Silence

"In silence there is eloquence, stop weaving, and watch how the pattern improves" - Rumi

Brief notes on Divan-e Shams by Shahriari

Divan-e Shams is a masterpiece of wisdom and eloquence. It is often said that Rumi had attained the level of a "Perfect Master" and as such, he often dwelled in the spiritual realms that were rarely visited by others of this world. He attained heights that were attained by only a few before him or since.

In Divan-e Shams, he has used many images from the mundane world. Images such as the wine and the wine bearer, the pearl and the ocean, the sun and the moon, the night and day, the caravan, pilgrimage and many more. However, he has always expressed spiritual wisdom of the highest level through this imagery.

While many other poets have a mystical vision and then try to express it in a graspable language, Rumi has never attempted to bring his visions to the level of the mundane. He has always expected, nay, demanded the reader to reach higher and higher in his or her own spiritual understanding, and then perhaps be able to appreciate what Rumi was saying.

Perhaps this is why there are many layers to his poetry… not so much because of his writing, but because of our understanding. As we transcend in our understanding, we grasp more and more of what he conveyed to us.

Yet there is more. While many of the translations of Rumi’s poetry have tried to convey the immense wisdom contained therein, often they overlook the musical and artistic beauty that they contain. Particularly in Divan-e Shams, Rumi has created such level of beauty through the use and mastery of musical rhythm and rhyme, that the reader not only can appreciate its wisdom, but also reach levels of ecstasy and mystical energy that is seldom found in other poems or any translations of his poetry.

The mastery of rhyme and rhythm is such that he often creates a new vocabulary, using the same old words, yet creating new feelings that are associated with them. Furthermore, often he has such mastery of play on words and puns, or at other times he uses the same word with a different accent or vowel twice or even thrice in the same verse, with a different meaning each time. One cannot help but marvel at the linguistic mastery he displays.

In any case, the end result is the same… the experience of artistic beauty, musical genius, rhythm and ecstatic energy, all in conjunction with the mental understanding of the wisdom conveyed. This is as close as one can get to the mystical experience itself, without actually being there with Rumi. In other words, His presence pervades his poetry, and one cannot help but be touched by such powerful and loving presence.

In translation from Farsi to English, it is inevitable that much of the intricacies are lost. However, the present translations have attempted to retain some of the rhythm and rhyme as well as the imagery and the core message of each poem, though often in feeble ways, only to attempt to present a glimpse of his mastery.

The translations are far from creating the ecstasy that Rumi creates and communicates, but it is hoped that they will point the reader in the same direction. And perhaps by using his or her imagination, the reader can have a glimpse of how Rumi would provide glimpses of ecstasy and mystical experience. And hopefully this will pave the way for the reader to connect with Rumi’s all and ever-pervasive presence, and with time, be touched by that spirit.

© Shahriar Shahriari   1998, Vancouver Canada, 1999 - 2005,  Los Angeles, CA

http://www.rumionfire.com

My next extensive post will be published in October. I have been working on different editorials the last two month, and had to take a break from my blog. Thank you for your patience.

With my best wishes

alexander filmer-lorch

"To be or not to be,..."

‘To be or not to be’…

…is not the question to be asked from man’s ordinary state of mind once the actual meaning and scale contained in the term ‘to be’ has been fully grasped and appreciated.

Discussing this subject with other people will soon take us to the conclusion that everyone will have acquired a personal take or philosophy on this particular word 'being'. That we are be able to communicate on the same level, as well as to avoid any misunderstanding, the term ‘being’ has got to be defined in the first place.

In Far Eastern philosophy terms, 'being' is something, which needs to be further developed, because our relative state of being is constantly and randomly fluctuating, depending on what we are identifying with internally or externally. So there is no gravitas or real substance or even something more permanent in our ordinary state of being.

That’s why from a philosophical perspective the pure state of 'being', that is 'being’ without any connotations attached to it, can't be recognised in our relative state of consciousness in the way we live our lives. This is based on the fact that there is too much other noise, which distracts us from something internal that is an intrinsic part of the actual 'Self'.

