Nationalism is a very sensitive subject. As soon as you start generalizing about national traits you are accused of “racial profiling” and racism. -especially if you talk about negative traits. Yet nations are really quite distinct- just as genders are quite distinct- despite current narratives.

People generally have a lot of emotional investment in their nation. Some are unduly proud like the Americans who keep repeating in their discourse on public media that they are “the greatest nation ever on Earth”. There are a few discounting facts to that narrative- like the fact that they rank the lowest on almost every social variable amongst the developed nations. But who cares about facts when you have pride lol.

There is also an even more sensitive area which has to do with shame about our national characteristics. So, for example, Jews will regularly give their children gentile -sounding names like Tiffany and Elizabeth for example lol. Some will shorten their last name so it sounds less Jewish. So Bergman becomes Berry and Glouberman becomes Glidden. Muslims, as well, will shorten their name from Mohammed (a truly honorable name) to Moe so they sound like the owner of a delicatessen. Black people, most obviously athletes, will shave their heads as if there is something wrong with God-given curly hair. I don’t get it! Two of my childhood heroes were Angela Davis and Jimmy Hendriks. I really admired their natural Afro hairdos!

Then there was one of my clients-an indigenous man from the north of Quebec- who pretended to be a Québecois pure laine and hid his identity for years in therapy. It ended up catching up with him in his relationships- because his Québecois partners didn’t appreciate his taciturnness-an indigenous characterstic (OOPs! Is that “racial profiling?) It might have been easier for him if he had stated in advance that he doesn’t talk too much lol

In my first book: “Snakes and Ladders:Aphorisms for Modern Living” I make the following statement:” We are each caricatures of our national origins” ! That may sound extreme especially for those with a serious dose of Western education lol. We were taught over and over again the nature/nurture hypothesis. And even there the emphasis was on the individual and the family genetics as opposed to the collective national ones. Yet, over and over again, travelling all around the world and interacting with many different societies, I could see the national characteristics so clearly!

I remember my first trip to Europe with a fellow medical student named Alan. We first came to London. It was cold and rainy. Everything was really expensive. We could not find a hotel within our budget and we ended up sleeping on the floor of a YMCA with a large group of German tourists. It was less than twenty years from WWII and the idea of sleeping in a room of Germans was still an intimidating prospect-especially being raised in a secular Jewish family.

So we decided to move to France. There was an immediate change in the environment. The hotels were a lot cheaper (this was before the European Common Market!) It was sunny and the charcuteries allowed us to eat easily within our budget . We sat out in the beautiful groomed parks and felt like we were almost in paradise ( France has since gone downhill considerably and when I visit it now it feels more like pre-Civil War Syria -but that is a whole other subject! )

When we got tired of the hedonism of Paris, we moved on to Germany. As we got to the border, I immediately noticed the militaristic aspect of the Germans ( btw we had a great time as well in that country).But that militarism of the customs agents triggered something in me. I then looked at my friend Alan and said: ’You know Alan we have been sold a crock. A bunch of B.S. Our educational system, liberal as it was at the time, taught us that all peoples are essentially alike. Only individuals are different.That is clearly not what we are seeing” And on top of that, these were three ”advanced” Western peoples. Imagine the differences if we compare them to Asian and African nations?!That may have been one of my earliest Aha experiences. The liberal viewpoint was misleading at best-at worst more ideological denial from the bleeding-heart liberals lol

On a personal note, I have always been adamantly opposed to nationalism-seeing it simply as a collective form of egotism and selfishness. Which it is! But there is another side to all of this. Just as we must come to terms with our individual ego (nafs in Arabic) we need to come to terms with our national origins-in all its dimensions. Each nation has its strengths and its weaknesses. Yet most people can only see the good qualities of their national origins and have difficulty imagining its shadowy aspects.

A case in point. In the early 2000’s I was studying Arabic in Amman and living with a few other students in a shared apartment. One of the students I got close to was of Palestinian descent-with all of the baggage that entails! One day I was discoursing on religion and made the statement that each religion had its particular strengths and weakness. Now, just from a theological point of view, this is difficult for any religious nationalist (and yes, there is nationalism based on religious practice as well!) to hear. The vast majority of people are convinced that their religion is best and there is a large percentage of those who believe that their religion is the only means of salvation-even if their scriptures, properly interpreted, say the opposite!

