And Were Met By Wealth

Peace, one and all…

‘We sought poverty and were met by wealth.  Others sought wealth and were met by poverty’
Ibrahim ibn Adham, Attar Memorials of the Saints

What Is Poverty?

Peace, one and all…

Abu Hafs al-Haddad, an early Sufi master, was once asked, ‘What is poverty?’.  He replied thus: ‘Displaying your infirmity in the presence of the Lord Most High’
(Attar, Memorials of the Saints)

True Poverty

Peace, one and all…

A short, but powerful exposition on the topic of spiritual poverty, known as faqr in Arabic.

Meister Eckhart: Counsels on Discernment 7

Peace, one and all…

In his seventh counsel, Meister Eckhart turns to explore the notion of work, and how we might pursue our work in a spiritually appropriate manner.

Counsel 7: How a man should perform his work in the most reasonable way

One often finds people who are not impeded by the things that are around them – and this is easy to attain if one wishes – nor do they have any constant thought about them.  For if the heart is full of God, created things can have and find no place in it.  But, what is more, this alone should not satisfy us.  We ought to turn everything into great profit, whatever it may be, wherever we may be, whatever we see or hear, however strange or unlikely it may be.  Then for the first time all is well with us and not until then, and one will never come to an end in this.  One can always go on increasing in this, gaining more and more from it in true growth.

And in all his activities and under all circumstances a man should take care to use his reason, and in everything he should have a reasonable consciousness of himself and of his inwardness, and find God in all things, in the highest degree that is possible.  For a man ought to be as our Lord said: ‘You should be like men who are always watching and waiting for their master’ (Luke 12:36).  Truly, people who wait stay awake and look around them for whence he for whom they are waiting may be coming; and they are on the lookout for him in whatever may come, however unknown it may be to them, for perhaps he might somehow be in it.  So we should have in all things a knowing perception of our master.  We must show zeal in this, and it must cost us everything we are capable of in mind and body, and so it will be well with us, and we shall find God in everything alike, and find God always alike in all things.

Certainly, one work differs from another; but whoever undertakes all his works in the same frame of mind, then, truly, all that man’s works are the same.  Indeed, for the man for whom God shines forth as directly in worldly things as he does in divine things and to whom God would be so present, for such a man things would be well.  Not indeed that the man himself would be doing worldly things, unlike to God; rather, whatever external matters he chanced to see and hear, he would refer it all back to God.  Only he to whom God is present in everything and who employs his reason in the highest degree and has enjoyment in it knows anything of true peace and has a real kingdom of heaven.

For if things are to go well with a man, one of two things must always happen to him.  Either he must find and learn to possess God in works, or he must abandon all works.  But since a man cannot in this life be without works, which are proper to humans and are of so many kinds, therefore he must learn to possess his God in all things and to remain unimpeded, whatever he may be doing, wherever he may be.  And therefore if a man who is beginning must do something with other people, he ought first to make a powerful petition to God for his help, and put him immovably in his heart and unite all his intentions, thoughts, will and power to God, so that nothing else than God can take shape in that man.

Meister Eckhart: Counsels on Discernment 6

Peace, one and all…

In his sixth counsel on discernment, Meister Eckhart discusses detachment of the soul.

Counsel 6: Of detachment and of the possession of God

I was asked: ‘Since some people keep themselves much apart from others, and most all like to be alone, and since it is this and in being in church that they find peace, would that be the best thing to do?’  Then I said: ‘No! and see why not!’  If all is well with a man, then truly, wherever he may be, whomever he may be with, it is well with him.  But if things are not right with him, then everywhere and with everybody it is all wrong with him.  If it is well with him, truly he has God, he has him everywhere, in the street and in company with everyone, just as much as in church or in solitary places or in his cell.  But if a man really has God, and has only God, then no one can hinder him.

Why?

Because he has only God, and his intention is toward God alone, and all things become for him nothing God.  That man carries God in his every work and in every place, and it is God alone who performs all the man’s works; for whoever causes the work, to him it belongs more properly and truly than it does to the one who performs it.  Then let our intention be purely and only for God, and then truly he must perform all our works, and no person, no crowds, no places can hinder him in all his works.  In the same way, no one can hinder this man, for he intends and seeks and takes delight in nothing but God, for God has become one with man in all his intention.  And so, just as no multiplicity can disturb God, nothing can disturb or fragment this man, for he is one in that One where all multiplicity is one and is one unmultiplicity.

