i bear witness that there is no One, but One...as is evidenced in al Bari, in the divine Order...
the human is the microcosm of all that exists in the world. everything that exists in the universe, according to the hatha yoga pradipika, exists in us...
the Order of divinity is evidenced in our movment, in thought, in creation, and in being so, we have the opportunity of connecting with al Bari, the Maker of Order.
the Maker of Order, is known through surrender (islam).
what is revealed in the great surrender? what is revealed when you really surrender?
firstly, definition of terms. what is meant by surrender? the police were behind me, next to me. my boy shah and i were on the road, on 2nd ave, behind his wheels, heading downtown. the cops had guns to our head. this is a stick up. they told us to get the f out. said: Now!
whatever we were doing at that moment: driving down midtown, shooting the breeze,, sharing anxiety and future dreams, went out the window when the blue and red lights colored us, sirens blasted and .38's pressed our temporal.
what do you surrender to? when?
get your f'n hands up! the cops blasted, as we came out the car, me through the passenger side, shah through the driver side. hands up, i pressed against the hoopty as the cop slid his hands up and down my body.
surrendered to the boys that day. surrendered cause they had guns, cause they were the law, cause they said so, cause jail, cause they were the authority of the order.
which order do you surrender to? which order do you surrender to when there are no guns to your head?
surrendered to the stick up kids on 8th st, 3am, august 30th...surrendered cause we were outnumbered and they had fast fists and drink and flashed weapons. surrendered to them cause i didn't want to get beat up, down, black and blued. surrendered to their authority of hard, tough...
what do you surrender to? who do you worship? who are you afraid of? why?
these days i am more mindful about surrendering to only the One, but the senses get the best of me. fear is a sense, fear is set off by our limbic system, by our sypathetic system - our flight or fight. our hypothalmus releases neurotransmitter-chemicals to our pituitary glands, which release hormones that activate the hormones on our suprarenal kidney. cortisone, aldosterone release. our body heats, heart rate quickens. the sympa and paraympathetic portions of our pns are said to be part of the autonomic nervous system, meaning they are involuntary, like the blood pumping in your heart at this moment, on its own, without conscious control. this is the autonomic nervous system. but what gives rise to fight, flight?
in Quiet surrender, in the practice of salat, dua, meditation, life becomes an act of active meditaiton, of a doing from a deeper place, of a release of the senses. the senses distort our view of reality, keep us locked into the maya.
whats real is that this body passes, is that it is fragile and powerful, and divine, and you and not you. what's real is the this moment, the thoughts you are having as you read this, will arise and pass, and may or may not influence your process. but change, passing, is inevitable. there is no reversing this. we are constantly writing on water, hugging water.
words of laughter, anger, sarcasm, cynnicism are just words, will pass. economics, house and car, apartment and eviction, will all pass. rich and poor will pass. so what? so what then?
worship is the key to this path of Surrender. worship happens through complete surrender. complete surrender is made possible through purposeful, fearless surrender, through Quietude the Order becomes clear, and the Maker and the made, the Creator and the created merge...
worship is the purpose of my life my abba tells me. life is work, my amma reminds me. work is worship, the prophet muhammad (s.a.w), guides us. everything is work - walking, sitting, speaking, quietude, prayer, eating...
in understanding purpose, go with faith, a friend told me recently. go with faith instead of making a decision. faith comes from complete surrender.
in the babylon system, the order is made possible through replicating what has always been - communities of worship. when there is past a certain number of being in any one space, then identity forms. when there are 40 people on the block, we are a community. when there are 400, like my block, then we become multiple identites.
order is community. this is observable in the ecosystem, in forests, in the cosmos - solar systems. communities are built on principles, laws, just like the orbit of the planets.
if life is work and work is worship and there is an absence of community, and instead there is a presence of deep individualism, then what? how do you address this?
happiness is only found in letting go of world attachments, and in replicating that which is truth - sacred communities in worship. what is involved in the sacred community in worship - work.
what kind of shared work do you and your family/community have? does everyone have a meaningful role? is the work facing the qibla?
to address this order in aligning with the Maker of Order, al Bari, in a capitalist environment, work with the deeper. work in fulfilling a purpose in your entrepreneurship.
there has to be something that you, i, we are struggling with together. this can be raising a family, and the struggle involved in striving to keep the lights on, and pay rent, while raising children with values and meals, and making sure no one goes hungry.
this struggle of raising a family, on the economic margins, as was the case for my family, can leave you lost and default on the authority. this may look like the law of the cops who had the gun to my head, or the stick up kids with blades and grins. this may lead you to believe in this authority and the larger system that cultivates this. so then, what?
values, values that are in harmony with the Harmony, that are in qibla, will keep your family in surrender, in more than the mundance of being pigs and beasts.
the key to Surrender in the absence of community, within the babylon designed to fragment community, that is designed to leave the base lusts of man in hyperbole, in being, wanting to be chief, king, god, leader, chef, president, boss...me, me, me...
the key to Surrender in this frequency is to engage with purpose and building institutions based on offering. the intstituions are those that alreeady exist or that you want to exist - family. sustaining family requires working together on an offering. what will be your offering royalty?
No comments:
Post a Comment