Spiritual Chat 22 - Original Version About Spiritual Chat 22 Title: "Learning To Disengage From Our Brothers & Sisters", Date: August 28, 2002 Chat Between: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) and Rumi Smith Home Page - Spiriutal Chats Go To Spiritual Chat 23 Chat 22: Outline & Summary Library Navigation Tree Go To Spiritual Chat 21 Chat 22: Expanded Version Go To Table of Contents - Spiritual Chat 22 Go To Related Material Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum wa-rahmat Allah wa-barakatuhu kulluhu. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon all of us. May God help us all. My love you (anbu), my dearest brothers and sisters, Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). MuhaiyaddeenLB: Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum, my dearest sister Rumi. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). Do you have time to share some wisdom together? Bawa said to sign on and ask you that question. Rumismith: Wa alaikum as salamu, dear Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen. Yes we have time and would like to share some wisdom together. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Wonderful. What do you know? Rumismith: We don't know anything. Only God knows. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. You are starting to play it safe. That is very, very good. Only the rabbit that sticks its head out of the hole gets caught by the eagle. Instead, if he waits patiently in his hole, same food will automatically come to him. What a wonder is this God of ours and how He loves us, if we Rumismith: Well, we know that only God exists, that He is the most Merciful and the most Compassionate. We learn a lot by sticking the head out of the hole and getting caught by the eagle. MuhaiyaddeenLB: But it is very dangerous to learn that way, and you could be killed, or even worse, die without dying. Remember, it is a waiting game, patiently trusting in God, as God unravels you and reveals Himself within you, my dearest sister Rumi, not a "doing" game, that wins the day. In this way, make God the doer within you, with you just waiting for Him to take the lead. Then you will most surely be victorious in your life, allowing your wisdom, which is your Shaikh within you, and your truth within your wisdom, which is God within your Shaikh, not "you" as "separate from" God, to win over your fate. Rumismith: Yesterday night, after our beautiful talk we lost our cool and got excited in a negative way about some Fellowship business. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Wisdom Questions: Who lost its cool? Who got excited? Who acted in a negative way? What is fellowship business? MuhaiyaddeenLB: All of it is just the dream, and has nothing to do with anything of value within you. The path of wisdom is taking all of it, as having nothing to do with you, but as only showing you what is living within you, and then handing it all to God, with Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. This is what makes what happens to you valuable, valuable to you, to your Shaikh within you, and to God within Him. Then God will take it and harvest something of value out of what you have handed Him, and then hand that to your Shaikh, and He will share it with you. That is the way it works, if your life is to progress, if your wisdom is to win over your fate. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Stop expecting Rumi to be good, or right, or smart, or wise, or patient, or having cool, or anything. Reject the idea of Rumi, and instead go to work for God, by handing everything that comes to Rumi to God, with Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: Instead of bringing Bawa in, calling on Bawa and handing the issues over to him the mind acted on its own, devastating. Yes we understand what you are saying. We came to the same understanding. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Then you will understand why it is best for the rabbit to stay in his hole. The rabbit hole is the where God has placed the rabbit, and whatever is needed by the rabbit God will bring to the rabbit hole, the rabbit doesn't need to leave the rabbit hole. When it does it is always in great danger. Rumismith: Yes indeed. That is exactly the conclusion we came to, from now on the rabbit will stay in the hole patiently waiting until food comes to him. God willing. MuhaiyaddeenLB: By staying in the rabbit hole it is always a win-win situation, you get what you need, from God, not from something that "you" did, and you always praise God for what you get, because you didn't do anything. What a peaceful way to live. MuhaiyaddeenLB: As soon a you think you have to take care of yourself, or feed yourself, then we are the rabbit leaving its safe rabbit hole in search of what it thinks it needs, but in truth already has. MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is why Bawa told us that we made two mistakes in our life. The first mistake was learning to take care of ourselves and the second mistake was learning to feed ourselves. As soon as we have learned to do these two things, now we have learned to live here, and we immediately forget about leaving here. And only by leaving here before we die will we reach our Lord. Rumismith: Yes. The mind is afraid it won't get what it thinks it needs, but wisdom knows better. We also learned how anger is like a match stick causing devastating fires. By God's grace we were protected and the connection to God was felt strongly. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Each time that we stop, reflect, call on our Shaikh, and follow His lead, our learning becomes less and less traumatic. It gradually becomes like a baby taking milk from its mother. Rumismith: Yes, learning to leave here and not taking our worldly existence so seriously, not even the Fellowship. Yes without biting the nipple. MuhaiyaddeenLB: There is suffering, difficulties, dangers, and distress in the world, but there is also the baby lying protected on the breast of the mother safely taking what it needs. This is how we must become. Reject the idea of putting yourself in harms way in order to learn, or having to stick you neck out of the rabbit hole in order to get what you need. Rumismith: Yes, we are learning. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Remember what we ended our last beautiful meeting with, with what Bawa teaches us on page 56 and 59, in Chapter 3, "The World Within And Without", in the book, "The Wisdom of Man", "Pretend to believe in the world, but do not believe in it. Believe in God, but do not pretend to believe in Him." This is the way, and you can only do this in partnership with Bawa. Put Bawa between you and world, and between you and God. Then you will be safe from everyone, and everyone will be safe from you, and your soul will be peaceful, and your Shaikh will be joyful, and God will be in bliss. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Learn to make less and less of the world, and of what happens to you in the world, and to make more and more of what is happening in your heart with your Shaikh. That is the way to walk peacefully in all three worlds within you. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: Yes, by God's grace this is starting to happen. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Remember, Bawa told us that we have to join with Him in order to, "Close down the world of hell within us, re-open the world of souls within us, and then open the Kingdom of God within us." This needs to be our focus, not trying to live better, or more successfully in the world with our brothers and sisters. We must realize, without the slightest doubt, that our brothers and sisters in the world represent our greatest attachment to the world, so gradually learn to disengage from them, learn to leave them alone. Show them respect, but don't engage them, don't want or expect anything from them. Then it because easier to live in your heart with your Shaikh. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: So, if decisions at the Fellowship are being taken which we think are wrong we ask Bawa what to do, and if we don't get an explanation from Bawa we just watch and let happen whatever is happening? MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes, you can certainly do that. But even better, make the fellowship, and your brothers and sisters, just the world, and try to disengage from it. We cannot have both, living in the world with our brothers and sisters, and living in our heart with our Shaikh. We must make a choice, and then keep that focus. Only then will your journey with Bawa be successful. If you try to have both, you will end up with the world and your brothers and sisters, and you will have missed your opportunity to open your heart and be with God for eternity. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. MuhaiyaddeenLB: At least this is the learning of this child, of your brother Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). But each must choose for himself. This is the choice that this child has made, and is living. But you have to decide for Rumi. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: About your last point, we feel they expect something from us, our brothers and sisters. We have offered to go to the doctor with one of our sisters, but we hear in our heart not to do that. Is it not that we have to see Bawa and Allah in the hearts of our brothers and sisters? Rumismith: We feel that a lot of God's grace comes to us from helping our brothers and sisters, just the way God uses Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen to help this child. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes and No. It is Bawa and Allah within us who have to see Bawa and Allah within us, within the hearts of our brothers and sisters within us, not us, not "us" as "separate from" God, and "separate from" our brothers and sisters. That is not our work. That is Their work, the work of Bawa and Allah within us. Our work is to reject all that we see before us as but the dream of "self existence", and to hide within the heart of our Shaikh within us, by say the word, "Bawa", or "Bawa Muhaiyaddeen", or "Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen" (may God be pleased with Him), before we say or do anything, or before, during, and after we try to live in the world with our brothers and sister. It is very difficult at first for the rabbit to just stay in its hole and wait for its food, but that is the sure way of living a happy and successful life for the rabbit. Your wanting to help, or liking what you get out of helping is very, very dangerous to the life of your soul. Think about it a little. It is a very important point. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Do we have time for a short story? Rumismith: Yes, please for the story. We would like to talk some more about this point, this is a big learning for this child. It is not that we want to help, we feel it is our duty. MuhaiyaddeenLB: The other day Louie was watering the flowers, and the mailman came up and we started to talk. During our conversation he said he wanted to give up smoking but found it very difficult. So Louie handed this request to Bawa and we told the mail man. "Well, it is very difficult to give up smoking if you have smoked all of your life. Instead try to cut back a little each day, then you will be able to do it." He really like the idea, seemed very pleased because he knew that he could do that, he could cut back a little each day, and still be shooting at the goal of completely giving up smoking. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Like this, Bawa said one day that what He brings into the world are the Ideals of God, which is the wisdom or consciousness of truth within us, and that we have to join with Him within us to then implement them within us, transforming in this way the wisdom of truth within us into the action of truth within us, transforming the path of truth within us into the accomplishments of truth within us, transforming the darkness within us into the 7 heavens and the 7 hells within us, and transforming the 7 heavens within us into the 8th heaven within us. And in this way, transforming the sifat or form of the Creation of God within us into the sirr or secret of the Creation of God within us, and then transforming the sirr or secret of the Creation of God within us into firdaus, into the Kingdom of God within us. And like the story of the mailman giving up smoking by cutting back a little each day, we too can give up our life in the world with our brothers and sisters, and begin to live in our heart with our Shaikh, by cutting back a little each day our involvement with our brothers and sisters in the world that we see in our ignorance as existing "outside" of us, until we have completely disengaged from our brotehrs and sisters "outside" of us, and fully engaged with our Shaikh within us. This is the path we must learn to walk with our Shaikh within us, a little every day, establishing the path of truth within us, the wisdom of truth within us, a little every day, in order to end the path of falsehood with our brothers and sisters in the world "outside" of us, a little every day, the path of falsehood that we have mistakenly grown and learned to walk with our brothers and sisters "outside" of us. So once you have accepted an Ideal of God, by accepting the life and teaching of our Shaikh within us, then you must join with Bawa within you to make it happen within you. However, if you are not clear on the Ideals of God, or don't agree with them, then it gets very difficult in your life. Because if you don't join Bawa within you with what you initially received from Bawa "outside" of you, then nothing in your life will change. It is not enough to just talk about truth, we must act upon the truth, by joining with our Shaikh within us, for anything to change in our life in the direction of God. So this is the big problem of our life, the whole question of living in the world with your brothers and sisters, rather than living in our heart with our Shaikh, with our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), that we all need to address and come to an understanding of, before it is too late, before we die, or we become too old to do anything about it. We must come to realize, without the slightest doubt, that just living with our brothers and sister in the world, and just talking about the truth, the wisdom of truth that Bawa has given us on the "outside", is not enough. In addition, we must learn to live in our heart with our Shaikh, in order to act upon the this truth, this wisdom of truth from our Father, in order to liberate our soul from the cross of our elemental body, join it with our wisdom, and find and become one with the light of wisdom within us, with the Nur Muhammad within us. Only then will our life become eternal. And we must do all of this before we die. MuhaiyaddeenLB: In this way, we need to use our wisdom to look into this thing that we do, that we do so naturally, that it is almost invisible to us, this thing called, "Living in the world with our brothers and sisters." For example, we need to join with Bawa, with our wisdom to ask a few questions about this questionable practice of ours, this "living in the world with our brothers and sisters". For example, we could ask the following three questions about our questionable proctice: First, who are they? Second, where are they? Third, what are they? Take a shot at answering these three questions, my dearest sister Rumi. MuhaiyaddeenLB: When this child did that, when this child joined with his wisdom, with Bawa within this child, to answer these questions, this is what immediately came into my heart: "First. Who are they? They are you. Second. Where are they? They are within you. Third. What are they? They are your mind and desire. They are what has grown within you in your ignorance as the life of "separation and differences" within you, as what keeps you separate from God within you, separate from the heart of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen within you (may God be pleased with Him), and separate from the Creation of God within you. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar." Rumismith: Their suffering is our suffering. They are children of God, God created them in the same way He created us for the same purpose, He put the light of Nur Muhammad inside them and sent Bawa for their awakening of wisdom. They are in our heart. MuhaiyaddeenLB: No and Yes. What they truly are within you is what you have said, but what you are seeing as them, and you with them, in the world that you still see in your ignorance as existing "outside" of you, is not this, is not what you have said. That is the problem. Rumismith: We feel it is our duty to comfort someone's heart. MuhaiyaddeenLB: What you said is true, is what each of us truly is in the eyes of wisdom, but our eyes have been covered over with the darkness of the world. What we now see as our "brothers & sisters" living with us in the world, in our current state of arrogance, karma, and illusion, is really just ourselves, is really just our current state of living as one with the darkness of the world within us, that has enveloped us, making us see and treat everyone within us as if they were "outside" of us, and treating them as "separate from" us. In this state, we do not see them as you have just described them, as brothers and sisters of our heart, instead we see and treat them as both "outside" of us and "separate from" us. That is the problem. Rumismith: But we also know that only God and Bawa can do that, (can treat them in that way, as within Them and as "One with" Them). So we ask Bawa to come and comfort their heart. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes, because in our current state we cannot do that work, the work of comforting them. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes, as long as you bring Bawa into it, it brings some protection. But it is your wanting to do it, to do the work that only wisdom and God within you can do, that is the danger to your soul. That is the rabbit wanting to leave the rabbit hole to get some food for the other rabbits, not for itself. Sounds like a good idea but it still puts the rabbit in great danger. MuhaiyaddeenLB: You are making "yourself" valuable, yourself as "separate from" God, valuable. While in truth only God within you is valuable, valuable to me, to you, and to any of our brothers and sister, not you or I trying to do God's work. That is the problem. For as Bawa teaches us so beautifully on page 141 and 142 in the "Epilogue" of the book, "Islam & World Peace: Explanations of a Sufi", "Our entire life and everything that happens to us is conducted by Allah, not by us. He is the One who carries out everything. He is responsible for the cause and the effect. -------- Allah is the sole ruler, there is no one else who can do His work. We, the Children of Adam (peace be upon Him), who pray to God with faith and certitude, must know this with absolute clarity. All praise be to God! God is the Great One! This is the true meaning of Islam. May the peace of God be upon us. May God help us all. Amen." Rumismith: Yes, there is an aspect of not wanting to disappoint people or wanting approval from people and that is the world. MuhaiyaddeenLB: It is believing in what you see as real, as what is really there and really happening. That is the problem. It is using you as "separate from" God to see with, to do with, and to know and understand with, that is the real danger, the real problem, not what you see, do, know, or understand. It is using you and your brothers and sister, joined together, living in the world together, to conduct your life, rather than using your wisdom and truth, which is your Shaikh within you and God within Him, to conduct your life. That is the problem. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Well we seemed to have hit a nerve, my dearest loving sister. Perhaps we should move on to something else for a while. My love you. Rumismith: This is very important for this child. We still have a dilemma, which is, 'when' and 'when not' to help. Asking Bawa inside and trusting the answer seems right. But sometimes it is not so clear. MuhaiyaddeenLB: The solution is simple. Never, never, never help. Who are you that you can help? Only God can help. Are you God? Rumismith: My love you Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen, this is very helpful. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Good. For both of us. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: But God can help through us. Just as He helps this child through you. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes and No. God helps through God, through what is within Him, but not through what He has discarded. As long as we are "one with" what God has discarded then He cannot use us to help. Once we become what is within Him, once we become "One with" God, by becoming "one with" our Shaikh within us, then and only then can God use us to help. We must become "One with" Bawa within us before God can use us to help. Otherwise, we are trying to elevate what God has discarded into what is within God. And that is the problem. "You" as "separate from God wants to help, "you" as "separate from" your brothers and sisters wants to help, and "you" as "separate from" the Creation of God within you, wants to help, and all of these versions of "you" are what God has discarded. This is the problem. Instead, you must join with your wisdom and truth, which is your Shaikh within you, and God within Him, to become the version of "you" that is "one with" God, is "one with" your brothers and sisters, and is "one with" the Creation of God within you. Then you have become "one with" what is within God, and God can then, as "One with" you, use you to help. MuhaiyaddeenLB: You have not given up Rumi as "separate from" God. You still are treating this version of Rumi as valuable, as what can help, but it cannot help. It can only harm. MuhaiyaddeenLB: That is why you still want to hold onto your brothers and sisters that you still see as living "outside" of you, because you still want to hold onto this Rumi of "separation