A man should accept God in all things, and should accustom himself to having God present always in his disposition and his intention and his love.  Take heed how you can have God as the object of your thoughts whether you are in church or in your cell.  Preserve and carry with you that same disposition when you are in crowds and in uproar and in unlikeness.  And, as I have said before, when one speaks of likeness, one does not mean that we should pay like to all works or all places or all people. That would be quite wrong, because praying is a better work than spinning, and church is a better place than the street.  But you ought in your works to have a like disposition and a like confidence and a like love for your God and a like seriousness.  Believe me, if you were constant in this way, no one could come between you and the God who is present to you.

But a man in whom truly God is not but who must grasp God in this thing or in that thing from outside, and who seeks God in unlike ways, be it in works or people or places, such a man does not possess God.  And it may easily be that something hinders such a man for he does not possess God, and he does not seek him alone, nor does he love and intende Him alone; and therefore it is not only bad company that hinders him.  Good company can also hinder him – not just the street, but the church too, not only evil words and deeds, but good words and good deeds as well, for the hindrance is in him, because in him God has not become all things.  Were that so, everything would be right and good for him, in every place and among all people, because he has God, and no one can take God away from him or hinder him in his work.

On what does this true possession of God depend, so that we may truly have Him?

This true possession of God depends on the disposition, and on an inward directing of the reason and intention toward God, not on a constant contemplation in an unchanging manner, for it would be impossible to nature to preserve such an intention, and very labourious, and not the best thing either.  A man ought not to have a God who is just a product of his thought, nor should he be satisfied with that, because if the thought vanished, God too would vanish.  But one ought to have a God who is present, a God who is far above the notions of men and of all created things.  That God does not vanish, if a man does not willfully turn away from Him.

The man who has God essentially present to him grasps God divinely, and to him God shines in all things; for everything tastes to him of God, and God forms himself for the man out of all things.  God always shines out in him, in him there is a detachment and a turning away, and a forming of his God whom he loves and who is present to him.  It is like a man consumed with a real and burning thirst, who may well not drink and may turn his mind to other things.  But whatever he may do, in whatever company he may be, whatever he may be intending or thinking or working at, still the idea of drinking does not leave him, so long as he is thirsty.  The more his thirst grows, the more the idea of drinking grows and intrudes and possesses him and will not leave him.  Or if a man loves something ardently and with all his heart, so that nothing else has savour for him or touches his heart but that, and that and nothing but that is his whole object: Truly, wherever he is, whomever he is with, whatever he may undertake, whatever he does, what he so loves never passes from his mind, and he finds the image of what he loves in everything, and it is the more present to him the more his love grows and grows.  He does not seek rest, because no unrest hinders him.

Such a man finds far greater merit with God because he grasps everything as divine and as greater than things in themselves are.  Truly, to this belong zeal and love and a clear apprehension of his own inwardness, and a lively, true, prudent and real knowledge of what his disposition is concerned with amid thigns and persons.  A man cannot learn this by running away, by shunning things and shutting himself up in an external solitude; but he must practice a solitude of the spirit, wherever or with whomever he is.  He must learn to break through things and to grasp God in them and to form him in himself powerfully in an essential manner.  This is like someone who wants to learn to write.  If he is to acquire the art, he must certainly practice it hard and long, however disagreeable and difficult this may be for him and however impossible it may seem.  If he will practice it industriously and assiduously, he learns it and masters the art.  To begin with, he must indeed memorise each single letter and get it firmly into his mind.  Then, when he has the art, he will not need to think about and remember the letters’ appearance; he can write effortlessly and easily – and it will be the same if he wants to play the fiddle or to learn any other skill.  It will always be enough for him to make up his mind to do the hard work the art demands; and even if he is not thinking about it all the time, still, whatever he may be thinking of when he does perform it, this be from the art he has learned.

So a man must be penetrated with the divine presence, and be shaped through and through with the shape of the God he loves, and be present in Him, so that God’s presence may shine out of him without any effort.  What is more, in all things let him acquire nakedness, and let him always remain free of things.  But at the beginning there must be attentiveness and a careful formation within himself, like a schoolboy setting himself to learn

Meister Eckhart: Counsels on Discernment 5

Peace, one and all…

In his fifth counsel, Meister Eckhart focuses on exploring the ground of our being.

