Freemasonry

                                                           Shah uses History to place Freemasonry as an adjunct of Sufism .  It is essential to make note that American Freemasons were an integral part of the American Birth, and remained so in its formative, and later, mature Politics .   Among these George Washington, Ben Franklin, Paul Revere and John Hancock are KNOWN Freemasons .   Here now the CONNECTION between Sufism and Americanism*, at least EARLY Americanism .   America was awash in an Idealism that origined* in Self Knowledge which manifested  as Universal Politics in the form of "The Body Politic" and "IT" 's Ideologies {Idea-ology} .   Freemasons were exposed to Sufism, a reliable precursor to Zen .  Dare I suggest that both Sufism and Zen are in American Blood ?   I do .

                           

                                  

                              

Crystal METHods

                                                           We must ask, "What is the Nature of Ghazali's --> 'Truth' ? :  What is the Nature of Gnosis 'Divine' ?  ? .   Inevitably, after years of Practice, one will arrive at the Understanding that he or she is One with the Universe, that we are all Born DIVINE .   In this, we are all Manifestations of GOD, of the Higher Power, [ make that the HIGHEST POWER] and as such WE ARE EQUAL, since we have reached "Human Status" .   Does this not make Us  CONNECTED  by   UNBREAKABLLE Bonds ?   Indeed it does, indeed it MUST !   

                            Sufism, Gnosticism, and Zen-ism are, at their Core, METHODS to reach Ultimate Truths for Humans, as I have just stipulated, that We are One, We are Divine, that each of us is a "Living Miracle", hence Dr. Joseph Campbell's insistence upon "The MAJESTY of Being" .   

                            I contend that should the Shia and Sunni, America's republicans and democrats, DEMONSTRATE the Understanding that we are ONE Race, ONE SPECIES, then we can Advance into Planetary Altruism, meaning, WAR will become ABHORRENT and that DIPLOMACY will become the "ABSOLUTE" Means to address World Crisies NOT Death and Destruction .   THAT'S the "thing" about lofty Idealism, it make so much Sense that it appears grudgingly stupid, and ridiculously obvious,,, but look where we are ... .  

The Bridge over the River WHY

                                                            Yesterday I offered that Sufism and Zen could Change Islam and America but I did not explain the most Vital ---> HOW ?  .   We, as in I, have been trying to establish "Shared Commonalities" that Sociologists recognize as >Essential< if Humankind is to Advance in a preferred Evolutionary manner .   Elsewhere I have argued to promote the Conscious-Ness* of One-Ness, that we, as in All Earthlings, are Connected by an Essence that IS "Human NATURE" , and that this Essence is ---> Spirit, Biblically recognized as "The Breath of God" .   I used these 'tools',  "The Spirit of God is WITHIN", and what the Buddha Taught, "We are, each of us, Buddhas" .

                            In this Light, what, then, is the Nature of Zen and Sufism ?   I return us to yesterday's Consideration and these two :   Zen is, "Seeing into one's Self and the Attainment of Buddha-hood" (Enlightenment) ; and  Gnosis is, "The Immediate and Direct [PERSONAL] Experience of the Divine" ;  and today I add Shah's note of Ghazali :  "He arrived at his knowledge through his upbringing in Sufism, (among Sufi), and through a form of direct perception of the Truth...".   It must be noted that Zen, Gnosis, and Sufism get their 'POWER' from a "Turning Inward", the Depth Penetration of first Conscious WILL and then the UN-Conscious >Tuning< of the Self to COSMIC {Spirit} Vibrations .   When a certain level of Harmony is thereby reached, "IT" "opens the doors of Perception" where Entry introduces not only Cosmic Knowledge but Universal WISDOM as well .  

                          Here it is where "One-Ness" is Revealed, where One-Ness is the TRUE Nature of ALL Humans .   

Sunday

                                                           I'm leaving this here for today, I've been at this since 4 a.m., my ribs hurt and I am famished .

                            We will get to the How of HOW is Zen and Sufism gonna 'fix' America and Islam ?  GREAT Question and I will address that in future blogs .   Right now I'm just gonna enjoy b-fast and find content where I can .