and differences" that you still see as living "outside" of you. For in truth, they are one, they are one and the same. "That" is Rumi "outside" of you, and "that" is also your brothers and sisters "outside" of you. Only when you get rid of the Rumi of "separation and differences" that you still see in your ignorance "outside" of you, and become the Rumi of "oneness with" God that you have yet to see with your wisdom within you, only then can you get rid of your brothers and sisters living "outside of you, only then can you help. But then it is God helping God, for like the rain falling back into the ocean, you have again become the ocean of God, no longer the rain of God. Then you will see all of your brothers and sisters as truly living within you, as the 18,000 universes within you, as the sifat of the dunya or earth world within you, and then as the wisdom of truth and the action of truth within you, as the dhat or essence of God, the Rasul of Allah within you, and as the grace of the dhat, as the Qutb of Allah within you, then you will do duty to all of the Creation of God living in the 18,000 universes within you, as Qutb Muhaiyaddeen Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (may God be pleased with Him). Then you can help your brothers and sisters. Then you can do duty to the people and duty to God, my dearest loving sister Rumi Smith. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Do you see the difference, my dearest loving sister, my dearest "living" sister, Rumi? Rumismith: Yes, we see the difference. This is very helpful. Rumismith: Can we send a little story. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes. Rumismith: One time we were able to use Dr. Ajwad's room for one month by ourselves. Ragavan was visiting here with his wife from Arizona. He stayed with Carl. But Ragavan and his wife stayed at the Fellowship every night until 11 pm coming again at 4 am spending all day there. We thought of being kind to them and gave them Ajwad's room to stay in while we went back to the girl's room. We cleaned and made Ajwads room really nice. And then Bawa on the inside scolded us big time. He said that we were acting out of karma, wanting to be the nice helpful little girl. He said that room was given to you not to give it to someone else. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Yes. That is the way it is. Nothing is like we think it is. What we do is arrogance, karma, and illusion. In that state, how can we help anyone? MuhaiyaddeenLB: But do you see the big problem here? Rumismith: Please tell me. MuhaiyaddeenLB: The big problem is not being clear on what is correct and what is incorrect about us. This lack of clarity is what destroys all of our effort, making us act like we have two heads, one head is Ok and the other head is not Ok, with each head popping up to lead us at any one time. That is why we must say "no" to both heads, and say "Bawa", calling our wisdom within us before we do or say anything, the only thing which can overrule both heads within us, both the one that we think is good, and the one that we think is not so good. Because to wisdom, both heads are not good. Your wanting to help someone is the head that you think is good, and the things "that you don't like about Rumi" is the head that you think is not so good. But both are not so good. MuhaiyaddeenLB: Only God is good, as True Man within the Creation of God, not the Rumi of two heads, and not either of the heads of Rumi. The two headed Rumi is the hell of your life, which is what keeps you separate from God, which is what is preventing you from regaining the glory of Rumi, the Rumi with no head, the Rumi with only God. Rumismith: Yes, we understand that. Al hamdu lillah for this sharing, this is truly untangling knots of arrogance, karma, and maya. MuhaiyaddeenLB: It is this Rumi, the Rumi with no head, the Rumi that has again become "one with" God, that God can use to help people, nothing else. Everything else that you have is very dangerous to you, and to everyone else. Know this now. May we both know this now and act accordingly. My sweet "living" sister. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Rumismith: Yes. Al-hamdu lillah, Allahu Akbar. We have to close up, the Markars came home. We printed out the talk from two days ago twice but didn't print out last nights talk. Could you please forward it to our Netscape e-mail. What a grace, what a wonder, Allahu akbar. MuhaiyaddeenLB: This is why hanging out with Bawa, all the time, is critical, because when you are not with Him, which is your wisdom, you are with the two headed Rumi, which is your mind and desire, and like the rabbit that thinks it needs some food, for itself or even for others, and can't wait any longer, you leave your safe rabbit hole, which is the heart of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen within you (may God be pleased with Him), and go out into the world, where the eagles will most certainly swoop down and grab you, as you try to help them. MuhaiyaddeenLB: May the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon us all. May God help us all. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). Rumismith: Al hamdu lillah, this is certainly true. Rumismith: My love you (anbu) - Rumi End of Spiritual Chat 22 - original version - ...................... or Go To Spiritual Chat 22: Table of Contents Expanded Version Outline & Summary Version Related Material or ( a top-down version of the Library Home Page) (a bottom-up version of the Library Home Page) |
This page was last updated on: August 30, 2002