Counsel 5: See what can make our being and our ground good

A man’s being and ground – from which his works derive their goodness – is good when his intention is wholly directed to God.  Set all your care on that, that God become great within you, and that all your zeal and effort in everything you do and in everything you renounce be directed to God.  Truly, the more you do this in all your works, whatever they are, the better they are.  Cleave to God, and He will endow your with all goodness.  Seek God, and you will find God and every good thing as well.  Yes, truly, with such an attitude you could tread upon a stone, and that would be a more godly thing for you to do than for you to receive the Body of our Lord, if you were thinking more of yourself with less detachment.  If we cling to God, then God and all virtues cling to us.  And what once you were seeking now seeks you; what once you hunted after now hunts you, and what you once wished to shun now avoids you.  Therefore to him who clings greatly to God, everything clings that is godly, and from him everything takes flight that is unlike God and alien to Him.

Meister Eckhart: Counsels on Discernment 4

Peace, one and all…

In his fourth counsel, Meister Eckharts turns to examine the notion of self-abandonment.

Counsel 4: Of the profits of self-abandonment, which one should practice inwardly and outwardly

You should know that there was never any man in this life who forsook himself so much that he could not still find more in himself to forsake.  There are few people who see this to be true and stick by it.  This is indeed a fair exchange and an honest deal: By as much as you go out in forsaking all things, by so much, neither less nor more, does God go in, with all that is His, as you entirely forsake everything that is yours.  Undertake this, and let it cost you everything you can afford.  There you will find true peace, and nowhere else.

People ought never to think too much about what they could do, but they ought to think about what they could be.  If people and their way of life were only good, what they did might be a shining example.  If you are just, then your works too are just.  We ought not to think of building holiness upon action; we ought to build it upon a way of being, for it is not what we do that makes us holy, but we ought to make holy what we do.  However holy the works may be, they do not, as works, make us at all holy; but, as we are holy and have being, to that extent we make all our works holy, be it eating, sleeping, keeping vigil or whatever it may be.  It does not matter what men may do whose being is mean; nothing good will come of it.  Take good heed: We ought to do everything we can to be good; it does not matter so much what we may do, or what kinds of works ours may be.  What matters is the ground on which the works are built.

Meister Eckhart on the Will

Peace, one and all…

More on the will from Meister Eckhart:

‘It is good when our will becomes God’s will, but it is far better when God’s will becomes our will.  When your will becomes God’s will and you fall ill, then you would not want to become well again against God’s will, but you wish that it should be God’s will for you to become well again.  And when things are going badly then you wish it might be God’s will for things to improve.  On the other hand, if God’s will becomes your will and you fall ill – so be it!  If your friend dies – so be it!  God’s will be done!’ (On Detachment, 91 f.)

‘A free mind is one which is not deceived by anything and is not bound to anything, it is one which has not bound its best part to any specific manner of devotion and which does not seek itself in anything, living rather in God’s will and stripped of itself’ (On Detachment, 190)

Kabir Dede on the Will

Peace, one and all…

In a recent post, we saw Meister Eckhart speak forcefully of the will.  Mevlevi tradition has a similar focus on the will (irada).  As a starting point for further discussion, let’s explore Kabir Dede’s definition:

‘The ability to act consciously; the faculty of conscious choice; a power of the soul by which we can direct our thoughts, actions, and, eventually, even our feelings.  Will is directly connected with Spirit.  It is a unique attribute of the human being, because no other creature, as far as we know, has this degree of conscious choice.  Will enables us to rise above personal desire and egoistic satisfactions.

Human will is derived from the divine will as the image in a mirror is a reflection of the source of that image.  Human will is a dim reflection of the divine will.  The human being, then, is the mirror of God’s will.  As we develop spiritually we begin to see how our own will is related to the Will of the Divine …

Will develops as we make conscious choices and bring those conscious choices and decisions to completion.  In other words, our fulfilling of our responsibilities develops our will; whereas every uncompleted decision drains us of will.  Will is a capacity that we must continually preserve and maintain, if we are to be fully human’.  The Book of Language, pp. 145-146

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

Meister Eckhart: Counsels on Discernment 3

Peace, one and all…

In his third counsel, Meister Eckhart explores the will.

Counsel 3: Of people who have not denied themselves and are full of their own will

People say: ‘O Lord, how much I wish that I stood as well with God, that I had as much devotion and peace in God as others have, I wish that it were so with me!’  Or, ‘I should like to be poor,’ or else, ‘Things will never go right for me till I am in this place or that, or till I act one way or another.  I must go and live in a strange land, or in a hermitage, or in a cloister’.

In fact, this is all about yourself, and nothing else at all.  This is just self-will, only you do not know it or it does not seem so to you.  There is never any trouble that starts in you that does not come from your own will, whether people see this or not.  We can think what we like, that a man ought to shun one thing or pursue another – places and people and ways of life and environments and undertakings - that is not the trouble, such ways of life or such matters are not what impedes you.  It is what you are in these things that causes the trouble, because in them you do not govern yourself as you should.

