It may be true that there are levels of outward understanding and compliance with outward conformity that can and should be observed by common people in their daily lives. But to deny the proven and accepted inward realities of life and religion is simply to deny the self any opportunity to realize and truly know God. And truly knowing and glorifying God is our primary responsibility. If that is not fulfilled, of what use is the fulfillment of all of the outward observations except for the benefits of conformity, and to be in the good graces of men and society. And that is truly the association of partners with Allah and a carryover of the basic ignorance of tribalism that has led to the degeneration of the lofty teachings of Divine revelation
and which that very revelation was sent to correct.
- Ali Ansari
Friday, May 08, 2009
Being born into Islam does not mean being born into Surrender...
Being born into Islam does not mean being born into Surrender. The influences of Muslim parents on their children to become "good" Muslims are exactly the same as the influences of any parents anywhere to have their children succeed in the skills of their particular society. So there remains in the soul of the child the desire to manifest, and the sense of rebellion that wants to make the right decisions based upon true experience, and not upon the acquired experience provided by parents, education and society....
...True Surrender must be discovered, realized and accepted by each individual through the process of a quest for true self-understanding. This process was, is and has been preserved by them who seek it. And they are those who have heard and follow true guidance. They are not satisfied with the outward life of picking up a book, reading it, and proclaiming themselves knowledgeable. They realize that there is and must be more to life than simply learning how to compete, succeed and excel in the outward goals of material acquisition.
- Ali Ansari
Is this what our youth are telling us? That they are merely rebelling for more genuine experiences? That they want to know -- and true knowing means through experience -- who they are? Does that mean that we -- adults -- are not providing them with the genuine knowledge and experiences they need to learn about who they are and who Allah is? The amazing thing is that this is confirmed by everything we know in youth development. Young people WILL develop, they will discover themselves, whether we like it or not, for that is the way Allah has programmed the human being and his/her life in this world. The question for us is, how will they do it? If we are truly guiding them, then we will provide them with the authentic knowledge, nurture, experiences, support and opportunities to discover who they REALLY are according to their fitra and human potential. Or, we can let them go and allow the streets, media and their oft-ignorant peers to provide them with the experiences and pathways for 'development.' It's simply a matter of guiding them to know Allah by His Mercy, or by His Wrath, and the ultimate responsibility and burden of what results will be on us.
Forcing young people to 'be Muslim' according to some superficial picture is not the same as teaching a young person what it means to live in surrender to the Creator. This is where our current educational process is wrong, beginning from the family all the way through the formal education system. We choose to 'inculcate' rather than educate. True education, as my teacher taught me, is about understanding through knowing, and it touches on every aspect of life, confirmed through the Book and the Way of the Prophet (SAW). This is a far cry from the forced instruction that our children go through on a daily basis in the so-called education system.
Until we understand this, the difference between 'being a Muslim' and living in true surrender will remain hidden and our young people will continue to cry for attention through rebelliousness and anti-social behavior.
...True Surrender must be discovered, realized and accepted by each individual through the process of a quest for true self-understanding. This process was, is and has been preserved by them who seek it. And they are those who have heard and follow true guidance. They are not satisfied with the outward life of picking up a book, reading it, and proclaiming themselves knowledgeable. They realize that there is and must be more to life than simply learning how to compete, succeed and excel in the outward goals of material acquisition.
- Ali Ansari
Is this what our youth are telling us? That they are merely rebelling for more genuine experiences? That they want to know -- and true knowing means through experience -- who they are? Does that mean that we -- adults -- are not providing them with the genuine knowledge and experiences they need to learn about who they are and who Allah is? The amazing thing is that this is confirmed by everything we know in youth development. Young people WILL develop, they will discover themselves, whether we like it or not, for that is the way Allah has programmed the human being and his/her life in this world. The question for us is, how will they do it? If we are truly guiding them, then we will provide them with the authentic knowledge, nurture, experiences, support and opportunities to discover who they REALLY are according to their fitra and human potential. Or, we can let them go and allow the streets, media and their oft-ignorant peers to provide them with the experiences and pathways for 'development.' It's simply a matter of guiding them to know Allah by His Mercy, or by His Wrath, and the ultimate responsibility and burden of what results will be on us.
Forcing young people to 'be Muslim' according to some superficial picture is not the same as teaching a young person what it means to live in surrender to the Creator. This is where our current educational process is wrong, beginning from the family all the way through the formal education system. We choose to 'inculcate' rather than educate. True education, as my teacher taught me, is about understanding through knowing, and it touches on every aspect of life, confirmed through the Book and the Way of the Prophet (SAW). This is a far cry from the forced instruction that our children go through on a daily basis in the so-called education system.
Until we understand this, the difference between 'being a Muslim' and living in true surrender will remain hidden and our young people will continue to cry for attention through rebelliousness and anti-social behavior.
On Knowing Reality
Prayer of the Prophet
- Ali Ansari
"O Allah! Show me all things as they are."
"Allahumma, Ara`ani kullu shay`in kama hiya"
This is the constant heart prayer of the true gnostic and the vocal expression of the essence of the endless, ongoing quest.
To know, see, and be in reality at all times is, at least, to be free from the trap of our mental perceptions and it can be done, or at least asked for. This prayer, even though ongoing, is answerable, and here's how I feel the answer.
"Things as they are" are never as they seem. We are asking for a direct vision of reality. This certainly implies its possibility. And if the certainty is not granted immediately upon request, it implies the presence of veils, which are also part of the reality, and which must become known and recognized in order to be removed. So now we must accept the reality of "veils".