So when I got to the issue of the good qualities of each religion, I was somewhat surprised , which I shouldn’t have been because actually it was quite predictable, to hear my Palestian friend ask: ”So where does Judaism excel, in that vein”. His bias was clearly obvious. But after getting over the initial shock, I responded from an inspiration that I get from time to me in these situation. ” In its humanism”

Now, I can see that if you identify Judaism with how the Israeli government behaves, you could hardly be blamed for concluding otherwise. But if you look at Jewish history, if you study the Arts and Sciences and philosophy produced by Jewish people, you can see what I was getting at. I have a particular fondness these days for remembering vocabulary in the Yiddish language from my youth-vocabulary that highlights the inevitable foibles of humanity both on an individual and collective level. Actually identifying these foibles helps us accept them! Much more so than those coming from a mindset of nobility and dignity! (I’ll let you guess who those may be lol)

So when I see what is going on in American politics,”kurveshe”(whoorishness) is the most precise term I can find to describe it. When I listen to overly abstract woke intellectuals I think: ”mishegene”(literally crazy) and when I hear my clients stories of intrusive mother-in-laws the word “schvigger” comes to mind – a word that literally means mother-in-law but in Yiddish becomes almost a swear word! Much more on this at a later time. But for now, I feel proud to dredge out some of this ancient vocabulary from my past that helps me identify and deal with what is going on nowadays.

The troubling aspects of nationalism and racism goes back a long way. I still remember an episode where I was asked to give the sermon at the youth sabbath at our local synagogue. I don’t even think I was 13 at the time. Being my usual controversial self, I took on the subject of Jews’ bias towards others. There were two dépanneurs( handy stores) near us. One was Jewish owned. The other was owned by a Greek man. But all the Jews bought from the Jewish store. So I brought this out and told them” You complain about antisemitism but you are acting in the same manner towards this Greek shopkeeper”. Somehow the message got through. The next time I met the Greek man, he thanked me profusely. His business picked up in the weeks following my talk! Sometimes, people DO listen lol!

Ok So let’s get back to the central point here. How do we deal properly with nationalism. There are many improper ways, as we have seen throughout history but managing this domain ethically and responsibly is a whole other matter! In one of the visitations of the Virgin Mary (I believe it may be the one at Medugorge) she said to the young girls who saw her: “Mankind is on the wrong track. If they don’t change their ways of materialism and nationalism, there will be more and more natural disasters”. So when I see the floods and fires and heatwaves of climate change I don’t think “carbon imprint”. Rather I think “man’s misbehaviour around deeper issues than carbon use”!

The initial trigger for writing this article was an interview on Epoch TVof an author named Rick Richman (forgot to change his last name to Rich lol). He wrote a recent book called: ”And None Should Make Them Afraid” about eight people who contributed to the Zionist project, Clearly not a popular topic in my current Muslim community lol And the first person he talked about was Theodore Herzl. Not usually my cup of tea! If I wanted to talk about great Jewish personalities I would start with the Ball Shem Tov, Reb Nahman of Bratislava and Maimonides. Perhaps Martin Buber. But this was about a person I really didn’t have much sympathy for. And I am sure there are people around, especially in the Arab world, who dislike him much more than I do,

Nevertheless, Richman painted a relatively positive picture of a man committed to an ideal that he spent his life on. But most interesting, only towards the end of his life, did he reveal that at 12 years old, he had a dream/vision of Moses bringing him up into the presence of God! Now in the Islamic tradition, we are taught that if a Prophet appears in a dream it is really him. The devil cannot take the form of a Prophet. So…the founder of Zionism was Divinely instructed to work towards a state of Israel.Ajib!

Now for many pious Christians, this a a no-brainer. They believe that the Jews had to return to the Holy Land in order to set the stage for the return of Jesus! And after all Jesus and all of his Apostles were all Jews, something it has taken Christians a long time to swallow! But for Muslims this is anathema.

And yet, the deeper thinkers amongst Muslims, realize that nothing happens in this world without Divine permission. I have even heard Jordanians thinking that Israel was a punishment for Muslims not holding tightly enough to their own religion. However, this story line is more positive I would say. The Jews returning to Israel is part of the unfoldment of Divine destiny. As said the great Sheikh Hashimi of Damascus “fi kooli shay khayran”(in everything is goodness).Even in Zionism lol!