Therefore, make a start with yourself, and abandon yourself.  Truly, if you do not begin by getting away from yourself, wherever you run to, you will find obstacles and trouble wherever it may be.  People who seek peace in external things – be it in places or ways of life or people or activities or solitude or poverty or degradation – however great such a thing may be or whatever it may be, still it is all nothing and gives no peace.  People who seek in that way are doing it all wrong; the further they wander, the less they will find what they are seeking.  They go around like someone who has lost his way; the further he goes, the more lost he is.  Then what ought he to do?  He ought to begin by forsaking himself, because then he has forsaken everything.  Truly, if a man renounced a kingdom or the whol world but held on to himself, he would not have renounced anything.  What is more, if a man renounces himself, whatever else he retains, riches or honours or whatever it may be, he has forsaken everything.

About what Saint Peter said: ‘See, Lord, we have forsaken everything’ (Matt. 19:27) – and all he had forsaken was just a net and his little boat – there is a saint who says: ‘If anyone willingly gives up something little, that is not all which he has given up, but he has forsaken everything which worldly men can gain and what they can even long for; for whoever has renounced his own will and himself has renounced everything, as truly as if he had possessed it as his own, to dispose of as he would’.  For what you choose not to long for, you have wholly forsaken and renounced for the love of God.  That is why our Lord said: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ (Matt. 5:3), that is, in the will.  And no one ought to be in doubt about this; if there were a better form of living, our Lord would have said so, as he also said: ‘Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself’ (Matt. 16:24), as a beginning; everything depends on that.  Take a look at yourself, and whenever you find yourself, deny yourself.  That is the best of all.

Meister Eckhart: Counsels on Discernment 2

Peace, one and all…

In this second counsel, Meister Eckhart turns to explore prayer.

Counsel 2: Of the most powerful prayer, and of the highest work of all

The most powerful prayer, and almost the strongest of all to obtain everything, and the most honourable of all works, is that which proceeds from an empty spirit.  The emptier the spirit, the more is the prayer and the work mighty, worthy, profitable, praiseworthy and perfect.  The empty spirit can do everything.

What is an empty spirit?

An empty spirit is one that is confused by nothing, attached to nothing, has not attached its best to any fixed way of acting, and has no concern whatever in anything for its own gain, for it is all sunk deep down into God’s dearest will, and has forsaken its own.  A man can never perform any work, however, humble, without it gaining strength and power from this.

We ought to pray so powerfully that we should like to put our every member and strength, our two eyes and ears, mouth, heart and all our senses to work; and we should not give up until we find that we wish to be one with Him who is present to us and whom we entreat, namely God.

Readings from the Evrad-i Serif 1

Peace, one and all…

Our first Ramadan post starts with the opening of the Mevlevi wird (litany), known as the Evrad-i Serif.  It contains a number of beautiful prayers and affirmations and is an appropriate place to begin, with its focus on the peace and love of God.

In the Name of God, the Infinitely Compassionate, the Most Merciful…

1. Our Sustainer, You are Peace and from You comes all Peace and our ultimate return is to You, to Peace.
2. O our Sustainer, continually, You enliven us with Peace.
3. Allow us to enter Your Garden, the Abode of Peace.
4. O our Sustainer, bless us with Peace.
5. With Your Peace You have exalted everything, O Lord of Majesty and Infinite Generosity.  All praise and glory belongs to You.
6. Limitless are You in Your glory.  We could not worship You as You truly ought to be worshipped, O You who are worshipped.
7. Subtle are You beyond all knowing.  We could not know You as You truly ought to be known, O You who are the object of knowledge.
8. All praise is due to God who guides one to well-being.
9. I ask God’s forgiveness for my mistakes.
10. I bear witness that there is no god but God and that He is One and has no partner.
11. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.
12. There is no god but God.  The dominion belongs to Him.  All praise is His.  He gives life.  He takes life.  He is Ever-living and never dies.  All goodness is in His hand.  He has power over all things.
13. There is no god but God.  All benefits are His.  All blessings are His.  To Him belongs the most exceptional beauty.
14. There is no god but God, the Possessor of the Most Ancient Oneness, that has no beginning and no end.
15. There is no god but God.  We worship none but God with sincere devotion to Him alone despite those who deny the Truth.
16. O my Allah!  No one can keep me from receiving what You bestow.  No one can bestow that which You do not wish someone to receive.  No one can act contrary to Your will.  No one can guide to the true Way the one whom You cause to stray.  No one can lead astray the one whom You have guided to the true Way.  No one can change anything about which You have made Your will clear.  Wealth cannot help the wealthy if Your help is not with them.
17. In the Name of God: when with whose Name one begins anything then nothing on earth or in the heavens may harm it.  And He is All-Hearing and All-Knowing.
18. (I begin) in the Name of God with my self and my Way.
19. (I begin) in the Name of God with my family and all that I own.
20. (I begin) in the Name of God with whatever my Sustainer has granted to me.  God is my Sustainer and never do I attribute any partner to Him.
21. God is dearer and greater than the things that I fear and are of concern to me.
22. How precious is Your protection and how great is Your uniqueness.  Exalted is Your praise.  How holy are Your Names.  And there is no god but You.
23. O God!  Surely, I seek refuge with You from the evil within myself, from the evil within others, from all tyrants, and from all obstinate oppressors,
24. and from the evil of every recalcitrant satan.
25.  ’Truly, my protector is God, who sent down the Book: for it is He who takes into His protection the righteous ones’ (Quran 7:196)
26. ‘But if they turn away, say: ‘God is sufficient for me!  There is no deity except Him.  In Him have I placed my trust, for He is the Sustainer, in awe inspiring majesty enthroned’ (Quran 9:129)

