I have been thinking a lot about anger and controlling my tongue. The habit of talking when angry is an addiction to sleep. Like dietary habits where I do not have control losing my temper orr eating haram meat shows a lack of self-control.
A lot off the spiritual path is about self-control. It says in Galatians: 13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Life by the Spirit
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Galatians 5:16-26.
I have been working a lot with the concept of forgiveness. And with the concept of satisfaction.
This all goes back to the concept of joy. Joy is about being truly happy for the blessings in one's own life and the lives of others. Anger detroys joy as does excessive talk about life that is negative and unsspiritual.
To be quiet and patient in trouble will lead to being happy and joyful.
This is a practical matter. The path to holiness requires controlling one's tongue and one's anger. This is based on patience and humility before God.
we look at Palestine and the anger and hatred there between the Palestinians and the Jews. How can we expect there to be peace in Israel if we can't control our own anger in our privileged lives in the Bay Area? What do I really have to hold against anyone. I should be able to forgive anyone and not stay angry with people. I should be able to take the pressure of my own discomfort.
It has been narrated by Abu Huraira (May Allah be pleased with him) That Allah's Messenger Muhammad (PBUH ) Said:
“ The strong is not the one who over comes the people by his strength”
"But the strong is the one who controls him while in anger."
In another narration by Abu Huraira (May Allah be pleased with him man said to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH ) Advise me.
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Said :
" Do not become angry “
The man asked the same question again and again and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Replied by in case by saying:
“ Do not become angry and furious”
This iss the same message as Galatians. do not become angry. practice self-control. When we think about the gnostiic message that the soul was caught in this lower realm and would try to escape to a higher state upon death we think that anger is a way to keep the soul trapped and polluted it is interference.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Scrupulousness
I found this concept in my reading and it was really eye opening to me. Usually I think people think that if something isn't really condemned that it is ok. Wara' is a concept that is an Islamic concept that if something is not clearly right it is wrong. I found that very illuminating and it has changed my thinking on a moment to moment basis.
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In the Sahih of Muslim, and certain other works, the following hadith is recorded on the authority of Abu- Hurayra (r): "O mankind! God is good, and accepts only that which is good. He has given the believers the command He gave to the Messengers: 0 Messengers! Eat of the good things, and do good also, Truly, I am All-Aware of what you do, [23:51] and: 0 mankind! Eat of what is lawful and goodly in the earth, [2: 168] and: 0 mankind! Eat of the good things with which We have provided you." [2:168] Then he spoke of "a man On a long journey, wild-haired and dusty, who raises his hands up to heaven, saying, 'Lord! Lord!' and yet his food is unlawful, his clothes unlawful, and his drink unlawful, and his sustenance unlawful: how, then, shall his prayer be answered?"
Bukhari and Muslim relate on the authority of Ibn Bashir (r) that the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, "The lawful is clear, and the unlawful is clear. But between the two are ambiguous matters not known to many people. Whosoever avoids these matters, has preserved his honour and his religion intact. But whosoever falls into them shall fall into the unlawful, in the fashion of a shepherd who grazes his flock around a sanctuary, so that he is near to violating it. Assuredly, every king has a sanctuary, and God's sanctuary on this earth is composed of his prohibitions."
They also relate on the authority of Aba Hurayra that the Prophet said: "Sometimes when I return to my family, I find a date on my bed or elsewhere in my house, and raise it to my mouth, but then fear that it might be from someone's charity, so I put it aside." [Despite his absolute poverty, the Blessed Prophet was not permitted to accept charity.]
Bukhari relates that 'A’isha (r) once said, "Abu Bakr (r) once said, "Abu Bakr (r) used to have a servant-boy who would collect the kharaj [a tax paid by non-Muslims on landed property in return for protection of the Islamic stage] for him, and Abu Bakr would buy food for himself out of this money. One day, however, the boy brought something, and Abu Bakr ate it. 'Do you know what that was?' the boy asked him, and Abu Bakr said, 'What?' 'In the jahiliyya," he said, 'I was a soothsayer; something which, in fact, I.did 1 not know how to do, but I deceived a man, who met me just now and gave me what you ate.' And Abu Bakr put his finger into his throat, and vomited all that was in his stomach."
According to Zayd ibn Aslam, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (r) once drank some milk, which he liked. "Where did you get this milk?" he asked the man who had given it to him, and he replied that he had been on his way to a well, when he passed some animals which had been given in charity, and some people who were milking them; he had taken some of it in his water-skin, and gone away. Hearing this, 'Umar put his finger in his throat, and vomited it up.
It is related that 'All (r) had his bread brought in containers from Medina.