As to Muslims- concerning the question of nationalism- Allah has told us in the Quran 49;13 “O mankind. We created you from a male and a female. and made you into peoples (shououb) and tribes so that you may get to know each other. “There are a lot of meanings in this short ayat but for our current purposes, it is enough to point out that nations are not an invention of man as some sociologists and anthropologists might like to postulate. They are natural creations of our Lord. Besides this Quranic quote, we have the well-known hadith of our Prophet saws which says” The love of the homeland comes from Faith” Another support for the positive aspects of nationalism. So it is incumbent upon us to accept that reality.

Thus we realize that we have to come to terms with our own nationhood and that of others-no mean feat actually. Because this is deep in our coding, yes even in our genetic coding. And much of it is unconscious.

I will proceed to highlight one case where these differences have created an enormous amount of conflict. Then we will go on to some final general conclusions.

Let’s start with the Middle East- a problem that has defeated many politicians and diplomats. I have no pretensions about solving this problem! But I, may be able to shed some light on the psychological aspects involved. Jews and Arabs. Why are they unable to come to terms and make a peace treaty. This is a very difficult and complex problem. But let us start at the base-their different psychological makeups. The defining fault of the Jewish nation is “doubt”. Some of the rabbis I met in Jerusalem were well aware of this! One of them said to me;” If you are committed to doubt, and most doubters are lol, Ashem (God) will supply you with all the data you need to keep doubting. So the Jews who doubted Moses in the dessert, the Apostles who doubted Jesus, the Jews in the Quran who couldn’t decide what kind of cow to sacrifice, were all true to form-they were Jewish doubters. When the Muslims run into these stories they react saying: ”You see. They are really unbelievers”. They don’t factor in the Jewish mind-set.

The Arabs, on the other hand, have no such problem. They are sure they are right-always lol. The equivalent to Jewish doubt is Arab pride! And both are problematic. ”My way or the highway” think the Arabs. .There is no room for second opinions. They are invalid by definition. So how do people with such different approaches get together to negotiate. They have clearly not been able to do so, so far!

Early on, during my stay in Jerusalem, and just before accepting Islam, I was introduced to the holy book of Islam-the Quran. I immediately recognized its authenticity! And yes, in English translation lol I then looked around me at the behaviour of the people in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and thought: “Why would God send this authentic Revelation to these people?! “My Sufi teacher-who was a highly knowledgeable Hafiz Quran and Qadi (judge in the Islamic court) at the time had warned me about this. He told us not to go to the famous al Aqsa mosque for 6 months after conversion. He was afraid we would lose our faith!

So, sitting on the side of the road going up to the Mount of Olives, I asked Allah again why these people (the Arabs) had received this book. And the answer came back loud and clear: ”They are the ones who will hold it most tightly”! And so it has been throughout history! So Allah himself is NOT a black and white thinker! He could and can see that these people, as faulty as was and is their behaviour, also had a particular quality of perseverance and tenacity ( the deniers would say “stubbornness” lol) that was uniquely suited to this purpose!

On the other hand the Jews who had been the previous recipient were not as perseverant in holding to their way. But their doubt and reflection has led them to be great scientists, musicians and artists.” To each his own” as they say. And ALL of it is from our Lord!

So what do we do with this conundrum? The answer is the same as in many other situations- “Develop Awareness”. We, all, need to be aware of how much we conform to our national characteristics. Then we have to learn to affirm and express our strengths and fight against our weaknesses-on an individual and a collective level. This is the jihad-a-nafs of Sufism (the struggle with the ego) but, in this case, we are struggling with the collective ego. No mean feat given that all the like-minded people around us (our nation) are telling us we are fine just the way we are. But we aren’t!

Once we accept our tribal limitations and work against the weaknesses, it is then incumbent upon us to accept these limitations and strengths of other nations and treat them with dignity and respect- rather than “othering them” to use a current Americanism.