I won’t be posting the entire Evrad-i Serif, but I will be posting passages that seem relevant, and that speak to our unfolding spiritual dialogue with Meister Eckhart.

Related Posts:

• Mevlana and Me: Poetry, the Moment and Suhbah
• ‘And Spread the Greeting Among Yourselves’: Exploring the Salam

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman

Love Whispers in My Ear

Peace, one and all…

Love whispers in my ear,
‘Better to be a prey than a hunter.
Make yourself My fool.
Stop trying to be the sun and become a speck!
Dwell at My door and be homeless.
Don’t pretend to be a candle, be a moth;
so you may taste the savour of life
and know the power hidden in serving’
Masnavi 5.411-414

Feel No Fear

Peace, one and all…

Feel no fear,
for you are weakness
held by His strength,
and poverty
encompassed by His wealth.

Feel no fear,
all that moves
does so by His command,
and all that comes to pass
does so by His word.

Beloved,
what is there to fear
when there are no borders
left to defend
and no more boundaries to hold us back?

Forever In His Beloved’s Companionship

Peace, one and all…

‘The Beloved created, and the Lover destroyed.  The Beloved judged, and the Lover wept.  Then the Beloved redeemed him, and the Lover again had glory.  The Beloved finished his work, and the Lover remained forever in his Beloved’s companionship’
Ramon Lull, The Book of the Lover and the Beloved, 313.

And Then…

Peace, one and all…

Imagine the arches
and columns of your palace
already built,
with its roofpeaks
brushing against the sky,
its walls of garnet
its floortiles all
of pure ruby;
for two or three days
you loll inside, and then…
the eviction notice.
(Awhaduddin Kirmani, trans. Peter Lambourn Wilson)

I Am, If I Am Yours Alone

Peace, one and all…

‘Blanquerna said: ‘It is true, O Lord God, that there is no other god except You alone.  To You alone I offer myself to serve You.  From You alone I hope for forgiveness, for there is no other liberality nor mercy to forgive except Yours.  Humble I am if I humble myself to You.  Lord I am, if I am Yours alone.  I have victory over my enemies if I suffer for You.  With all that I am, a guilty sinner, I give myself to You alone and Yours alone I am.  Of You alone I beg forgiveness, in You I trust, and for You I endure trials.  Whatever may happen to me, let it all be to the one end of Your praise, honour and glory.  I will have no other Lord, for You alone I fear, from You alone comes my strength, for You I weep, for You I burn with love’
Ramon Lull, The Art of Contemplation 4:6

Nothing Remains But The King

Peace, one and all…

‘The Master said: ‘It is good if you are helpless all the time and at every moment, and see yourself as helpless in the state of capacity just as in the state of incapacity.  For above your capacity, there is a greater Capacity, and you are vanquished to God’s will in every state.  You are not divided into two halves, now capable and now helpless.  Pay regard to His Capacity, and know yourself to be helpless always, without hand and foot, poor and utterly incapable.  What indeed is the plight of feeble man, seeing that lions and tigers and crocodiles, all are helpless and tremble before Him?  The heavens and the earths likewise are helpless and subject to His decree.

He is a mighty Emperor.  His Light is not as the light of the moon and the sun, in the presence of which a thing abides in its place.  When His Light shines forth unveiled, neither heaven remains nor earth, nor sun nor moon; nothing remains but the King’
(Mevlana, Fihi ma Fihi 3)