Yusuf ibn Asbat said, "When a young man worships, the devil says [to his minions], 'Look at his food.' If they find his food to be from an impure source, he says, 'Leave him alone; let him worship long and hard, for he himself has ensured that your efforts are not needed.’"
Hudhayfa al-Mar'ashi once watched people hurrying to join the first row in a mosque, and said, "They should hurry likewise to eat lawful bread.
When Sufyan al-Thawri was asked about the merit which attaches to praying in the first row, he replied, "Inspect the crust of bread which you eat, and find out where it comes from, even if this means praying in the last row." He also said, "Look to see where your money comes from, even if you have to pray in the last row."
Sari al-Saqati used to eat neither the vegetables nor the fruit of southern Iraq, nor anything else which he knew to come from that region. [at the time, the region contained many heretics of the Khariji and Qarmati sects]. He was very strict in this, by virtue of his great scrupulousness in matters of religion. Nevertheless, he, said, "Once, when I was at Tarsus, I was in the company of some young men who were much given to worship. The house contained an oven which they used for baking. When this oven broke, I bought a replacement with my own money, but so great was their scrupulousness that they refused to bake in it."
He once said, "Abu Yusuf al-Ghasali used to spend all his time at the war-front, and participate in sorties. When he did so, and he and his companions entered Byzantine territory, the others ate the meat which the Byzantines had slaughtered, while he refrained. "Abu Yusuf!" he was told, "Do you suspect that it is unlawful?" and he said, "No." "Then eat," they told him, "for it is lawful!" But he remarked, "Renunciation is only of lawful things."
Sari also said, "Returning once from a sortie, I saw by the road some clear water surrounded by some reeds. 'Sari!'. I said to myself 'If you ever eat or drink anything lawful in your life, then now is the time.' So I dismounted, and ate and drank, but heard a voice coming from someone I could not see, which said, 'O Sari ibn al-Mughallis! What about the money which enabled you to come here? Where did that come from?' And so I was disappointed."
'Abdallah ibn al-Jalla said, "I know a man who lived for thirty years in Mecca, who drank the water of Zamzam only when he could use his own bucket and rope, and who never ate any food which had been brought from another town.
Al-Mustafa ibn 'Imran said, "In times gone by, there were ten scholars who were particularly careful to ensure that they ate only lawful food: These were: Ibrahim ibn Adham, Sulayman al-Khawwas, 'Ali ibn Fudayl, Abu Mu'awiya al-Aswad, Yusuf ibn Asbat, Wuhayb ibn al-Ward, Hudhayfa of Harran, Daud al-Tai, and two others."
The great Hadith scholar Yahya ibn Ma'in recited this verse:
Lawful and unlawful wealth, both must pass away, and the sins thereof await the Final Day.
Sufyan al-Thawri was once asked about scrupulousness and he replied:
I have found, and you must not believe otherwise that scrupulousness applies to every small coin.
If you find a coin, but leave it alone, then know that you are a Muslim of piety.
When Yahya ibn Aktham was appointed judge, his ascetic brother 'Abdallah of Merv wrote to him the following lines:
Many a mouthful with coarse salt which you eat,
is more delicious than a stuffed date.
One bite which destroys a man is like
One seed in a trap, which breaks a bird's neck.
lbrahim ibn Hushaim was advised as follows by a friend of his before he left on a journey: "I advise you to act with righteousness, and to eat what is wholesome.
A Godfearing man does not fear his God
until his food and drink are wholesome;
and until what he earns and owns are wholesome too
and his speech is goodly and pleasant.
This is God's law, as told by His Prophet
So may He bless him and grant him His peace!"'
******************************************************************************
In the Sahih of Muslim, and certain other works, the following hadith is recorded on the authority of Abu- Hurayra (r): "O mankind! God is good, and accepts only that which is good. He has given the believers the command He gave to the Messengers: 0 Messengers! Eat of the good things, and do good also, Truly, I am All-Aware of what you do, [23:51] and: 0 mankind! Eat of what is lawful and goodly in the earth, [2: 168] and: 0 mankind! Eat of the good things with which We have provided you." [2:168] Then he spoke of "a man On a long journey, wild-haired and dusty, who raises his hands up to heaven, saying, 'Lord! Lord!' and yet his food is unlawful, his clothes unlawful, and his drink unlawful, and his sustenance unlawful: how, then, shall his prayer be answered?"
Bukhari and Muslim relate on the authority of Ibn Bashir (r) that the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, "The lawful is clear, and the unlawful is clear. But between the two are ambiguous matters not known to many people. Whosoever avoids these matters, has preserved his honour and his religion intact. But whosoever falls into them shall fall into the unlawful, in the fashion of a shepherd who grazes his flock around a sanctuary, so that he is near to violating it. Assuredly, every king has a sanctuary, and God's sanctuary on this earth is composed of his prohibitions."