May God help us in this sacred enterprise because it is a holy work! Salaams, Sufi Ibrahim

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology, Spiritual Practice

The Good, The Bad and the Conundrum of Activism

August 16, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com 4 Comments

The Good, the Bad and

The Conundrum of Activism

The Trigger: This article was triggered by an interview of Francis A. Boyle, Human Rights Activist and Professor of International Law on CHD TV. What we learn in this interview is that the U.N. banned the use of biological weapons in an International Convention adopted in 1971.The United States signed on in 1972 with both bodies of Congress voting for it. In 1989 the U.S. added to the International Law its own prohibition with the U.S. Code 175-an addition to the Terrorism Act! Code 175 says “whoever knowingly develops, produces, stockpiles, transfers, acquires, retains or possesses any biological agent toxin, or delivery system for use as a weapon shall be fined or imprisoned for life or any term of years”

So, it is a criminal offense to be developing these weapons with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment (the lawyers and politicians who drew up the act didn’t like capital punishment lol) And yet since at least the 80’s under Ronald Reagan American scientists have been doing exactly that and keeping it undercover! We can understand their justifications: ”The Russians and the Chinese are doing it so we musn’t get behind”. Excuses, excuses! This is VERY dangerous stuff. And at this point ,I am convinced that Covid-19 Sars 2 is a product of that research! And it could get worse!

The thought immediately came to mind: ”How could people be so evil, so reckless, so self-serving? I guess I am still naïve! This kind of evil has been going on for a long, long time. The Romans crucifying people and throwing them to the lions. The medieval tortures like the Iron Maiden. The Jews led into the gas chambers. The list goes on and on!

I still remember Sheikh Nazim in Peckham , London during one Ramadan in the 80’s saying “We are now under the hegemony of shaytan” and thinking “I think he’s going too far”! And hegemony was a word that should have been outside of his TurkEnglish vocabulaty lol. But, no, he was absolutely right. And those wooly-minded thinkers like Steven Pinker (“The Better Angels of our Nature”) and their data-analysis approach are sorely out of touch. No news there lol!

So…can it really be that bad?! And the simple answer is “Yes!”. Besides the usual human rights abuses like those of the Uighurs in China, the Chinese harvesting organs from Falum Dung members(that’s a new one but not dissimilar to the Nazis doing “scientific” experiments on Jews and not so long ago the Japanese torturing Chinese and Korean opposition forces, we now have a new slew of evil habits.

Let us name a few. So we have researchers in the U.S. and then in China doing “gain of function” research and calling it vaccine research which it clearly wasn’t. We have American pharma companies, exempt from all legal liabilities, having public health authorities mandating their ”safe and effective” vaccines (which were neither) to the entire population. We have large institutions- private and public- including universities (no surprise there .New and critical thinking left those premises a long time ago.)We have prestigious medical journals blocking the publication of useful research into repurposed medications for treatment and instead publishing misleading research some of which was so bad they had to retract the articles themselves. We have decades of vaccine mandates for children without any placebo-controlled studies and no long-term research on their overall effects on children. The list goes on and on! Man’s creativity in the field of mischief is truly astounding! No lack of new ideas there.

Once our inner vision begins to see all this, we may well feel overwhelmed and hopeless. How could this be and what can we do about it?” we may well ask. In Islam we were recommended to go to the hills with our sheep when the Last Days were approaching! Are we there yet?! We may well be but before we all become forest dwellers and hermits ( but btw the forests are no longer safe either nor the water in remote areas. In the forests we now have a plethora of ticks and Lyme disease and some of the most remote lakes are so contaminated with heavy metals that there are no fish left!) So there is no real refuge left!

There may however be a simpler answer. We need to seriously remember that, in any case, we are only here for a temporary period. As I like to remind myself and others from time to time, “the fatality rate of Earthly existence is 100%!” Sorry for the bad news, but none of us is going to survive anyway! So perhaps we should be thinking of the after-life and how best to be right with our Creator. Nothing else will do and nothing else can be so beneficial. All the religions teach that more or less! As say the A.A. people: ” Let go and let God”. He (the Light of the Heavens and the Earth) is the only trustworthy protector. All the others are destined to fail.

But what I really wanted to address in this article ,since good and evil have been contemplated from the beginning of time, is the question of activism. This question emerges out of the observation of endemic evil and what do we do about. Many times in history social activism and political theories have tried to address and redress the problem. Perhaps the most obvious in recent history was and still is Marxism. According to that philosophy, the problem is the exploitation of the working class and the solution is “The dictatorship of the proletariat”. We see where that got us when we look at Russia and China and North Korea to name but a few examples.

