Category Archives: Spiritual Practice

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology, Spiritual Practice, Uncategorized

Positivity Training.

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One of the great sheikhs of our time,sent by the famous Ahmad al Alawi of Mostaghanem , Algeria to Damascus was named Mohammad al Hashimi.May Allah raise his rank still further. The Damascenes were missing him dearly when he departed in 1961 so they went to see his khadim (servant) and asked him what he had learned from the great sheikh.He answered “I learned only one thing”.They were amazed.”Fourty years around the sheikh and you learnt only one thing?!”they said.”Yes” he responded.”Ok.Then what was that thing?” And he responded “fi kooli shay khair”(within everything is goodness”). And they left incredulous! But the servant had made a deep point that has echoes throughout the history of Islam and all the world religions for that matter.The essence of everything in Existence is goodness and Love!Hard to believe but True,nevertheless.

The next question becomes,of course,how do we get to that positivity?This question involves an overlap between psychology and spirituality! The psychological exploration involved the study on Happiness by George Valliant of Harvard University and the Positive Psychology movement promoted by Martin Seligman ,president of the American Psychological Association.The latter defined it as ‘the scientific study of what makes life most worth living” or “the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing on multiple levels that include the biological,personal,relational,institutional,cultural and global dimensions of life” Ugh,lol! Whenever an author throws in”scientific” along with a bunch of other jargon I cringe lol.Mostly it is an effort to increase their credibility- since science has become the religion of the masses. Ok ,Ibrahim.Watch your negativity lol

Now a religious,spiritual person will read these things and say:”What about God?!”. “How can you be happy in a random universe without a Creator and without an afterlife and accountability?” Good questions lol.But not particularly agreeable to the liberal,progressive,agnostic narrative of the times!

So,let us first look at what the psychologist,intellectual Seligman proposes and then we will get to a more spiritual and transcendent perspective.Mine and that of Sheikh Hashimi mentioned above.I will also provide some helpful practices inshallah.

So Seligman proposes the acronym PERMA .That stands for Positive Affect,Engagement,Relationships,Meaning and Accomplishments.Let us look at these one by one.

1)Positive Affect involves a wide range of feelings like happiness,joy,excitement and satisfaction.The problem here is that many of these are outside of  our control.Most spiritual people understand that we cannot really generate these feelings.They are,in fact gifts(‘niamat’) from our Creator.More of that later.

2)Engagement-in activities.That we can do! But,ever noticed what happens when you do?! It often ends in disappointment.Either you realize the people you are with are not what you expected(like my experience in Marxist groups lol) or you realize the cause you were fighting for like Socialism falls apart when you actually visit the countries that are practicing it -like Marxism in China at the time of the Cultrural Revolution.

In case you think this is limited to left-wing causes,I noticed something interesting during my psychiatric practice.Some of my patients with the most disappointing relationships I had seen were people with partners from the great human-rights movements of our times-Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières and Greenpeace amongst others.This was at first very surprising- until I figured out that these people were ideologues.Their convictions were strong but their hearts were hard and insensitive.Oh.oh.Problem.I had noticed the same thing during my participation in left-wing groups.The right-wingers had better relationships.I was genuinely surprised! If you need a more public version of this truth, think of the marriages of George Bush senior and junior and Ronald Reagan vs. the marriages of F.D.R. J,F.K. and Clinton lol.Surprising,no?The people with the best ideas often have the worst hearts!

3)Relationships.Yes! But how do you do that? Relationships have become more and more difficult.I tell young people now that my ballpark figure for intimate relationships is 1/10.Only 10% are going to work ! One of the best-known researchers in Marital Therapy,John Gottman, says that if you follow marriages in America for 40 years there is a divorce rate around 60%! And that is marriages and old-timers lol. Imagine what it is like now?!Not a good place to start,for sure.Some people are able to replace that with good relationships at work.and others with good family relationships.But many are left out in the cold!

4)Meaning! Whoa! Is that ever a loaded term!? Now the nders often find that, in fact,they are sent back for a purpose.And we all have a purpose,no doubt.But it is very easy to get lost .With all the contingencies of modern life, it is easy to end up in survival mode guaranteeing one’s economical situation and that of their progeny.Fill in the rest of your time with entertainment and you are good to go!Or are you.You can easily end up with a dread of death and a painful sense of temporality Without a Creator,there can be no true meaning.We are then stuck with Existentialism which often enough concludes that suicide is the only rational way out!(Read Camus for further elucidation lol) Wa la howla wala quwatta.

5)Accomplishments?! And what are those accomplishments.Making a million dollars? Getting a Phd. or even better lol an M.D.?! When the Pakistani mothers in my community were pushing their children into med school ,I would invite them to come to my Continuing Ed Courses in medicine to see those docs after 20-30 years of practice”Is that what you would like for your children?” I would ask.They would come running after the talk and say: “You musn’t say that, Dr. Ibrahim(yes,I was one of those fortunate few m.d.s lol).You will discourage them”No I would answer in my all-too provocative way. “You are the ones who are discouraged.If that is their vocation ,it is fine,But if not,you are committing them to  a lifetime of misery”.But who cares about that when you can say that your son or daughter is a doctor lol?!

As you can see by now,I am not a big fan of the secular version of happiness.It inevitably breaks down when confronted with the tests and tragedies of life and with the inevitable sickness and death that accompanies old-age.So let us examine a more robust response-the spiritual one!

