image by axinia
There is not anything one should not be ready to tolerate, and there is nobody whom one should not forgive.
Never doubt those whom you trust;
never hate those whom you love;
never cast down those whom you once raise in your estimation.
Wish to make friends with everyone you meet;
make an effort to gain the friendship of those you find difficult;
become indifferent to them only if you cannot succeed in your effort.
Never wish to break the friendship once made.
axinia
1000 petals by axinia 
Very beautiful 🙂
I always try my best but many things are not in my hands!!!! even though wish in the same way, doesn’t work.creates confusion and problems as usual.
…..Human relationship is easy to create but hard to maintain,….requires understanding… hard work …. it requires nurturing from both sides.It is tender like roses…. . It is like empty vessels It fills by drop by drop… once it flow over then no problem….
lovely post,Thanks!
I am having desire to live in such places. I want to face hardship of there. really I don’t know how you stay there? Nice photograph!!!!
mahesh, snow is magic no doubts…and the cold can be very pelasant assuming you have enough warm clothing 🙂
on discovery channel i have seen lot of horrors and discussions so I am having lot of curiosity of that life ….. like when very heavy snowfall occurs what happens with villages which are lying on slope… snow land sliding .. burring under snow…get caught on roads due to heavy snow fall and cant save themselves …. dying because thrust, hunger and heat loss or warmth….help and saving of such peoples stories…..
sure, that’s the side effect of snow. But same can happen in a heat of south, right? Any extreme can be dangerous. Somehow I was always lucky in my life to enjoy the balance of nature…
Very wise and compassionate words you have shared here, Axinia. As we begin to seek the love within ourselves and in others, as opposed to stressing on those less desirable traits, these tasks become easier to attain on a constant. Thanks for sharing.
Peace, Light and Love,
C.
I remember meeting Pir Vilayat Khan, a man of peace beyond doctrines with a true human radiance .
In memory also of his sister Noor Inayat Khan, who helped in the Resistance and died in the concentration camp of Dachau.
All kind of Sufi s on the paths, corresponding to your expectations “how Sufi s”should be…or not!
in fact I don’t have any expectation “how Sufis should be” and I also never met one in person. I guess Sufies, just like any other spiritual people can be very different in their personality and ways. That’s the beautiy of it.
If we have to leave this world, nothing will be left,
except the LOVE we have given to others, I`m sure.
Well,I think a certain idea how “spiritual people” have to behave or look like is quiet frequent. If I was you, I would not be too sure to never have meet some.
i mean not that someone has clearly stated to be a Sufi 🙂
in a way, I think I am Sufi myself but I don’t state it so.
Very few Sufi s would find it necessary to tell.
But as we all know, some like funny hats.
Who knows dear, you might.
But be careful, some have a straightforward sense of humour.
They like to sword ego s like the the corks of some bottles.
strange,I thought that the best what works against ego is tremendous LOVE…because it can dissolve it…If it is not love, but some kind of a sword – isn`t it just another ego?
Hey Axinia,
I just thought I would add a comment. To a Sufi all there is in the world is ‘love’ however due to our conditioning/and other things we have built up many barriers to experiencing love, and seeing its action unfold in every aspect of our lives.
Often times the Sufi teacher or master will do or say something which puts the seekers views and expectations in stark contrast with what is really happening , these actions shake the foundations of many of the barriers we have erected. It has been explained to me like the building up a wall to hold the ocean or sea back. A few chips at the barrier and the water(love) rushes in and removes all impediments on its own.
According to Sufism, God awakens something within the seeker, he plants a seed in the seeker’s heart that causes him to go and seek out a master. The job of the master is to tend the seedling and help it grow till a certain point. The lancing of the ego is like the pruning sometimes very necessary.
Another analogy I have seen employed by Sufi masters of the past is that of gold ore. Gold ore as it exists just mined has to be melted, hammered and polished before it becomes the gold that will be used in a beautiful piece. Such is the same for the seeker, as has been said the burning/the pain we experience on the path is the cure.
