Category Archives: Metaphysics

Comparative Religion, Islam, Metaphysics, Spiritual Practice, Uncategorized

Husn Al Dhann and Radical Positivity!

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Husn Al Dhann (having a good opinion) is a much vaunted Islamic virtue. It is based mostly on the Quranic ayat 49:12 where we are encouraged to “avoid suspicion” and to not back bite. However, most of the scholars go well beyond the text and encourage us to have a good opinion both of our Lord and our fellow man. Noble aspiration, no doubt! In this article, we will go into the idea of Husn Al Dhann regarding our Lord. As I mentioned in my previous article on this subject having universally and systematically a good opinion of man seems to fly in the face of much life experience and even of the Quran and hadith themselves. So let’s stick to our Creator for now.If we return again to the Quran 2:30 we find the angels, who are created to be obedient, objecting to Allah’s creation of man. “Wilt thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?’ They are truly clairvoyant! Ever noticed the veracity of their prediction lol?! They see what is going to happen on Earth, as we also can now see it, and protest! So what does Allah respond? “I know what you know not”. And as opposed to most people they do not argue back lol. They submit! Wouldn’t it be nice if men wee like that-submitting immediately to the Truth?! But don’t hold your breath. For the Quran itself tells us that ‘insan’ is disputatious. He keeps arguing his opinion no matter what Truth is put forward-most of the time anyway.

Most of us, unfortunately, are still in the state of the angels before Allah’s clarification. So there is a serious level of hypocrisy going on-even in the hearts of the believers?! They say they have a good opinion of Allah and His creation but as soon as things go wrong, they assume that Allah has made a mistake! Estagfirullah. The examples of this are legion: “This child should not have died so early”; “This car accident should never have happened”; “This war is a mistake”. The examples in our minds and hearts are multiple. We want to be the correctors of Allah. WE know better! Allah should conform to our beliefs rather than to HIS Wisdom. The believers, at least, don’t formulate it that way since it sounds wrong but once you get into the nitty-gritty you will see that is what they are thinking!.

So what is the opposite point of view? It is that Allah is in charge. Everything is happening from  His Will and with His permission. No exceptions! Then we must submit. But instead our nafs rebels “This( (the war in Ukraine, the killing of American children in their schools, the establishment of the state of Israel, the American invasion of Iraq-take your choice. It’s all a big mistake! It shouldn’t be” it screams mostly inside our heads.

Btw one of the groups that understands this point well are the Advaita Vedantists. We do not agree with most of their theology but on this point they are spot on. Here is a quote from one of their great teachers, the American Robert Adams -who was a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi, a remarkable Hindu saint “Nothing is wrong. Everything is right just the way it is.(“I know what you know not” says Allah) Do not try to figure it out Leave it alone(tawakuul in our language) And also.” Be aware of yourself, always(muraqaba).The world goes through its own karma(the Divine plan) It has absolutely nothing to do with you. You belong to God( ina lillahi) Everything you see is God (wahadat al wujud).What a ‘hal’ this man possessed. We need to learn from this!

So let me begin to lay out an alternative approach beginning with a few anecdotes. The first involves a defrocked psychoanalyst who gave up on his practice, finding that the results were few and far between. Instead he developed a very successful program for schizophrenics called “Case Management” In that program instead of using expensive, over-trained mental health professionals, people with a simple university bachelor’s degree were hired to be available(read humans as opposed to the professionals lol) on a  full-time basis, a bit like parents)and to respond as needed instead of during office hours with long-delayed appointments-the usual M.O. of health care systems. They were assigned to have 6-8 people to watch over and help in a practical way over a period of time. The results were so remarkable that this program became the standard of care in most mental health systems-at least those that were front-line and competent!

But the real point of this story is what the psychoanalyst responded when asked by a member of the audience whether his psychoanalytic experience had been of any use whatsoever. And he responded: “What I learnt from my psychoanalytic therapy was to be brutally honest with myself” Can we, as believers, say the same thing? Do we have the same capacity for self-observation as this psychiatrist. If we do, then we will acknowledge that we are regularly opposing the actions of Allah .i.e. Reality!