There is a saying that 'Our being attracts our life', hence if our state of being is negative our life will be experienced as negative and vice versa. If our state of being is governed by our personal likes and dislikes it is not free to rise up to higher levels of possible states of being.

The famous saying in Faust "To be or not to be" requires the exact understanding (experience) and definition of the term 'to be'. To truly grasp this famous saying, one needs to understand that first we have to evolve into this high state of 'to be', before we even can consider contemplating the other possibility of 'not to be'. We first have to develop a state of being that is much more permanent and reliable and as such, not that much subject to the divided nature of the 'self'.

Once this less divided state of 'to be' has manifested through conscious effort & continuous work on the mind & the self, work on the state 'not to be' can be implemented, in which all subject and object dynamics are transcended. This is accomplished by stilling the mind and being coalesced by the state of absence of thought.

Both lines of work take place simultaneously, which is an exciting undertaking that requires a lot of patience and the transformative force of meaning, as well as a bit of help and support from a source that is connected to higher knowledge.

So, we all have a lot of exciting work coming our way, which is an adventure worth embarking on. You will be surprised by how many things we regularly come across in our lives by which ‘being’ inconspicuously reveals itself. It can be met and experienced through so many different ways, whether it is through the arts, science, philosophy or literature.

And by the way, there is no need to rush things, because it takes as long as it takes - as the famous saying states “…the journey is the way”.

Alexander Filmer-Lorch

Copyright © July 2013 Alexander Filmer-Lorch – all rights reserved

Meditation - the revival of an ancient Star

‘Meditation’ is the new shooting star on the yoga horizon. It has been turning into the newest trend and it is set to become the number one interest of a very wide audience. No wonder the great popularity of this ancient modality has been picked up by the tabloids as the next ‘must do’ tip, as well as being extensively featured in many zeitgeist magazines. Globally recognised as a powerful self-help tool to counterbalance the ups and downs of life, meditation is scientifically validated as an immune system booster and a reliable manager of ‘Stress’. The Meditation Practice is now attracting attention on a universal scale. It is an interest ranging from the corporate world and health organisations down to the individual therapist and yoga teacher. All kinds of different fields of expertise are being inspired by its promising potentials. The aim is to become part of the “Peace & Stillness”; the new wave that raves: “It’s cool to meditate”.

Fast track meditation teacher trainings and complementary mini-workshops are already producing a significant number of so-called Meditation Teachers to meet the rapidly growing demand for the “ultimate meditation experience”. Meditation in various forms is in fact as old as mankind itself. It has undergone an evolutionary process of more than five millennia. It is somewhat surprising then that until recently, serious consideration has not been given to the questions of people’s personal safety. The standards of integrity or authenticity of the respective theory and practice remain relatively unchallenged. So does the larger issue of every meditation teacher’s responsibilities and duty of care regarding meditation techniques.

There are some poignant questions that often remain unanswered. By raising them, a context can be provided that creates the essential foundation of safety for the student of meditation. It is a basis that applies to the many different types of practice. For example, did you know that;

• the understanding of indications and contra-indications are vital to meditation teaching and guarantee safe practice?
• people who suffer from certain health conditions like panic attacks or high blood pressure should not practice types of meditation that involve excessive breath control?
• only specially trained facilitators should teach meditation to people suffering from depression?
• the meditation technique your best friend is practicing might not be the right method for you and vice versa?

Did you ever ask yourself or your instructor, what you will meet and experience in your meditation practice?  Meditation is actually a definitive process, during which everybody will in fact meet the same signposts and qualia at certain points in the process of their particular journey into a meditative practice.  There are many meditation teachers whose training would not necessarily include the answers to the questions above.