They also relate on the authority of Aba Hurayra that the Prophet said: "Sometimes when I return to my family, I find a date on my bed or elsewhere in my house, and raise it to my mouth, but then fear that it might be from someone's charity, so I put it aside." [Despite his absolute poverty, the Blessed Prophet was not permitted to accept charity.]
Bukhari relates that 'A’isha (r) once said, "Abu Bakr (r) once said, "Abu Bakr (r) used to have a servant-boy who would collect the kharaj [a tax paid by non-Muslims on landed property in return for protection of the Islamic stage] for him, and Abu Bakr would buy food for himself out of this money. One day, however, the boy brought something, and Abu Bakr ate it. 'Do you know what that was?' the boy asked him, and Abu Bakr said, 'What?' 'In the jahiliyya," he said, 'I was a soothsayer; something which, in fact, I.did 1 not know how to do, but I deceived a man, who met me just now and gave me what you ate.' And Abu Bakr put his finger into his throat, and vomited all that was in his stomach."
According to Zayd ibn Aslam, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (r) once drank some milk, which he liked. "Where did you get this milk?" he asked the man who had given it to him, and he replied that he had been on his way to a well, when he passed some animals which had been given in charity, and some people who were milking them; he had taken some of it in his water-skin, and gone away. Hearing this, 'Umar put his finger in his throat, and vomited it up.
It is related that 'All (r) had his bread brought in containers from Medina.
Yusuf ibn Asbat said, "When a young man worships, the devil says [to his minions], 'Look at his food.' If they find his food to be from an impure source, he says, 'Leave him alone; let him worship long and hard, for he himself has ensured that your efforts are not needed.’"
Hudhayfa al-Mar'ashi once watched people hurrying to join the first row in a mosque, and said, "They should hurry likewise to eat lawful bread.
When Sufyan al-Thawri was asked about the merit which attaches to praying in the first row, he replied, "Inspect the crust of bread which you eat, and find out where it comes from, even if this means praying in the last row." He also said, "Look to see where your money comes from, even if you have to pray in the last row."
Sari al-Saqati used to eat neither the vegetables nor the fruit of southern Iraq, nor anything else which he knew to come from that region. [at the time, the region contained many heretics of the Khariji and Qarmati sects]. He was very strict in this, by virtue of his great scrupulousness in matters of religion. Nevertheless, he, said, "Once, when I was at Tarsus, I was in the company of some young men who were much given to worship. The house contained an oven which they used for baking. When this oven broke, I bought a replacement with my own money, but so great was their scrupulousness that they refused to bake in it."
He once said, "Abu Yusuf al-Ghasali used to spend all his time at the war-front, and participate in sorties. When he did so, and he and his companions entered Byzantine territory, the others ate the meat which the Byzantines had slaughtered, while he refrained. "Abu Yusuf!" he was told, "Do you suspect that it is unlawful?" and he said, "No." "Then eat," they told him, "for it is lawful!" But he remarked, "Renunciation is only of lawful things."
Sari also said, "Returning once from a sortie, I saw by the road some clear water surrounded by some reeds. 'Sari!'. I said to myself 'If you ever eat or drink anything lawful in your life, then now is the time.' So I dismounted, and ate and drank, but heard a voice coming from someone I could not see, which said, 'O Sari ibn al-Mughallis! What about the money which enabled you to come here? Where did that come from?' And so I was disappointed."
'Abdallah ibn al-Jalla said, "I know a man who lived for thirty years in Mecca, who drank the water of Zamzam only when he could use his own bucket and rope, and who never ate any food which had been brought from another town.
Al-Mustafa ibn 'Imran said, "In times gone by, there were ten scholars who were particularly careful to ensure that they ate only lawful food: These were: Ibrahim ibn Adham, Sulayman al-Khawwas, 'Ali ibn Fudayl, Abu Mu'awiya al-Aswad, Yusuf ibn Asbat, Wuhayb ibn al-Ward, Hudhayfa of Harran, Daud al-Tai, and two others."
The great Hadith scholar Yahya ibn Ma'in recited this verse:
Lawful and unlawful wealth, both must pass away, and the sins thereof await the Final Day.
Sufyan al-Thawri was once asked about scrupulousness and he replied:
I have found, and you must not believe otherwise that scrupulousness applies to every small coin.
If you find a coin, but leave it alone, then know that you are a Muslim of piety.
When Yahya ibn Aktham was appointed judge, his ascetic brother 'Abdallah of Merv wrote to him the following lines:
Many a mouthful with coarse salt which you eat,
is more delicious than a stuffed date.
