all praise...bow down to You...rooted in You...
this week, in a surah i opened to at random, You reminded me, kept me in humility, in peace, connected to The Source of Peace (al Salam).
You said that the obsessor will keep me in desire, in chase after false idols. i understand now that false idols, and idol worship is not merely statues of zeus, and ganesha, but the concept of worshipping something which is not real.
false idols abound. we are mesmerized by them - the new shelltops everyone is rocking, with the gold writing on the tongue; the fade dudes wear with the line on the side; the coffee i sniff and float to; the jeans with the slashes that draw you eyes to the knees and thighs of the women rocking them, the new prius with the extra smooth silent engine, and large trunk; the pretty boy, the pretty girl; the famous yoga instructor/nutritionist/martial artist/musician...
false idols can also be our jobs, things we obsess over - our supervisors approval/disapproval. it can be unemployment.
the source of stress then, is itself a false idol, and idolizing what is false will keep us in a state of stress.
i was in a state of worshipping the false, stressed by this new job i took on. i was obsessing over what my boss thought, whether i was doing my work right or not. obsessing over whether i would fail at what i was trying to do, what they would think, how embarrassing it would be... then i came across some passages from the Recitation. it reminded me of the importance of seeing past maya - the illusion. that this was a moment, and that by anchoring in it, i was anchoring in what wasn't even air - the ephemeral - growing heavy in weight and dragging when life itself has passed.
obsessed with the obsessor, i listen to his whispers when i am not Listening. i fall to his tune and think what is injurious is beautiful. i take it in like a drug. it keeps me in a state of distance from what is Real.
i am reminded to root in what is Real by the Recitation. when you do, branches and fruits of heaven on earth.
last month - peace, planning, presence. this kept me present in listening, in the moment with You. it kept me in deeper exhalations during asanas. it kept me in a state of peace. it kept me from being sunk by election results. peace is the way. peace is the root. moments of anguish allow for this realization to be even starker. so all praise is due. the planning i did has become habit - setting up my clothes the night before, preparing my meals for the next day and packing it, being a step ahead in my job commitments by investing in the planning from weeks ahead, n then fine tuning. the planning went well with the peace n presence. they complemented one another. by planning, i was prepared n in a good state to deal with the days as they came. by being in peace, i was open to collaboration with others, allowing my plans to be malleable. and by being present, i was able to listen, and support the ideas of the others i was working with, in their ideas. this lead to less labor, less stress, and greater ease.
this month, i hope to continue this practice of presence, planning, and peace while letting go of prioritizing that which is other than the art i want to grow in - ancient medicine. i plan on letting go of prioritizing that which is job, and not work, by creating circumstance. this full moon, i create circumstance that requires me to be manifest path. i will do this through rooting in Real. thus, circumstances that i create align with what is Always, rather than personality and identity.
if i were to practice that which is most important in my offerings, it would be ancient medicine, yogi, hakeem, humility, shawl, treatments. it would be herbs. it would be medicine making, it would be bodywork, food, it would be Quiet, meditation. it would be transforming the false idol of stress, by supporting others to root in what is Real medicine. it would be holding group sessions - community - where we practice - go through a sequence of nutrition - learning to cook foods that will help; meditation, juicing, counsel - talking about it, yoga sequence for addressing stress - building community - an 8 week series that gives people participating an opportunity to build with one another, to have community, to do cleanses, to be quiet together. i would have a gift available for them that they can use in the absence of physical gatherings - a box of guidance and supports that they can open, that can help them. i'd like to have this available to people at different levels - people from humble indigenous backgrounds like my parents, people in the education world, people in corporate backgrounds, musicians, artists, leaders of schools, places of worship, lawyers, doctors, housewives, house-husbands...
i see it. the offering is a spiritual one. the circumstance is the gifts and the 8-week sessions or 9.
i see You.
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