Ok just my two cents guys
Peace
hi dear, this concept is typical for many teachings and it also looks very logical: as soon as we see an ego we – naturally -want to fight it, to humble it down, to press it – call what however you want.
But i know One Master who can dissolve any ego with such a tremendous power of love, that it just melts away…amazingly! But this is probably exptemely rare and more a female, motherly quality.
I must add that there are many instances in Sufi literature where it was only a single glance from a master that was enough to bring the seeker to the One Saught. The word for this type of glance in Persian is nazr. Rumi talks about it alot in his works.
For this reason there is a saying that goes (apraphrased of course) Forty retreats, forty retreats, one glance from the master is worth more than 1000 retreats.
I also wanted to add that to be a master one has to be a Servant of God in Sufism, the Master doesn’t lance the ego or humble it down for his own want. The when and where and how does not come from him.
BTW there is a cool book by Coleman Barks called: The Glance: Songs of Soul Meeting you may like
Hi Mr. Alimoglu (candan bir merhaba size)
In “Deserts and Mountains, A Novel”, by you;)
At the Alhambra in Spain…Ali, the protagonist, finds an inscription saying, “Everything that occurs is the conversation of God.” music and poems “awaken the sleeping self,” he muses; it is “foolish to ignore our dreams, and dangerous as well.”
“A Sufi should never learn. Human beings are perfect in their natural state. Our path is more of unlearning.” !!!
love, ‘ask olsun’!
Thank you Dear Turkish Friend, Candan bir merhaba da Sana. Ask olsun! Zarari yok.
You can send me an email message with your comments if you like.
This is the link to Deserts and Mountains FB page.
http://www.facebook.com/desertsandmountainsnovel
Yilmaz
in advance, mmy very best wishes for the future novels.
thank you! sevgilerle, nilufer
One Sufi with Semazen’s garments, his ‘funny hat’/“sikke” symbolizing the tombstone of his ego; his “tennure” (overcoat), the shroud of his ego and his waistcoat, his ego itself, once told:
“Close both eyes to see with the other eye….
I’m neither beautiful nor ugly
neither this nor that
I’m neither the peddler in the market
nor the nightingale
in the rose garden
Teacher give me a name so that I’ll know
what to call myself
I’m neither slave nor free neither candle
nor iron
I’ve not fallen in love with anyone
nor is anyone in love with me
Whether I’m sinful or good
sin and goodness come from another
not from me
Wherever He drags me I go
with no say in the matter
The Absolute works with nothing.
The workshop, the materials
are what does not exist.
Try and be a sheet of paper with nothing on it.
Be a spot of ground where nothing is growing,
where something might be planted,
a seed, possibly, from the Absolute…..
Keep on knocking
’til the joy inside
opens a window
look to see who’s there
axinia, the steel of some swords is compassion,
the sugar of some sweets is poison.
Exploringtheheart, right,..or as one of my granduncles, who knew his job, would have put it:” you can polish Rhinestones as long as you want, they don’t turn to diamonds!”
nimirel…one hand up, one hand down, the horizon is stable.
seeker…how are those dividing between a “seeker” and a “god” going to confront the ego? Only a rose with fragrance smells.
Antiphonsgarden,
Interesting comment! I have understood your question to be that if one believes or through his/her actions reinforces this separation between seeker and the one sought how can they confront the ego which is really the root cause of this separation ?I can only answer from my experience as a dervish and my studies on the way.
Hafiz Shirazi the famous Sufi poet has said that we ourselves are the only veil between ourselves and God. Initially at the beginning of the path there is a duality no doubt I feel separateness from God that God was something to be found and searched for. I thought I know what to change about myself so that I could find what I was looking for. But this was folly.
It wasn’t until I felt “love” that things changed. One definition of Love on the Sufi way is that of the magnetic attraction between the God and the seeker. When one feels that magnetic pull one can intuit to a degree that there is an underlying unity with all being. However this state is momentary and not the one from which we work from on a day to day basis. The Sufi Maghribi has said: No one by himself can find a way towards Him, whoever goes to His quarters goes on His feet.”