So far,so bad lol.I like to frame my articles according to the Islamic Formula of “laillaha illallah”(there is no god besides the One God).Tha tis we start by denying  the batil(the falsehood) and then we assert the positive-the Truth.So,here is what you have been waiting for lol- the positive!

A Protocol for developing Positivity:

In effect,if we look deeply,the entire religious/spiritual enterprise is about developing positivity. From trusting in God (tawakkul) to loving Him and His Prophet, to surrendering to His Will,it is all positivity-training.Nevertheless,in this article we will concentrate on four aspects of this practice.

1-Gratitude: Even the secularists agree to this one! In fact there is research to indicate that doing a gratitude practice helps with depression!If you Google the subject,you will find numerous articles to confirm this effect.What I am recommending here is that every night before you go to sleep,think of 3-5 things that happened during the day that you can be grateful for.It can even be for something negative that did not happen. It might sound something like this”I am grateful for the efficient snow-clearing operations that happen all around me during the winter making life that much easier in Canada.Or again”I am grateful that the huge icicles that fell off my roof as the thaw came in did not injure anyone”. You can see that the gratitude can be very specific to one’s particular situation.

Once again here you can see the advantage of being a believer! At least we know who we are grateful to-our Creator.Rabb Alameen(the Lord of the worlds).I guess there are people wpo get benefit just by being grateful to the forces of chance but that seems like small comfort to a metaphysician like myself lol

Now, as a believer,we should be grateful all the time,or at least many times during the day,not only at night.So remember the gratitude button.It is not always easy.Why is that? I like to say that the human brain is a compass that points south?!i.e. it is designed to indicate the negative,the dangerous,the tragic.The evolutionary biologists tell us that this has a survival benefit in it.It is better to misidentify the rock as a sabre-toothed tiger( no loss except for some anxiety lol) than misidentify the tiger as a rock(and get eaten unnecessarily!). Although this has an evolutionary advantage,it also has a spiritual,happiness disadvantage.We end up living in fear and worry  and doubt!

Let me give you a clinical anecdote to underline the issue here.I once had a client with a suspicious breast lump- who was scheduled for a biopsy.She was understandably freaked-out and we spent the entire session dealing with her anxiety.Two weeks later,she came in and immediately started complaining about her spouse(we’re used to that in psychotherapy lol). Something in me felt that this was not right.And then it clicked”One moment here”I said”Two weeks ago you were sure you were dying and would leave two children without a mother! What happened with the biopsy?” ” Oh,that” she responded” It was negative.I’m fine.But my husband….lol “. You see what had happened is the brain, geared to negativity mode, had shifted to the next problem!  Here is where the work begins! “One,moment here”I said.”Let’s take a moment to be happy and grateful that the lump was benign,that you’re going to live and be there for your children.” She laughed shyly!

So for each of us we have to catch the thing to be grateful for “on the fly” so to speak.Our brain will not flag it.It is set in negativity mode But our soul must if we want to be happy and grateful!

2-Philantrophy: This refers to thinking about the other ,considering the other,and doing for the other.In the Islamic traditions,our Prophet saws is the model for good character.It is said that when he arises on the Day of Judgment, his first words are “ummat, ummati(my community,my community) .”How are the others doing?” The polar opposite of Trump lol who is always thinking:”How does this affect me?”

Now philantrophy can take many forms and it has its own risks.It can take the form of charitable donations.So many good causes to donate to.Unfortunately this has become a cottage industry with the risk of corrupting the whole process and turning people off. I resent some of those heart-wrrenching ads about starving children and amputees and mistreated animals.They are ALL real and worthy causes.But there is something manipulative in this approach, something about the process that is “marketing ” and obnoxious.Allah knows our intentions however and will reward us accordingly.

Another form of philanthropy is simply doing a good deed like driving a neighbour who has no car to the grocery store or fixing someone’s leaky tap for free.All of this is charity.In fact our Prophet saws has said that even a smile is a form of charity. I like to remind Muslims with sour expressions on their faces(especially women lol) of that hadith when I go shopping lol.Our tradition is about being positive. This is what gives people shining faces with light.

Another form of philantrophy is listening and accompanying people who are having a hard time, emotionally, through their distress.Once again,be careful.If you take on too much pain ,you yourself will be negatively affected.

So very many ways of thinking and helping others.They are in front of us every day! But once again,we need to confront our egos! They are programmed to be selfish! Another survival advantage,the biologists will tell us in their cynical ways..Survival here- but negative consequences on the other side.Read about nders “Life Reviews” if you need confirmation.

I would like to complete this section with an apocryphal story from the Sufi traditions.There was once  a nasty,foul lady who used to hang out in the markets of Baghdad.She spent her time cursing people and speaking foul language.And then she died! Several students of Imam Junayd ,one of the greatest of the Sufis,saw her on the other side- in paradise!They couldn’t believe their eyes so they went to their teacher.”How could such a woman be in paradise ?” they asked.Al Junayd was quick to answer” One day there was a dog shivering in the cold,dying in the market.She took off her coat to help him be warm.For this deed alone, Allah forgave all her other sins!” Alhumdulillah!

3-Seeing the positive We have a number of expressions for this in English and French-“Seeing the silver lining in the cloud”;”seeing the glass as half-full rather than half-empty” and many others.The manoeuvre is always the same.”Look at the bright side”.Hamza Yusuf is fond of telling the story of a Moroccan or Mauritanian man who had very strong faith but had a bad stroke( May Allah spare us these kind of tests). Instead of complaining about his right side which was completely paralyzed ,he would point out how well his left side was working and attribute that to the Mercy of his Lord.A very high degree of faith indeed!

