Trinidadian Agriculture and the Mystical Path

As I go visiting farms in Trinidad and speak to the farmers and even the academics at the University Agriculture Department ,  one thing strikes me-the emphasis they put on composting. The first academic agronomist I spoke to was specialized in the field. At the Green Market I visited on Saturday, there was a vendor just selling compost. And at Louis Bertrand’s farm there was a huge infrastructure for composting, the likes I have not seen at our organic farms in Quebec with the possible exception of the famous Serbian farmer Dag who convinced the city of St. Lazare to dump all the leaves from its autumn clean-up on his farm. Eventually, they closed down his farm ,  however, saying it was an eye-sore!

At first, I thought this emphasis on composting somewhat peculiar but, on further reflection, I realized it was a stroke of genius. To quote an iconic statement from my own spiritual process:  ”Composting man ,that’s where it’s at” lol Why is that so important?! Because the soil and its nutrients are the basis of the whole process. For example, you may have noticed that generally organic tomatoes have almost no taste. That puzzled me for a while until I realized that ”organic” only refers to what isn’t in the product-no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers no GMOs. It doesn’t say anything about what is in the product-i.e. nutrients. So if you have a farm in Mexico, for example , that keeps using the same depleted soil over and over again without replenishing it, you may have an “organic” product but you won’t necessarily have a healthy one!

Those of you who know me by now may well have an idea of where I am headed here. I see all of what exists in this concrete world as a metaphor for what exists in the invisible world and the after-life. This resembles the concept of “concomitants” developed by the Swedish Mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg. Everything in this universe has an equivalent in the subtle world.

So what is composting?! Composting is the ground of our existence-the soil we plant ourselves in. And it is VERY important to have good spiritual soil or our spiritual being and its process will not thrive!

So what are the ingredients necessary for a fertile spiritual soil?” you may well ask. The Buddhist model of the eight-fold path could be a useful start as it defines the way to enhance our process of Enlightenment. The eight-fold path involves: Right Mindfulness, Right Vocation, Right Effort, Right Vie, Right Action, Right Speech, Right Concentration and Right Intention. The terms speak for themselves but if the reader would like to explore each of these concepts more in depth there are numerous sources available on the internet and in published books .It is not my intention to write a summary of Buddhist methodology in this text.

What I would rather do is focus in on a few dimensions of the “soil” that I have observed  in my own practice and the practice of those around me that are relevant to the spiritual path. Obviously good behaviour, good speech and good intention and serious effort are all important. Those are challenges we face on a daily basis.

What concerns me more, at this point, however, are the items which involve more long-term decision-making -specifically “right vocation” and “right company”( not an item in the Buddhist model although the Buddhists try to cover that area by developing monasteries, something we are discouraged from doing in Islam and Sufism.)As to right vocation, this become particularly problematic in modern times. As the MBAs(“the suits” lol) take over ,they try to push all work-related tasks into more and more “efficiency”!(?Profit-making) and as they do that they create more and more stress at the workplace. Doing the jobs of two or three people, working long overtime hours, having constantly to document everything we are doing and defend our actions, may lead to more “efficacy” in terms of labour costs. It also leads to nervous breakdowns and depression! I have personally seen many, many patients in my psychiatric practice suffering from this push to efficacy. Often, it pushes people to stress and burn-out. It can go as far as pushing people to suicide!

As spiritual seekers, it is our duty to be very conscious of this process and resist it. Otherwise, our work will completely drain us and devitalize our souls, so that we are incapable of advancing spiritually .Dealing with this phenomenon may involve changing jobs, starting our own businesses(although that can be very stressful as well) or taking a job that pays less or is less prestigious in order to leave time and energy for other pursuits.

In my travels I have run into two contrasting models of time-management around work. In Syria (before the terrible Civil War) there were still places that followed the traditional timetable. In that schedule, people went to work after the morning-prayer and finished at the time of the noon-day prayer. That still gave them a work-day of seven hours. Then the entire after-noon and evening was available for family life, studies, dhikr, or whatever else interested them. That is an example of balance from my point of view.