The removal of veils implies the removal of the visual impedances held in the outer, central and deeper regions of the hearts by incorrect or unreal beliefs in "other than" Allah, which are the results of and cause our personal distortions of reality. Distortions in perception are not changes in reality but misguided interpretations, incorrect assumptions and understandings that keep us "out of touch" with it. The singular "cure" for this is the seeking and following of guidance. This search for and following of guidance is called 'sulook', or 'traveling', or 'walking'. It is the long-honored process of self-education in the approach to reality, or on the pathway to God, as we like to say.
What is Reality? Reality can never be what we "think" it is simply because by the time we get a "mental" fix on it, it has changed and we are left with a flash picture, like a photograph. Our perception of reality is made up for the most part of photos in archive, and the only way we can ever get through it is to posit the existence of a transcendent, objective truth, a goal, and approach it. Otherwise we are left collecting pictures of ourselves, wading through our own archives, destroying pictures. That's why the Zen people teach the phrase, "Zen mind, beginner's mind", because every moment is a new beginning.
How, then, can we "trust" anything? You might well ask.
Reality is quite reliable on its own and neither asks of us nor needs of us any mental participation. It obviously does not exclude such, but the results of mental participation become "reality" too, "our contribution", so to speak. Hence the confusion and difficulty in distinguishing between what is "really" true, and what is just true for a moment. The mind is based on attainment, but the soul is already established in the love of God. Shifting our focus from one to the other is the process of the journey. Self-acceptance (Surrender to the reality of Soul) is what dissolves the illusion of conceptual self. It simply melts in its own reality. "I see who I am and surrender to that", is the first step of "seeing things as the are". Then we come to understand the phrase "The world is but a reflection of how we see ourselves in it."
Mental purification (God-realization through remembrance exercise) is the means and goal of Islamic Healing. So we start in our minds, positing the existence of God, the Divine Being from Whom and by Whom all things emanate. Then we investigate what religions and spiritual paths have to say about such a being. Upon conclusion that such a being exists, we set about our search for means of discovery. And soon we discover the heart of the matter, ourselves. When we realized that the depth of the secrets of reality lies within our own beings, we also realize what lies within the depths of other beings and we set out on our journey in earnest, to be healed and educated by others, and to thereby bring healing and education to others.
This necessity and quest for self-understanding is what brings humanity together. We approach those in whom we feel the healing energy and wisdom of truth, peace, love and, and while discovering them on our paths, we ourselves are discovered by others on a similar quest....
- Ali Ansari
"O Allah! Show me all things as they are."
"Allahumma, Ara`ani kullu shay`in kama hiya"
This is the constant heart prayer of the true gnostic and the vocal expression of the essence of the endless, ongoing quest.
To know, see, and be in reality at all times is, at least, to be free from the trap of our mental perceptions and it can be done, or at least asked for. This prayer, even though ongoing, is answerable, and here's how I feel the answer.
"Things as they are" are never as they seem. We are asking for a direct vision of reality. This certainly implies its possibility. And if the certainty is not granted immediately upon request, it implies the presence of veils, which are also part of the reality, and which must become known and recognized in order to be removed. So now we must accept the reality of "veils".
The removal of veils implies the removal of the visual impedances held in the outer, central and deeper regions of the hearts by incorrect or unreal beliefs in "other than" Allah, which are the results of and cause our personal distortions of reality. Distortions in perception are not changes in reality but misguided interpretations, incorrect assumptions and understandings that keep us "out of touch" with it. The singular "cure" for this is the seeking and following of guidance. This search for and following of guidance is called 'sulook', or 'traveling', or 'walking'. It is the long-honored process of self-education in the approach to reality, or on the pathway to God, as we like to say.
What is Reality? Reality can never be what we "think" it is simply because by the time we get a "mental" fix on it, it has changed and we are left with a flash picture, like a photograph. Our perception of reality is made up for the most part of photos in archive, and the only way we can ever get through it is to posit the existence of a transcendent, objective truth, a goal, and approach it. Otherwise we are left collecting pictures of ourselves, wading through our own archives, destroying pictures. That's why the Zen people teach the phrase, "Zen mind, beginner's mind", because every moment is a new beginning.
How, then, can we "trust" anything? You might well ask.
Reality is quite reliable on its own and neither asks of us nor needs of us any mental participation. It obviously does not exclude such, but the results of mental participation become "reality" too, "our contribution", so to speak. Hence the confusion and difficulty in distinguishing between what is "really" true, and what is just true for a moment. The mind is based on attainment, but the soul is already established in the love of God. Shifting our focus from one to the other is the process of the journey. Self-acceptance (Surrender to the reality of Soul) is what dissolves the illusion of conceptual self. It simply melts in its own reality. "I see who I am and surrender to that", is the first step of "seeing things as the are". Then we come to understand the phrase "The world is but a reflection of how we see ourselves in it."
Mental purification (God-realization through remembrance exercise) is the means and goal of Islamic Healing. So we start in our minds, positing the existence of God, the Divine Being from Whom and by Whom all things emanate. Then we investigate what religions and spiritual paths have to say about such a being. Upon conclusion that such a being exists, we set about our search for means of discovery. And soon we discover the heart of the matter, ourselves. When we realized that the depth of the secrets of reality lies within our own beings, we also realize what lies within the depths of other beings and we set out on our journey in earnest, to be healed and educated by others, and to thereby bring healing and education to others.
This necessity and quest for self-understanding is what brings humanity together. We approach those in whom we feel the healing energy and wisdom of truth, peace, love and, and while discovering them on our paths, we ourselves are discovered by others on a similar quest....
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