Am I a Muslim?

You will find me in touching my head to the ground, deeply in love with Allah, performing salah. You will find me in muraqaba, quietly listening for the rustle of his robes.

You will find me with the beautiful names of Allah on my lips.

You will find me with Qur'an and hadith upon my desk and in my lap.

You will find me in the modest clothes of a muslim.

You will not find me in the congregation of a masjid.

You will not find me espousing the rules of food and conduct.

You will not find me seeking council with the imam.

I have little desire to become anything other than a lover.

I have little desire other than to release my false self into the oneness of Allah.

There is only one Reality. Beyond that, what need is there for elaboration?

Divestment

We are all raised with ideas and beliefs about the world. The sum total of these beliefs create our worldview.

Not too infrequently, when one seeks a new path, a new philosophy, a new religion, one fails to divest of the old path, philosophy, religion.

For a time, one must fully divest of one's beliefs. If your heart is full of the views from before, there will not be room for the new views. One must divest.

Divestment is and important process because one must not simply decorate the old belief in new clothes. This is a great error, and most seekers do exactly this. It is as if an alcoholic were to give up drink, but take up smoking hashish. While they are technically no longer an alcoholic, they are still following the same behavior, only the details are different. Even if the alcoholic is no longer taking chemicals or drink, if they supplant the place of the drink with god or with religion, they have only changed the details. The overall view remains the same.

In another example, an individual has decided to no longer be a christian. They expose themselves to a series of different beliefs, perhaps in UFOs, in shamanism, in crystal magic, in haṭha yoga. Over time they take on a collection of beliefs that populate a world view. Even if they tacitly accept the implications of monotheism -all is one, when you question them, you see the clear structure of christianism. You recognize a separation between god (however that is expressed) and creation. You see an agentative god, a subject-object dichotomy. You see sin, cloaked in different terms, in opposition to right behavior. You see theories like karma expressed in terms that are more akin to the determinism of one's lot in life. Not infrequently, you also see cultural accretions, such as the ideas of humanism, hedonism and hellenism tossed in to the mix.

Such an approach is not without merit, however, without reason, without deep intuitive exploration, without disciplined contemplation, the seeker does not grow into the significance of monotheism.

The views that we must divest ourselves of are not only religious views. Views about gender, social behavior, roles, meaning, sexuality, emotionality, justice and so on are all to be brought under the lens of reason, intuition and contemplation.

The purpose of divestment is to examine the view and to put it into a dormant state. The process of divestment is an essential practice, not only in the early stages, but throughout your path.

Adopting a Lens

Were we simply to examine our beliefs, we would have to use our current understanding to examine the belief. It would be like attempting to determine how others see us without speaking to anyone. Our own beliefs and concerns would give us little perspective on ourselves. Instead of greater clarity about how we are perceived, we would likely have greater delusion. If, on the other hand we were to ask a trusted but non-involved person to comment on their perceptions of us, we would begin to have a better understanding of how we are perceived.

Since these writings are specifically about the zensufi path, there is a single lens to begin with and to use to aid in the act of divestment.

That lens is radical monotheism.

Qur'an 39:18 - Retranslated

Listen to the Qur'an; follow the best of it.

Those who do so are guided by Allah

Those who do so are blessed with understanding.

Pillars of Reality

These are the Pillars of Reality of the Golden Path. These pillars are the foundational support of the Zensufi worldview.

Pillar One: Causality

Accept, if you will, that there is a moment, far back in time, in which all came into being. Call it the Big-Bang. We cannot speak of what came before - it would literally be beyond comprehension. All matter, energy, time, light, dimension and so on came into being at that moment.

That one moment was followed by another, directly the cause of the first. The second moment predicated the next, and so on to this very moment. It is an unbroken chain of causation.

The interaction of energy, time, distance, light and matter of that moment has cascaded forward into this moment, a multitude of interactions beyond our ability of comprehension. This is simple physics, simple logic. All results are the results of causes, all causes are are themselves the results of further causes.

This is true of your mind and your body as well. The bio-chemical and electrical signals of your brain in this moment are predicated by your diet, by hormones released in response to the day, to the genetics from your parents, from your grandparents.

Your thoughts, made of the physical and electrical state of your brain and body are all predicated by the causes that preceded them.

Your choices, a product of thinking, are all directly connected to the preconditions of your body, environment and brain.

Your choices, not only in effect, but in reality, are the result of the Big Bang. No thought, thus no choice, is free of this chain of cause and effect.

Pillar Two: Inevitability

All preconditions lead to a result. The total collection of preconditions lead to one and only one direct result. If total preconditions lead to multiple results, they would not be preconditions. Without a pre-existing state, the subsequent state cannot arise. The state is unitary. Distinct preconditions lead to a distinct outcome. This is the basis upon which we are able to divine theories such as thermodynamics or the laws of conservation of energy. Without the certainty of preconditions leading to a single direct result, such laws would be heuristics. Our universe would be discontinuous. A body moving in a direction will continue to do so unless acted upon by another force. It will not usually move in a direction and then randomly change direction - that is discontinuity.