The greater one’s submission to the will of God, the more God will lance his ego, the more God will take him from himself. I will quote Maghribi again where he says “for so long did the Beloved face my open heart hat except for his Attributes nothing remained of that heart”. We [sufis and darvishes] focus single pointedly on God, in the ways encapsulated by the sufi tradition, without care for states or station or ego – and in this way the alchemy of the path happens.
To answer your question I have to say that if at the end of the path there is still two entities Seeker and God then one has been merely walking the road of intent.
“Whoever believes he can reach God through his own efforts toils in vain; whoever believes he can reach God without effort is merely a traveler on the road of intent.” – Abu Said al-Kharrâz
I also wanted to add something I just remembered triggered by the prase you put about the rose.
There is a lot of word play in sufi song and literature between the words WiRD( special exercises) and WaRD (the rose). The essence of the rose often times symbolizes a deep inner experience of God,
When I looked at your phrase that came to mind, the special relationship between our exercises to seek him within the heart and the palpable essence and experience of oneness. Of course these experiences of oneness will at some point become a barrier to union and in a way subtlety maintain a separation. Bayazid Bestami said at one point his remembrance has become a barrier on the way.
Slowly slowly I have always felt the experiences of separateness dissipate, and Union is experienced.
Religions who insist on this division they pretend to reconnect, are for people in need to retroflect their own omnipotence projection. Sounds like an Oedipal Father/Son problem.Experiencing unity heals from this “run after the carrot” concept of spirituality.Senses making sense prevents from conceptual dogmas.The rose was never separated from the fragrance.
I am not sure I follow or can follow what you are saying as I have never thought that religion and mystical experiences are one and the same. I am not sure I know what religion has to do with any of this. In either case here is a cool quote I see whenever I enter the sufi house:
Although I left you bodily, is not my spirit always close to you! Think of it and you will see that my presence and absence are the same. How right was he who said to me one can compare you to the rose that fades but leaves behind its essence. – al-Muqaddasi.
Dave-O, you can replace religion, by any group with dogmas about spirituality(can be extend to the most doctrine based groups).The same mechanism are active.The words might sound good, but the hierarchical structures remains and are contradicted by the experience of real inner freedom, who is interconnected with everything and everybody NATURALLY,each time a real revolution and perceived as such by oneself and by the environment.As Rumi, would have put it “it s not a sheep barn !”.
Those who know what I mean by that knows it, those who don’t don’t.It s not about the willingness to share it who fails, it is more that someone allowed him/herself to relax truly into his/her own nature and those who still search for outside achievements or recognition don’t assume “it” to be as simple ,humble and evident. Enlightenment is not something to “obtain” ONCE (procrastination has mane colours and many so called “spiritual” ego games exists”!) , but allowing life to BE, without ,lets call it “creative neurotic interferences”.That does not mean, one turns into a lazy veggie, quiet the opposite due to a little side effect: “compassion”, but his/her “interest” might not fit the mainstream expectation(elusive secret tribes included!) ever again.
I have never been in the business of religious dogma, or carrot and stick methods of spirituality. That dogmatic thinking and these other methods exist is without question and we can see their negative ramifications in the newspaper if we look at how divided we are as a people, culture society. I personally feel that carrot and stick methods when used over a long time make people regress psychologically.
But this was not what i was talking about or trying to communicate in my initial comments, when I mentioned the master’s glance (nazar) as seen in Sufi literature. This also wasnt what I was talking about with my follow up comments about my own experiences on the dervish path.
If i had to recapitulate my point it would be simply two things, one that we do not start from a point of complete awaken-ness, nothing confirms that more than the existence of legitimate paths to truth which for some its Sahaja Yoga, for other Sufism etc and teachers like Rumi or Hazrat Inayat Khan, or Hafez, Paramahansa Yogananda etc.
Secondly whatever is put into words can never be the experience itself. Using words like enlightenment, the path, God, Seeker, all of these are at best metaphors, and metaphors all have their limits. The word “The Path” naturally implies a dichotomy that ultimately isn’t not really real. ‘God’ cannot be contained in the word God but we use what we can as best we can to communicate.
