TAQWA - THE FEAR OF GOD

The Arabic word taqwa is often translated as the fear of God.  It is also sometimes translated as God consciousness or a kind of vigilance. This is fear of the Beloved's displeasure; a fear that arises from Love.

The one who has realized that the separation between self and other is illusory, knows that the most subtle act of self-service – at the expense of the other – has consequences and fears these consequences. But such a person also knows that this "wrath" is the Beloved's mercy because He is watching and He does not want the abd to go astray. 

The abd's fear and the Beloved's "wrath" are both manifestations of Love. The abd's Love for her Beloved and the Beloved's love for the abd.

The fear which is an absence of love, is the fear of one who believes she is an independent being in a hostile world, where she has to secure her own wellbeing.  This fear is rooted in illusion and falsehood - the illusion that one is separate and the false notion that the self can and does provide for and protect itself. This fear is rooted in being a victim and being ungrateful.  

If one were to see things as they are, one would know that one has been created, sustained, protected and nourished by a Genius and a Generosity without having earned or deserved so much as one breath of life.  From this correct apprehension of one's condition, springs trust, which helps one face uncertainty and perceived threats with equanimity.  

And Allah knows best.

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The Tranquility Of Your Heart

Your problem isn't that you need to admire, to love, to worship someone. You are made to be a worshipful being. It is your Design: “And I did not create the jinn and humankind except to worship Me.” (Quran 51:56)

Your problem is that you worship people and things. They break your heart and disappoint you. Then you complain, you blame them for your misery and remain stuck.

When you submit yourself and your worship to its rightful Owner – that is, when you realize, when you interiorize La Illaha Il Allah – your heart will became tranquil.

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PEACE IS IN THE PRESENT MOMENT

To be present is to be at peace.

To be present we must let go of the past.
To let go of the past we must first acknowledge it fully.
When we acknowledge it fully, we see it correctly.
When we see it correctly, we see what can and cannot be done – particularly what cannot be undone – and we choose to let it all go.
When we see it correctly, we also see the blessing in what had appeared previously as a curse.
When we have fully acknowledged and seen the past for what it is we are grateful and we can let it go.
We become at peace with the past.

When we become at peace with the past we become at peace with the future. 
Because we know that the same Benevolence that cared for us in the past will care for us in the future.

When the past no longer burdens us and the future no longer worries us, we become present.
And we are at peace.

In order not to accumulate baggage from the present moment, it is important to act correctly in the moment. To act correctly is to act with unconditional benevolent intent because only then have we have given what were are being asked to give, we have done what we are being asked to do, we have done our best – we have been generous or courageous as appropriate.   

Being deliberate about correct action in the present, about letting go of the past and about letting go of anxiety for the future, are mutually enabling.

When we have done the appropriate, done our best, we can move on to the next moment without guilt, resentment or anxiety.  We are present.  And at peace.


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INTIMACY/ ALIENATION

Why is it that you can spend decades in close proximity with someone and still experience them as alien?  Or meet someone for the first time and feel like you have always known them?

Because intimacy is not about physical distance or time.  Real intimacy is about an expansive openness, an all-embracing acceptance and a deep understanding, which comes primarily from accepting and knowing yourself.  

This self-knowledge and acceptance enables others to open up to you and allows you to accept and know the other as intimately as yourself.

Ultimately, real intimacy is discovering that you exist in the other. 

It is finding yourself Home in the Other. 
And discovering that they exist in you.

May Allah grant us that.  

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LET GO WHAT YOU LOVE

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When the Beloved asks, give up whatever it is -- no matter how precious, how beautiful it is; no matter how much you love it; no matter how painful giving up is.

Give up.

In time, you will find that the Beloved asked you to give up what you were clutching so you could hold something better - something more precious, more beautiful, more enchanting than you could ever imagine.

Trust the Beloved

Give up. 
Let Go.
Surrender.
Completely.

YOUR PAIN IS A BLESSING

image with thanks via Iraj Jahanshahi

The courtesy when in pain is to submit and try to understand it.  You can take a quick fix to suppress it or find an escape to distract yourself from it and that can work for a while.  But, the real remedy for chronic pain lies in acknowledging it, being curious about it and trying to understand where it is coming from and what it is saying to you so you can cure it.

Pain is telling you:

*Stop whatever it is you are doing;
*Pay attention here!;
*Understand what is going on so you can find a cure.

If your body didn't hurt when it was on fire, you could be burnt to a crisp by a fire while you slept.  It is the same with any other kind of pain, emotional or mental.  If you didn't hurt you would not do anything to save yourself from further damage and destruction.

Pain is not your enemy; it is your ally. It is telling you pay attention, do something -- something else, something new.  

If you were never hurt and confused, if you were never lost and afraid, you would never change.  

You know how stubborn you are, how compulsive, how conditioned, how attached to the things, activities and people you love. 

You know you would never change unless you were forced to.  Unless the pain were so intense that your usual distractions and addictions stopped working.

And that is what your pain is here to do - whether physical, mental, or emotional  - it's here to force you to change.

Accept it and work with it, make it your ally.  And surely the Merciful One will reveal to you the immense blessing in it.  Because it is a blessing.  

I know it hurts.

But it is a blessing.

Everything is encompassed in and comes from the Beloved's Mercy.

And Allah knows best.

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BEAUTY

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There is a manifestation of beauty that is heartbreakingly vulnerable, ephemeral and delicate.  Like dew drops dangling on a spider's web, like butterfly wings, like brittle miniature sea shells, like the filigreed bones of hummingbirds.  

It is precisely the fragility that renders the object beautiful.  And it is the same fragility that makes it so evanescent and impossible to hold on to, to possess.  

What this teaches us is to delight in what is gorgeous, here and now. And be so filled with marvel and gratitude at the miracle of Existence that neither do we want to own the object of beauty, nor grieve at its impermanence.

image with thanks via Wildlife Photographer Of The Year