04-14-2006, 06:50 AM
Quote:Ma'sha Allah, now that was truly inspiring. And the best is yet to come.
Though I may not yet feel the call to convert to Islam, my mind is not closed to it. There are many things in the past which i have at first thought "That's foolish, who could possibly believe that?" Only to years later rediscover as Truth what i before couldn't accept. This has taught me that all things come on their own time, and we can't really accept or hold a part of Truth until we have all of the other necessary peices - and those pieces will undoubtedly be different for everyone.
There is a tradition of reason that I discovered some time ago, called Toltec Wisdom. It amounts to a kind of natural wisdom, outside of religion, or even spirituality. Part of this tradition's foundation is the concept of Agreements. When we are born, we are pure, we have no mind, not thoughts - we have only our raw essence, yet to be shaped except into the life that it has become, and the potential we will, God willing, fulfill. At a certain point in our growth, we are suddenly fluent enough in existing that we begin to learn from everything around us - mostly people. Our parents, teachers, everyone we interact with. We make Agreements with them - agreements on what the world is. We agree that we are this or that, we agree that other things are this or that. We inherit a definition of the world. This becomes the templet for everything worldly that we are. It is the facade that our essence has learned to express in order to connect to everything and communicate. In all of this I believe that we are often simply taught not to pay attention to or think about God. In many cultures - perhaps this is a greater benefit of a culture like a muslim country, where the majority of families are so devout. Here, children learn that God is a critical part of their life. While I think it is best that any child be taught that he must ultimately discover Truth on his own, through his own living of Life, such a foundation couldn't be negative, regardless of the religion.
Regardless of where we begin, though, we always grow into a net of agreements which we at first assume is the totality of our world. To the young, often everything is black and white. This is why youth is often so extreme. However, once the process of Seeking begins, Truth offers a counter to those agreements which hinder us, if we will accept it. Really, every agreement is a hinderance to the Essence of who you are - your purified, original Self as God created you. There is a famous saying, "The Sage knows Nothing" and I believe that this is the meaning of that saying. This net of agreements is like a wall between you and God.
The trick of it is that once we have a sufficient vocabulary of agreements - much like words - you begin to learn how to make your own agreements, and you pick up where your Models left off. We build new agreements on top of the old and until the point that we learn to stop doing, the wall becomes thicker and thicker. When the process of Seeking begins, that wall is slowly taken apart. Each new Revelation is perfectly designed to help strip away exactly the next layer. And so Revelation by Revelation, layer by layer, the wall is thinned, until the final Revelation strips away all that the World has deposited between you, and the highest union takes place.
I don't meant to preach. But, tonight has been a very thoughtful one.
As i said, I don't feel called to convert to Islam (yet?) - but talking here, just reading, and even the process of 'rewalking' my path to date, so to speak, has given me a great deal of clarity, and allowed the spark in my Spirit to be somewhat revitalized. Winter is a season of withdrawal and reflection, and so have I withdrawn. I was drawn to this forum through seemingly unrelated curiosity about culture, at first, but as a result of the reaction i have had to what was here, I have gained a great blessing. Perhaps it was the will of Allah to begin with, as all things must be.
Thanks to Allah, and thank you all very much.
Namaste
mahasvapna