This is because despite the fact that Yoga Teacher Trainings and Continuing Professional Development courses (CPD’s) are generally very well regulated by national and international accreditation bodies; very little has been done to implement appropriate standards (or accreditation requirements for teacher trainings) in this, the field of meditation. This situation has arisen partly due to the fact that a relatively small amount of true knowledge about how to teach meditation has filtered through to us from its source of origin in the Far East. There are particular and different ways to facilitate individual students towards their objectives and a gap in the understanding of the optimum and appropriate way to do so. Regardless of the growing demand, most qualified yoga teachers that would love to implement meditation practice into their classes, refrain from teaching it due to a lack of in-depth training opportunities that are genuinely based on a secular approach.

Accreditation requirements for yoga teacher trainings today focus mainly on safe ‘Asana Practice’ and ‘Teaching Methodology’. Additionally, registered yoga schools are obliged to include a percentage of hours in ‘Yoga Anatomy’, ‘Pranayama Practice’, ‘Philosophy’ and ‘Yoga History’ in their curriculums. Furthermore, schools have to abide by clearly defined assessment criteria. They are asked to adhere to theoretical and practical exam procedures, as well as codes of conduct and ethics, to safeguard the high teaching standards you undoubtedly expect from your own yoga teacher(s). However, this leaves relatively little room in a typical 200-hour yoga teacher training to implement in-depth meditation studies into the curriculum.

Of all the areas of yogic discipline that historically evolved out of the eight limbs of ‘Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras’, none is more prone to imagination and subjective interpretation than meditation. This also applies to its underlying philosophy, which is distinct from history and in practice is far more than a series of “nice ideas”. It can be said that some of the meditation systems we come across today, have gradually evolved into a rather intellectualised structure. From this point of view, meditation can be based upon philosophical objectives that are unachievable in practice. Even in our modern times, a number of schools of thought might expect or demand their new students to sign up to a specific belief system or undergo an initiation process, which might involve exceptional (and sometimes unnecessary) sacrifices on behalf of the novice.

There is another sensitive area to which many yoga and meditation enthusiasts turn a blind eye. There are some very charismatic teachers, particularly those that enjoy attracting a great following, which in itself may not be an issue. However it can, and does lead to a great co-dependency between teacher and student in the deeper aspects of learning meditation. This can result in unforeseeable consequences, due to the lack of understanding of transference and counter-transference on behalf of the teacher. These are important issues that form the basic and appropriate boundaries of honourable practice.

The Yoga Alliance UK is the first accreditation body in the world to have specifically established new standards for meditation teacher trainings. Based on expert advice, they have created a code of practice to meet the requirements of our modern age. As a practitioner, adept and teacher of yogic disciplines, meditation and Eastern psychology for over thirty years, I trust that this will be of great benefit to ensure a safe exploration of this fine art and science. That is to the profound advantage of meditation schools and future meditation teachers, as well as to the individuals who genuinely wish to pursue such a rich and valuable practice.

These parameters of practice are now emerging as the foundation for teaching meditation, as part of a yoga teacher’s repertoire or a personal practice. While these are important developments, the main objective of meditation standards established by the Yoga Alliance UK, is to honour, sustain and maintain the timeless nature and endless value of the ancient teachings throughout, despite the contemporary demands of this exciting new millennium.

Copyright © May 2013 Alexander Filmer-Lorch – All Rights Reserved

Edited by Joanne Sarah Avison director of AOCY 

  

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Oriah's words are a gift to every person that supports, facilitates & guides others. Revealing the knowledge & framework of un-compromised being with others, a holding space of safety in which whatever needs to happen for the struggling individual being is allowed to unfold , be recognised & mend. No doing is required on behalf of the facilitator that holds this space.

The Invitation 

'It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes.'

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.'

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Universal Teachings & the Idea of Prayer

Be aware of a silent interaction, a subtle resonance and honest communication that takes place within the movement of self-remembering and prayer. Working with the ancient idea of self-remembering gives rise to the universal idea of prayer.

Both ideas act along a two-directional movement of which one part is aiming towards the internal world of manifestations, whilst the other part is simultaneously aiming towards the external world of manifestations in a state of divided attention. 

But first of all we have to ask ourselves the question why do we pray?

Most kinds of prayer carry the energy of a relatively conscious or non-conscious intent. The intention to ask for help and to open ourselves up to receive grace, or simply to connect with something higher that might lie above our ordinary life and world of experiences. 

This means that in our prayers we mainly request and assume that something will respond to our request, which is not very far off from what the ancient teachings say.

From the teachings perspective the whole universe can be considered as a ‘response to request’ dynamic.

We as human beings request and the universe responses in its total reality, the inner as well as the outer, according to mans request.

Fact is, and that is of great importance to us to know, that many people get responses to their requests they do not understand at all, which gives rise to the question how can that happen?

Now, if we consider once more that everything contained in the sum total of our universe is ‘response to request’ that includes: 

• The cross & the fine,
• the psychological & the material,
• the invisible & the visible, 
• as well as all that is perceived and apprehended externally by our five physical senses and internally by the heart and our mind,

then we can realise the outmost importance of what we actually request. 

This consideration leads to the understanding why we are getting this kind of responses in the first place.

The mystics say that ‘your being is attracting your life’. 

Subconsciously, and without even knowing it, we happen to make requests and are getting responses from the totality of the universe we don’t expect and might not like at all. 

In this case we only are aware of the response but not what triggers or excites the response, that is we only experience and see the results in form of the response. We hardly ever see the causes and only see the effects.

So, there is an idea we can find in the universal teachings that asks us from which standpoint do we actually think. 

Do we think from causes, or do we mainly think from effects? Cause or effect thinking differ profoundly, they are in actual fact worlds apart.

People usually think from the effects point of view. Thinking from the effects point of view is usually based on the state of mind we find ourselves in the moment we were hit by the effect. This means that our reaction is more likely to be impulsive and mechanical.

Thinking from causes could be seen as a more conscious way of thinking.

If we look at making a request, we have to look at from where we are making a request, as well as that we have to ask ourselves if we are making the request from our state of ‘knowledge’ or from our state of ‘being’.

Consider yourself asking for peace purely from an intellectual level, yet you are unable too see what kind of different factors govern your being at that particular moment in time. 

For example: your love for negative emotions, your adoration for self-pity & hidden jealousies, your precious collection of countless dislikes and your enthusiasm for laziness etc. Their state of being might ask for something entirely different than their state of knowledge, and the total of the universe responds to the factors in our being, which we non-consciously endorse without seeing that we are validating them.

So what we have to understand and remember is that a strong sounding and full request must include thought and will, as well as precise formulation and an emotional longing. Thought unquestionably belongs to the side of ‘knowledge’, because we only can think from the knowledge we have acquired. 

The side of our being is what ‘wills’ and as we all know, we usually only will or take action towards what we desire. In other words, where our love resides is our will and this love will only attract the response that belongs to it. That is, if we non-consciously love all our non-conscious manifestations, then undoubtedly our ‘will’ will be of this quality. Hence we might get certain responses we do not expect or long for, simply because we cannot see that we actually attracted them. 

That is, we made a non-conscious request and without fail are bound to deal with the response. So we are caught in a vicious circle in which we constantly respond to responses we have non-consciously requested.

The moment you decide to pray, pray from a state of self-remembering in which you must be conscious of yourself and of what you are praying for. You have to truly feel the meaning that is contained in what you say, as well as really feel yourself saying it. It is the deeper sense of self in you that has to pray, and not the many different features and sub-personalities that were formed by habits and conditionings.

Remember that you cannot pray nor can you self-remember unless you feel that there is a higher state in you, as well as there is something higher than you are. Pray with all your different brains or intelligences, because if only your mind prays and the hart does not participate, the response cannot reach you, that is help & grace cannot enter.

The whole man must pray. The moment all the brains in us would work in harmony we would be in harmony with all different aspects and sides in us. 

Once that takes place in one of those rare moments in our life, that very moment we are in a different state of consciousness in which we have simultaneous possession of all our different faculties. And this expansion of consciousness is what a person should possess in times of prayer as well as in ordinary life. 

Alexander Filmer-Lorch - Inspired by the fourth Way teachings, Ouspensky, Gurdjieff & de-Salzman