The opposite extreme is the” Manhattan model”-you work every day of the week including most evenings and then crash out exhausted on the weekend. Then you restart the cycle on Monday morning. That is not to mention the possibility of weekend meetings, deadline overtimes, and all-nighters .In some of the high-tech industries, people are expected to sleep overnight at work and rest as little as possible to meet deadlines. Is that normal in anyone’s mind?!

As to the question of right company, that, too, can be a complex issue. Obviously, we are highly influenced by the social milieu that surrounds us- no matter how resilient we believe ourselves to be. Spiritual teachers since time immemorial have been urging their disciples to keep good company. This is because we not only pick up the behaviours and ideas from the people around us, we also pick up their states of being which determine those thoughts and behaviours. So beware! This is no light matter.

Now the situation can get complicated, as human beings have multiple dimensions of existence. Someone, for example, might share your value systems but be very boring to be around. Someone may be in a very high spiritual state but it can disrupt your emotional and worldly functions. I have been in tariqats with very pious good people where I had nothing to say to them and I found their discourse predictable and uninteresting. Despite the teachers suggesting we practice “suhba”-spiritual company with brothers from the group, it can get tedious and trying. At that point I might prefer to listen to a stimulating lecture on “Ideas” the CBC nightly intellectual talk -even if the speakers are usually not very pious or God-fearing! Some of the very pious people may also be personality disorders so “buyer, beware” lol Despite their God-fearingness, they can be a pain in the butt!

I hope that through these reflections have got you thinking as to what kind of “spiritual soil” you need in your life to optimize your spiritual development. Let me know what you think and how you are coping with this all too common dilemma. Salaams, Ibrahim

Despite overwhelming evidence from some of the most trustworthy sources,such as Prophets ,mystics and saints and most recently near-death experiencers, one still can encounter episodes of fearing death in one’s being. It comes up insidiously, like an uneasy feeling accompanied with a thought pattern that sounds something like this:”What is going to happen to me when I leave this earth-bound body?How can I possibly live otherwise”. Given what we should know about the after-life from even a cursory look at the data that is out there,this reaction makes no sense.I have concluded that it is actually some kind of programming in our D.N.A. designed to preserve the specious.Nevertheless,we have to deal with it without freaking out.

In fact,whole schools of psychotherapy, like Yalom’s Existential Therapy, have been developed on the basis of “fear of death”. We can fully understand why.However,their enterprise is futile as it is based on spiritual illiteracy- modernistic tendencies towards atheism and agnosticism. I often told my own patients”You cannot cure the fear of Death with psychotherapy,nor with medication.It is ultimately a spiritual question.Only faith or actual spiritual ,mystical experience can cure it!

If we go back to the evidence for a moment, we will see that a theme that emerges on a regular basis,both from the experience and teachings of mystics and from n.d.ers is that this world is not our real home.We are here,so to speak,on a mission-actually kind of like sub-contractors of God.Like any sub-contractors we are accountable for our actions,our behaviours and our attitudes.Ultimately our purpose is to learn,-about the basic principles of existence and about love,and to accomplish our mission,which we had,in fact, agreed to before coming.The consequences of us doing our job properly is literally cosmic.So this is serious stuff-not to be taken lightly-as entertainment for example.

Given theses realities,what do we do about our intermittent bouts of fear of Death.Here is my suggestion.It comes from two sources.1)Humanistic Psychology which developed the technique of ‘affirmations where we affirm what we already know about ourselves to’ combat our neuroses.Example:”Despite what my parents told me, I am not a complete incompetent(perhaps because I left some film on the glasses I washed lol) but am capable of doing good things with my life”2)The other source is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy where we address dysfunctional beliefs.In this case the dysfunctional belief is: “After death I enter a permanent void of non-existence”.