By the way, you might have smell it, I talk from my garden of experiences.
It would be a great step for humanity, if we all would share OUR own self instead of insisting on artificial fragrances , and recognise paradoxically by that the common rose in each heart.
All this talk of smelling reminds me of a popular wrestling character named “The Rock’ in the late 90’s who’s catch phrase was, Can you smell, what the Rock is cooking :-).
How can anyone know who has smelled (not what the rock is cooking) or who hasn’t esp through the net. However I do smell what Hafiz is cooking here 🙂
The time of judging who’s drunk
and who’s sober, who’s right or wrong,
Who’s closer to God or father away,
All that’s over!
This caravan is led instead
by a great delight. the simple joy
that sits with us.
That is the grace.
Amazing Grace! Your comment reminded me of that song…and that song reminds me of your comment. And, it made me smile. 🙂 Reminded me that compassion opens our hearts and opening our hearts leads to compassion. An endless cycle, as all of life. Thanks for shining a light on this thread. Peace, Light and Love, CordieB.
well said, Dave!
dave-O, I mean by the carrot in front of the donkey, more the linear thinking of all these concepts of “path”. I “visited” quiet a lot of these “holy” procrastinating clubs, and here I am, a here&now humanist, with “enlightenment” as “has been”, not as goal experience (in linear therm, as obviously once heaven falls on one s head it has long therm effects!In quantum therms…I am more into interconnection as into any specific “achievement”.)We as human can try to find words, how inadequate ever, to communicate our reality with each other.I suggest that the more authentic we try to share our paradoxes and emotions, we might be understood by pattern recognition.
seeker..bon appetit!
My 5 penny worth philosophy :stop trying to “be someone”, be who you are!
Antiphonsgarden – I am not sure if you know but Seeker and Dave-O are the same. When I am logged in my name appears as seeker when I am logged out I appear as dave-O. Now on to your comment.
Rumi says fools gold exist because their is the real thing, real gold. There are sincere groups and spiritual communities and there are imitation ones. The question really is can you (not you specifically but anyone) notice what is real and what is fake?
Because you have visited these ‘holy’ people and they have not passed your criteria of being legitimate and real this doesn’t mean much; they could be actually as you claim fake or in fact real despite what you have said. How am I to know? Through what methods will you convey to me miles away the truth of all these event, Is it worth it? Is it really what is needed now in this moment? Even if I knew for sure that you were right or wrong would I be able to benefit from this information as it applies to my own state?
I only talk about my experiences over the last couple of years with the dervish path. As a dervish, there is a grace, there is this Presence right now in this very moment, with each breath. I have no need outside this Presence? You have talked of linear thinking, quantum terms, pattern recognition, procrastinating clubs, philosophy, I am talking about mystical experiences beyond thought, concepts, and ideas. You talked about the linear thinking behind the CONCEPT of the Path, I am talking about the EXPERIENCE of the walking a particular spiritual path. We are talking two different things, apples and oranges.
Dave-O, what about the unresolved Oedipal projection in the father/son,God/humble follower thing?
do you seriosly think that Freud’s sick ideas can be applied to spirituality?
The filthiest, most despicable, rotten, sewery, evil land in the entire universe which is home to the most detestable sub-human deeds, practices and systems in the entire history of hominoidkind as well as being (over)populated by some of the lowliest, vilest, hypocritical, sadistic, murderous vermin of pea-brained, uncouth, anti-ethical, sub-human creatures (i.e. the turdy, eternally stinking shit pit called the evil Indian empire) proclaims itself to be the be all and end all of so-called “spirituality” and the murderous, sadistic, sewery behaviour of the hordes and hordes of its despicable, putrid, barbaro-hominoid filth beings as the epitome of supposedly “spiritual behaviour” and has even brainwashed many into believing such turdy, blatant, big lies 😡
When that is the case with the so-called “spirituality”, Axinia, I see absolutely no problems with applying Sigmund Freud’s ideas, “sick” as they may be to the so-called “spirituality” 😐
In fact, I’m willing to go even further. If the eternally rotten sub-human cess-pit of a putrid, despicable sewer called the satanic Indian empire’s claims to being the home of so-called “spirituality” were supposedly correct, then Herr Freud must have indeed been one of the, if not THE greatest “spiritual” personality of ALL TIME.
