Getting the idea.
Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.
Been gettting myself into some hot water over at Blog Ladder,after posting that talk of Sheikh's.People hate the idea of monarchy it seems and get very upset when it is suggested that democracy is not such a wonderful system after all.
Anyway,it made me think a bit more deeply about both political and religious systems and the ever present difficulties of trying to institute and run them fairly and wisely,given the inherently selfish and unreliable nature of man living in his egoic self.
Some stuff started to form in a Word document..and I'm just going to bung it in with all the gripes and bad language that life with it's tests throws up.
See what you think..I've virtually given up expecting any comments...but of course .. should you feel so inclined...
Idea forming .. about poverty .. war … capitalism … etc etc ..it’s all this attachment to … well …stuff ..really … sex, power and money ..
Same old story..only true spirituality can solve the problems of the world…not political systems..
It’s about individual responsibility ..so who’s going to start then?…
Giving up what we can’t keep anyway.
Turning away from the ephemeral,the temporal to the eternal,permanent..and what is that if not our soul/spirit and God..(or whatever name you choose to call The Eternal Uncreated) ?
30th May 2005 Orgiva 08.17.Hrs.
I suppose I’m just talking to myself again.. I’m finding the computer pretty annoying .. seems to have many little foibles of it’s own since Ruben put the new hard disk in.Today Real Player doesn’t want to work.There’s a version on here which I downloaded and I’m pretty sure I didn’t uninstall it the other day when I was uninstalling everything else because of another problem..Ay! computers! What a pain in the arse they are really.
However,I’m hooked on them,just as I was hooked on alchohol and sex when younger.Time wasting really most of it..at least it doesn’t seem to move me forward either materially or spiritually.An indulgence for the nafs yet again.
I’ve become a little tired of Blogger too ..half the time it doesn’t work properly .. just lets one down..Recently it’s the ‘save draft’ feature .. Their helpful staff are pretty crap too..probably snowed under with problems..or else just sitting around on their backsides getting big fat pay cheques from Google.It certainly seems to have got worse since they took over.Maybe it’s just got too big..maybe there’s not enough financial motivation..maybe they are just an inefficient bunch..but whatever it is they are downright frustrating.
Blog Ladder is nice..but there I’m just talking talking talking,as usual..without making much headway..I feel as if I am coming to the end of my possibilities on the net now.I’ve done all the investigating I’m gonna do I reckon,on the spiritual/mystical level..I know pretty much what is available..
The only thing of any real importance that has happened recently is …. My faith has become stronger..I’m more sure than ever that I am a Muslim no matter how bad a one.It’s my religion,it’s my faith and I can’t avoid that..even if I don’t like the graphic and almost lurid descriptions of the punishment of the fire in the Koran (It does seem a bit OTT to me,which I know is a ridiculous thing to say if it is the perfect book from Allah that we believe it to be..but well..just expressing what my nafs feels.)
AVG tells me that I have an unhealed virus in the computer ..a Trojan Horse ..
It’s happened before and eventually they seem to end up in the virus vault anyway.
I don’t really need the Real Player ..just the frustration of things not going as one would like.I will have to work on this..There is a kind of dichotomy between the American attitiude of “I can and I will.” Which is all very admirable in it’s way,and the (higher? lazier?) sufi Muslim thing of recognizing that all is coming from Allah and is perfect just as it is.
Whichever way round I was only trying out Ahmad’s C.D. which he so ‘kindly’ left for me and it didn’t work on Media Player ..so what’s the difference at the end of the day?..Just the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft in it’s imperious way has ‘taken control’ and put their player as the default one without my permission which is a bit irritating.
Hey ho..another day..
The real thing is this…
from 'The book of what is essential, concerning what is indispensable for the spiritual seeker', Sheikh Al akbar Ibn Arabi, may Allah sanctify his soul & bless his secrets
You asked, O seeker, about the essential core of what the seeker must do, so I have answered you in these pages. And it is God Who brings to fulfillment-there is no Rabb but Him!
