Just as Sufism is considered the "Missing Element" in the Islam of today, and "Islam" is considered the Missing Element in Sufism and the world at large of today, there is yet a deeper "Reality", a "Haqq" that we are all supposedly striving toward, that appears to be missing in both, and most certainly partially, in the world at large. I say partially because it can be found plainly and simply in many of the manifest spiritual paths of today, but due to historical and ego reasons, is not the emphasis in either Islam or Sufism. It is my contention that it should be, for it would bring about the Unity of spiritual faiths, and the "conversion of the world" into a friend rather than an enemy.

It stands to reason, however, that it is not the emphasis in either Islam or Sufism, for if indeed we actually knew what we were looking for, the search would be over. This alludes to "The Presence or Absence of the Spiritual Quest in Islam and Sufism".

The Missing Element that I'm referring to is easily stated but realized with substantially more difficulty. What I'm referring to is the Physical and Perceptual Benefit of Understanding. - i.e.

• What do I mean when I say "Ana"?
• Why and How is it that when We Remember God, God Remembers us?
  
• Where does this "focus" come from and what does it "focus" on?

Now the reason that it is more difficult to realize than to simply understand is this - there are actually three stages of learning and the ego loves the first stage and takes it as the be-all and end-all of learning. So in order to aid you in grasping the actual "Reality" of this concept (which is the point of healing), it is greatly helpful to understand the actual Mechanics of Learning - the three levels of knowledge and knowing.

So a little digression...

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So let's comprehend "Haqiqat", and ask Msr. Al-Hallaj what, in God's name, was he referring to and in what surrounding was it necessary for him to be put to death? And, does it still apply? Will I be killed for professing that "ana" is what's missing and that "ana" is Haqq, our truth and reality and the means by which we genuinely perceive and know God? My point is that the word Haqq, or Truth, has, in its third stage, the implication of actuality, of direct realization, of actually getting it. Really! And should the goal be so hard that it's "out of reach" - in "forbidden" territory?

Note the Qur`anic phrase "Wa maa Adraka ma al Haqqah?" "And what will impress upon you what this Reality is?" Does that not imply (at least) that it might not be readily grasped and that we might require some assistance in being impressed with its significance? This is an explanation for our work of teaching (i.e. helping people and health oriented students reach to) The Benefit, i.e. the Physical (not mental) Perception of the Reality of Surrender. This may never be completed, and indeed we are told that it is not, but life is never the same after it's begun. That's why we call it a New Reality. And, for the sake of Unity, it is nothing less or even more than the Samadhi, or "Blissful Self-Realization" of the Self-Realized in any and all paths that teach it as a goal. The Sufis say, "Who Knows Oneself, Knows God", because it is through the means of knowing the self that God is truly known/realized.

These knowledges are not unknown but quite common outside the world of "Islam", but fear, guilt and shame have permeated and taken control of the teaching and teachers of religion to such a degree that they are being taught as the very fundamentals and then acted upon as such. So that in spite of the love and the blessing of life that is the Gift of Allah to all, the supposed upholders and supporters of Allah's truth use it to destroy.

We KNOW that you CAN "Get this" (because no one doesn't have it), by keeping company with the people of this way. It's simply that their focus is different. There is a Reality, and it lies often deeply buried within us, which if brought to the fore and appreciated for what it is, will shed the light of true understanding on our words, worlds and realities. But why is it so difficult to see? Because we ignore it. And who ARE the people of this way? THAT is a VERY good question. Let it be us, but they are certainly the people of no further argument.

Now this can seem offensive to the people of the way who hold the teachers and the prophets as more than themselves, and as having something that they do not, much the same as a child sees his or her parents. And this is, in many ways, true. But I've never met a real master or teacher who was not intent upon helping his or her students see through the illusions that were keeping them from the satisfaction of self realization.

For each of us, there must and will come a day when the nature of Allah and life dawns on one, and it may take death itself, (and that's why we're taught to die before we die?) and they realize that they are no less within their own reality than anyone else is within theirs. What an empowering revelation! (And is it really our own power that we're afraid of?)

This brings us to the immediate Reality of the witnessing to the Oneness of Allah and the Prophecy of Muhammad that is both our first pillar of our practice and the final goal of every prayer. And yes, our realities are different, but they are nevertheless our realities, and the same in that they are our realities, as opposed to our opposing illusions, and Allah is the Lord of ALL our realities, thereby the common thread, and in each of our realities, and ultimately, the only existent reality.

So what kind of a world was it in which Al Hallaj had to be executed for saying something that many people today take to be not merely true but the necessary actuality of the situation? And are we to support them, the people of acceptance, or the people of de Nile? Evidently it was much the same as it seems to be today "within" the "world" of "Islam"... where some things are accepted and others are indignantly and righteously rejected, and all for the sake of demonstrating a faithful adherence to doctrine. But what if, just what if, that doctrine were (God forbid!) wrong?

But is that not what we conspiracy theorists are actually saying? That the "Reality" of Islam was left in the dust (Yaa `Aliiii, Yaa Abu Turab) while the "doctrine" was manipulated and made king? Why then would it be that the Arising Imam will reveal a truth that the masses would hold so strange that they would travel the world in search of some other leader and come back to him in abject defeat? And what is the "Sunrise in the West", anyway?

Back! It (Haqq, Reality) also has a first, second and third stage of comprehension, as does comprehension itself. And often times we who do not know about these stages will tend, even desire, to confuse the first stage with the third. Hence students (Arabic: Taliban) - deprived of real upbringing (i.e. psychological and spiritual maturity - tarbiyya, from Rabb, upbringer), who are thrust into a confusing world with only a mutilated doctrine/dogma to cling to, confused by their anxieties, desperate and driven to do way better than their fathers who were also in denial, prideful, desperate and driven - will assume to be teachers and attempt to instruct and change the world by authoritatively teaching that of which they have only the most "fundamental" knowledge. And their unknown and unrecognized (except by others) motivations will drive them to further acts of destruction in their desperation to prove themselves "worthy" of "God's" (parental) love. And when it is said to them believe as the other believe, they say "innama nahnu muslihun", surely WE are the right doers (on the RIGHT path) - making thereby the rest of the world and God's creation wrong and lawful targets for their frustration and rage.

This is our Islamic heritage devoid of true Sufism, and this is the result of the hostility toward the true inner teachings of the Ahlul Bait.

And this is also child psychology 101, or upbringing (tarbiyya).

w/love
ali

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