But nowadays we have newer and more limited actors in the field of activism-like “Doctors without Borders” trying to help people in war zones and “Amnesty International” trying to protect political prisoners, and Greenpeace and other environmental groups trying to protect the planet. One thing that surprized me in my practice as a psychiatrist was that the clients I saw who were in intimate relationships with these N.G.O. types were some of the people who were most disappointed by their relationships. It made no sense! Good people, no? Amnesty International, Médecins sans Frontières-how could these be bad people! As I contemplated this conundrum, I realized what was going on. These N.G.O. types were ideologues-people of principle! Often their hearts were dead. In fact they were so insensitive that it took really gross abuses in their environment to be able to fell anything! It sort of made sense!

Btw, I have my own personal history with activism! It started with student newspapers in high school and university, continued with protests against Canadian complicity in the Vietnam war and ended with Marxist medical services in a Community Clinic. It is a long story that I will only be able to tell it adequately when I eventually write my autobiography. Inshallah. But let me highlight a few episodes that eventually led to my disillusionment with this approach.

While I was at the community Clinic in East End Montreal I participated in a legitimate strike at a company called Carter White Lead. Many of the workers there were actually suffering from documented lead poisoning. We had a toxicologist on board who confirmed the diagnosis. In my mind I still held the slogan of “the dictatorship of the proletariat”lol. That was our salvation!.Boy can we be delusional at times! As an example it took Sartre, admittedly a brilliant man, more than a decade after being made aware of it to denounce what was going on in Russia at the time of Stalin . In the meantime he had denounced Camus who was his informant in this matter as “intellectually not up to the task of analyzing the subtleties of the Russian Revolution ”(paraphrasing here).I still know very intelligent scholars who are unwilling to denounce Stalin. Their names will remain anonymous lol

When I saw this “proletariat” at Carter White Lead, my gut reaction was: ”These people in charge of our government?! No, thanks!” I had my first breakthrough!

Then I went to China with a group of community workers. That was 1973 and the Cultural Revolution was still going on but well-hidden from our view. We went to a school and when one of my companions, a College teacher at the time, realized that the principal of the school was earning much more than the workers and he confronted the workers about this inequality (which went against all Marxist principle) they said it was alright. He literally had a melt-down and a few hours later had to be rushed to the hospital with acute pneumonia! If you ever needed a clear example of a psycho-somatic reaction, this was a spectacular one. This fellow’s entire world had fallen apart Many people lost their faith in Marxism after that trip! Some melted into the “soft left” like the N.D. P. in Canada . Others, like myself, left activism and politics for good!

The third event that closed the chapter on Marxism for me was a large meeting of leftists, unionists and hard-core Marxist Leninists under the umbrella of a Marxist Group called “En Lutte” . At the head table were all the major leaders of the left wing. And when I saw them, it was obvious. ”No way, José” This group would be far worse than the current government under Robert Bourassa at the time. That was the last straw .Bye-bye Marx.

Another paradoxical thing I realized during these events, and I believe it is still true nowadays, is that the left-wing leaders treated their intimate partners much worse than their conservative homologues! Doesn’t make sense, right?! They are humanists and progressives and yet in their relationships they are egotistical, unfaithful and hedonistic.

You can see the same phenomena in American politics! Compare how the Bush’s and Reagan were with their wives to the string of philandering Kennedy’s all the way down to the present iteration. Yes there were exceptions like Carter and Obama on the Democrat side and Trump for the Republicans. But “the exception confirms the rule” as they say. If you are a woman, I would stay away from progressives lol

There is so much more I could say but the two major points I really wanted to raise in this article were the state of the world -where evil reigns forcing us to adapt to it and the particular conundrum posed by the latest iteration of a Kennedy, in the person of RFKjr,

The latter has presented a particular dilemma for Truth-seekers like myself. On the one hand, I agree with almost everything he says. It is all well-documented and referenced and he is very careful to get the facts right. I agree with almost everything he proposes to do in getting rid of the “captured” health agencies and government institutions. Perhaps the only thing I disagree with is trying to run for the Democratic party. I am convinced they will run him out of the primary as they did with Bernie Sanders in a previous election . But RFKjr. is a very strategic person and may well be using the Democratic platform to gain visibility and then planning to run for a third or fourth party once the Democrats succeed in running him out of town as they are almost sure to do.