We have many occasions to do this practice. Some banal examples: Our sink blocks up in the kitchen”Thank God I have another sink in the bathroom”.Our child has A.DH.D. “Thank God,it’s not autism”. Our car has some issues.”Thank God,we have several good mechanics in the area.”There are countless ways we can count our blessings! And we should make it our duty to do so!

4-The Acceptance Practice (hot off the press)lol

In Sufism this is referred to as “rida” -officially translated as “satisfaction” or “contentment”

This just came to me! Only believers can benefit from this one ,I believe.We know that everything,yes everything, is from God.The Sufis say that not a molecule in the Universe moves without the permission of the Divine! Even the Advaita people like Robert Adams say “Everything is unfolding exactly as it should.There are NO mistakes in the Universe”. So here is how we apply that knowledge! Whatever occurs, especially what appears to be negative,we say: “This too is from Allah and I accept it” Then we find a good reason why that may be so.A simple personal example.Recently I had a problem with a tooth which previously had a root canal.My dentist looked at it,couldn’t quite figure it out and referred me to the root canal specialist.But he was overbooked and couldn’t see me for two months.A bummer,no? Not easy to accept.Then I thought”It is not really causing me any pain.Alhumdulillah.And the wait will train me in patience”(not one of my natural attributes lol.)The problem is still there but much of the disappointment is gone.And I know I can do even better than that in the future.

This last anecdote also refers  us back to our relationship to the body-source of so much grief! In my neck of the woods,the French Canadians like to greet us on New Years with “Bonne Année .Je vous souhaite la bonne santé. Après tout, c’est la santé qui est la pricipale”(Happy New Years .I wish you good health.After all,it’s health(physical health) that’s the most important!) .I used to let it pass.But now,for those who can handle it I respond: “One moment.That can’t be it! We are all condemned to ill-health and death at some point.So if it’s all about health,we’re really  in trouble!” .Most of them smile back but some ask the follow-up question:”So,what’s it about/” And I respond “It’s about Faith.And our relationship to the Creator”The believers smile.And the agnostics scowl lol.

So there you go! Four practices to maintain positivity.1) gratitude; 2) Philanthropy; 3) Seeing the positive in everything and 4) acceptance.Let’s get to work- you and  me!

Salaams,Sufi Ibrahim

 

 

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Spiritual Practice, Uncategorized

The Truth is in the Anecdotes!

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And btw-2…Sorry O worshipers at the altar of contemporary science but “The Truth is in the anecdotes!!“Ever notice that the Bible and the Torah and the Quran are full of teaching anecdotes! Not of data! In Islam we call these stories Qisas.That’s where the juice is! That’s where the real food is.The data is like dry dust-powdered food.As you like…H-m-m-m.
Comparative Religion, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

The Five Klesas: A Complete program for Islamic ‘Tarbiya”(Training)

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People ask me why I think Comparative Religion is an important subject for all to learn.Here is a wonderful example!

Today, as I was doing my morning walk,on the fasting day of Arafat,I came upon the usual challenges that Muslims are confronted with during the summer months in North America.The Quran tells us to “lower our gaze” and yet we are challenged with lovely-looking, skimpily clad females all around us! Yes,even during the pandemic lol.

And then I had an inspiration(‘ilham’ in Arabic).Why this ruling of loweing the gaze?! These rulings are not just capricious or arbitary as some may think.Hasha,abadan,never! They come from wisdom.

And the wisdom is the following.If we do as Westerners are inclined,even urged to do,and “check out” the members of the opposite sex,then we are generating desire .And desire gets in the way of our path to Allah.It is a big distraction.

This thinking led me to reflect on the Buddhist teaching of the Five Klesas(Obstacles on our path to Enlightenment,in their way of thinking.) And what are these five obstacles?

1) Desire/Attachment

2) Aversion(Anger and Fear)

3) Laziness(and its sister procrastination)

4) Agitation(goals and ambitions) and finally

5) doubt( something often promoted by the scientific mind-set)

“What a wonderful formula for Islamic”tarbiya” I thought-succinct and comprehensive and even “actionable” as American politicians like to say lol.

Let us take them one by one;

1) Desire. Ramakrishna called them “women and gold”(There I go.More Comparative Religion lol).Yes,Sexual attraction to the opposite sex,or even,dare I say in this age of political-correctness, to the same sex.And greed-the love of money(and material possessions) symbolized by gold.

2) Aversion– a) Anger.Did the Prophet of Islam saws not warn us?! “Don’t be angry” he repeated three times to the man asking advice.And b) Fear– which comes from lack of Trust in our Lord(tawakuul.”Everything is in good hands,the hands of Allah”.He is the Controller,He is the Determiner of Affairs,He is the all-Powerful,He is the Provider.What is there to fear?!

3) Laziness-which is from the ‘nafs’ ego.Sheikh Nazim used to say: “The ideal of the nafs is to lie under a fruit tree and wait,without any effort whatsoever,for the fruit to fall into our mouths”lol. So instead,as seekers,we do “jihad-al-nafs”-the great struggle against our ego and its laziness.

4) Agitation; Which usually comes from self-will and self-direction;from thinking we can control things ,that we are in charge.That is a recipe for anxiety and stress and misery.If you don’t believe me, just look around you lol.It is every where-because we have been trained to think WE can control matters when mostly we can’t and we are better off surrendering to What is rather than shaping it.This leads us inevitably to the issue of the Will of God but that is a discussion for another time.

