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Comparative Religion, Psychology, Spiritual Practice

The Complementarity of Religion and Spirituality:The Latest Metaphor

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There is a common belief, in the Western World at least, that religion and spirituality are completely separate entities.”Spirituality is good.It is uplifting and energizing.Religion is bad.It causes division and conflict”. That is the basic paradigm.

My first glimpse into the falsehood of this doctrine was during my paticipation in The Sufi Order of the West and its leader Pir Vilayat Khan,for whom I still have great respect and affection.However,there was a bias towards spirituality in that group and religious practice always seemed secondary and non-essential.Then I began, on my own, studying the lives of all the saints that Pir Vilayat extolled-from Ibn Arabi to Jellalludeen Rumi in Sufism to St. John of the Cross and St. Theresa d’Avila in Christianity to Ramakrishna and Raman Maharshi in Hinduism.All of these saints were pious practioners of their own religious faith-whether it be Islam,Christianity or Hinduism.So this dichotomy did not hold up in reality!

Then I arrived at my own Islamic Sufi path in Jerusalem.And the first page of the first teaching I received said the following “In this way we walk on two legs-“Shariah” and “Haqiqat”.Shariah is religion and Haqiqat is spirituality.The two are inseparable!Dossier complete!

Given this conviction I looked around for analogies that might best represent this complementarity.My two favourites were:”The garden and the Fence” and “The setting and the precious stone”.If the garden of spirituality has no fence ,the wild animals will ravage it quickly and nothing will be left for the grower.If the precious stone is missing its setting ,it will be damaged or lost.Both the fence and the setting represent the religious practice.

During one of my prayers yesterday,a new analogy came to me by inspiration.It was about the automobile .If the car is missing the steering wheel or the brakes,the driver is in serious danger,no matter how well-designed the engine is or how refined the fuel.The steering wheel(that keeps us on the straight path) and the brakes(that establish limits) represent the religion.We have seen numerous examples of this play out in the West in the last century-people like Chogyam Trungpa and Rajneesh (Osho) and Da Free John,amongst others, who regularly broke the rules of their own traditions to the detriment of themselves and all of their disciples.Let us take note and learn from those tragedies.

Hope that is helpful to your path.Salaams,Ibrahim

Modern Living, Psychology

A little secret of the Universe!(18+only)

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A little secret of the Universe! Totally politically incorrect lol”Women cannot manage on their own”! That is why they are always seeking out male companionship and that is the right way to go. It just has to be properly managed.

Now males on their own become dry and lifeless- like many Catholic priests for example. But women on their own often become unhinged. The male companion then becomes a ground for them.The slacker, passive-aggressive male of today is of little help here but then again they are not allowed to assume a leadership role for fear of being accused of patriarchy!

Sufi Sam Lewis put it this way in the Jerusalem Trilogy” Men need women to connect to the Earth, ( the worldly energies) and women need men to connect to the heavens( ideals and values). That might sound contradictory to what I just stated but actually it is complimentary. The contradiction is only conceptual but in reality they are both true,

 

Modern Living, Psychology

Time Management

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I remember a diet book that said that the average restaurant portion is about twice what we should normally be eating.I think that the same may well be true for the use of time.That is, we are trying to do about twice what we should normally be doing in a day.I have been testing this out in Trinidad.I schedule about half the day only.And it is working out wonderfully.The other half gets easily filled,there is little stress and the “empty times” are both relaxing and open for inspiration of all sorts.Give it a shot.You may be surprised by the results!

Modern Living, Psychology

Comfort?!

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Intriguing world! More peaceful in Tobago than Trinidad . Much less crime. But no people of nur. And no interesting discussions. Conclusion: comfort kills the spirit!

All around us we can see people seeking more comfort- a bigger house, a more spacious car, the latest lazy-boy couch! But they are like the iconic donkey chasing the iconic carrot. They never get to satisfaction. Why?! Because comfort is not where it’s at ! It’s a false God. Comfort kills the spirit!

I remember visiting an old friend of my Mom in a luxurious old people’s home. He had made a lot of money as a jeweller but now seemed to be desolate and confused. “I have everything I ever wanted here but I’m feeling so depressed! “ He had no idea why that was. He had worshipped at the altar of the god of comfort and found himself empty. Why is that?! Because Comfort kills the spirit.

Modern Living, Psychology

A kindred spirit

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I knew there had to be someone out there who understood what I have come to realize about that so over/valued mind! “Man has no enemy equal to the unenlightened mind. It is this unenlightened mind that has built up this vast structure of terrestrial selfishness, discord and greed. The false light or lower mind is the emblem of the beast and the number 666. The beast, consequently, is the uninspired mind which is opposed to the inspired or Divine Mind. This monster of the lower mind, this leviathan that swallows Jonah, this creature that comes out of the sea of illusion, this beast with the crown on his head —all this symbolism refers to the unenlightened human intellect.”

– Manly P. Hall

Alhimdulillah.

Modern Living, Politics

Economic paranoia

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There is a common belief in the modern world that everything is about money. “All political decisions are financially based primarily. “That is what even many intelligent , well-educated people believe. So if the United States goes into Iraq , it is for the petrol or if doctors insist on pharmaceutical treatments it is because they are bribed by the big pharma companies.

Now, there is  some truth to this point of view but it is by no means the whole truth. It is as if the modernists can only see one of the 7 cardinal sins- greed. But often other factors are in play – like pride and ignorance and envy. So in the case of the American entry into Iraq  there were many political factors at play outside of economics. There was even a certain idealism about transforming Iraq into a democracy and setting an example for the Middle East. All of this is lost  in the economic cynism and paranoia which says this must be all about money.

in the case of doctors , I too, have undergone their training( brainwashing) which teaches us to pay attention only to the most concrete and superficial facts(We are trained to be so-called Empiricists) The phrase ‘empirical evidence’ is cited as frequently as Jesus, son of God, in the Catholic Church. So the subtleties  of perception and the patience required for a naturopathic remedy may be well beyond their ken. They were trained that way!

So beware next time you hear a political event explained purely on the basis of economics. You may we’ll be hearing a very partial truth!

Islam, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

The Fundamental Struggle

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There is the Divine Will.It is transmitted to us through the revelations of the Prophets a.s. ,through the teachings of the Saints(awliya) and through our personal moment-to-moment inspirations,when our hearts are clean.

Then there is the “nafs’.It is socially programmed and run by fear, anger and desire.It constantly fights against the Divine Will.It wants to be Lord.Estaghirullah.

Of course,in the long run, the Divine Will wins out.bIn the short term,however, it might look like the ‘nafs’ is winning(wars,bloodshed,cruelty,corruption everywhere).But Ultimately the Divine reigns supreme.It is our obligation to believe that and realize that in the deepest recesses of our being.That is Tawakuul(trust in God) and that is Tasleem(submitting to our Creator).

Salaams,Ibrahim

Modern Living, Psychology

Social Processes

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FBI informed in advance about Florida shooter and warned.But they didn’t do anything about it! This is NOT just a problem with one institution or one negligent person.This is a systemic problem.It’s called DEAFNESS and it exists to varying extents in ALL institutions in modern society.Instead of relying on the Three Doors of Perception-Seeing,Hearing and Feeling- we rely on rules,procedures and logic.This is the result! We have intentionally dehumanized(‘rationalized’ them,I think they call it!) our social processes.Can we really be surprised that we have inhuman results?!

Understood and applied, any one of the posts on this site could change your life-forever!