None of this is problematic for me! But what is seriously problematic is his “ghoulish” presence! There is something deeply wrong with this man and it has nothing whatsoever to do with his voice. I have tried to come to some convincing conclusion about what that is but for now it evades me. Could it be what he calls “the lust demons” which have been haunting his family including his father and two of his uncles going all the way back to his grandfather?! Or could it be unresolved substance use which he has apparently conquered (Btw I saw a similar thing in the famous Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and then learnt that he uses Ayahuasca as a means of spiritual upliftment. Ok. Case closed there!)

But there may be another explanation-at least a partial one- which applies to many, many people-Activism!? You see the real problem of activism is that it focuses on the negative. Even though it is attempting to resolve the problems, it can easily become obsessed with them. I saw that in medicine and psychiatry as well. My first wife, a true California Spiritual seeker nlol, confronted me with that: ” That’s the problem with you psychiatrists” she said in a moment of fury. You are in love with neurosis” She had a point.

My own Dad, who was by no means an intellectual, had the same issue. Although he had some dyslexia, I believe, he was so interested in history and politics that he worked his way through the entire set of volumes by Will and Ariel Durant called “The History of Civilization”! His conclusion: “Man is worse than animals ”. That was his final statement about Reality! And despite the fact that his argument is well-taken, it ultimately led him in the wrong direction. My own direction is the opposite! I go, rather, by the statement of Sheikh Hashimi of Damascus. ”Fi kooli shay khairan”(in everything there is good)What a revelation?! God created us, He knows more than anyone else our foibles and our defects. He created us that way. And he will lead us to the right path, if we trust in Him and follow His guidance. If, on the other hand, we follow the god of our own minds we are doomed to failure and disappointment. I am still working on it. And I hope you will be inspired to do likewise. Salaams, Sufi Ibrahim

Holistic Medicine, Metaphysics, Modern Living

Greed as Religion!

August 5, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com Leave a comment

Let me give you a concrete example- the Covid vaccine! First it started with Trump and Fauci both on an ego-trip. That vice is called “pride ” the top of the line of Christian vices lol! Then the pharmaceutical companies saw windfalls of profit to be made.Yes, that is greed.Then the doctors who were doing just fine financially before the Covid kicked in with their multiple levels of ignorance! Firstly they bought the long-held mantra “vaccines are safe and effective” Ya right! Then they drank the archaic kool-aid that “Reality can only be seen through large-scale randomized, placebo controlled studies published in prestigious, peer-reviewed studies”( I always found that a mouthful lol).Then they refused to see all the nasty side effects of the vaccines( clinical blindness!).All of what they did, and they are the proximate cause of the disaster, was from ignorance mostly( yes, a touch of greed but mostly ignorance!)

One more attemppt here to get the message through lol>America has made “greed” into a religioin.The basic catechism is that “It’s all about the money”! This religion which includes MBA degrees,monetary management,finacial planning etc., etc. is so widespread(can we call it ‘pandemic’ lol/) that even those who are denouncing greed in various places are caught up in the “greedism” religion.I see a parallel with Feminism where even those who say they are not Feminists in effect on a deeper layer really are?! So what is the answer as the pragmatists w-another modernisr

Enter

You sent

religion- will ask.Broaden your horizons. Look for other vices.And if you are really courageous look for the positive in all this! That would be truly revolutionary!

Comparative Religion, Metaphysics, Spiritual Practice, Uncategorized

Theology?!

July 31, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com Leave a comment

Theology is the entry of the philosophical mind-set (i.e “mind productions”) into the domain of religion. It’s cost /benefit ratio is probably nil i.e. the costs( over-riding the need for actual spiritual experience and mysticism in favour of mental gymnastics) is at least as onerous as its benefits- at least when well-done (providing clarity in one’s formulation of beliefs- on which to base one’s behaviour.) Much unnecessary confusion and conflict has been generated by this form of activity!For best effect, it needs to be detoxified by actual spiritual experience-of one sort or another. Salaams,Sufi Ibrahim