Know, O seeker-may God bring you and us to the fulfillment of willingly obeying Him, and may He cause us and you to know what pleases Him!-that (our) closeness to God is only known through His informing us of that. Now He has already done that-all thanks and praise be to God!-through His sending the Messengers and sending down the Scriptures and making clear the Paths leading to the eternal bliss. So once we have faith and hold (this) to be true, there only remains putting into practice (a) those actions regarding which one has faith, and (b) through applying the revelation in its appropriate place, with regard to what has become established in the souls of those who have faith.
[2.] Then after that, o seeker, you should have faith in the Messengers-may God's blessings be upon them-and in what they have brought (from God) and what they have informed us about Him...
Next, you should accept and acknowledge the people of this Path, with regard to all the stories that are recounted about them (i.e., their qualities and accomplishments) and with regard to everything you see from them which the (ordinary) mind and (worldly) knowledge cannot encompass.
In general, you should hold a good opinion of everyone, and your heart should be at peace with them. You should pray specially, in secret, for the people of faith. And you should serve the poor, recognizing their excellence and nobility in that they are content with your helping them, and in their bearing patiently with their discomforts and troubles and difficulties.
[3.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is keeping silent, except for remembering/mentioning God, reciting the Noble Quran, guiding in the right way someone who's gone astray, exhorting to do what is right and forbidding what is wrong, reconciling those who are disputing, and encouraging acts of charity-indeed every form of good.
Which Ibn Arabi says much better than I and..all that’s left to do really ..is get on with it.
31st May 2005. 09.10.Hrs.
Problems with opening folders from shortcuts.. “Internet Explorer has caused an error in KERNEL.32.DLL.”
That little message pops up all the time now and I can’t access things..oh well..”Where there’s a will there’s a way..as they say.
Difficult times..but I will take them all as tests for my nafs..and all part of Allah’s perfect Justice..if He Wills.
Here’s the next bit of the ‘Idea Forming’ …
31 May.2005. Orgiva. 07.05. Hrs.
Bismi’llah arRahman arRahim, for the sake of Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallem and Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani,may Allah protect his secret (or make it plain for all to see?)….
Pain,tension,fear,insecurity,caused by an identification with the nafs.(egoic self)
Really all that exists is Allah, Allahu Haq, He is the Reality and has caused this illusory world to appear. He has caused also the illusion of Uthman as some separate entity to appear and given that illusion the special characteristics of self consciousness and will.
Uthman has an animal/physical nature and a spiritual nature.The more he identifies with his animal/physical nature and tries to gratify it or does things to try to validate it’s reality,the more he will suffer. The more he remembers that his nafs (egoic self) is an illusion and that the only reality is Allah,the more he will be at ease and in true happiness.La illaha ila’llah.
There is no God but Allah (there is no God but The God .. Al Lah ) God is One He is everywhere and nowhere..all is He.He is everywhere in manifestation (wherever you look there is His Face) ..and nowhere in Himself or essence except in the heart of His believer .. beyond words and description. He has no likeness. He is unique.(The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao).
Advaita Vedanta is a good route and method for recognising this same reality in Hindu terms.The recognition that the first step away from Reality or Brahman is the ‘I’ thought.As soon as we think ‘I’ we have stepped away from the unitary reality that all is Brahman because we have been fooled by the illusion that something that is manifested by Brahman/Reality/Allah .. Tao … has an independent and separate existence.
That is why we suffer.
Only one thing though, … there is a world of difference between knowing it intellectually and real-ising it.
One works at it .. one tries .. but the accomplishment is by the grace of Allah.(God)
…. And,I was going to add..(when the problems started) that…
It seems to me that the difference between the Sufi Muslim and the Advaita Vedantin,given that the above description of the human situation is true, is that the Advaita Vedantin sits in ‘The Seat of Awareness’ and there is very satisfied with having discovered his real nature .. i.e. that he is in fact Brahman .. and after that there doesn’t seem to be much more except to enjoy that state or..in the case of the guru/saint,to try to bring others to that awareness also,whereas the sufi Muslim recognises that though he now knows the Truth of the fact that there is nothing but Allah (and that it would be shirk,or associating other gods with Allah if he said any different,as Ibn Arabi has pointed out),yet … he has been created in the illusion of a separate identity with a purpose…and that purpose is to fulfill his promise on The Day of Promises,or “Am I not you Lord?”.. that he will recognise the Lord as Lord and the servant as servant,and,as servant in this manifested existence he will fulfill his purpose here in this life and dedicate it to worshipping his Lord… as Allah has said “I did not create man and djinn for anything but to worship Me.”
