at me in the eyes and said: “Yossef (my original Hebrew name) I can see that you have very good potential for gaining knowledge.But remember that no matter how much knowledge or understanding you gain,it will be a drop in the ocean of the Knowledge of Ashem(god).” That puts you in your place quickly lol! but in fact,that is a good strategy for attaining humility.If you ever feel too good about yourself-your strength,your wealth,your cleverness, think about God,the Infinite and you can only become humble.I use that technique regularly when I encounter human stupidity which otherwise could make one smug and self-satisfied.If you read the ‘seerat’ (biography) of our Prophet saws ,you will see that he was constantly aware of this dichotomy-us vs. our Lord.Only humility can issue from that awareness.
6) Envy After the creation of the Universe and the fall of Adam,we find one of his sons murdering the other-out of envy.Able had earned the favour of his Lord,and Cain could not tolerate it,so he killed him.And envy has continued to plague mankind ever since.The brothers of Joseph could not tolerate him being the father’s favourite so they planned to kill him but relented and sold him into slavery instead.In more recent times we had the Olympic skater Tonya Harding who could not bear being outdone by Nancy Kerrigan.Her husband hired a thug to break Nancy Kerrigan’s leg! We hear similar stories abut mothers attacking cheerleaders in Texas because they won a place on the team over their own daughters.There are soccer Moms and hockey Dads with the same kind of envy. The stories of envy are legion throughout history.Often it exists between children in families-then known as “sibling rivalry”. But it is more than rivalry.It is envious resentment.
The tentacles of envy spread far and wide.Melanie Klein ,one of Freud’s foremost disciples,developed a whole school of psychoanalysis based on people’s envious attacks- beginning all the way back with the child biting at the depriving breast! And we could see the entire phenomenon of modern-day terrorism as envious attacks by the weak on the wealthy because of their envy of the power of their enemies- like America and Europe.
Hamza Yusuf makes the point in one of his talks that criminals will admit to heinous felonies before they will admit to envy.It often remains invisible to the person experiencing it.There is an apocryphal story about the Spiritual teacher Ram Das going to visit the prisoners at San Quentin prison in California.At the time,Charles Manson,the famous mass-murderer and cult-leader, was one of the inhabitants at that prison but he was not present at the talk.After it was over Ram Das inquired from the prison authorities why Manson was not there.They informed him that they had been advised(?by the other prisoners) not to let him be present as he would be unable to tolerate another person being the centre of attention and would surely disrupt the event. So we find this envy at all levels of society.There is even a dictum in Islam that says that “the jealousy of scholars can be as bad as that of co-wives”. Go figure.
So,how do we deal with envy? One of the best remedies,if not the best,is to realize that whatever we have and whatever the other has is ordained by God.That is our ‘rizq'(provision) and their ‘rizq”.It is pre-ordained and it is perfect the way it is.And sometimes we can even get a sense of the wisdom in it-that what we each have is perfectly right for us.There is no need to compare.We each get what we need.
7) Greed None of these defects are easy to treat but greed has a special status in the modern world.Couched in its own terminology,it often appears as virtue.Some of the modern concepts of”competitiveness” and “efficiency” and “cost-cutting” and financial planning” and even”national interest”can all be broken down into greed!When a politician or economist talks about economic growth and G.D.P. and stock market prices and maximizing profit’ it is mostly all about greed.So greed has become sanitized,even idealized in the modern world.
All around us we are solicited to get the best price on everything and anything we buy..When I used to give talks in the mosque I would explain to the participants that”the lowest price is the law” is not an Islamic principle(immigrants are particularly susceptible to this notion partially because of their relative poverty but mostly due to their naivete about the insidiousness of many Western ideas).They just buy into it.The real law should be “the fair price”. When I say this to people I most often get an empty stare in response.After all,they have been told their whole life that virtue is getting the best price possible!
One day after Jumaa prayer,I gave a ride to one of the congregants who proceeded to explain his story.He had been involved in a factory that produced a “bed in a bag” product-sheets,pillow cases and a mattress cover all in one bag.He had been in discussions with a large retailer who had promised him$19/bag .As his costs were around $16/bag he figured it would be a profitable venture.Not realizing that in this society ,you need to get everything in writing and peoples’ words have little value,he proceeded to invest in the factory.By the time he was ready to sell his product,the retailer informed him that they had found a supplier from China who could do it fo r$15 and asked him if he still wanted to go ahead with the contract. It was no longer viable to do so.And he ended up declaring bankruptcy. Now those “bed in the bag” products are available on liquidation at $12 a piece.And all the consumers are proud of the deals they are getting.Many of the wonderful”liquidation” prices are based on such sorry tales.It is all about greed!