5) Doubt. Another Biggie! Doubt is cultivated from the first day we enter our schooling system.We are conditioned to trust our mind and our mind productions and the mind productions of our so-called experts but we are not conditioned to trust in the Only Truly Trustworthy one-the Divine,God,Allah.So most of us modern people have our work cut out for us on this one.Big struggle.(See my article”The Process of Deprogramming from the Cult of the Intellect” on this same blogsite)

How elegant and sublime?! Buddhism provides us with a road-map to become true Muslims.Put that in your pipes and smoke it O Wahhabbis ,Salafis and Ikhwanis.As Sufis,we have less of a problem with this as we have in common with the Buddhists the mystical quest-that is the quest for Ultimate Reality.(If you are concerned that I am losing my Islamic identity lol,you can read the Chapter in my last book  Understanding Life called”Unpacking Buddhism” to see where I disagree with the Buddhists).

After I shared this understanding with one of my students who has a knack for calling me out on my slips and my omissions,he said to me”What about ‘shirk'(idolatry).The Buddhists don’t have that ,do they.”At first,I just let it pass and then it came to me.Yes,there is plenty about “shirk’ in this model of Five Klesas.Let me explain.”Shirk” (idolatry) is the cardinal sin in Islam just as Pride is the cardinal sin in Christianity.Literally it means partnership.So Muslims are taught not to make partners with Allah.The idols of Mecca can be seen as partners as can all the gods of the polytheist pantheon.

But mostly,we no longer have concrete idols, in the Western world at least.But we do have many “idols of the heart”.What are these idols?! They are all there in the five klesas.The idol of money,the idol of sexual pleasure,in fact the idols of all sorts of pleasures.Anything that takes priority over our concern with our relationship with our Lord,becomes an idol.Laziness can refer to the “idol of recreation”for example.There are many,many people who believe that the purpose of life is to have as many good times as possible.A current tragic consequence of that mentality can be seen in the surge of Covid cases in the southern U.S.- linked to beaches and parties and bars.So these are not just abstract ideas.They have very serious consequences.

And lastly there is doubt! Broken down to its essence,doubt means that we trust too much in our own mind-productions.It is the opposite of Faith (Iman) and Trust in God(Tawakuul.)

There you have it .A complete Program for spiritual hygiene.Time to get to work,n’est-ce pas?! Salaams,Ibrahim

Modern Living, Psychology, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

Timely Living

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One of the most important skills in life is knowing when to act and when to wait and be patient.Most people I observe are either compulsively acting( and planning their future actions)-a state we could call agitation-or waiting too long to act by procrastinating.- to the point that their actions lose their potency! One of the few people I have met who was capable of timely action was Sheikh Nazim al-Qubrusi.He was more Zen than the Zen Buddhists lol. Mashallah that I had the honour of spending time with him.

Psychology, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

The Problem of “Tarbiya”(Training)

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My current sheikh,Abu Qassin Bilkhairy of Erdeyf ,Tunisia makes an important distinction between the shuyukh of “barakat”(good vibes) and the shuyukh of “tarbiya”(training)It is the first time I had heard of this classification and it makes a lot of sense.However ,it is not as cut and dried as it would seem at first blush.

When one goes to the sheikh of barakat, it is a pleasant experience or  or even an elevated one-  of ‘hal’ and everyone is happy.But the question remains:”Are we  really advancing?” Is this really “Sufism” or is this mere spiritual entertainment?Often enough the answer is the latter.This is probably the reason our sheikh talks about the “shuyukh of barakat”.

Now even if the teacher sets out to do “tarbiya”(training,raising up as we do with children) is that really what is happening? Note: we are a long way from the tales of Abu-Hassan Ash-Shadhili and Ibn Mashish or Jellalludin Rumi and Shems Tabriz. They seemed to be almost alone as students with the full attention of the Master upon them.Now we have turuq with hundreds if not thousands,even tens of thousands of murids! How can the same instruction occur?!

As soon as we “scale up” the operation(to use a modern M.B.A. term lol), we run into problems.We then need a managerial structure.There needs to be muqaddams(local representatives) who take the place of the teacher and these muqaddams  need to be competent and humane and sensitive-which often they are not! And the Sheikh needs to monitor them.That is one of the places where we find the most problems ! The notion of “accountability” has not yet arrived in the Sufi world lol! Some of the muqaddams are slackers,others are tyrants and others are simply out of their depth.They are usually chosen because they have been around the longest or because they are the most earnest in their practice.Neither of those are satisfactory criteria for such a role.So the management structure is seriously defective to begin with.And often,the supervision is spotty at best.Bring in the consultants! lol. Not going to happen in Sufi groups!

I have noticed these problems for a long time.However recently I have been Graced with two students of my own who seem sincere in their desire to learn about Sufism and advance spiritually.That has given me an “in vivo” experience from the other side of the “sheikh/murid” equation.And it has put me in touch with a whole other set of problems.This “tarbiya” stuff is no easy matter! I believe it was Freud who once said:”I believe I have discovered in psychoanalysis  a third human activity that is both necessary and doomed to failure-the other two being raising children and governing nations”. So we can well ask whether guiding people in the Sufi way, or any spiritual way for that matter, is not a fourth such activity?!

One of the first questions that arises is how soft or how tough to be:-loving or setting limits,comforting or provoking.We have  examples of most of these attitudes from Sufi history! When Ibn Ataillah came to see his grandsheikh, Abu-Hassan, the second time complaining about ‘waswas'(obsessional doubts around the question of wudu),he was told.”Stop that behaviour or don’t come back to our Zowwsiyya”! Talk about tough love! Then there is the iconic story of Shems Tabriz throwing all of Rumi’s books into the well and saying”Do you want these books or do you want Real knowledge”? No small deal for a life-time scholar.Not to mention the Sufis of malamatiya(the way of blame) who would curse at their new students and send them packing until they had proved their mettle.