The true sufi sheikh (like Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani) is an example of this..as one never sees him doing anything but worshipping his Lord and serving his servants (which is a form of worship … the word ‘ibada’ or worship coming from the root ‘abd’ to serve.)
So now maybe it is appropriate to put the next bit from Ibn Arabi in.
from 'The book of what is essential, concerning what is indispensable for the spiritual seeker', Sheikh Al akbar Ibn Arabi, may Allah sanctify his soul & bless his secrets
[4.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is searching for someone who is right for you, who will help you to attain what you are pursuing and to pursue the way leading there. For the person of faith means a great deal to his brother, [alluding to such hadith as 'the person of faith is the mirror of the person of faith', etc.] And take care to avoid the company of the person who is fundamentally opposed to your quest.
[5.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is a master and spiritual guide -sheikh, murshid-. Now with regard to finding such a guide, inner sincerity of intention -sidq- is the very watchword of the spiritual seeker, because if the seeker is truly sincere with God, He will turn every outward 'satan' for that person into an angel guiding them directly to the good; and He will inspire in that person the awareness of what is good. For inner sincerity is the ultimate Elixir/the perfect cure, one that can only be applied to the heart of our essential being.
[6.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is seeking out this licit source of support -literally, sustaining 'morsel' of food- since the very foundation of this Path is a licit livelihood. The pillar of this Path rests on that foundation of right livelihood: do not burden anyone, and do not accept inappropriately from anyone, but earn your own living. And always be attentively conscientious about what you acquire, and about what you say, see, hear and all your other actions.
[7.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is eating little. For hunger brings about an increase in spiritual energy for following God, while it takes away spiritual laziness. [8.] You should properly cultivate and fill the moments of the night and the day.
Been gettting myself into some hot water over at Blog Ladder,after posting that talk of Sheikh's.People hate the idea of monarchy it seems and get very upset when it is suggested that democracy is not such a wonderful system after all.
Anyway,it made me think a bit more deeply about both political and religious systems and the ever present difficulties of trying to institute and run them fairly and wisely,given the inherently selfish and unreliable nature of man living in his egoic self.
Some stuff started to form in a Word document..and I'm just going to bung it in with all the gripes and bad language that life with it's tests throws up.
See what you think..I've virtually given up expecting any comments...but of course .. should you feel so inclined...
Idea forming .. about poverty .. war … capitalism … etc etc ..it’s all this attachment to … well …stuff ..really … sex, power and money ..
Same old story..only true spirituality can solve the problems of the world…not political systems..
It’s about individual responsibility ..so who’s going to start then?…
Giving up what we can’t keep anyway.
Turning away from the ephemeral,the temporal to the eternal,permanent..and what is that if not our soul/spirit and God..(or whatever name you choose to call The Eternal Uncreated) ?
30th May 2005 Orgiva 08.17.Hrs.
I suppose I’m just talking to myself again.. I’m finding the computer pretty annoying .. seems to have many little foibles of it’s own since Ruben put the new hard disk in.Today Real Player doesn’t want to work.There’s a version on here which I downloaded and I’m pretty sure I didn’t uninstall it the other day when I was uninstalling everything else because of another problem..Ay! computers! What a pain in the arse they are really.
However,I’m hooked on them,just as I was hooked on alchohol and sex when younger.Time wasting really most of it..at least it doesn’t seem to move me forward either materially or spiritually.An indulgence for the nafs yet again.
I’ve become a little tired of Blogger too ..half the time it doesn’t work properly .. just lets one down..Recently it’s the ‘save draft’ feature .. Their helpful staff are pretty crap too..probably snowed under with problems..or else just sitting around on their backsides getting big fat pay cheques from Google.It certainly seems to have got worse since they took over.Maybe it’s just got too big..maybe there’s not enough financial motivation..maybe they are just an inefficient bunch..but whatever it is they are downright frustrating.