When a sick, eternally stinking cess-pool of a savage, uncivilised, murderous, sadistic, sub-human land of rotten, putrid, disgusting turds can claim to be the home of supposed “spirituality”, then I guess Freud (and his admirers) have every right to claim his sick ideas were the most spiritual things of their time!
If a sick, inhuman, disgusting, uncouth, barbaric, savage, filthy, sadistic, satanically evil land, its sub-human hordes and their turdy deeds, practices and systems can be supposedly “spiritual”, then Freud’s (merely) sick ideas have every right to be termed as equally, if not more, “spiritual”.
🙂
Axinia
Where have you been ? Everything is spiritual now like swimming with dolphins on holiday in Hawaii, visiting Graceland in Tennesse, and according to some reporters and film critics buying and watching Inception with Leonardo diCaprio on Blue Ray and DVD 20% off the cover price for the holidays 🙂
I am only joking of course – Must be the holiday cheer and spirit in NYC
Antiphonsgarden
I did not know you had a personal and unresolved problem with Oedipal Projection. I do not know what I can do to help you as I have never encountered this before especially since God is invisible to my eyes at least with the glasses’ prescription i have, and Mother Earth the third part of this love triangle for our day and age I have never met. I will keep you in my prayers Courage!!! Accroche-toi!!!
That much to a big fat avoiding projection who wants to appear “funny”!
Interesting to observe what kind of patronising sarcasm are the result of years of “humble”spiritual practice.
” There is not anything one should not be ready to tolerate, and there is nobody whom one should not forgive.
Wish to make friends with everyone you meet;
make an effort to gain the friendship of those you find difficult;
become indifferent to them only if you cannot succeed in your effort.”
I hope the joking has not made you indifferent to me, and if in the event you find me difficult you still wish to make friends.This is a great opportunity to see this sagacious advice of Hazrat Inayat Khan in action !
My hand is always extended in friendship
Dave
I thought after all the serious, heavy talk we exchanged back and forth we could share a laugh to lighten the mood. I thought you would find it funny, esp God being invisible and never meeting mother earth I was obviously mistaken.
See also my comment on visiting Graceland as being spiritual experience, and reference to an 80’s wrestler. I am sure if you heard me deliver it in person you would not have gotten cross with me and we could have shared a laugh together, However with things being as they are please except my apology for making you upset.
Dave
Axinia,
I am also sorry if my joking has offend you or if it was out of place on the Blog.Please excuse !
Dave
Hi everybody!
i truly believe that we all here respect our differences. I learn a lot form this blog…learn a lot about myself too, while reading others thoughts&comments.
funny though, throw in an eclipse on December 21st just in chime with the Winter Solstice plus Mercury retrograde, in a debilitated state and Dec is a potent month, providing yet further harbingers of the massive changes that are still coming down, and coming on stronger throughout the end of the year and on into 2011.
I do feel the effects of this powerful full moon, more emotional! emotions run from hot to cold and back again on all fronts, for aspects pulling and tugging at from different directions
This makes for plenty of food for thought as how I see the world changing around me… December’s eclipse speaks, to me, of revelation, realisation and recognition.
I hope you catch the last lunar eclipse of 2010 on Tuesday morning best be ready to stay up late (or wake up very early) in North America, I quess! expected around 2:41 a.m!
the earth shall be left to no one….let us make life easy on us/let us be friends for once
have a good one everyone!
Thank you nimirel!
Thanks Nimirel
but I really dont find any difference in any Day/direction/place. for me all days are same.