Metaphysics, Modern Living

Study,Schmudy 2.0

July 12, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com Leave a comment

I have come to the conclusion that we need to do a meta-study of studies?! No, not the Cochrane Meta-analysis type but rather a study about the usefulness of studies. Asking questions like: “Did this study change anything in the field?” “How much suffering and pain was reduced by the application of this study?”.Now this could be in medicine or any other field for that matter. I am guessing that the most common result would be ” nil”.But there is the outside possibility, due to the perverse incentives in studies(i.e. greed or professional ambition or pushing an ideological line) that studies would have a negative impact on outcomes. We hear talk about the military/industrial complex and the medical/pharma complex.But no-one is talking about the academic/study complex. It is a huge industry that may outweigh all the others. It certainly does already in reputation. Any volunteers to fund this study?! I doubt it lol

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Modern Living, Politics

Making Peace With America

July 5, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com Leave a comment

It’s July 4th – Independence Day in America.Now America has a lot of failings no doubt. Many people across the world love to hate America! That is not my feeling. I have always had fondness for our neighbour to the south. Much of what I learnt in Medicine, psychology( of various schools) and Spirituality came through America. I attended countless medical and psychiatric and alternative psychotherapy trainings in America. It was in America that I met many of my spiritual teachers including Pir Vilayat Khan and Bawa Muhayideen and Sheikh Nuh. It was in America that I learnt Chiqong and various forms of Buddhist meditation and Sufi chanting. So there is much for me to be grateful to that country. I would not be who I am without the American contribution to my existence.Their openess and creativity and plainspokeness has become part of my being!For all of that, I am most grateful!

I would just have one request, however, to ask Americans-to stop claiming their country is the greatest country to ever exist. For those who like evidence, most of the evidence, including the annual Human Development reports of the United Nations loudly dispute that claim( lowest ranking amongst developed countries in every single social dimension-like violence and infant mortality and longevity and poverty amongst others)!) So I request a little more humility from Americans. Enough hubris! That would be good for everyone-including Americans themselves.

Metaphysics, Modern Living, Psychology

Herd Mentality and Education

July 2, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com Leave a comment

If the real goal of our educational system was not the stated one- of teaching critical thinking- but rather, as proposed by researchers like John Taylor Gatto ( may his soul rest in peace), to generate ” herd mentality” in the population, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams! In the field of medicine only the geniuses and sincere Truth-seekers like Andrew Wakefield and Paul Thomas and Pierre Kory and Paul Marik and Peter McCullough and a few others have been able to pierce the multiple layers of propaganda to see what is really going on. Kudos to the Rockefellers and Carnegies that financed this “revolution” in education. They will ultimately have to answer for their mischievous ways. For the rest of us, it is incumbent upon us that we systematically and thoroughly detox our minds and hearts from this academic poison! God be with us!

Metaphysics, Modern Living

Why Do They Always Get it Wrong?!

July 1, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com Leave a comment

I never cease to be amazed at how the politicians and their propagandists in the mainstream media never seem to deal with the real problems but only look at the surface? Is this simply a problem of Empiricism or does it go even deeper. I’ll let you decide. And please don’t fall for the sop “It’s all about the money”! Another Empiricist spin- as money can be counted lol. No-the ignorance goes way deeper than greed. Even greed, itself, is another form of ignorance. As if money alone can bring you happiness?! So here are a few concrete examples! I know how much people like concreteness lol After all we were educated that way! Who needs Truth when you have numbers, right?Lol So here are a few examples 1) Everyone is yelling about abortion rights but no-one is talkin g about the real problem-promiscuity (Adultery and Fornication in Biblical terms).2) Everyone is concerned about student debt relief but no-one is talking about the outrageous fees of American Universities. Out of line with the fees in any of the “civilized” world! “Civilized” does not apply to America>you might rightly argue lol And 3) Just saw a report on Commercial Real Estate and the rate of vacancies. But no-one is mentioning that ALL these buildings (sealed windows and recirculated air) are sick buildings and accounting for innumerable health effects! ” It’s always been this way” you might argue -falling for another specious argument “if it’s always been this way, it must be normal” Don’t fall for it! Ignorance surrounds us on all sides! Be vigilant and do your homework .Salaams, Sufi Ibrahim

Psychology, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

The Four Klesas

May 10, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com Leave a comment

The Four Klesas and the Four Responses

The Buddhists have a lot of interesting classifications for states of mind. Most of them are completely consistent with Sufi Islamic principles and in some sense provide a unique and clear formulation that is “actionable” on the spiritual path. One of these formulations is the 5 klesas.