Nowadays, however,we have the opposite-sheikhs who coddle their students,who enable them in their slackness,who never call them out on their bad behaviour and their spiritual faults.Yes,I have seen a lot of it over the years.The results are never good! The people around often justify it by saying that the sheikh is too loving or too compassionate to scold his students.I don’t buy it!

So how do we arrive at a balance?And can we or is it just “aspirational” to use another modernistic term.I believe it is conceivable and  possible even if I haven’t seen it yet.But it requires a lot of effort and discernment and observation.And the idealization of the sheikh as well as the infantilization of the murids is a definite obstacle.In all honesty,medical school,with all its dunniyawi limitations,did a much better job of this than the turuq.If you didn’t do your work or weren’t prepared for your presentations,you were called out on it.If you did a good job,you were told so .And if a teacher was out of line by being too tough OR too soft,they were often enough replaced by others- in the good schools at least..In all fairness,it is a lot easier to teach medicine than Sufism but I think the comparison is useful nevertheless.

One of the most important questions in the teacher/murid relationship is that of dependency.The Sufi metaphorically falls at the feet of his sheikh as the Hindu chela does literally at the feet of his guru.Fine and well,but what after that? Does he just sit their suckling at the sheikhs breast so to speak.When is he weaned and how? When does the sheikh say:”Now you have to do some work on your own”.Or even “Now is the time to leave” as Ibn Mashish said to Abu-Hassan when he sent him to Tunisia.Many murids will stick around the sheikh’s presence until they are forced to leave by an action similar to the cat that chases off one of its kittens who is lingering too long at the nipple or as the mother bird chases the chick out of the nest.But it musn’t be too early or the fledgling will die!

Another important aspect of this “tarbiya” work is the complex world in which we now live.It is no longer sufficient to say the Sufi needs outer knowledge(Islamic sciences) and inner knowledge to be complete.Now he needs multi-dimensional knowledge! He needs to know about psychology and Comparative Religion and the toxicity of our surroundings as taught by Environmental Medicine.I cannot see how a Sheikh can properly guide people in their lives if they do not have at least a minimum exposure to these new forms of knowledge.This,alone, is a considerable challenge to the modern spiritual teacher.

Now,inevitably when one is guiding people,one comes up against unique ,multivariant, specific challenges.This is not unique to spiritual teachers.It comes up in medicine,in psychiatry and even in building problems(a whole other dossier there).So how can we manage this kind of complexity.All the general rules of behaviour and jurisprudence fall by the wayside when confronted by the complexity and specificity of each new situation.And this is where the Istikhara prayer and dream interpretation comes in.Of course,Allah is Aware of all of this.And often enough,He is the only One with the right answer! So we need to consult with Him. And the best means I have found is the Itikhara prayer and the  interpretation of dream symbols t.hat follows(I am in the midst of gathering materials for a book on this very subject so stay posted!).

Ok.That’s a start on a fascinating but difficult and subtle subject-How to Raise a “Mensch”,a true “Insan” who is true to his deepest nature(fitra).More to come inshallah.Salaams,Ibrahim

 

 

Comparative Religion, Modern Living, Psychology, Spiritual Practice

The Covid Pandemic: An Occasion for Educational Initiaves

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All over the world, but especially in America,we are hearing the same lamentation:”We need to open our schools.But how can we do that safely?!” Trump says the schools need to open.But the public health officials, including his own, say it’s not possible.

The reality is that we cannot open the schools as usual! They are designed as “concentration” camps”(yes,that’s exaggeration lol)for children.That is ,they are intended to house(baby-sit is the operative term)as many children as possible,as economically as possible for as long as possible-to allow their parents to work.That is not consistent with social distancing and spacing.Similarly,restaurants and bars cannot be profitable without crowding and intimacy.

We shouldn’t forget, as well,that schools,while they have a captive audience,use the time to ideologically program the children (brainwashing is probably a more apt term even though it would be more controversial).By the end of the program, the children leave with the official seal of Empiricism,Rationalism ,secularism and Humanism(the right-wingers are right on that one) called a graduation certificate.That way we produce the perfect workers and clients for our “democratic,industrial complex”!

The problem is that many parents are not really in agreement with this programming.They have other values-perhaps more religious,more conservative ,more creative.But by the time they realize their kids have been cloned,it is too late! Now they are stuck with ideological opponents-often for life!

Now,  some people think that the answer is religious schools.But the latter are only marginally different.Yes,they add an extra layer of morality and some teachings about obedience.But they don’t teach “seeing” and “hearing” and “feeling”. So the children don’t really understand the purpose of those rules and the purpose of obedience to them.Many of them end up rejecting the religious paradigm,others follow blindly or half-heartedly. Some even become fanatics.But very rare is the youngster who comes out a self-actualized,spiritually subtle or enlightened(“tanwir” as Ibn Ataillah calls it) being.At best they are religious clones.