Again, in the case of greed,the solution is ‘rida’-satisfaction.We are each already getting exactly what we need.If that is a lot,we can be grateful.And if it seems too little we can be patient and realize that what may seem like deprivation is actually a means of elevation.The Sufis call that ‘azhod’-asceticism -one of the Sufi virtues and a means,as well, of spiritual upliftment.
So now we come to the end of this teaching.But actually it is the beginning.”And zo, ve may to begin”(courtesy Philip Roth).So,now the program is complete.Let’s get cracking! This is tough work but work of the greatest importance.God be with us all!
More ‘Bubbameises'(Grandmothers’ tales) from the Buddhists
Despite all the controversy around it ,I like the term “fake news”. However,there is not only political fake news.There is also medical and spiritual fake news as well.This article addresses the latter type.We may well address the other types and many more in future articles.
Since Buddhism, especially the Mindfulness type, has become the lingua franca of “progressive” spiritual seekers -many of whom refuse to entertain the notion of a Creator-I think it is especially important to underline the mythology that accompanies it-what we are referring to here as “bubbameises’-the tales of grandmothers- in our title.
Now,the first myth promulgated by the Buddhists in the last century was that Buddhism is not a religion.One of the primary culprits in this marketing scheme was the Dalai Lama himself. The Buddhists being”clever ones’ no doubt,understand that much of the West has turned against its religious authorities and institutions and therefore are adverse to any notion of religion.There is an interesting precedent for this kind of salesmanship in the history of religion and that is the approach of Paul of Tarsus.He understood that the Romans and Greeks all around them would never accept Mosaic law ,which was the religion being practiced by Jesus and his apostles.So he declared that it was enough to accept Jesus Christ as saviour and thereby threw overboard the entire Judaic legal tradition.I will allow the reader to draw the appropriate conclusions as to what that might mean for Christianity and its relationship to the tradition of Judaism from which it sprang.
So the Dalai Lama and many other Buddhists tell us that Buddhism is not a religion and the progressive liberals, liking the sound of this atheistic statement, swallow it “hook,line and sinker’. But is it true?!
Even without a degree in theology or Comparative Religion it is easy to understand that religion is not only a belief in God.Religion has institutions,beliefs,a hierarchy, a set of practices,moral teachings,people who self-identify as Buddhists. etc.,etc.So Buddhism,in fact,has ALL the characteristics of a religion-its particular theology aside.Even at the level of concepts there are several that come very close to the idea of God.Enlightenment itself-‘nibbana’ as the Buddhists call it can be translated as God-consciousness as can Boddhicitta(Buddha-Consciousness).So they do frequently refer to an Ultimate Reality but do not like calling it God. With a little reflection, there should be little doubt in peoples’ minds that Buddhism is a religion by any sensible definition of the term and has always been considered as such.
The second mythology is that Buddhists are universally gentle people who do not harm anyone.I think the current situation in Burma and the treatment of the Rohingya Muslims should disabuse anyone of that notion quickly.It always seemed to me impossible that one group of people,religious or otherwise,could remain consistently non-violent.It doesn’t correspond to any historical evidence about humanity anywhere.In fact,the violence and murders perpetrated in the Sri Lankan civil war were mostly done by the Singhalese who are also uniformly Buddhists.But somehow that passed under the radar and the Tamil tigers got most of the blame.Another good marketing job!
This being said,my real purpose and the trigger that provoked this article was a conference I attended this week given by a monk in the Kadampa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism entitled “Meditation and Anxiety”. The ‘hal’ (spiritual state) in the conference room was pleasant and peaceful.The people involved appeared sincere and had a certain luminosity about them.And I generally enjoyed the presentation.The only thing I felt called upon to pursue with the presenters was the translation of the word ‘mind’ in English to ‘esprit’ in French =-a translation I thought somehow inadequate.So I talked about it with one of the organizers-an intelligent fellow with a good command of both languages.The discussion was civil but not really clarifying.In any case,this is a point of semantics and not that relevant.
However,as the week drew on, I began thinking.”One minute,here”. There was almost nothing in the presentation about anxiety.Yes they talked a lot about inner peace and the importance of the inner state for happiness but the question of anxiety was never raised directly.I happen to know that there are specific teachings about this by Buddhist teachers like Jack Kornfield and Jon Kabat-Zinn but nothing was said about that.(These were Tibetan teachings and the other mentioned authors are more in the Vipassana lineage so perhaps there is a sectarian divide-even within the Buddhist tradition itself.)