The 5 klesas (obstacles to Enlightenment) are Attachment/desire, Aversion, laziness,agitation and doubt.For the sake of clarity I have reduced the list to four.I consider both laziness and agitation to be a derivatives of the others-laziness being a product of doubt and desire and agitation being a derivative of fear and anger.I have also divided Aversion into its two distinct components of Anger and Fear.

So we are left with 4 klesas that we need to struggle against-Desire; Anger/upsetness; Fear/worry and Doubt. So here are the responses we can use as we come up against these four states on a daily basis. This is a formula for serious and effective spiritual struggle that can be done by anyone serious about their path.

1-Desire:

Response: This thought is a lie, a trick of my mind .Even if I managed to obtain the object I am wishing for,I would still not get the ultimate satisfaction it is promising!

2- Anger (upsetness):

This too is from God and has a purpose. How could this have been worse?Allah will bring this matter to its proper conclusion!

3-Fear/worry:

Allah is aware of everything that is happening including this. Do your “due diligence”, follow your inspirations in managing it and trust in God.Tawakultu aleyhi wa hua rabbal Arsh al Atheem.(Trust in god and He is the Best of Managers)

4-Doubt:

There is no Doubt. God Exists, He is aware of everything ,He is Just and He will bring it all to the right conclusion.

So try it out and see how much you can shift your consciousness with this simple formula!

Salaams, Sufi Ibrahim

Psychology, Spiritual Practice, Sufism

The “work” trap

May 10, 2023 jebrahim2@gmail.com 3 Comments

Notes on the Spiritual Process

Asalamu aleykum,brothers and sisters. . It is so easy to slip in this way! Once we are solidly set in our goals, we may well be free from major sins like zina and alcohol and drug addiction. However the four klesas of desire, anger, fear and doubt are never far away and we have to be vigilant! That is arguably the biggest part of our work!

However, there is another danger that may be greater than either of the two aforementioned ones! And that is “ghafflat” ((negligence, unawareness) and ironically that “ghafflat” may be about what is perfectly halal or even obligatory! Like doing our work or our studies or taking care of our family . Good works, no?! Yes, but only within proper limits.

When I reflect on North American society ,and this is probably true in all “developed “ countries, there is only one virtue left! All the classic ones of piety and modesty and humility and obedience have been put aside. And all that is left is hard work. An excess of that is called “workaholism” in modern psychology. But it is much more common than many people think. For now, my definition is “any productive activity that sucks up all your energy(which may include getting to work and recuperating from work and preparing for work) and leaves your energy tank empty for your relationship with your Creator. More than 100 years ago the sociologist Max Weber wrote about this subject in a famous book called “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”. However this problem now applies to all religions- not just Protestantism. In fact, because of the hegemony of the Anglophone culture first via Great Britain and now via the U.S.A. we could say we are all Protestants lol

So what do I propose here? We must certainly be vigilant. But I will go further and suggest a potential structural solution to this-in two parts. The first being basic Islam and the second being Sufi practices.

1) We have the salat five times daily. However, I would like to reframe this practice -less about obligation and more about opportunity-the opportunity to take a break from work and refocus on our relationship with our Creator (the spiritual project!). Forget about everything else-your worries, your deadlines, your finances) and at five points during the day commune with your Creator. And watch the effects!

2) Dhikr (Sufi practice).Set aside two time periods in 24 hours to do your dhikr practices. One of them should be tahhajjud time and the other a time of your choosing. Some of the Sufis have suggested the time between Asr and Maghrib but that might not work for your schedule. So it could be in the evening-if you have the energy(remember we need to be honest with ourselves as well!).Or after your siesta in the early afternoon. Whatever works for you. The time interval could be anything from one-half hour(least amount to get benefit) to one and a half-half hours(a total of 3 hours as recommended by the Tijani people and Kundalini Yoga alike).See what you can manage .Build this two-faceted structure into your daily schedule and commit to it -as you commit to your work deadlinesJust don’t slip into ghafflat because your ‘hal’ will definitely suffer for it.

Salaams, keepimg you AND me on our toes lol. Sufi Ibrahim

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