So what are we proposing,then? This is the way it would operate,as I currently conceive of it.(For more ideas about the kind of teaching that would go on ,look at the two articles previously published on this blog called “Call to Action”. )The overall project could be described as “Collective Home-schooling”.It would be constituted by groups of 3-6 parents(the ideal number will have to be tested in practice).They would take on the teaching of all the children of these families in a cooperative effort for most of the teaching from elementary to Middle school.( Morally speaking, the years around puberty will probably be the most challenging.)When it comes to specialized,professional or even advanced academic education(God forbid lol) we will have to send them ,at least for now back to the Universities and colleges ,but by then they should be prepared to deal with it even if the process of transition may be painful.Personally I would prefer the professional and trade learning to be on a master/apprentice basis but that is a long way off-for now at least.

In the practical day-to-day teaching, the different parents who have skills in one subject in particular like those who excel in math and science and those who excel in literature and languages can take it upon themselves to teach those subjects.Many other more subtle subjects will be taught as well-as outlined in “The Call to Action”

This type of organization will allow working mothers and fathers to be able to continue much of their work with the help of the other parents.It will also prevent the traumatization of children being separated from their parents at day-cares and experiencing the anxiety and upsetness of entering a new school with large numbers of strangers at the beginning of elementary school or high school or after any other moves.The community of learners  should be relatively stable and seamless inshallah.The children will know the other parents and know most of the other children and be familiar with the community around them in most instances.

Sound good? Well, we need people with commitment and initiative who are willing to try this out-people who are willing to resist the social currents and disrupt their current lives to try something new.This will not occur automatically. People will have to move,as this cannot be done without physical proximity.We are talking “village” here. So lots of effort and optimism will be required. The alternative ,staying in the socially-determined track, is unhappy,miserable,stressed-out children with little sense of direction and lots of anxiety.That’s the norm! Is that what you want for your children?If not you can contact me on this blog or at jebrahim2@gmail.com. Ahlan(welcome). Sufi Ibrahim

 

Metaphysics, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

The Path of Wisdom

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The Path of Wisdom

I began my own spiritual path 45 years ago ( excluding the political and psychological phases of the search ) with a universalist Sufi model under the tutelage of Pir Vilayat Khan. It was only in 1978 that I found a Muslim/Sufi teacher who introduced me to Islam. Alhumdulillah.

On the first page of the first teaching I received it said the following:” On this way, we walk on two legs-the Shariah (the right way  in the relative world) and the Haqiqat (The Absolute Truth of Oneness).” That became the pillar of my understanding for 40 years! But, fairly recently I realized that it is not enough. The model needed to become expanded. From walking on two legs we needed a third leg and so it became a tripod instead lol.! The third leg is “wisdom/discernment”. Let me explain, briefly.

When we talk about Shariah, I am not talking about the strict interpretation of Islamic Law although, at times, that, too, may inform our decisions. I am speaking, rather, about the relative world-how we need to be in relation to God and to other parts of the Creation including other humans, animals and the environment. The Advaita Vedanta people would call this the dualist approach since they, like their cousins, the Buddhists, consider it illusory -a product of our mental functions. Wrong! Not only is this dimension important, it may, in fact, be more important than the Haqiqat since the Haqiqat (think God, think Absolute Reality) remains unchanged no matter what we do. The Shariah dimension is, on the other hand, at least partially in our control so we have some say over how it turns out.

The Haqiqat is referred to in all the spiritual paradigms- in one form or the other. It may be referred to as Samadhi in Hinduism or Nibbana or sunyata in Buddhism or Christ-Consciousness in Christianity. In Islamic Sufism, it is referred to as “fana and baqa”(annihilation and return) and also as Wajh(the Face of Allah) or again as “sir”-the deepest secret-that in essence we are one with our Lord- just as the drop of water is one with the Sea. This dimension is , in fact, something we can all agree on except of course the Thahereen(the Externalists) like the Wahhabis, who refuse all forms of spirituality  and the atheists who are preaching a form of spiritual nihilism!

Now we come to perhaps the most subtle and most troubling part of all spiritual paths. This is the dimension of the path which when absent leads to all the aberrations of religion-like terrorism and extremism and fundamentalism- that we know and hear about, And that is the dimension of Wisdom/Discernment. I received my first teaching about this dimension at the hands of my very first teacher-Pir Vilayat Khan. He would say regularly: ” Break your principles on the Rock of Reality”. Tell that to an extremist or a fundamentalist-that is if you are not afraid to die quickly and be a martyr lol! Underlying this statement is the need for wisdom and discernment.

What are the issues that come up in this dimension of knowledge? Which questions are we addressing? Here are a few. Take note that this is an evolving and a vast zone of enquiry. So I expect new understandings to emerge in time. I will do my best to keep you abreast of these developments. I am learning more and more about it as you are.

:What is more important and what is less in a particular situation?  In modernist conceptions we could say:” What is the priority? “                ‘

When should we speak and when should we remain silent?

When should we accept and when should we “push back” when something is suggested to us?

When should we be patient and when should we act?(Muslims, because of our teachings, often get this one wrong and are patient when they should be acting. Westerners , on the other hand, are often acting when they should be patiently waiting. From thence the term activist” lol

When should we be understanding and compassionate and when should we be stern and assertive (like with our children)?

And what is the right decision in any given context?

The questions go on and on. The point is that the good principles we have learnt in Shariah and Haqiqat often betray us when they are applied in the wrong situations. So widom/discernment is also learning about which principles and teachings apply for any specific time and place and person . This is no simple matter! This cannot be done through book-learning or specific spiritual practices. I cannot tell you how much bad advice I have heard over the years from good, well-intentioned people -some of them very highly evolved spiritually !

For that very reason, we are taught in our psychotherapy training not to give advice! But that is a cop-out which no person on the spiritual path- either teacher or student- can accept. We need to figure out what is right and what is wrong in each specific situation. That is a moral and practical obligation!