Before we address some possible remedies to this situation let me tell you another story-the story of Sheikh Hashimi. Before he passed on the great sheikh and Sufi Ahmad Al Alawi named muqaddams(representatives) to be assigned to most of the surrounding Arab countries. Representatives were sent to Morocco and Tunisia a nd Syria amongst others. And the representative he sent to Syria was an Algerian  man named Muhammad al Hashimi. For those who are cognizant of the world of Sufi silsilas(chains of transmission) Sheikh Hashimi was the sheikh of Abdur Rahman Shaghouri who was the sheikh of Sheikh Nuh.

Sheikh Hashimi was well beloved of the Syrians. When he died after 40 years of teaching them and serving them, they were missing him and so they went to his “khadim*(servant) and asked him what he remembered of Sheikh Hashimi’s teachings. He responded: “I only learnt one thing from the sheikh but it sufficed me for my entire Life”! “Only one thing .During fourty years of service?!” They were astounded but asked the inevitable follow-up question: “Alright, So what was that one thing?” “Fi kooli shay khareen”(In every thing there is goodness).A fitting explanation if not a complete one, to the ayat where Allah tells us that He knows what we do not. That there is goodness in everything-A Divine Plan and Divine Wisdom!

Before we get to the solution to this dilemma, let me tell you one more story-from my pre-Islamic days. I got into my real spiritual search somewhere in the early seventies while I was still a Marxist -albeit an unconvinced one(discernment even then lol).I read a lot and visited where I could. One of my earliest visits(1973 I believe) was to Ojai ,California to see Krishnamurti, I was hoping to connect with a fellow psychiatrist named Shainberg I believe but Allah had other, more relevant plans in mind.

Instead, I met with an “ordinary Joe” American. I asked him what he was doin g there (seemed so out of place) and then he told me his story .He was a Korean war veteran.(It is 1973 so the Korean war had finished 20 years earlier.)It was the worst possible situation. In the trenches- filled with mud and dead bodies and blood and gore. You can just imagine or maybe you can’t! And then he was hit by an artillery shell of the Communists. At that moment the sky opened up and he saw another scene of battle but that one was Luminous and Glorious and Ecstatic! In that dimension everything made sense and more. Then he lost consciousness.

When he awoke, he was in intense pain from the wound he had incurred. He required constant pulmonary drainage and opiates and round the clock nursing! But he survived. It was now 20 years later and he was still looking to retrieve his “hal”(spiritual state) that he had experienced in Korea. That is why he came to see Krishnamurti. Amazing, eh?

So now, after all that preamble ,we get to the heart of the matter. How do we stop disputing with our Lord and begin accepting His Will- not in theory but in actual practice. I have a few recommendations and perhaps together we can discover more. Inshallah. So this is the program I propose for arriving at Husn Al Dhann which is also “rida” (acceptance) and “tawakuul” (trust in Allah.

1- First let us remember the famous statement of Ali Jemal r.a. of Fes “Everything to you is from you” i.e. it is a specific response to your situation, your actions, your educational needs, your merits and defects. Nothing is random! Everything is purposeful! That is what Allah is saying when he states that He knows what the angels do not!

When the horrible tsunami hit East Asia in 2004 I saw an Islamic scholar on public television saying: “this is just a geological event(tectonic plates moving) not a theological one”! I couldn’t believe my ears! Does he not understand in any way the workings of our Lord?! Clearly not.

As is my habit, I then started researching what was going on in those areas.The worst hit places turned out to be Aceh province in Indonesia and the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. Aha! In both places there were civil wars going on. Clearly not pleasing to Allah who encourages us in the Quran itself to accept all peoples and nations. Then the Earthquake hit Pakistan in Muzaffarabad and Belokot in 2005.What do you know?! Al Qaida was organizing in those areas. According to the Indian army sources, they still are! Could that be the reason for these disasters? Only Allah knows but it would be reasonable to arrive at those conclusions. Just remember, nothing is random.

The same is true on a personal level. But most people don’t want to go there. The “bala”(misfortune) is either a consequence of some bad behaviour or a stimulus to growth through the purification effect of suffering. Admittedly not always obvious which of the two it is!