Therefore, all results are inevitable given the preconditions. No choice made could have been different than it was, no event, action, thought, moment, is free from the preconditions that came before. The chain of causality leads to inevitable results.

Pillar Three: No Predestination

Though events are causally bound and inevitable, predestination requires the existence of a future, and there is none. We may not speak of the future in any sense but the abstract, for it is wholly the result of preconditions. While there may be a destination that is reached, it is not predestined for the field of reality we call the future does not exist before it is arrived at. It is, at best a potential field of reality, not an extant one.

Pillar Four: Free Will is Epiphenominal

There is no randomizing element in a causal universe that is not predicated by its predecessors. Free Will, choosing between two or more options of action or thought divorced from the action of any agent cannot exist, but clearly appears to in our personal experience.

That it exists in our experience, but not in reality, is the epiphenomenal nature of free will.

Sufism and Zensufism

Generally, I describe my school as a sufi school. This is not strictly correct, as many aspects of the teaching do not strike all sufi as particularly sufi. I make no claim to orthodoxy - my teachings are revealed understandings of not only the Qur'an and Hadith, but also of the mystic teachings of many other systems.

When needed, I differentiate from my orthodox sufi brethren by using the term zensufi, nothing changes in the path by this designation, but it does help to clear up misunderstandings. Quite rightly, some of my teaching will be challenged by other sufi. The long tradition of sufism provides for many lenses, and over time, many things have been codified as sufi/not sufi. Fair enough, and I have no quarrel with these interpretations.

There is, of course, no such thing as 'sufi' in the Arabic speaking world. Like the word 'mosque' it is derivative, and not what the sufi use to describe themselves in the muslim milieu.

At its heart, the Golden Path is summarized by Muhaiyaddeen ibn 'Arabi when he wrote: my religion is love. This simple statement is not mere sentimentality, and this path is no less rigorous than any other, but that is topic for later exploration.

Lords of Lies

When the madman cowers in terror
because he imagines spiders issuing from his mouth,
when he whispers his fears,
we do not condemn him,
we do not agree with him,
it would be madness to believe him.
Why then, do we give hearing to the madmen
in offices of power,
whose grand delusions of threat,
whose deluded view of right and wrong
would set the world ablaze?

It is a sad truth: in our times madmen rule. Those that follow them are all the more mad. Their madness has become so common place that we debate its merit. There is no merit! Madness is madness. Hear this! Madness is madness! They kill in the name of their gods, they thieve in the name of their gods. They worship hatred, separation and death; they call it love, community and life. They elevate the dark and proclaim it to be light. We need no devils; the lords of lies walk among us now.

Rapture

Waiting for ascension the fields lie fallow,
the orchards wither,
the animals waste away.

What holy people are these?

Indeed, they must be children ,
for they have abandoned toil to play out their fantasy!

Far off, I sit beside the well of my master
with those who drink their fill of the beloved.
Even as we move with the stars,
tune our instruments to the key of the divine,
we weep that the lost do not take shelter
under the cloak of the beloved.

The beloved, the one truth, whispers tenderly in their ears.
He cradles them and warms them, and protects them against the night air.
Yet, they build fires against the chill,
and plan for a time when there will be no chill,
and lay waste to their riches against the chill,
and steal riches from others when theirs are no longer enough.

Though we give the light of a thousand worlds,
they will stumble in the dark.
They will take from us all but our white cloaks, though we gladly give them.
They will insist that we drink the sand of their fantasy when we sit by the well of the master.
Do not think, brothers, that our hands may only play the lyre.
Ours is to tune the instrument, to guard it against extremes,
to oil it, to clean it, to polish it.
Where harmony has been disturbed,
we restore.
Where madness supplants sanity,
we restore.
Where children have forgotten the elders,
we restore.
Where the water has lost its sweetness,
we restore.

Entering Sanctuary

Leaving the heat of the day,
I remove my shoes,
shed my clothes
and wash away the dust.
My student, as near to me as my own heart,
brings fresh garments,
and greets me with a kiss.
Together we go to meet the Murshid.
I kiss his hands and place my head on his feet,
he pulls me to my feet and embraces me.

I cannot be a student without being a teacher. The love my teacher, my Murshid, has is the same as I have for my student. My murid relies on me not for my words, but for my actions. I lead him to the basis or away from it in all I do. This is the true structure of brotherhood.

The Sounds of the Divine

To hear the sounds of the divine,
we move through positions of mind and heart
adjusting ourselves so that we may hear better.
Contemplation lets us hear meaning,
Meditation lets us hear the space that permeates,
Reflection lets us hear the movement of events,
Supplication lets us hear the echo of ourselves.