I once met one of the leading practitioners of CBT in Quebec,someone I had studied with during residency training.After we completed our studies,he had sub-specialized in CBT and had become somewhat of a celebrity on the Quebecois psychology teaching circuit. I confronted him with the limitations of his approach and CBT in general in my own experience .Despite all the hype and the manipulated research surrounding it,it was never as effective, in reality, as the research seemed to imply! His answer was interesting”Forget about all those techniques and use what really works-“Self -Talk”.

So the methodology presented here is a combination of affirmations and self-talk.It goes like this:You say to yourself-in writing or out loud or silently, in whatever situation you find yourself in:”This is not my permanent abode.I am here on a short-lived visit -on contract.I am ready to go back home when my Lord calls me”. ( If you are adverse to religious terminology you can replace the word Lord with Universe lol) This practice can be done anywhere and is more effective the more you do it.It is like the spiritual practice of contemplating death that so many traditions including our own- Sufism- recommend.” Try it out.You may be surprised at the results.Salaams,Ibrahim

(FB posting of mine):”Every time I have an inspiration these days, someone has a reason why it isn’t so or can’t be. Reason ,which at some point in history was an instrument of liberation ,has now become a means of enslavement! Because this is so important, I think I’m going to post this every day for awhile. Now, go ahead and tell me why that isn’t a good idea ! I dare you lol”

If one looks more deeply,you can see that, in fact, Reason is a bigger problem than all the other cardinal sins like greed,lust ,envy and pride put together! Why? Because reason is used to justify all the other sins!The psychoanalysts call that”Intellectualization” or “Rationnalization” and it is one of the major defense mechanisms of the ego.

So the greedy person says:”You need money to survive and you have to plan for your financial security.”Even more poignant it will say”the financial well-being of your family”! How can you resist that one.When Mike Tyson bit off part of the ear of his opponent during a fight with Evander Hollyfield,he was asked why he did it”I have to feed my family” he answered.Really! Admittedly there are more clever rationnalizers around but that was a particularly vivid example.Trump will say to the applause of his audience;”Put America first” which is a thinly-covered veil for American greed-on a personal and collective level.Not even the Democrats will challenge him on that policy! After all, we need to be greedy as a nation,no?

Pride will say”But I deserved that.Look how clever I am or look how hard I worked for that”Lust will say: “But women are beautiful: aren’t they the creation of our Lord”? Can you begin to see how sinister this all is.We could go down the list of all the major sins but I think by now the reader is getting the point.Watch it play out all around you in your lives.There’s plenty of it,I guarantee you.

I don’t know about your situation but I am surrounded by this contagion on a daily basis-dealing with government offices and large private institutions,dealing with friends and relatives,going to the market,even.But there are islands of sanity in this sea of obscurity-so there is hope-I think-but not much.

In was initially introduced to this problem at a series of Est Seminars in the 1970’s.The trainer was at the board writing down the stages of spiritual development. In his c;lassification, Reason was the lowest level-just barely above animality! He repeated the phrase several times:”Reason is the lowest level of spiritual development.”It registered in a deep place in m,y being. But if you look around you- at the Justice System,Government Administration,Universities(don’t get me started on them) you will see that it has the most credibility and the most investment.Look how much money is now invested in University education and how much money is invested in building churches and synagogues and mosques.Yes,the Intellect has taken over the role of Temple and faith.

After my foray into Est seminars , I began studying the Vedanta .Aha! These people understood that the mind was a repository of illusion.Is anyone putting that age-old insight into use in contemporary society?No,not even in India! Then there were the Zen Buddhists also trying to escape from the tyranny of the mind.They talk about”Seeing” and “Hearing” an d “Feeling.”(Btw Interesting parallel with the Quran where Allah talks about the people who are blind and deaf and have hardened hearts.It could easily have been talking about the administrators and intellectuals of contemporary society but at the time it was referring to the unbelievers.There are still a few of those around,I believe lol)

And what about the Sufis.Here is a poem by Jellalludin Rumi: