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Sura al Asr
Thanksgiving - November 23, 1994 New York, New York Allah, Most High, through the Beloved Prophet Muhammad (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) says in the Glorious Qur'an: Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. "By the time," or we could say "in time" or "over time," human beings are in a loss, except those that have faith, do righteous deeds, join together in the mutual "Company of Truth" and have patience and constancy. This verse offers tremendously important spiritual realizations. What do we mean by "in time" or "over time"? For most of us most of the time, "time" represents the margin, or the "playing field", of our physical, mortal life. Within the boundaries of time, we inevitably try to move toward all the things we want to have, accomplish and attain. We then go about the business of accomplishing, attaining and accumulating as many of these "good things of life" as we possibly can before we die - however we define "good things". We race our time against the clock towards a big appointment. What is the big appointment? It is our physical death from this mortal world. We don't know when it's coming, but we know it will. When? We are never sure, but it's coming. Everything between here and there, from now 'til then, from this point forward, is our time left. From wherever we came to this point now is the time that we've already spent. This continual flow of time is our margin, our playing field in the physical/material life. Simultaneously, as we find ourselves located in time, there is something else going on. Something more is taking place inside of us that is not bound by time. This is an infinite thirst, an infinite desire for limitlessness. Think about it. Time is endlessly moving forward, but our physical time here is limited. It took so much time to get here, yet we have a big appointment which limits how much time we have left. Within the margin of our time, something else is taking place that is not limited to time, and that is our thirst and desire for limitlessness, the ever infinite thirst for unconditional love. Ah, what a paradox. We are living within a medium that is limited, and life is driving us by something that is unlimited. How might one typically respond? "Well, I don't have much time left, and I have a big order to fill, so I better start going after as much as I can get my hands on." How many things? How much money? How many lovers? How could I preserve my age? How can I slow down the process of dying? If I could only slow the process down, I could get more things, have more power and increase my position - more haves, more accumulation. Yet, acting on this response never completely satisfies me. Why don't things satisfy me? Because, they all wear out. They all die. "Surely in time, man is at a loss." What is it that we own? What do we have that does not wear out? Do we own our bodies in the margin of time? If we own our "own" bodies, so be it. Then can we pick the time of our natural death? Who can normally predict the time of their death? We are taught, through our mystical tradition, that Allah may offer an inkling as to the time of death to Allah's Friends, but the actual time of departure from this mortal world is known only unto that Power which is greater than the individual self. If our bodies belong to us, why is it not possible to stave off death? We can't even invent a light bulb that won't burn out! Every piece of cloth that we wear, wears out. Our bodies wear out. Our hair turns gray. People try to measure their success by how much they "have" in life. Now watch the crazy making start, because one does not really have or control the physical things that one tries to hold onto. If I accumulate money, I have to spend it. If I don't spend the money, so I can accumulate more, inflation sets in and the money is worth less! Everything wears out including our minds and our ideas. I am fond of saying, "All of us have forgotten more than we ever learned." We have forgotten more than the amount which we know. "What was that good idea I had?" You cannot imagine how many times people come to me hoping to ask me a question or wishing to tell me something, but by the time they sit in front of me, they can't even remember their question. But, I thought it was your idea. I thought it was your question. So where did they go? Over time we are "at a loss." We don't really have anything! Yet, we rush against the time of our death trying to fill an infinite space of longing inside ourselves with psychic and physical pleasures that never completely satisfy, and . . . we are "at a loss" again. There are enough wealthy people in the world that if monetary wealth meant happiness, there would be plenty of happy people. But that doesn't seem to work. If educational degrees or credentials brought happiness, we would have many happy people as well, but we don't. If sexual lovers, or the quantity of lovers that we have had in our lives brought happiness, there would be a whole lot of happy people in the world. People are "doing it" all over the place seeking love. Sex doesn't produce happiness either. And time keeps on ticking. When we finally depart from this world, we are unable to keep any thing anyway. So what were all of those physical, mental and emotional activities and preoccupations about? "Surely in time, man is at a loss, except those who have Faith, do righteous deeds and join together in the mutual Company of Truth and have Patience and Constancy." Instead of chasing material and psychic longings over time, one needs to transform their time in this world into the spiritual-- the "Reality of Truth". What is that transformation? How can it happen, and how does it happen? The first key that this verse offers us from the Holy Qur'an is to have "Faith". Faith. Does this mean blind faith, such as simplistically just believing anything the "big book" tells you? Really speaking, there is no such thing as blind faith. Let us get rid of that myth right now. Anyone who insists that they have blind faith is mistaken. Do you know why? Faith itself comes from integrating the various experiences of one's life. Faith comes from experience. One has faith because within oneself, in the Heart, something has undergone a change -- a change which can be trusted. From trusting that change, one feels more love, which builds more trust, which builds more faith. Faith comes from experience. Blind faith is merely a sampling from the surface of the ocean of complete faith. We all have faith after we have had an experience in a situation that we could have faith. If we have never actually experienced faith, we haven't got it. No matter what we try to say. Faith is a feeling, a realization. Faith is not a decision. It is not a formula. It doesn't come out of a book. Faith is an experience. Someone who declares, "I have total faith in whatever the Sheikh says, whatever the book says, whatever the scripture says," without having had the personal experience of trust, or in other words the realization of faith, is mistaken. At the point when a person literally experiences everything that happens to them, as it happens and when it happens, as if it is right on time and is the Divine lesson of God/Allah in the moment, without tension and without resistance to whatever is taking place at the time that it happens, that person has "complete faith". This is called iman (Arabic: faith) in Sufism. Complete faith is different from blind faith, because complete faith offers a relationship with God/Allah that allows one to actually feel and experience. "My Lord, at this moment, whether life seems good or bad, uncomfortable or luxurious, understandable or perplexing, confusing or clear, whether You are hidden from me or whether You appear to me, it doesn't matter. I trust in You. Your course work is Your custom design for me for whatever I need completely." This is an understanding of complete faith not blind faith. Though a person may insist that they have blind faith, their faith is actually very shallow. You can challenge them and knock them "off center" very easily. They fall over, and they become angry very quickly. They become defensive and agitated. The reality in their gut and heart and the reason they are so loudly proclaiming so much faith to the outside world, is they are trying to protect the hidden hurt, the wound of separation that they feel on the inside of themselves. One who is in complete faith is actually a very relaxed person, because complete faith is the real understanding that this moment, every moment, is designed by God/Allah for me. The one who is in complete faith will look around the room and not see different people. They only see the reflection of God/Allah looking back reassuring, "I designed this moment for you. If you need to talk with someone, speak with Me in the form of My many Friends." God/Allah is serving God/Allah by offering the opportunity of being served. Faith is the experience of trust through the understanding that every moment, no matter what the appearance, is part of a Supreme Design which is a matrix of interlocking moments with everyone and everything. God/Allah is God/Allah, because God/Allah can make this happen for all at the same time, for each in his or her own way. Alhamdulillah (Arabic: All praises to Allah)! It is hard not to try to fake complete faith with blind faith. Complete faith is to be relaxed and to truly accept that this moment is a delivery, a package, that is delivered to me with my personal lessons from God/Allah. In order to help me be in that state and station of consciousness, I enjoin myself in the "Company of Truth". What is the "Truth" that we are talking about? We could spend literally weeks and weeks exploring what is Truth, but let us make it simple and relate it to this verse. Truth is in the understanding, the realization of the difference between that which is permanent and real, and that which is impermanent or changing. That is Truth. Truth is located in the real, in the permanent, in the absolute. The definition of Truth in this sense, as in this verse, is the Truth that is so "true" that it cannot be changed, and that it is never ending -- Permanent Truth, the Underlying Reality, the Supreme Reality of all things. Truth. So, what should we do? Enjoin ourselves in the Company of Truth. This is not to say that any one of us, with our limited minds, can conceptualize and know exactly what is Truth. No one can say it, and none can speak it. No one can speak aloud the name of the "Never Ending", and nobody can intellectually conceptualize the Infinite. How can you measure limitlessness with a limited organ, with a limited faculty? However, with the power of Love and the support of community, everyone is encouraged in his or her own way to pursue the Truth. What is the "Truth"? In pursuing Truth, we first start out by telling the truth as best we can about where we are at -- my likes, dislikes, limitations, strengths, weaknesses, etc. What I "show up" with is my personal truth, my small truth to start. Over time, however, we are released from materiality (time) by being in the company of others that encourage us to a greater sense of knowing -- the Eternal, Infinite Limitlessness, which is the very thing we seek. Now we are starting to get to the Truth. We all want more, and can never get enough. No matter how intoxicating Love or God/Allah is, you just can't give me too much. Give me an overdose of Love! Go on. Try me. I'll want more. Give me too much God/Allah. Try me. I'll want more. We are always desiring more, because we have an infinite desire for more. Love desires Love infinitely. This is an aspect of the Truth. Our never ending desire is the thing that we can use to check the meter on Truth. Every single person has one thing in common, forget about everything else. Everyone is infinitely desiring limitless Love infinitely. You can all rest assured that this is what we have in common, even if we were to never have another. We create the feeling of commonalty by encouraging each other's movement on the path toward Truth with the Company of Truth. By doing this we depart from material time. We depart from time's limitations, because we leave the grind of the human rat race which is obsessively trying to fulfill itself with things. We now have the company and the encouragement that our life in this world is about more than just being in this world. Nonetheless, the path of Truth is still difficult even with Faith and Company. It is hard. So, what is the next thing we need? "Patience." After the Names of God/Allah, "Patience" is probably the most often repeated word and concept in the Qur`an. "Patience" is repeated over and over and over. Patience. What is patience? Patience is the acceptance, through faith, that what is taking place for me at this moment is arriving for me right on time. Having patience. If you experience that what is happening for you is happening right on time, with no need to try to speed it up or slow it down, then you are showing the signs of true spiritual patience. How many of us can actually say that within this moment, I am so accepting of my life's experience, that I accept that they are all arriving right on time and are perfect for me? Do I accept everything that is taking place to me and around me without an edge of tension, constriction, repression or suppression? It is hard to say that we are like that! But we try. We try our best. What is the tension that gets set up? Why do we feel tense? Why do we get impatient? Impatience is our ego's desire to try to drive the delivery of our life's lessons and life's fulfillment faster than they are coming. In other words, impatience can simply be understood to mean being too self-consumed, too self-centered and too selfish. "Boy, I've never thought of patience like that before! Or that, 'impatience' means selfishness." But it does! Because impatience implies that I'm so absorbed in me and what I'm going through, that I've lost my perspective of spiritual time and spiritual reality. Of course, now the way things are happening doesn't meet my ego expectations, and when things don't meet my ego expectations of my ego driven conceptions, I develop tension inside -- a restriction, a knot. Unfortunately, that knot restricts the Heart once again with yet one more layer of separation, which keeps us from the Divine Reality. Spiritual patience means the acceptance of everything being "right on time". Now let us put ourselves in perspective. Through spiritual as well as material science, we can be assured that there are billions of universes. We are in a universe. We are in a universe that contains our galaxy called the "Milky Way". There are billions of galaxies within our universe, and we have learned that within a single galaxy there are billions of stars. For every star in a galaxy there are planets, because by the nature of the way a star is created, planets are created. So, there are billions and billions and billions of planets in billions of solar systems in billions of galaxies, to make up one universe, and there are billions of universes! This is just on the material platform, the material plane of physical existence. What about the billions of "internal universes" or simultaneous spiritual universes and psychic (mental) conceptions of God/Allah's reality that are outside of our material senses' ability to conceive or perceive? How is it then that I could live here on this planet Earth, which is only one of billions, with a consciousness (life force) that is occupying only one human body, with a mere sample of some unified set of emotions and mind, and even begin to think that the universe revolves around me? My feelings. My preferences. My likes. My dislikes. My comfort. My discomfort. We lose our perspective of the momentum of time and God/Allah's flow as a whole, because we get stuck on ourselves. Getting stuck on ourselves is impatience, because whether we like it or not, whether we suffer or not, whether we are in pleasure or pain, the whole "System" is moving forward and will go on with or without us. God/Allah has a big job. As a matter of fact, God/Allah can't even go to sleep. One of the definitions of God/Allah from the "Verse of the Throne" in the second Sura (Arabic: verse or chapter) of the Holy Qur`an says, "That which does not sleep," can never lie down and take a rest -- sleepless! No sleep ever. Why? Because, everything has to be maintained on the macro levels, on the micro levels, on the internal levels, on the external levels, on the mundane levels and the sublime levels. If God/Allah decided to take a break, we and the rest of creation would be gone. Wow! When we get stuck in our impatience, in other words when things aren't happening on time according to our personal agenda and expectations, we are creating tension for ourselves by putting ourselves into the God/Allah position -- the central position. Rather, we should be asking ourselves at every moment, "What is the Divine Plan?" Remember with faith. The Divine Plan is delivering the lesson right on time. Seek the "Company of Truth" to help remind you to alleviate yourself of the tension of being in the number one position. If you put yourself in the number one position, you've got a hell of a job to do. You will have to manage everything. I don't know a single CEO of a Fortune 500 company who is that good. Who could keep track of everything and manage it all? I was in Chicago recently and saw a little sticker that said, "I'm solving your problems as fast as I can. Please stay out of the way. Love, Your Friend God." When we don't allow that to happen, we are putting ourselves in the position of manager, controller. Then how do we manage? We manage with the only tool we figure we have -- trying to figure things out. This then becomes, "The harder I figure, the less I get, and the less I understand!" "Constancy" is the willingness to choose, with our freewill, a single bearing and to keep to that bearing no matter what. What is the bearing that we need to choose to set our course? The bearing is the Supreme and Absolute Reality. The bearing is the Supreme Lord. The bearing is the Supreme Truth. The bearing is called "God", "Allah" or in Hinduism, "Krishna". The bearing is the "Beyond the Beyond the Great Beyond" of Buddhism. We approach this bearing by making our Heartfelt intention, because in material reality the goal of the bearing is beyond our ability to achieve or possess. It is so great. This is why we need "Company". The revelation and realization of Truth within our own life is beyond our individual ability to manage or handle. And we need "Constancy" to stay the course. Otherwise, we will jump off the track. We will get off the bearing. We will not be consistent or constant. Why is the Infinite Goal the course of our bearing? Because no matter what person, condition or place we are in, we are still longing for more. So, we have to set our bearing on the Infinite Fulfillment. Discipline and freewill are the tracking tool we use to stay constantly fixed on our bearing. Discipline is easy to understand. Discipline is the honoring of your intentions. Very easy. If you say that your true desire is to realize God/Allah, to realize the Supreme Station and to become the supreme servant of God/Allah, then that is your intention. Spiritual discipline is simply the honoring of that intention. How will you set up your life to realize your intention? Constancy. Constancy is the bearing of discipline. You stay fixed and singular upon realizing God/Allah. Get knocked down? Come back up. Get knocked down? Come back up. If we get side tracked, we come back in line. If we are "feeling" It, we go for It. Even if we aren't "feeling" It, we still go for It! Everybody feels "It", whether they can consciously admit that they feel It or not. Everyone has a pulsation inside of them that God/Allah has encoded for wanting Unconditional Love. Everyone has the "Love homing device". It is beeping and ticking. Whenever and wherever we see a little reflection of Love we think, "Oh My God, I'm feeling Love." We want to go toward it like a moth toward a flame. It is guaranteed. I have said it before, even those that say they know no Love, they do know Love. They absolutely know it. Otherwise, how would they know that they are without it? If you know that you are suffering and that you are separated from Love, you must have some deep underlying internal realization that is still reminding you of what is Love. This is how you can know that you are separated from it. For those who complain, "I've never been loved! I know no love! I can't love, or I can't receive love." Sorry! We are all Lovers. The Sufi's proclaim that we are all Lovers, because we know what it is to be without. This is the longing of the Heart. How can you know what it is to be without unless you have some hint, a smell or taste, of what it might have been like to be with? The spiritual bearing must be kept. Constancy. Whether or not I feel the sensation of the Supreme Love, whether God/Allah has revealed the Divine Self to me or hides from me, I still keep the same bearing, because in my right mind and in my Heart, I have made the intention to do so. What are my tools? Patience -- allowing each moment to happen on time, Company -- others who are Saints, Lovers and Devotees who encourage and support and Constancy -- using the freewill to stay on the bearing, stay the course. Soften and cool the desires of your mind. Do not allow it to wander and run out of Patience. Do not make your little self the most important thing in life. Make God/Allah and your service to God/Allah the most important thing in life. Then you will become complete. After all, isn't it after the uncovering of our ego desires, after we release and let them go, that we start to see the real Self within? The Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him) said in a traditional saying, "Know thyself, and you will know thy Lord." When we have this kind of faith, through experience, time is not our enemy anymore. We begin to discover spiritual reality, and how we utilize our time becomes more urgent because of the welling up of Love, the longing for complete unconditional Love. Our service gets greater and greater, pulling us with greater urgency, a new kind of urgency, than we have ever had before. Now we are in Faith, we have Patience, we keep the Company of Truth and we are Constant. Our bearing is set, and we finally have the time that we need, because our life has become the spiritual path. This is your work. This is your laboratory. This is what God/Allah gave you to work with. The Holy Qur`an is explicit. Life is not just some game. There exists a meaning to why we are here. The meaning of our existence is to realize our natural position and purpose and to be able to fulfill our infinite longing for Love. Now we have the correct time to do it, because we are set, we are in position and we are in proper perspective. We are no longer putting our self in the way of the fulfillment of our own true desire. Think about it. Your true Heart's desire is for the infinite fulfillment of Love and then to give service. We have already shown that all other desires will wax and wane, come and go, and never satisfy us in the end. So this simple verse, Sura al-Asr, reminds us that if we become caught up in measuring our human "success" by what we think we can have (accumulate) and control, over time it will all be lost (destroyed). However, if we transform our approach by truly going through the changes that allow us to live in the experience of Faith, be supported by the Company of the others of Faith, put ourselves in perspective within the rest of God's creation, be Patient, and keep a Constant bearing no matter what is thrown in our direction, at that point, we will no longer be at a loss. We will actually complete the course of our lives. In celebrating this Thanksgiving holiday, let us first be thankful that we are here to celebrate. Secondly, we have these realizations so that we can be thankful for everything that happens to us. We are thankful for the Company of Truth, thankful for Patience, Constancy and for the bearing that has already allowed us to travel so far. Let us make this Thanksgiving one of increased Faith, increased Patience, and increased bearing. Let us build from this moment forward, a greater Company of Truth. We as a small community, a growing community, should offer everyone we come in contact with a greater spiritual opportunity. Let us support all with the greatest opportunity to be in Love and to not be in "loss". Let us do this not through the preaching out of our mouths, but through the preaching of our actions. Let us be an example of how to treat each other, how to live together, and let us demonstrate our Patience, our Faith and our Constancy. Reply to Question: For the yogi, for the one who is ever present, whose intention is united with the intention of the Supreme, the time is always now. In this present moment of now, the past also exists as its reality and its lessons, and the planning for the future also exists now, but in the state of divine communion or spiritual union, because the yogi is ever present and is united in heart and mind, there is no attachment or anxiety that is created to what has happened in the past, nor to the fruit of what will come in the future. It is impossible to live our life without some reflection on what we've learned in the past and at the same time it is impossible to live our life without some modicum of planning, of what is the best course for the future. The realization though, of the eternal moment of now, puts in perspective first that anything can change and it will, and second that my level of awareness of being here should not be distracted, or I should not be part of going into the past or into the future becoming unnecessarily disturbed or expecting an outcome or having wished that it was different. I am at peace now with what has happened in the past with no particle of me wishing that it had been different; and I'm at peace now in the present with my planning, expecting that there should be no outcome for my selfish interest nor fruit of the outcome of future actions for me, other than to allow it to unfold as God sees fit. Then I can include both the past and the future into my moment of now, and my equilibrium isn't disturbed, my equipoise remains constant. What should my mind and heart be on so that my equipoise can remain constant? If my heart and my mind are centered and focused on God, God's supreme plan, God's supreme truth, I'm no longer making my limited self the object of attention. I'm no longer making my limited desires the agenda. |