One bite which destroys a man is like
One seed in a trap, which breaks a bird's neck.
lbrahim ibn Hushaim was advised as follows by a friend of his before he left on a journey: "I advise you to act with righteousness, and to eat what is wholesome.
A Godfearing man does not fear his God
until his food and drink are wholesome;
and until what he earns and owns are wholesome too
and his speech is goodly and pleasant.
This is God's law, as told by His Prophet
So may He bless him and grant him His peace!"'
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Suffering and the oil spill in the gulf
The Oil Spill in the gulf is continuing andd appears to be the greatest envvironmental disaster in human history, topping even such events as Chernobyl and other nuclear disasters, perhaps with the exception of the depleted uranium munitions being used in Iraq. So when environemental disasters apppear, I always think is this my fault or the people who hate me, so I can assign blame. A psychotic thought but totally normal and natural. So- I thought this was my enemies. But on further meditation I reflected and after reading the story of the man born blind and when Jesus was asked is this the man's sin or his parents that this man is born blind, Jesus replied neither this is so that the Glory of God can be made manifest on earth. And this enviromental disaster strikes me as the collective responsibility of all people, in all our bad actions and negative deeds, each of us has in some wway contributed to this energy that is destroying the beauty and wonder of the precious Gulf. I can look into my karma and see it is my anger and my inability to control myself, and I can look at all the people who have stolen from me or lied to me or cheated me and say it was them.
The oil spill in the Gulf is a reflection of each of our karma, in some way or another. We all benefit from oil, if Barack Obama has not told us that we can assign blame to those in higher office nobody ever will. His decision to do absolutely nothing about the War in Iraq makes the NeoConservative platform an act of enlightened self-interest. We can't criticize the government as easily after this because Obama has done nothing different than Bush. We have to find a new cause for what is wrong with our planet.
We can't sit around and blame eachother, BP, Obama, or anyone else. Trying to resolve the crisis should be a personal goal for everybody, as should the goal of ending all suffering. Jesus also said, If someone commands this Mountain to throw itself into the ocean and has sufficient faith the Mountain will be cast down into the sea and become dust. I think we should all be working as much as we can to make a personal commitment to try to reverse the course of sufffering being intiated by this spill with the consciousness that we have all created it. It sounds impossible but with enough faith we can make a difference in the world. That difference can come from trying to transform our negative patterns and energies.
The oil spill in the Gulf is a reflection of each of our karma, in some way or another. We all benefit from oil, if Barack Obama has not told us that we can assign blame to those in higher office nobody ever will. His decision to do absolutely nothing about the War in Iraq makes the NeoConservative platform an act of enlightened self-interest. We can't criticize the government as easily after this because Obama has done nothing different than Bush. We have to find a new cause for what is wrong with our planet.
We can't sit around and blame eachother, BP, Obama, or anyone else. Trying to resolve the crisis should be a personal goal for everybody, as should the goal of ending all suffering. Jesus also said, If someone commands this Mountain to throw itself into the ocean and has sufficient faith the Mountain will be cast down into the sea and become dust. I think we should all be working as much as we can to make a personal commitment to try to reverse the course of sufffering being intiated by this spill with the consciousness that we have all created it. It sounds impossible but with enough faith we can make a difference in the world. That difference can come from trying to transform our negative patterns and energies.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
saving the planet
Liberation theology is about making theology a second of third stage in the religious experience not a first stage of religious experience where a theologian reflects and meditates to learn but a reflection on praxis. So what is involved in saving the planet and what would a liberation theology of conscious raising for the planetary crisis look like?
I think it would basically involve affirming the worth of every human being who works and lives on the earth and affirming their value and the value of their work. So the baristas are on the planet making coffee with the right intention and the right attitude of love, peace, right endeavor. The teacher saves the planet teaching preschool with right intention etc. Each person within the social fabric makes an effort to save the planet with their actions by basing the actions on enlightened intentions. In intending to make the world the better place each person who works for the good of humanity in however way they work makes the fate of the planet better.
That is a beautiful thought if we think about all the people we have very encountered and how many of them are amazing wonderful people and how much God must love them and see them as fully capable of being the solution to all the problems we face.
I think it would basically involve affirming the worth of every human being who works and lives on the earth and affirming their value and the value of their work. So the baristas are on the planet making coffee with the right intention and the right attitude of love, peace, right endeavor. The teacher saves the planet teaching preschool with right intention etc. Each person within the social fabric makes an effort to save the planet with their actions by basing the actions on enlightened intentions. In intending to make the world the better place each person who works for the good of humanity in however way they work makes the fate of the planet better.
That is a beautiful thought if we think about all the people we have very encountered and how many of them are amazing wonderful people and how much God must love them and see them as fully capable of being the solution to all the problems we face.
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