So one moment,here.If the talk is entitled “Meditation and Anxiety” but there is no mention of anxiety ,what is going on?There is only one possible answer I believe to that question.More marketing! Many,many people are struggling with anxiety in modern times so anything suggesting a possible solution would be attractive.In fact one of my motivations to attend the conference was to help out a neighbour’s boyfriend who was struggling with anxiety but there was no material in the conference which would have been of help to him unless he wanted to become a Buddhist monk-highly unlikely I figured!
There was another bit of bit of “fake spiritual news”in the conference that was working on my Truth detector.They repeated on several occasions the idea that”happiness can only come from a peaceful mind”. That sounded very obvious and unobjectionable until I thought about it some more.One minute here! That’s not true either!Happiness is one thing and ‘peace of mind’ is another.I think for the moment of those tennis players whether Federer or Djokovic or Serena Williams and how absolutely tense and anxious they look during the game and then how happy they are if they win.No correlation between peace and happiness.I,myself,when I examine my own experience, have been happy at times while feeling agitated and I have been peaceful but bored at other times .Happiness is one thing and peace is another.
So why are they making this statement? Because they know that Westerners are obsessed with “being happy.”There are even University departments like at Harvard devoted totally to studying happiness( The Happiness Project).The marketers are hot on our trail once again!
But there is an even deeper problem in Buddhism and that involves the relationship between the inner and the outer.The theme repeated over and over again in the conference was that what really counts is the inner state.There is an irreconcilable cleavage between the two in Buddhist philosophy-an absolute dichotomy.This involves an incomplete conception of reality which does not acknowledge the interaction between the two and therefore the need to act in both dimensions not just one.Interestingly ,we can see a connection here between the lack of a Creator-God and this disconnect.If there is no Creator-God,then there is no Creation or created things per se.In fact the Buddhists claim there IS no reality to this world .It is only sets of aggregates like sensory perception and physical sensation and thoughts.For them ,the reality of this world is an illusion of the mind.In this way, there is no interaction,no dialectic between the outer and the inner.A truly bad place to begin if we want to manage our lives properly!
So the Buddhists who are so proud to claim The Middle Way,the Way of Balance, are actually in a state of serious imbalance.And you can see the manifestation of this all the way back to the beginning of the tradition when the Buddha left his family, never to return, to do intense meditative practices.Is that a balanced example for all of us?! If we think it’s all about the internal,we might accept that.But if we are truly aiming for balance in our lives,this cannot be the way, Think about it in your contemplations. Not in your meditations- where thought is dismissed lol.Salaams,Sufi Ibrahim
Husn al-Dhann(Having a Good Opinion)
This article is actually an extension of a previous article I wrote for this blog entitled Refining the notion of Ghiba’(back-biting).It is part of my own spiritual work on jihad-a-nafs and particularly the jihad against excessive and negative speech.I feel deeply that one needs to be realistic about what speech is actually haram and what is both necessary and permissible to manage in the world in which we live.Giving oneself unrealizable goals- like never saying anything negative about anyone- is a sure-fire way to feeling discouraged and defeated in one’s search.As an interesting side-note Sheikh Nuh who gives an exercise to his murids on avoiding backbiting entirely for two consecutive weeks said that the only murid ever to be able to do that on the first try was a prisoner in solitary confinement! That indicates what we are up against in this battle.
On this subject,we are taught by our Islamic scholars to “have a good opinion of our Lord and of our fellow men”.Some of them go on to say that this is from the command of our Lord.However if we look at the ayats involved,which we will do shortly, this is not an accurate portrayal of their contents.As often happens unfortunately in the field of Quranic interpretation,things are taken out of context and elaborations and extensions of the actual texts are made without consideration of the totality of the revelation. In this case,the particular danger is to produce namby-pamby, pie-in -the-sky, “seeing the world through rose-colored glasses” Muslims who are unable to navigate in the modern world and as well are off-putting in their artificially positive attitude.
Now,some shuyukh are aware of this problem.Sheikh Hamza Yusuf,for example,a careful scholar not prone to wayward opinions usually, warns people that in the modern world,there are so many scammers and defrauders and shysters (he should know ,being from California the #2 state in rates of psychopathy in the U.S.!) that one should be wary immediately of what the other may have up his sleeve.Sounds like good advice! But he is rare amongst the ulema in being aware of this problem.
So let’s see where this teaching comes from.The ayat most referred to on this question is from 49:12.It says the following””O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much as possible;for suspicion In some cases is a sin:And spy not on each other,nor speak ill of each other behind their backs”It then goes on to compare back-biting to eating the flesh of a dead brother(powerful analogy no doubt).