Blog Ladder is nice..but there I’m just talking talking talking,as usual..without making much headway..I feel as if I am coming to the end of my possibilities on the net now.I’ve done all the investigating I’m gonna do I reckon,on the spiritual/mystical level..I know pretty much what is available..
The only thing of any real importance that has happened recently is …. My faith has become stronger..I’m more sure than ever that I am a Muslim no matter how bad a one.It’s my religion,it’s my faith and I can’t avoid that..even if I don’t like the graphic and almost lurid descriptions of the punishment of the fire in the Koran (It does seem a bit OTT to me,which I know is a ridiculous thing to say if it is the perfect book from Allah that we believe it to be..but well..just expressing what my nafs feels.)
AVG tells me that I have an unhealed virus in the computer ..a Trojan Horse ..
It’s happened before and eventually they seem to end up in the virus vault anyway.
I don’t really need the Real Player ..just the frustration of things not going as one would like.I will have to work on this..There is a kind of dichotomy between the American attitiude of “I can and I will.” Which is all very admirable in it’s way,and the (higher? lazier?) sufi Muslim thing of recognizing that all is coming from Allah and is perfect just as it is.
Whichever way round I was only trying out Ahmad’s C.D. which he so ‘kindly’ left for me and it didn’t work on Media Player ..so what’s the difference at the end of the day?..Just the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft in it’s imperious way has ‘taken control’ and put their player as the default one without my permission which is a bit irritating.
Hey ho..another day..
The real thing is this…
from 'The book of what is essential, concerning what is indispensable for the spiritual seeker', Sheikh Al akbar Ibn Arabi, may Allah sanctify his soul & bless his secrets
You asked, O seeker, about the essential core of what the seeker must do, so I have answered you in these pages. And it is God Who brings to fulfillment-there is no Rabb but Him!
Know, O seeker-may God bring you and us to the fulfillment of willingly obeying Him, and may He cause us and you to know what pleases Him!-that (our) closeness to God is only known through His informing us of that. Now He has already done that-all thanks and praise be to God!-through His sending the Messengers and sending down the Scriptures and making clear the Paths leading to the eternal bliss. So once we have faith and hold (this) to be true, there only remains putting into practice (a) those actions regarding which one has faith, and (b) through applying the revelation in its appropriate place, with regard to what has become established in the souls of those who have faith.
[2.] Then after that, o seeker, you should have faith in the Messengers-may God's blessings be upon them-and in what they have brought (from God) and what they have informed us about Him...
Next, you should accept and acknowledge the people of this Path, with regard to all the stories that are recounted about them (i.e., their qualities and accomplishments) and with regard to everything you see from them which the (ordinary) mind and (worldly) knowledge cannot encompass.
In general, you should hold a good opinion of everyone, and your heart should be at peace with them. You should pray specially, in secret, for the people of faith. And you should serve the poor, recognizing their excellence and nobility in that they are content with your helping them, and in their bearing patiently with their discomforts and troubles and difficulties.
[3.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is keeping silent, except for remembering/mentioning God, reciting the Noble Quran, guiding in the right way someone who's gone astray, exhorting to do what is right and forbidding what is wrong, reconciling those who are disputing, and encouraging acts of charity-indeed every form of good.
Which Ibn Arabi says much better than I and..all that’s left to do really ..is get on with it.
31st May 2005. 09.10.Hrs.
Problems with opening folders from shortcuts.. “Internet Explorer has caused an error in KERNEL.32.DLL.”
That little message pops up all the time now and I can’t access things..oh well..”Where there’s a will there’s a way..as they say.
Difficult times..but I will take them all as tests for my nafs..and all part of Allah’s perfect Justice..if He Wills.
Here’s the next bit of the ‘Idea Forming’ …
31 May.2005. Orgiva. 07.05. Hrs.
Bismi’llah arRahman arRahim, for the sake of Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallem and Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani,may Allah protect his secret (or make it plain for all to see?)….