When Muhammad Ali may Allah be pleased with his efforts and sincerity was asked if he thought his Parkinsonism was a consequence of his boxing career he answered humbly: “No. I made a grave mistake in saying ‘I am the Greatest’ when the only great One is my Lord. This is the consequence!” Humble man. Mashallah. So whenever something “negative” occurs to you, look deeply into yourself. Is there anything you did wrong? If so, ask forgiveness and  begin correcting it. If not, praise the Lord for elevating you still higher.

2-Ask yourself “What is good in this apparent evil?” What is the silver lining in the cloud?” How can I see this as the glass half-full rather than half-empty?” Hamza Yusuf tells the story of a Moroccan man who had a stroke and was paralyzed on one side of his body. When people would meet him, he would point to the side that was still working and say something like: “Look how merciful is Allah. He left me with this entire side that works” Or the story of the great wali of the Tablighi people, Maulana Zakariah, who was dying of terminal stage 4 cancer and saying on his deathbed: “Ya Karim’, Ya Karim” These are very high levels of faith but we can take learnings from these examples.

3-Think about how it could have been worse. A few years ago, I had a knee injury. When I finally got to a competent orthopedist, he diagnosed me with an “insufficiency fracture”- something I had never heard of in medical school. He told me I had to take all pressure of the knee(i.e. I needed to sit for salat) and it would cure itself over several months .Which is exactly what happened! I thought to myself: “Thank God it wasn’t progressive osteoarthritis as the G.P. had thought because then I would be looking at a knee-replacement(very painful!) down the road. Don’t feel too bad! I am not always that good about my Husn Al Dhann  lol.

My father when he was still alive would taunt people with the statement:” We have the best weather in the world here in Montreal”. People would think he was crazy! “What?! – the terrible cold and snowstorms in the winter and the hot ,muggy days of the summer! How could you say that?” He would answer” We don’t have hurricanes, we don’t have volcanoes. Tornadoes are very rare and we have almost no earthquakes. What’s a blizzard in the winter. You hunker down for a day. Then you take out your shovel the next day and you’re good to go”.

As you watch the weather trends nowadays, you can’t help thinking that he had a point. The massive heat waves in southern USA, the hurricanes in Florida and the West Coast, the drought in the mid-West and the wildfires in California and the West Coast! We are doing pretty well in Montreal lol.( For the nit-pickers and naysayers and contradiction detectors -the people I love to hate lol-yes there was an ice-storm in 1998 that did considerable damage-not many deaths however. The exception that proves the rule.

So my father was practicing Husn Al Dhann about the weather. He would have been shocked to learn that he was performing  an act of piety lol. Like the time I caught him resonating with the Hare Krishna crowd at Philip’s Square! “But Dad I thought you don’t believe in religion” I said. “I Know. But I like this music. It gets to me” Too bad he didn’t go further in his spiritual quest!

4- Seeing the compassion in the pain. You have a chronic pain condition. But it comes and goes. Your skin is burning and itching. But then it disappears enough for you to get a decent sleep. Your money is running out. And suddenly a source of ‘risq’ occurs. None of this was predictable. None of it even makes sense! If you have no cartiledge at the knee joint or between the vertebrae why does the pain come and go?! Shouldn’t it be there all the time. No doctor can explain that. It is from the Mercy of Allah. And He is micromanaging our experience on a moment by moment basis. See if you can observe it!

5-What is this difficult experience designed to teach you. There is almost always a heuristic component to every hardship. I remember a social worker who told me about ending up in the hospital with acute appendicitis. Only then did she realize she was in an abusive relationship and needed to get out. Or the Kashmiri businessman from Sri Nagar who found out that his partner was emptying the cash register every night which led to the bankrupcy of their enterprise. He came running to the Naqshbandi Mujaddid sheikh in Gutlibagh(Mir Alam) and said that was the best decision of his life.

So “hold your horses” before saying “this shouldn’t be”, exercise self -restraint and above all remeber:”fi kulli shay khairin(in everything is goodness) and praise the Lord. Alhumdulillah Rabbil Alamin. May Allah help us all in this challenging task of having a good opinion of His actions-always!

Addendum: The “elephant in the room” here is doubt! “Shakk”-the fifth klesa if you wish. The doubt comes from us believing in what is in our minds rather than in what Allah is doing. It is the cause of much of our errors and most of our anxiety! The only way to deal with it is to become acutely aware of it and to defuse it with tawakuul as soon as it comes up.

As Muslims we know the story of our Prophet saws with Abu Bakr Siddiq in the cave as they are fleeing to Madina. Abu Bakr r.a. is worrying(i.e. doubting), for one of the few times, about the safety of our Prophet saws who responds;” Are you not aware that Allah is with us on this journey” the Noble One explains. If Abu Bakr.one of the great ones, the Siddiq has doubts ,what about us.

The opposite of doubt is certitude -“Yaqin” but that is a very high state in Reality. As mentionned in the article most believers have that certainty in theory. But in Reality ,especially when being tested, that is another matter.So let us continue working on it.! Inshallah. Sufi Ibrahim

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Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics

“The Fog of Data”

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We have all heard of “The Fog of War’. I believe it was first popularized during the war in Vietnam by Robert McNamara.But “The fog of data” has now become an even greater problem-often leading to many forms of misery and miscalculation including war!

C.G Jung noticed this problem more than 50 years ago .He said “Many scientific-minded persons”( now he could say almost all scientific-minded persons lol) have even sacrificed their religious and philosophical leanings( of course -they have embraced the new religion of Empiricism) for fear of uncontrolled subjectivism. By way of compensation for the loss of a world that pulsed with our blood and breathed with our breath(who needs blood and breath when you have facts?!),we have developed an enthusiasm for facts-mountains of facts far beyond any single individual’s power to survey(Ever noticed lol ?)We have the pious hope that this incidental accumulation of facts will form a meaningful whole”(and by extension an effective decision-making process). Nothing could be further from the Truth! Reference: Psychology and the East, Princeton University Press 1975) Couldn’t have said it better myself lol.

So,.. if we take the time to follow what our “scientific, evidence- based” “decision -makers do, we will discover the following stages of the process;

1-The Accumulation of Data-any and all data-relevant and irrelevant, some of it in the form of charts, others in graphs all organized in a way to allow numerical and statistical analysis.

2-The data is the “crunched” analyzed meticulously by experts and statisticians and epidemiologists and an army of modern  intellectuals and technocrats.

3-From this process is generated a few concepts and theories which then become articles of faith(e.g. “Vaccines are safe and effective” or “man-made climate change due to burning hydrocarbons.” ) articles which are no longer to be questioned or challenged for fear of being denounced as anti-vaxxers or climate change denier.

4-From this toxic soup of procedures, principles, rules and regulations and protocols are laid down(vaccine mandates ,limiting the production of hydrocarbons etc,.)Nothing is to be challenged or put into question any longer. These have become religious catechisms.

Poor old Francis Bacon, the discoverer and promoter of the Scientific Method, must be rolling over in his grave lol. This is not at all what he intended. His protocol also involves four stages-but very different from what is called “science ” in the modern world. Let us have a look at them:

1- Observation; This required an insightful observation in the course of one’s regular work. So seeing that mould could kill microbes led to the development of antibiotics like penicillin. And noticing that animals with pancreatic pathology had sugar regulation problems led to the discovery of insulin. None of this is based on data collection. It requires subtle ,inspired observation not obsessive fact-checking.

2-Hypothesis.From this observation one can develop a plausible connection that needs to be explored and investigated .Not a fixed theory that one defends by manipulating,suppressing ,hiding and even inventing(as in the famous Lancet article on hydroxychloroquine) data.

3-Experimentation With an open mind trained in objectivity and with no comnflicts of interest,one then designs an experiment to test out one’s hypothesis .This is about testing out theories not operationalizing pre-set ones!

4-Conclusion: One generates a conclusion based on the experimental data -always tentative, always subject to being disproved and always open to further research. A far cry from what is happening in modern profit-driven” science”

This model can be used effectively in many areas of our life, including (God forbid lol) in medical practice where in fact each patient is a new experiment requiring the doctor to actually sort out the specifics of each case . But we have strayed so far from the original model! Now instead we have protocols and procedures and algorithms which MUST be applied as “the standard of care” for fear of losing our jobs and our livelihoods. God help us!

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology

Is Western education making us stupider?

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Ukraine: War is brutal and horrible and primitive-always. But this war and the previous war on Iraq by America have something special about them! They are utterly stupid(and unnecessary).Both were entirely preventable. So why is that happening?!Why are we getting stupider(sorry Mr.Steven Pinker -you are lost in the “fog of data”).I have a theory. You know the way certain medical observers have noticed an increase in autism and ADHD since the advent of vaccines mandates in children Well ,I have noticed that the stupidity correlates quite nicely with the development of our Western education systems! The world has never been so educated!And yet it has never been so stupid?! Intriguing, eh? Give it some thought. God help us!

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology

The Veil of Reason

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Watching the NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg(but this applies to almost all public figures!) Reason is a tool, often the primary one, that provides cover for cowardice, hypocrisy, self-interest and self-justification, insensitivity and sometimes outright misinformation. But we are taught in our highly-esteemed schools, to honour even to love it(reason) . If we seriously want to know what is happening we need to see beyond the veil of Reason. Sorry Aristotle lol but you have led us down the garden path. And even “garden-path” is a misnomer. It is the road to hell! As one of my Sufi teachers, Bawa Muhayideen, taught us “The road to hell is lined with beautiful posters”! What he didn’t say was that most of these posters-specifically the ones that don’t appeal to our desires- are impregnated with Reason! God help us!

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology

Btw, We are NOT an Evidence-Based Society!

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We are NOT an Evidence-Based Society! We are a theory-based society. Big, big difference!

When I was asked to teach a course at McGill University on Research in Psychiatry, I came across a fascinating and original article. In this article, the researcher went over the most prominent papers published in the last ten years in Psychiatry. Without reading the articles first, he studied the background and theoretical leanings of each of the principal authors. He then looked at the results. None, yes none of the articles came to a conclusion contrary to what the authors already believed! Yes, none! So much for being fact-based!

In my first book,: “Snakes and Ladders; Aphorisms for Modern Living” i published an aphorism that says: “There is no Evidence for Evidence-Based Medicine”!
Before I published it, not wanting to have any obvious errors in my writing, I went to Pubmed(usual first step for medical researchers) where, in fact, I could find no articles where that hypothesis was tested. If you were concerned that it would be difficult to test, I can assure you that is NOT the case, as I explained to the “expert’ I eventually contacted.

For example,i n my field, psychiatr,y the format would be super-simple-much simpler than many of the research studies out there in psychiatry. Take a group of depressed patients,for example. Divide them in two .One set of psychiatrists are instructed to give references in the literature for each of their clinical decisions(that’s what evidence-based means!).The other group(the control group) gets to use their clinical judgment as they see fit. Then compare the results. Pretty simple ,eh? Guess what.?!They won’t do it! Why? Because the catechism says “Evidence-based is the best”.We don’t want to challenge our theology ,do we?

So,to be sure I had done my due diligence, I called around to find an expert. What do you know?! My Alma Mater, McGill, had a world-renowned expert in Evidence-based medicine! He was not easy to reach lol. Finally I got through to him-by email. The response was immediate and shocking. He literally had an academic conniption! “How could you possibly challenge this notion? It is the heart of clinical medicine!” and on and on. Clearly I had touched a sore spot! I had challenged his theology- as if I had told the Pope that Jesus was not the son of God or told a Muslim that there were other ways of getting to heaven. Theology is theology and many people are attached to their beliefs and prepared to die for them. Not usually the case with academics lol

So we ,in Western society, are now surrounded by theories/beliefs. “Due Process of the Law”! Ever had to deal with our legal system? “Capitalism means  Competition”.Ever had to compete with a multi-national.?! Democracy of the people“Ever noticed that when the politicians are elected they care more about the interests of the large companies and the large institutions than the people.? “Vaccines are Safe and Effective”.Can the still say that in such black and white terms and not be ashamed about THEIR misinformation. “There is consensus about anthropogenic Climate Change“.Really?! Are they not reading and thinking?“Science is an unambiguous positive force in our lives and we have to cling to it in all circumstances” Have they not noticed that science created the current Covid epidemic as well as a whole host of toxins that are driving the cancer, auto-immune, Alzheimers and Autism epidemics. The list goes on and on.So think again.

To get back to the principal point here, in so MANY, many ways we are living in a society driven not by reality but by theory. Our educational system has NOT taught us discernment! In fact our educational system reinforces this bias- often teaching things that are completely irrelevant to our lives. And I have noticed over and over again that the vast majority of people are not able to distinguish between thought and Reality. No matter how much Mindfulness practice they do lol! Think about it .It could change your life!

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology

Data,schmata.Oy vey!

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( After reading a review of a book on Comparative Studies of Medical systems across the world)
Bottom line. Data is a BAD way to figure out what is going on! Kinda does in the whole intellectual enterprise, no?! I guess they were right in saying: “The demon is in the details” But they forgot to say,”The Truth is in the Big Picture”. Get that one right and it’ll change a LOT of lives!
Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics, Psychology, Uncategorized

Pathological Doubt-A Fundamental Problem for Science.

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Anyone who has done a basic course in statistics-one of the pillars of the modern scientific method-knows about “the null hypothesis”. In order to prove a causal connection, the scientists begin by testing the “null hypothesis”-the hypothesis that the connection between the two variables studied could have happened by chance alone. Then they perform their magic and show via “p” values (known as statistical significance) that this is highly unlikely to be the case.

All of this might seem like purely technical issues but it is ,in fact, much deeper than that! It is symbolic or perhaps more precisely symptomatic, of an approach-an approach that begins, at the very start and in a very fundamental way, with the negative. No surprise then that scientists when they are being scientists ,as opposed to marketers and propagandists which many do become, seem unsure, confused, overly complicated and generally unimpressive in their personalities.( Ever been to University lol?)

Once again,  this may all seem abstract and unimportant but that is very far from the Truth. The consequences are enormous! Let me give you some examples. In the current pandemic of SARS Covid-2 there were early signs that hydroxychloriquine and other forms of chloroquine could be effective against the virus. Chloroquine had already been shown to be effective against Covid-1 and MERS.Early clinical reports from docs like Didier Raoult in France and Peter McCullough in the U.S. were showing promising results. Then Ivermectin came on the scene and the results seemed even better.

But the ” scientific” types were not buying it. There were no “large-scale randomized, double-blind peer-reviewed studies that had published in prestigious journals”(their religious belief lol) to prove it, they claimed.. Only two years later when Pfizer came out with Paxlovid-in limited quantities- was there possibly an equivalent. Because of this “doubting” mindset it is very likely that hundreds of thousands of Americans and Millions of people world-wide died and many more were seriously ill with long-term consequences. This is no laughing matter! The cost of doubt can be extremely high.

Now, just in case you are doubting my analysis( which if you were well-educated you should be doing by now lol)I am well-aware of the economic incentives to deny the truth of the efficacy of these cheap, repurposed drugs! And that is certainly an important variable. However,I feel that it is VERY important not to deny the intellectual fault-line as well as the economic one. After all ,that is what the Faucis and organizations like  the WHO use to justify and convince the medical community about their corrupt practices.

Another example of this “Pathological Doubting” occurs in the literature about near-death experiences. It is patently clear that these experiencers have left their bodies and travelled with their souls to other worlds. In a normal world, there should be no doubt(see the chapter on “The Doubters” in my book “The Big Questions:Evidence-Based Faith”.)But instead of accepting these accounts on face value ,the doubters come along and develop all kinds of far-fetched theories about brain chemistry and neurophysiology. What is even more incredible is that many “normal”people (those who haven’t joined the cult yet!) because the doubting voices sound “scientific” buy into it. More brain-washing from our educational system!

Now, surprisingly and paradoxically, this same “scientific” community is involved in “Pathological Certainty'” as well! Wtf you might think?! Yes, they don’t even remain consistent even though consistency is one of their main beliefs-one of the Ten Commandments of the Rationnalists. Aristotle must be turning over in his grave lol.

So what do I mean by “Pathological Certainly.” Two examples come to mind. One from the world of Vaccinology and one from the proponents of Anthropogenic Climate Change. Let us start with the first. All over the media, as well as in medical conferences, one hears the mantra: “Vaccines are Safe and Effective’ .Not even any caveats as we see on American TV when new medications come out.”This medication can cause this and that problem .It should not be used in this or that situation”. None of that! “Vaccines are Safe and Effective” .And yet all around us -with the slightest bit of research(have you seen the VAERS?!) or even looking around us, we can see the contrary. We see people who have been vaccine injured and we see people who have gotten sick with Covid despite being fully vaccinated. No mention of those realities in the Infomercials that pass as Public Health Announcements about vaccines. Nope “safe and effective” period. Do they take us for idiots?! Yes, they do. The problem is they may be not that far from the Truth lol.People are refusing to look into these questions for fear of the consequences to their personal lives. So they live in ignorance.

Now well before the Covid epidemic there were issues about the vaccine mandate in children. Were the vaccines causing autism? Were they doing irreversible damage to the neurological and immune systems of our children? We didn’t know. However, in the last three years we have some very credible studies done by credible scientists like Brian Hooker and James  Lyons- Weiler, showing clearly the long-term detrimental effects of the vaccine mandates on children(see the “Vaccine Issue” on this blog.)Anyone  in the scientific community noticing?! Certainly not the champions of  “science”. They just keep repeating the mantra:”Vaccines are Safe and Effective”.

The other example of “Pathological Certaintly” occurs in the domain of climate change. We are told repeatedly that the theory of “Anthrogenic(man-made) Climate Change is irrefutable. A consensus of 97% of published papers confirm it. A gerry-madered statistic by the way. I never really bought the theory?! After all, we have no control over earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and volcanoes-all the other climate events. How come we have control over the Earths temperature?! Never really made sense to me. Sounded like human hubris!  We are in control, right? Wrong! The temperature of the Earth has been changing up and down since the beginning of Creation! it has been a lot colder and a lot hotter. And the Neaderthals ,a time of greater warming than now, were NOT driving SUVs and burning coa-l as far as I know lol.

For those who like documentation and data ,there are two relatively new books “Unsettled” by Steven E. Koonin- a theoretical physicist trained at the world-famous Caltech and “Inconvenient Facts’ by Gregory Wrighthouse who covers much of the same material in a more user-friendly format, that seriously challenge the catechismic belief that “man is responsible for the current climate changes because of the “greenhouse effect” due to the carbon imprint on the atmosphere”. If you want a lighter read you can check out “Climate Change;An Alternative Analysis” on this very blog. S o you can have plenty of support for the counter-argument that man has very little impact on climate generally. All he can do is ‘adapt“. If you think more metaphysically, that is our usual Existential position-relative impotence. That’s why we need belief in a Higher Power-a subject for a later essay lol

So… bottom line; Contemporary man is contaminated by both “Pathological Doubt” and “Pathological Certainty” -both in the name of science! Btw who started this cult?! It could and is leading to our destruction! But I won’t say “certainly” lol so as to distinguish my approach from that of the so-called “scientists”

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Politics

Theory OR Reality

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Possibly THE biggest problem in the world is that people have been taught(yes our educational system contributes to this) to prioritize theory over Reality. So if you look at Ukraine now, the fact is that there is a section of the country(Dombas) that is divided between Russia-leaning and Ukraine-leaning. That is the Reality(somewhat like Northern Ireland which has had its share of difficulties but could be a model for the solution, however).That is the Reality. The theory is about the sovereignty of states and the right of states to join NATO. This can only be perceived as unfair and threatening by Russia! But who cares?! We have theory on our side,right?! At that point, war becomes inevitable. Whenever we prioritize theory over Reality, we get suffering and misery. That is a law of Nature as much as the physics of gravity and momentum.

Another stunning example occurs in medicine- as we can see by the Covid treatment fiasco. The theory is “the randomized, placebo-controlled, large-scale (i.e very expensive) multi-centered study published in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal.” That is the biggest mouthful of theory ever invented lol. The reality is that there were many small-scale studies published in less well-known journals and numerous clinical reports and series from observant, perspicacious doctors that showed that early intervention with cheap ,repurposed drugs could be used to successfully treat Covid and limit hospitalizations and death! That was the Reality! The CDC, the FDA, the NIH, the WHO would hear nothing of it! The consequence was excessive deaths in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S.A and millions worldwide! A significant difference ,no doubt. But who needs Reality when you have a comfortable theory at the bedside?!God help us and protect us from the merchants of Theory, who ultimately are the Merchants of Death!

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Uncategorized

Humanity On Notice

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Humanity on Notice

You have drunk the Kool-Aid!(add the name here of the person whom you are addressing!)  The Koolaid of the social consensus narrative of Empiricism and Rationalism. Once that is the case ,there is little to be done. The intoxicant in the Koolaid prevents you from seeing or hearing or feeling any Reality that goes against your conceptual framework. This is the way the world ends–not so much in conflict as in ignorance. The conflict is only a by-product of the ignorance. God Help us!

P.S. Feel free to send this to anyone who needs the medicine. I have released the Copyright lol

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology, Spiritual Practice

“The Incoherence of the Scientists”

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At this point in time,we need to bring back the great 12th century Islamic scholar Imam Ghazzali who wrote “The Incoherence of the Philosophers”. That was a time when philosophers were highly respected and taken seriously. The updated version of that book needs to be called “The Incoherence of the Scientists”-for the modern world .But while we are waiting lol, I will give you my version.

We see an incredible amount of incoherence amongst the scientists analyzing the Covid epidemic-both on the pro-vaxx AND anti-Vaxx sides! So the pro-vaxxers(leading luminaries like Antony Fauci ,Rachel Wallensky,Sanjay Gupta and Paul Offit to name but a few) for so long and still to a significant extent are doubting the lab origins of the Virus-something for which there is now clear-cut documentary evidence and something which the French nobel laureate Dr. Luc Montagnier asserted on first seeing the genetic code of the virus in Jan.2020!Plus they are denying the evidence of the efficacy of early treatment with Ivermectin and hydroxychloriquine despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This alone has cost millions of lives!

On the other side, you have very clever thinkers like the financial analyst/lawyer types like David Martin and psychiatrist Andrew  Kaufman claiming that the virus doesn’t even exist because it has not been isolated.. And you have almost universal agreement amongst the anti-vaxxers on the one hand claiming that the PCR test is completely bogus and unreliable(which I wholly agree to) at the same time claiming that we have proof that children do not spread the disease! How can you have proof of that when you have no workable tests to confirm it I, personally, have noted several instances of spread from children to adults in the people around me .Almost every ordinary citizen where I live noticed the uptick in cases when the schools opened and now in Quebec half the outbreaks are in schools! So give me a break!

The next level of unravelling this delusionary process is the fact that not only are scientists incoherent but Science itself is also! If you go back to the basic principles of the scientific method( (Observation, Hypothesis, Experimentation, Conclusion)implicitly it requires the capacity for objective observation and objective analysis to arrive at unbiased conclusions. Anyone who has understood Freud and his contributions or even someone looking at the world and its people around them realizes how unlikely that is!

But we will go one step further here-on a metaphysical plane. Coherence itself is incoherent! That is because Reality is replete with contradictions and paradoxes. So any attempt to create a coherent model is bound to be defective and misleading! The map can NEVER represent fully the territory. At its best it is a defective, one-dimensional representation which is bound to cause problems.

So….. what are we left with?! Hearing, seeing and intuitive feeling. Those are the tools for apprehending Reality! (Both Zen and Islam and in all likelihood many other spiritual traditions confirm that. Then we can regain our humanity and escape from the clutches of the robotic transhumans of data analysis. God help us in our journey!

Salaams,Ibrahim

Btw The first coherent argument in the history of our planet came from the snake speaking to Eve.: “Eat  this apple and you will gain the knowledge of good and evil’ Perfectly logical! What could possibly go wrong wit that lol?!