The problem in interpreting such a text is manifested quickly in the translation.Most of the translators translate the Arabic word ‘dhann” as suspicion but none of the dictionnaries agree.The best dictionnaries prefer “opinion” or “doubt “.So already the translators are slanting the meaning to their own beliefs.So, essentially,we are being told to avoid unnecessary doubting of the people we are dealing with.Fair enough.Actually this goes even deeper as doubt itself can be a big problem spiritually.In fact it is the basis of one of the epidemics of modern times- atheism!In the Buddhist model,it is one of the five ‘klesas'(obstacles to obtaining Enlightenment) so it goes far and deep in its negative effects-even beyond it’s effect on our human relationships.
Notice that nowhere here does our Lord tell us to have a good opinion of our fellow man.It just suggests we avoid excessive doubt. Most of the relevant hadith about this issue reaffirm Allah’s interdiction of excessive doubt and hostility and malice towards fellow-Muslims.There is one hadith in Abu Dawood that says that to have a good opinion(husn al-dhann) is from the attributes of good worship.Since we do not worship man,I would assume this involves a good opinion of our Lord which should pose no problem for a believer.
Now,in an effort to be more comprehensive, let’s look at the other side of the coin- the debit column of the human CV.And it is far from brilliant! Very early in the Quran 2:30 the angels are bringing up the fact that man will make mischief and create bloodshed on Earth! Allah does not deny it as the angels are clairvoyant and can see clearly what is coming.Then there is one denunciation of man after another.Various groups are described as being blind and deaf and dumb”,as having their hearts hardened, as spreading mischief,as being hypocrites and unbelievers, etc.etc. In one ayat man is denounced for being in most affairs disputatious/contentious(Surat 18:54).As well,whole civilizations are denounced for their sinful ways.
Allah mentions the people of Nuh who were sent the flood,the people of Thamud who refused to follow their Prophet Salih a.s. and were swallowed up by an earthquake;the people of Ad who were strong and tall and given fertile lands but refused the advice of their Prophrt Hud and continued worshiping idols for which they were buried under sand driven by the winds;and the people of Lut of whom we all know the story of Sodom and Gomorrha it being detailed in the Bible itself,etc. etc.
Then we have the sahih hadith of our Prophet saws in al -Bukhari telling us that 99/100 or 999/1000 people will be in the hellfires.He saws also told us that”If you knew what I know, you would be weeping much and laughing little”. All in all not a glorious picture of mankind!
So what are we to make of all this- to act as best we can and not be living in some kind of delusional mind-set? We do not want to live in la-la land but nor do we want to become cynical and bitter either.So here are a few suggestions that may be helpful;
1)Approach every situation with an open mind.Ask questions if you need to (See “The Fabulous Fours” on the blog)
2) Do not become a compulsive doubter ,something our modern society pushes us towards in many ways,including the scientific model of the null hypothesis.
3) Do not become a chronic,reflexive fault-finder( Watch the CNN journalists if you want to see what not to do lol.They are not alone,however, in that attitude amongst journalists.The BBC for example gives them some worthy competition!)
4) Give people, generally, the benefit of the doubt and try as best you can to find excuses for their apparently bad behaviour.
5) Be aware of the good behaviour and positive qualities of people. Affirm these qualities to them and compliment them on them when appropriate.We all need encouragement, at times.Towards the end of my work as a psychiatrist I used to repeat to my clients often:”Give me the good news also” lol We can easily get too focused on the negative.
6)Once confronted with the repeated evidence of the bad character or unethical behaviour of an individual or group,do not deny it.Take note of it, factor it into your decisions and warn others who may be affected by it.Defend yourself in appropriate ways against the ill effects of this behaviour.This may involve seeking counsel,leaving an abusive relationship,changing jobs-the list is endless but your inner state and your relationship with your Creator have to be the top priorities.
7) Remember what Allah said to the angels after they objected to the creation of man”I know what you know not”.So remember that behind the evil and hidden within it is the plan of our Lord.So even ‘evil’ has a hidden positive purpose.According to the highest Sufis,the shaytan, himself, is a servant of Allah.But a servant that you should not take lightly because he is a serious opponent (“adoo mubin” in the Quran- a clear-cut enemy) .
8) And deepest of all –Do spiritual practice to develop ‘basirat’(inner vision/discernment).(Sheikh Hamza says that this is a reward for piety.) Then act according to what you are shown.And share your vision sparingly- only with those who can benefit from it. Allah be with you!
Why we are so scr—d!
The trigger for this piece was a video interviewing an expert on electricity,Dave Stetzer,explaining how both wind and solar energy are generating toxic,”dirty” electricity!Wow! The emperor has no clothes.In fact he’s a stripper!Spiritual and moral reasons aside for the meantime,the following is what I see happening on the ground.