From astrology and all even religious belief I Learn lot of such thing like when we meditate during eclipse we gain more on spiritual growth … even our nurses / even doctors from maternity ward believe on size of moon and prediction of delivery … whether sizer or normal or sun …daughter and increase of number of cases… even trauma care expects more cases during such times etc even our psychiatric nurses tend to explain that roudyness ( severity of symptoms) of clients of mania and depression increases …. apart from magnetic attraction I dont find any basis for that but … for meditative people who stand in water during eclipse and take the name of god ,chants their mantras how much and what they get really I dont know but I dont have any such experiences in my life. I find all the days /time/places same. If my balance is good I get fair and constant vibration at any time … even during such special occasion i find hot.. if I tried purposefully.. ( now i remember…I think in one or two such thoughts… mother has shared same experiences in India i.e. Some Sahaji ‘s try to arrange pooja in solar eclipse… changing the regular time…something like that) really I am interested If anybody including you can share such true experiences as already I told I don’t find any difference…. thanks again
I’ve experienced so far that eclipses generally bring things either into fruition, or to a halt in my life. particular area of one’s life could be affected depending on which house of his/her natal chart the eclipse falls in… a greater chance of releasing the things that have been doing harm because of the intense and transformational energy of the eclipse is going to give that power punch;)))
This is the Gemini Full Moon ( my sun sign gemini:))), happening with the Sun on its last day of Sagittarius, just on the eve of the solstice. a rare combination of a total eclipse within hours of the change of seasons. personally this is an event with the potential for resolution, closure and transition into something new. there is a reminder to be flexible about ideas, represented in the signs Gemini and Sagittarius at a change of seasons, and that is exciting… with a surge of new energy and hopefully we can use it.
Nimirel,
I read soemthign interesting a while back on this blog about astrology and the like, Maybe you will find it interesting, http://www.mysticsaint.info/2008/12/astrology-horoscope-from-spiritual.html
Dave
thanks Dave. for some reason, i couldn’t open the page but Im gonna try later again!
big apple has a chance of snow in the forecast for Christmas, edelweiss!!!
A little smile, a word of cheer,
A bit of love from someone near,
A little gift from one held dear,
Best wishes for the coming year.”
I don’t mind humour at all, but I see a difference between irony as last try to reach over, to sarcasm/cynicism.as method used to create a distance/non communication wall .
I don’t think it is that innocent that the question of transfer and the Oedipal projection , seems a “not thinking era”. I miss a sense for philosophical curiosity sometimes and interest introspection in some debates.I have never divided my spiritual experience from this factors.
A flaccid ego is not able to burst.
Antiphonsgarden
Before my foray into comedy, I answered you. I am not sure if you read it? it starts off with something about fools gold. I am not really sure what we were debating or why an ego would be flaccid as opposed to fit? or when did we get involved in bursting egos?
In my post before, I said “You talked about the linear thinking behind the CONCEPT of the Path, I am talking about the EXPERIENCE of the walking a particular spiritual path. We are talking two different things, apples and oranges”
When you asked what about Oedipal projection, the first thing I said to myself was what about it? it has never been an issue for me. I have never tried to project a psychological complex onto a mystical experience , how could one do so? if you brought it up it must be because you see it as an issue or it was an issue for you at one point.
It is very similar to when I come home and I tell my wife “wow the house looks great “and she says “Great! but what about the curtains in the living room, the color contrasts…the new rug /blah blah blah…etc
If in a mystical experience “I” for however long am not there who is there to project? In this moment there is no Dave, no father, no mother, no concepts or ideas.
It is from that experience of ‘oneness ‘ that the sayings of Hazrat Inayat Khan above were born from. The things he said weren’t philosophical inductions.
It is for this reason that I quoted Hafiz before where he talked about the grace now that sits with us. There is a sufi saying that goes that the donkey you road in on stay outside the door, meaning that the methods you use to come to a conclusion for example philosophical inquiry/ can only take one so far. Other means and methods have to be utilized to go further.
I could have hardly be more clearer about the question how much assuming a division being a seeker/god is not a repetition of the old father/son Oedipal dilemma.
I go the whole donkey way of many “I” awareness with other and myself, away from the conceptualising of how the “I” should be.
The full fragrance is the willingness to truly be oneself, not to be a copy of what one expect to be a saint.
Do you truly think that you have no unconscious motivations to call Freud “sick” and assume your concept of “spirituality” free of psychological patterns&motivations?