| Eye of the Heart |
| In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful Love of the Homeland is Part of the FaithHe says, “Why would such and such a person's son walk behind a stranger from Tabriz? Would the earth of Khorasan be a follower of the earth of Tabriz and be dependent on it?” He claims to be a person of piety and joy, but he doesn't have enough intelligence to understand that the honoring of earth is not the point. If someone from Istanbul says, “Mecca is of this world, from the universe of matter; and faith is from the other world, that is from the universe of meaning,” here, what the one from Mecca should do is agree with the one from Istanbul. In the hadith , “Love of the homeland is part of the faith,” how could the intention of Muhammad be love of Mecca? Mecca is of this world, but faith is not of this world. Therefore, things related to faith are not of this universe—they are from the other universe. Just as in the hadith , “Islam began as a stranger, and it will return as a stranger”—the intention is the same. Since Islam is a stranger, this means it has come from a different universe. How can it be particular to Mecca? Those who say it belongs only to Mecca, are the ones who couldn't even reach the first step of love. |
| The Teachings of Shams |
| March 2008 |
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From the Heart of Silence The Path of Completion A Weekend Retreat |
As this message reaches you amidst the barrage of information that is contemporary life, we invite you to pause and remember. Let us give thanks for all the beloved teachers, teachings, and the path, itself.
The teachings of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi affirm both the Oneness of humanity and the diversity of human beings and spiritual paths. At the same time, these teachings offer in depth guidance for those who wish to travel this particular path of the heart.
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THE MIRROR Refelections on Polishing the Heart
Every reaction, aversion, judgment, desire, entanglement, and compulsion we feel inside ourselves can be transformed by conscious repentance, conscious gratitude, and conscious love. These can be expressed simply by the words: Forgive me. Thank You. I love You. The You, in this case, is the Divine. Conscious repentance, conscious gratitude, and conscious love polish the heart until what reflects in the heart is the Divine intelligence. The clear heart is the best guide to living. The state of positive emptiness, equanimity, and peace is a kind of “zero” state, an emptiness that is a plenum of abundance. The heart which is the inner state of ourselves is also a hologram of all. Therefore, whatever thought or judgment, blessing or curse, good or bad we hold in our hearts has an effect, both on us and on the other, whatever the “other” may be, animate or “inanimate.” Everything that we experience as a problem is within ourselves. Consequently the solution to the problem is also within ourselves. We can heal. We can forgive. We can bless. We can create abundance. All of this is possible through the positive action of polishing, purifying, clearing, cleaning what is within us. Egoism contaminates all aspects of human life and must be cleared. Thought forms, negative attitudes, self-destructive attitudes are collective phenomena that people pick up like a flu or fungus. Forgive me. Thank You. I love You. These have the power to neutralize and erase those psychic toxins. Spiritual tradition counsels that spiritual masters purify the souls of their students. Actually, it is the constant inner spiritual work of the more mature human being that not only continues the purification process for the master, but also has its effect on the student. The detoxification in one appears in the other as a result. Therefore the whole world is responsible for the whole world. Everyone is potentially responsible for everyone. The ultimate happiness of everyone is to love and be loved. Therefore there is no greater and more effective work than loving, living without judgment, blessing AND TRANSFORMING every negative thing that comes into our consciousness. No negative thought within ourselves is completely contained within ourselves, nor is a positive thought limited within ourselves. We can heal other souls, transform relationships, bring order and harmony into the world by the continual consciousness of, acceptance of, and gratitude for what is . As we come to understand how much the Divine Beneficence supports us, blesses us, guides us, we can surrender into what is without fear, judgment, or resistance. We fall in love with it. We trust it as the essential source of action. By continually polishing we transform our own inner world and everything around us. ___________________________________________________________ Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Translated by Mahmoud Mostafa ___________________________________________________________ Spiritual Paths Program in ~Shaikh Kabir Helminski |
_________________________________________Furuzanfar Divan #1397
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