We have some very creative and clever inventors generating all kinds of interesting products and processes to make our lives better.For example there were discoverers of chemical pesticides and herbicides designed to solve one of the fundamental problems in agriculture-pests that destroy the crops.There were other inventors who discovered alternate forms of energy to help us with the problem of greenhouse effects from burning hydrocarbons and there are the inventors of new construction materials like particle board and laminate floors to help us with the limited supplies of lumber available in our forests. All of these inventions, at first glance, look interesting and promising.And they all have potential positive economic and even political effects.
But they all have potential harmful effects as well.So they need to be assessed and evaluated.Given the considerable economic effects of these products,the evaluation process tends to get rushed and pushed aside by the politicians involved in the process who are most often asleep at the wheel.But,even worse the evaluations,when done, are put into the hands of obsessive,plodding,pedantic scientists with lots of data but little insight and judgment and perspective.Instead of choosing really smart people who can use not only the data but also their instincts and insight and even common sense to be able to predict the consequences,we hire statisticians and robotic scientists to do the work.Is it any wonder that it took decades to prove the health effects of cigarettes and DDT insecticides?!By the time DDT was banned(at least in Western countries ,there were hundreds of new pesticides developed some of them probably just as noxious as DDT if not more so.And now that cigarettes are universally denounced,even by their users, no one is seriously evaluating the pulmonary effects of long-term cannabis use as the “legalize pot” campaign is in full swing.
Think about it for a moment.Does it really take a genius to figure out that a substance that kills insects made of much the same biological substrate as us,is going to be harmful to humans.Does it take a rocket-scientist to figure out that if you put known carcinogens like formaldehyde into our construction materials ,it is not going to be good for human health.Unfortunately the minds of the decision-makers are so polluted by complexity and self-interest that they are blind to the reality.
So ,bottom line,we have clever,fast-paced inventors supported by avaricious businessmen and their political allies against plodding scientists often with minimal resources and even less insight competing with each other! Who do you think is going to win?! And who are the losers lol? All of us! This is the end-game,I believe!Thank God I know there is another world.Because this one is scr—d!
The Real Enemy!
( In response to a posting claiming other countries are less stressful at work than America- something that is only marginally true .”Fake news” Trump would say lol) We need a whole new vocabulary-like “humanly-paced work” or “minimally stressful work” or”artisan-paced work” .But then we would have to assume the cost.But since democracy/capitalism is unknowingly using an old Maoist slogan”Put the Economy in the Post of Command” ( interesting irony no?) then none of that is possible.
Our real enemies are not the Russians or the Chinese! Not even Trump and his allies.Our real enemies are the MBAs and Economists who are providing the intellectual infrastructure for this stressful oppression of workers AND management alike in all industries.
The Wisdom of the Turkish tailor’s Wife
My Turkish tailor’s wife was telling me about her 43-year old cousin who had just died of breast cancer.I was telling her about all the carcinogens in our food,our water and our air and the fact that cancer has become an epidemic.She understood immediately! She elaborated by telling me about her 93-year old mother who was fine except for some arthritis in her knee.”She was from an earlier time when things were more natural”.Exactly.How come she gets it but the scientists and government officials,certainly a lot more educated, don’t!?And please don’t respond with the “economic paranoid” theory that it’s all about money.That is only part of the answer.I prefer one of my earliest teachers Steven Gaskin’s answer”A University degree is more of a bar to enlightenment(and clear vision I would add) than a bad character”.Here I would agree with the Buddhists.”The deepest sin is not greed but ignorance” And there is plenty of that to go around.
Mise Au Point/Taking Stock
One of the great debates of our times-Steven Pinker(“The Better Angels of our Nature”-The world is getting better because of the beneficial effects of The Enlightenment ) vs. Chris Hedges (“A Farewell to America” We are heading headlong into catastrophe because America and ,by extension , the rest of the world, has experienced a corporate coup d’état). Which side are you on? I have little doubt about this one , myself!
Attitude,man,Attitude!
Most people in the modern world believe that the road to happiness is to get what you want and do what you want.And the society around encourages them in that belief. Wrong! The truth is that it is exactly the opposite that works and brings peace of mind.”Do what is wanted of you and accept what is given to you and be grateful”. That is the better advice.And, yes, no-one can tell you what that is -what is wanted of you.Because it appears subtly and deeply in your heart.That is why a good advisor is some-one who can listen to your heart and not talk from their minds.But they are rare,indeed! May God grant you that niamat(gift) of the competent advisor.It is one of the greatest gifts of all.Salaams,Ibrahim As-Sufi