                                                             Tare Forward and Keep the Faith

"The finger pointing to the Moon"

                                                           For MANY Years I Studied Ancient Esoteric Christianity and the most prominent Feature of Esoteric Christianity is Gnosticism .  Gnosticism is this :   "The Direct Experiential Knowledge of the Divine" .   I supplement that Definition as follows :  The Direct PERSONAL Experience of the Divine .   When I read the Original what surfaced immediately was one of the definitions of Zen, "Seeing into one's Self, and the Attainment of Buddhahood ".  I tagged Gnosticism with, "The ZEN of Original Christianity" .   Check this out from Ibn el-Arabi :  "Angels are the powers hidden in the faculties and organs of man" .   Note the word "hidden" and that the Sacred "hides" itself in Mystical Teachings .  Many of Us, those that consider Zen to be a Journey INTO the Sacred where we can find the so-called "Secret Teachings", regard these Wanderings as MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES , but here is one such Secret :  "I draw water, I carry wood"  which is frightfully COMMON and as such SHOULD-BE considered nothing more than a trivial task .   Those like me consider "IT" a SUPER-HUMAN MIRACLE .  I know rite ?   "Fucked-up" gets us there .  

                               Another Zen Definition is this :   "No dependence of words or letters" .   Please read what Shah has written :  "Sufis contend that, far from this lore being available in books, a great part of it must be personally communicated by means of interaction between teacher and learner .  Too much attention to the written page, they insist, can even be harmful .  Here is a further problem; for it appears to oppose the scholar no less than the member of the vast modern literate community who feels, if at times only subconsciously, that all knowledge must surely be available in books. "

                              Some things are "Too good to be True", this THIS is not among them .

The Guiding 'Hand of the Universe'

                                                           Somehow, "IT" got into my head that Sufism could Change Islam .   Probably NOT a coincidence because I figured {and still Figure} that  ZEN could Change {Save} America .   

                              Most of my Gentle Readers know that I studied Islam as a HUGE Part of the [Ancient] Middle East course, while I was a Junior at U.Conn .  Thing with THAT is, we did NOT 'cover' Sufism to any GREAT degree and only precious little has survived the years of 'Away-ment'* .   Several months ago I saw [at a yard sale] a paperback titled,  THE WAY OF THE SUFI , inked by one Idries Shah .  It's a 1970 publication by E.P. Dutton & Co., INC .  and would have been concurrent with my Studies of the Middle East .  Obviously, the Universe set this text in my "Path" for Future Reading and Reference and to refuse the Universe's ----------------------> Suggestion would be an egregious SIN --- I know better than to Refuse what is Offered as {VITALLY} Important but it DID take me some Time to 'get' to it .

                          >>>"IT"<<< was the same for the text I bought {procured} from a Used Book Store on the U.R.I. (University of Rhode Island) Campus years ago .   When I finally 'got' to "IT" I found it to be a V-----A-----S-----T Treasure of Ben Franklin's MIND, manifested as his Writings, of within which, "Poor Richard's Almanac is contained .   So it is with THE WAY OF THE SUFI .   

"Things Fall Apart"

                                                           I WARN my Gentle Readers that what has transpired in america can transpire in YOUR Lands as well. DO NOT BELIEVE  "THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN HERE" .  America MUST BECOME the LIGHTHOUSE on the Shore of Tyranny  that Warns your Nation of "The DANGER that lies ahead".    

                              Elsewhere I have insisted that Americans are Born into "Original Sin", and I have qualified that by stating the OBVIOUS : even at its Inception what was to become America was dependent upon SLAVE LABOR and the WHOLESALE ACCEPTANCE of Slavery IS the Original Sin of Democracy.  America has NEVER been TRULY Free .   The Signature Statement of America, [that] "All Men Are Created Equal"  is a fucking LIE .   America therefore, is itself, A LIE .  The [Rhetorical] Logic is indisputable .   Nature, Herself, dictates, "All Men are NOT ---> Equal" ---all we need do is look around for verification .

                             If your Nation had the Karma to be free of Slavery at its Inception then you MAY not be subject to what transpired in america.  Still, according to Buddhist Dogma and the Science of Physics, it is KNOWN that all things are subject to the Absolute Four :  "Arising, Stability, Decline, Dissolution" .   Nations and Empires CANNOT escape that punishing Exactitude .

                             The GREAT Nigerian Author, Chinua Achebe, says it so that ALL OF US can Understand :

                                                               THINGS FALL APART .

         {{{ This is me, I am Him .}}}