July Theme: Affirming the Real Ya Haqq (7/2/2015)
Reflections on this month’s theme, ‘Be cleansed of shallow idolatries; affirm the Real. Ya Haqq.’
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June Theme: Patience is Crowned with Faith
What benefit can there possibly be in rushing through some moments to get to others? Every moment is the perfect gift of the divine, manifested for our benefit. Moments of difficulty and challenge are moments in which the soul has the potential to develop and awaken new qualities.
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May Theme: Being a Witness
What an awesome and delicate responsibility it is to see through the heart, to live from the heart. Judgment and opinion are like filters, set far back in the mind, that obscure the heart's vision. By noticing the stream of judging mind, by just being aware of it, we are entering a state of self-knowledge where change is possible. The direction of this change, this transformation, is toward refinement of character.
Why do we call the false self “false”?
Recently Charlie Rose interviewed Dan Harris, a journalist for ABC News, about his book "10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story." Harris, obviously a man of superior intelligence and education, was stunned when he first heard the idea that there is a voice inside us that carries on a boring and negative commentary on our lives, and that meditation could reveal this voice and reduce its power over us. The good news is that mindfulness (or presence) is entering the mainstream, but it was sobering to realize just what we face. When trying to communicate the essential ideas of Sufism, spirituality, and consciousness to a culture so unaware of basic psychological, spiritual, and metaphysical knowledge and distinctions… it is as if we are offering the finer skills of horsemanship to a society where riding a donkey is a new idea (though Sufis also know something about riding donkeys!).
The Whirling Dervishes of Kentucky
Download the recent Forbes Magazine (of India) profile our Louisville community The notion of Sufism as a remedy for the alienation and addictions of modern life is a theme picked up by Kabir when he shares his vision for the future. He calls it “Sufism 3.0”: A model in which Islam is the operating system [...]
Experiencing a Nafs Attack
In brief, the story dominating me was based on an inner judgment towards another and how their behaviour was impacting me emotionally in a negative way. With this self-perpetuated story, I was justified in my own self-pity. At the time, the story felt real, it was “my” truth, causing me deep wounding and pain.
The Simplicity We Trust
Late on Saturday night of the recent retreat, "The Alchemy of Character," Kabir gave this short talk about the essentials of the inner life. Within each human being is a witnessing silence, a space beyond thought and emotional reactions, and it is from this state that we can truly practice, worship, and attain communion with the Divine.
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Discussing Spiritual Bypass
At the recent San Francisco retreat, "The Alchemy of Character," Dr. Sara Winter spoke about the tendency to avoid ego development needs and the messier issues of our lives through spiritual bypass, i.e. a state of premature transcendence, trying to circumvent the developmental issues of the self in the name of spirituality. Unresolved emotional issues and wounds can sabotage spiritual practice, interfering with our meditation and zhikr.
CYCLES OF WITNESSING, TREE OF LIFE, Camille Adams Helminski
My ancestry led back directly, I discovered, through Deacon John Dyer and his wife, Freelove Williams, and further back to such a strong woman of Spirit whose story I had never known—Mary Dyer, the only woman in the history of the United States of America to be martyred for religious freedom. It was 1660 when she was hung on Boston Common by the Puritans, for promoting freedom of religious conscience. She went to her death with joy, witnessing to Truth, determined to honor the freedom of each soul to discover and relate to the Truth as he or she felt moved by the “Inner Light.” She was a Quaker.
GRATITUDE, Kabir Helminski
We can be grateful for the possibilities of service that life presents us with. The more we serve the better we feel, especially about ourselves. The mature character does not need, nor expect, to be thanked by others. The chance to serve, which is so good for ourselves, is itself a gift and is its own reward. Maturity is to serve without any expectation, and to be grateful to simply be.