Pain,tension,fear,insecurity,caused by an identification with the nafs.(egoic self)
Really all that exists is Allah, Allahu Haq, He is the Reality and has caused this illusory world to appear. He has caused also the illusion of Uthman as some separate entity to appear and given that illusion the special characteristics of self consciousness and will.
Uthman has an animal/physical nature and a spiritual nature.The more he identifies with his animal/physical nature and tries to gratify it or does things to try to validate it’s reality,the more he will suffer. The more he remembers that his nafs (egoic self) is an illusion and that the only reality is Allah,the more he will be at ease and in true happiness.La illaha ila’llah.
There is no God but Allah (there is no God but The God .. Al Lah ) God is One He is everywhere and nowhere..all is He.He is everywhere in manifestation (wherever you look there is His Face) ..and nowhere in Himself or essence except in the heart of His believer .. beyond words and description. He has no likeness. He is unique.(The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao).
Advaita Vedanta is a good route and method for recognising this same reality in Hindu terms.The recognition that the first step away from Reality or Brahman is the ‘I’ thought.As soon as we think ‘I’ we have stepped away from the unitary reality that all is Brahman because we have been fooled by the illusion that something that is manifested by Brahman/Reality/Allah .. Tao … has an independent and separate existence.
That is why we suffer.
Only one thing though, … there is a world of difference between knowing it intellectually and real-ising it.
One works at it .. one tries .. but the accomplishment is by the grace of Allah.(God)
…. And,I was going to add..(when the problems started) that…
It seems to me that the difference between the Sufi Muslim and the Advaita Vedantin,given that the above description of the human situation is true, is that the Advaita Vedantin sits in ‘The Seat of Awareness’ and there is very satisfied with having discovered his real nature .. i.e. that he is in fact Brahman .. and after that there doesn’t seem to be much more except to enjoy that state or..in the case of the guru/saint,to try to bring others to that awareness also,whereas the sufi Muslim recognises that though he now knows the Truth of the fact that there is nothing but Allah (and that it would be shirk,or associating other gods with Allah if he said any different,as Ibn Arabi has pointed out),yet … he has been created in the illusion of a separate identity with a purpose…and that purpose is to fulfill his promise on The Day of Promises,or “Am I not you Lord?”.. that he will recognise the Lord as Lord and the servant as servant,and,as servant in this manifested existence he will fulfill his purpose here in this life and dedicate it to worshipping his Lord… as Allah has said “I did not create man and djinn for anything but to worship Me.”
The true sufi sheikh (like Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani) is an example of this..as one never sees him doing anything but worshipping his Lord and serving his servants (which is a form of worship … the word ‘ibada’ or worship coming from the root ‘abd’ to serve.)
So now maybe it is appropriate to put the next bit from Ibn Arabi in.
from 'The book of what is essential, concerning what is indispensable for the spiritual seeker', Sheikh Al akbar Ibn Arabi, may Allah sanctify his soul & bless his secrets
[4.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is searching for someone who is right for you, who will help you to attain what you are pursuing and to pursue the way leading there. For the person of faith means a great deal to his brother, [alluding to such hadith as 'the person of faith is the mirror of the person of faith', etc.] And take care to avoid the company of the person who is fundamentally opposed to your quest.
[5.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is a master and spiritual guide -sheikh, murshid-. Now with regard to finding such a guide, inner sincerity of intention -sidq- is the very watchword of the spiritual seeker, because if the seeker is truly sincere with God, He will turn every outward 'satan' for that person into an angel guiding them directly to the good; and He will inspire in that person the awareness of what is good. For inner sincerity is the ultimate Elixir/the perfect cure, one that can only be applied to the heart of our essential being.
[6.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is seeking out this licit source of support -literally, sustaining 'morsel' of food- since the very foundation of this Path is a licit livelihood. The pillar of this Path rests on that foundation of right livelihood: do not burden anyone, and do not accept inappropriately from anyone, but earn your own living. And always be attentively conscientious about what you acquire, and about what you say, see, hear and all your other actions.
[7.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is eating little. For hunger brings about an increase in spiritual energy for following God, while it takes away spiritual laziness. [8.] You should properly cultivate and fill the moments of the night and the day.
posted by longgone1 at 5/31/2005 10:17:00 AM
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