So often we pray, and in praying, perfom supplication. But supplication is like singing in a closet. The song cannot reach outside, and without the other practices, we do not even know where there is an outside. Our prayers are rarely answered because we do not know to whom they are directed.
Meditation is stilling the mind until there is a vast expanse, 'til there is an open horizon in the heart and mind. It is like the expanse of desert sand dunes and the azure of the sky. A gentle sirrocco arises to remind you of the dynamic nature of the universe, but still there is an expanse, and your cares for your individual identity dissolve intothe vast desert.
Meditation is not just stilling the mind without regard to a path, we move through the stages one by one, through the effort of non-effort. As we still the mind we seek to settle the mind, inwardly, continuously, intactly, intensely; to tame the mind; to pacify the mind completely; to make the mind one-pointed; to settle the mind inequanimity. This is the path.
Contemplation is the dance, where we move down the paths of possibility, where we pose the questions of "what would it be like..." If we dwell in the possibilities, wear them like a cloak, we are able to practice the meaning of the divine as it dwells in us and moves our actions along like a stream.
Reflection lets us move the mind and the essence throughout the body We wear two garments, the veil of concepts and a cloak of ignorance. Tranquility from meditation rends the veil of conception, Contemplation turns the cloak of ignorance into a prayer shawl.

Shadow

The coat of the divine blocks the sun for a moment
like the wing of a falcon gliding high in the sky.
In that moment all things manifest:
the market place, the merchants, the transactions.
We light candles to illuminate the dark,
because we remember the light, and long for its return.
We are but the lingering of the shadow,
persisting though the light has returned.
Looking at the mirror we see only this lingering,
Seeing ourselves through the eyes of others,
we see the lingering again.

Each shift of our mind outward brings a new perspective. How do I seem? To myself, to my friends, to my family, to my enemies, To strangers? We agree and do not agree with their views, yet in all there is some truth. The secrets they do not know of us, hidden in our dark places, vanish in the light. We cannot be found in those places, for we feel we are made of more enduring stuff than the lingering memory of a shadow.

Inside - Outside

O belov'ed!
Two minds, one soul!
Some move outwards.
They see the world so clearly, but their soul so darkly!
Some see the light of the soul
but stumble in the light of mid-day!
The inward and outward!
Brothers!
They must guide each other as blind leading blind,
yet they know the path for its image is in memory.

The people of the world are of only one race, but among them, there are two types. Those that see the world through their soul, and those that see their soul through the world.
Do I have to point out that your brother is your brother? Do I have to remind you of love? It is the only truth, the law of all that is. Together we can weave our prayer shawl, together we can see theface of god.

Seeds

Trees arise from tree-seedlings.
Flowers from flower-seedlings.
Results arise from like causes.
One hundred times one hundred,
No journey to the South begins until
You leave your lodging with the rising sun
to your left.

Long and hard you should examine this truth. The events in your life occur from the seeds that were planted. A desired outcome cannot occur from a undesirable action. Like follows like. If a course of action leads to a unwanted result, it will always be so. You cannot bake leavened bread if you do not include yeast. You must determine the failed starting points and then cease planting them as seeds of your own future. A the same time you must start planting desired seeds for your future. You must add yeast to your bread.

The Friend

The Friend is needed on this road!
Do not walk solitary through this desert!
Aid and comfort comes from the one who travels with you.

Dimensions
Left and Right
Top and Bottom
Fore and Aft
Time and space are plastic
Like a flag caught in a shifting wind,
an eddy in a stream
the open heart meets the future in the morning
and the past in the evening

Does God Exist?

Created in his image,
everywhere, in all,
I cannot point a finger
that does not land on him.
He is nowhere to be found,
so finally I am free.

We cannot look anywhere and not see god. There is no separation between him and all things. But god is a shadow. Our understanding is so small that we place god into the nature of a being. We call out that god is love, but cannot see that this is a statement of the basis. Yes, god is love. Yes, god is everywhere. Our ignorance keeps these truths, fights for them, and yet we have as much understanding of them as if they were written in a foreign tongue.

We are so divorced from god that me do not even know his name, only his title. God only exists until you understand love. Then he vanishes, for he never was separate from divine love, just as we are not separate.

God is love? No. Love is god.

The Basis

There is one truth:
All that is,
even emptiness,
is comprised of
and indistinct from
divine love.

There is no other basis, and all truths emit from this. That there is one god is an elaboration. The basis already contains this truth.That there is unity is likewise. That god loves us is also an elaboration of the basis.
It is not enough, however, to simply know this. It must be practiced. It must be eaten, swallowed, digested, over and over again until it transforms you, the very world around you. It must be practiced until the light of the dawn is with you even into the depths of the night. It must penetrate you, burning away your fear and
confusion. It must be your lover, your guide, your student. You must use its power to harmonize everything. Divine love is true and powerful, but you must becme its instrument, you must be willing to
stand up, with this truth in hand, and face down those who deny and pervert it. Any belief that loses the essential truth of divine love has become disembodied, a body bereft of its reason for being. A belief without love at its center is fertile ground for petty and hateful thoughts, actions, policies, rules, laws. Our world is filled with this now! Abandon the beliefs that keep you separate from divine love, from unity, with harmony