Here is what Solomon (the archetypal representative of wisdom) has to say about it:

Ecclesiastes 3 New International Version (NIV)

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:2 

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,…

Someone understood this subject long ago lol!

So how do we do this? How do we learn wisdom and discernment? I have spent time with great spiritual beings and brilliant professionals and academics but I must say that I have never encountered someone who can reliably speak from wisdom! That is not really a critique of these great beings but rather a statement of their missions. Some were great doctors and their practice of medicine was outstanding. Some were great religious teachers and their knowledge was impeccable And some were shuyukh of Sufism and their ‘hal’ (spiritual state) was remarkable But none were regularly able to channel wisdom except in moments of Divine inspiration which were only sporadic.

I have spent a lot of time and effort pondering this question. In fact, I consider this one of my principle missions in life. Ultimately wisdom is a matter of intuition. But how can we develop this intuition? Certainly, cleansing of the heart and clearing of the mind are both important. That is why the best decision-maker I have ever run into or heard of was the Prophet Mohammed saws. His timing was impeccable, his dosing of compassion and sternness was outstanding and his intentions were always good! But what about us mere mortals?!

In the modern world, I believe that one of the essentials for the practice of wisdom is comprehensive knowledge. Of course, it is impossible to know about all specialized fields , but a competent wise consultant should at least know about the following: 1) Comparative Religion (the different religions-their beliefs and their practices); 2) Sociology-the impact that different societies have on the values and beliefs of their members. In this light, a teacher who has spent his/her entire life surrounded by people of his/her own culture is unlikely to be able to counsel people effectively that come from other cultures. This is somewhat like asking the Catholic priests of old who were celibate, by vows at least, to counsel their parishioners about marriage and family life lol!.3)Environmental Medicine(the influence of the contaminants and toxins of all sorts(pesticides in our food, formaldehyde in our construction products, heavy metals in various forms, EMFs all around us etc.,etc.) that surround us  in the modern world, and 4)Psychology (the inner workings of the mind as understood in the different psychological frameworks-psychoanalytic, Cognitive and Humanistic).Without these forms of knowledge a spiritual advisor is unlikely to be able to regularly give good advice.

That being said, the most useful tool I have found in this search for discernment  is the Istikhara Prayer outlined in the following article: http://www.sufipilgrimsprogress.com/the-istighara-prayer-2/. As we learn to do this practice on a regular basis and we learn to properly interpret dreams and signs, our wisdom grows as does our intuition. We can begin to discern what “feels right’ in every individual situation and thus get better and better at decision -making. I do this work with my Sufi students and with  individuals on my counselling site. ( (www.sufiibrahim.com)  It is subtle and profound work but well worth the effort. One of the awesome side-effects of doing it is that we begin to see clearly and convincingly that Allah(God) is aware of everything going on- in the finest detail! Once we align ourselves with His Will and His Wisdom, all is right. That is the way to His Kingdom. Anything else is destined to lead to more trouble and suffering. Welcome to the journey!

Sufi Ibrahim

 

 

 

 

 

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

Why Experience is Not Enough

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Why Experience is Not Enough

I left the New Age movement over 40 years ago-for numerous reasons that I cannot expand upon fully on this occasion. But one of the reasons was a whole host of beliefs, the New Age credo if you like. In this article, I will address one of those fundamental beliefs and the reasons it is wrong. That belief is the following:” That the only thing we can really trust on the spiritual path is our own, individual experience.” That is a deeply flawed conviction and here is why.

1)We need the experience of others- specifically those of the Prophets, saints and real masters. How could we practice Islam and even Sufism without the experience of Mohammed saws? Without the Quran, which he transmitted for us, and without his hadith and dua we would be nowhere. How can one practice Christianity without the New Testament and the Old Testament and the sayings of Jesus a.s. The monks and ascetics and mystics of Christianity would have no basis for their practice without that.The same, of course, is true for Judaism and Buddhism and Vedantic Hinduism.

Do New Age people really believe that they can have the experience of the Quran being revealed to them personally or of being crucified as the Christians believe happened to Jesus?! Anyone trying to climb Mount Sinai for a second edition of the Tablets lol?I hope not or we may be more in the domain of psychosis than that of false beliefs lol. As individuals, we cannot possibly have all the experiences needed to follow a complete spiritual path. Therefore it is necessary, first of all, that we take account of the experience of other people who are higher in spiritual status than we will ever be!

2) Experience is subject to misinterpretation.

One of the most common misinterpretations is to confuse Phenomenology (personal experience) with Ontology(Actual Existence).Sorry for the Latin words but they do circumscribe the problem better than anything I could find in English or French lol.

In Sufi history we have the iconic story of Mansur al-Hallaj running around the marketplace of Baghdad shouting; ”I am the Truth”. Despite the exhortations of his master Junayd al-Baghdadi, he kept insisting until the governor of the state ordered his execution. In Sufi terms, we would say he was experiencing a ‘hal’.When we do so we are often best advised to remain silent!  In the contemporary Western World we have the al-Hallaj equivalents in the neo-Advaita Vedantists preaching unicity “non-dual reality” to their followers. ”There is Only One Reality” they claim. All of this world and all of its creatures and inhabitants are illusions. Robert Adams, a student of Ramana Maharshi and one of the most articulate exponents of this theology puts it this way: ”Principle Number One: The realization that everything you see, the universe, people, worms, insects, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, your body, your mind, everything that appears is a manifestation of your mind”. I don’t believe he is making this up. It is clearly an experience. But it is fundamentally wrong! The Creation, too, is real1 It does not have the quality of independent Existence as it comes from a series of causes(asbab) of which the Original Causer is Allah (God). But it is Real nevertheless! And, intuitively, we all know that. Thinking it is not so can lead to all kinds of misjudgments and misbehaviours as we will highlight shortly.

Another common misinterpretation, especially in the Indian religions, is that if you have the experience of God (Nirvana if you wish) then you are God and then everything you do after that is perfect! We can only begin to  imagine the corruption that can come from such a misinterpretation of experience. I like to tell the iconic story of a Sufi friend of mine (a true story btw!) who bought a used car from a follower of a well-known guru in upstate New York. Yes, the stories of used car salesmen are a stereotype going back to the famous cartoon of Richard Nixon with his “six-o’clock shadow beard saying:” Would you buy a used car from this man? ”Many commentators believe he lost the election because of that cartoon!

My story here involves, however, two relatively poor spiritual aspirants-one a Sufi and the other a follower of Shaiva Hinduism. The Hindu follower when confronted with all the defects in his used car said: ”But brother, the God in me sold the God in you this car. How could there be anything wrong with this deal?!” Really!

Now, admittedly the excuses are not always as lame as that. But how about the spiritual teacher sleeping with one of his female students saying that he is transmitting Grace to her or that it is a Tantric practice. Or that this is a means for her spiritual evolution. Yes,I have seen it all-not literally “in the flesh” so to speak lol but through credible witnesses. And then there is the always the very popular Buddhist group who being confronted with the misbehaviour of their teacher called it” Crazy Wisdom”?! Not crazy, corrupt and immoral I would say. Much of these kinds of behaviour come from misinterpretation of spiritual experience.  Almost all these teachers have had some serious experience of the Divine. All of them misinterpreted it!

3) The spiritual path requires both Faith (Iman) and Trust in God (Tawakkul). Both of those are feelings -subtle ones- in the heart. But they are not experiences. You don’t have visions of Faith and Trust! You feel them. They come from good actions and Grace. They don’t come from proper meditation techniques or Yoga exercises.

4) The need for a Multi-Dimensional approach. I like to use the analogy of a competent judge -using all the information available in order to apprehend reality. I noticed in my practice, that in a counterintuitive manner, judges were more able to apprehend the comprehensive reality that was before them when patients were arguing for their insurance rights. Strangely the judges “got it” better than the specialist doctors. Why was that? Because the specialists were stuck in their so-called “scientific paradigm”. The only source of Truth for them was the peer-review journals and the scientific conferences they attended most of whose content issued from those journals. The judges however were able to listen to the witnesses, consider their “subjective” reports and even assess their honesty. They regularly understood the medical aspects better than the doctors.

One brief anecdote here that may be instructive. I had a client many years ago that was off work for a Major Depression(all too common in the modern world).The employer argued that my client was malingering and they had hired private detectives to follow him and film his daily activities(Yes, this is happening on a regular basis in our societies!).The medical specialists argued to  the judge  that psychiatric science proves that a person with A Major Depression cannot be so active. The judge looked at me and said “What do you say to that,Dr.Kreps?”I looked her straight in the eyes and said:”Mde. Judge. I worked for a while in a Day Hospital with Chronic Schizophrenics. Many of them were just as active if not more so than my client!” Thank you Doctor” she responded. She got it! I knew at that moment we had won the case! And we did!

Admittedly, the spiritual quest is different from psychiatry. But the principle remains the same:” We need a multi-modal approach-not just personal experience. This multi-modal approach should include the following.

: The teaching of the Prophets and masters

:The use of our reason and logic(something I usually don’t like to emphasize because our educational system is so focused on this one element) This can include the study of the history of our religion and its mystical dimensions and that of others so that we can generate the necessary conclusion

: The use of our intuition and our moral sense(conscience) and developing discernment

: the lucid thinking of others

: ‘ayat’-signs on the ground ( banal example .If every-time your teacher comes to town or you go to visit him the weather is horrible, beware(Yes, I have experienced that too .Inevitably a bad sign!)

: feelings in the heart(see my article on Istikhara for further elucidation)

: being aware of the constant receiving of spiritual transmissions– positive and negative- in our environment

I hope my point is clear by now. ”Experience” is not enough. We need to aim to be Insan al Kamil-the Complete Human Being- not just a sensation-seeking experiencer. Hope that is helpful, Joel Ibrahim Kreps

P.S. I have concluded that generally the safest and most effective way to advance spiritually is to join a well-established tradition(Obviously my preference is for Sufi tariqats) with a legitimate, non-corrupt, alive, contemporary master and follow it to the best of your abilities. The rest is in the hands of God and if you do not see results on this side you will see them in the after-life.

 

 

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology, Spiritual Practice

Distress

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From the wisdom of the Sufis: “And the renowned Master Ibn ’Ata’illah says in his Hikam: ‘May the pain of trial be lightened for you by your knowledge that it is He, be He exalted, who is trying you.’ There is no doubt that, for men(and women) of God, their best moment is the moment of distress, for this is what fosters their growth. He also says in his Hikam: ‘The best of your moments is that in which you are aware of your distress and thrown back upon your own helplessness….’ ”

There is no doubt that for men(and women) of God the best moment is the moment of distress. When there is no recourse to yourself. When we find ourselves helpless, that is the best moment, if you understand. It may be in distress you will find benefits that you have been unable to find either in prayer or in fasting.”