Author: Joy (Lubaba) Idries

Enlightenment

Duality and the Path of Enlightenment

January 18, 2017 by 0 Comments

Duality and Enlightenment

Do you sometimes wonder why exactly you are here on this earth? What is your purpose?

Here are some thoughts and reflections on the subject.

May Allah guide us all, forgive my mistakes and accept my best intentions.

Allah created us to give us the opportunity to know Him and experience the Real existence, beyond the world of appearances.

Our active worship of Allah takes place in the opening of our hearts to Him and in remembering. It is for us to become aware, to understand, experience and appreciate how the Divine Plan manifests in and all around us. And we are here to find our way back home to the One Source from whence we came.

On this earth much of our awareness takes place within the fascinating world of duality. As we come to witness the way in which opposites combine and play, to bring about a higher synthesis of experiential and harmonised understanding, we cannot help but surrender to the higher order of greater harmony and peace. It is wired into our very genes, the call of our ‘Fitrah’.

From it we develop our ‘Furqan’, or the ability to understand and appreciate the difference between such contrasting pairs as love and hate, fear and joy, struggle and ease, doubt and trust, denial and acceptance. Through it we are gifted with the power to choose in each and every moment of our lives to either surrender in peace or suffer in resistance and separation. It is part of the personal Jihadi path towards enlightenment and an important key in reaching our ultimate goal.

Nothing manifests in life without having an opposite. Whatever we experience is one of two sides of the same coin: each side may look different but is intimately connected to the other. So we have , for example, night and day, hot and cold, disconnected and connected, expanding and contracting, forgetting and remembering, rejected and embraced … in fact every experience we have in life, you could say is connected to its opposite.

This is very important in understanding how we operate.

The Role Of Ego

Our lower self or ego is deeply rooted in the need to control, to create everything according to the way it thinks it should be. This need to be in control is what creates all of our suffering. However, understanding that life operates in a duality gives us a key, a pointer to knowing that its opposite exists, and opens up choice. Instead of resigning ourselves to living in the cage or prison of our limitations, we can live in the hope of stepping out and beyond, into an expansive and unlimited realm.

The mind tends to focus on what it is not connected to, instead of what it is connected with. And is very good at producing stories … the great ‘because’, to hold all of its ideas and understandings in place.

“I’m stuck because no-one gave me the opportunity”

“I have low self-worth because I was brought up in poverty”

“I don’t have any confidence because I was bullied at school”

“I hate my friend because she betrayed me”  

“I’ll be happy when or if …..”

We have so-o-o many stories

The mind loves to invent stories and they can all seem very real, because there are deep feelings attached to them. Our minds are addicted to the past and to the future, and over time we build up our own separate identity or personality that is held together by memories and all the meanings we attribute to them which we become attached to and believe. We hold onto certain concepts about who we are and about who we are not.

In this state of clinging on to our stories we have forgotten our connection to the Eternal Source and have forgotten who we truly are or why we are here.

We need to let go of our attachments and we need to remember and be grateful

“So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me.” S2A152

Everything comes from One Source. Deep down, our soul, spirit, or higher Self knows that it is connected to an infinite Divine being that is the Source of all that manifests in this life.

We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the truth. Is it not sufficient in regard to your Lord that He is a Witness over all things?   S41A53

They are all pointers to His Perfection.

Take something as simple as an apple, for example. If you slice it open around the middle, you will find a perfect pentagram inside, with a golden mean ratio 1 to 1.618. This ratio repeats in nature almost everywhere that you care to take a look, in almost every plant and flower, an acorn, a pineapple, a snail ….  

 

 

To remember Allah, to be enlightened, requires being in the stillness of the present moment, without story, recognising the essential connectedness of everything in the now of Tawhid. This helps to bring us back to our infinite spiritual Source. By simply resting deep in the core of our being, all stories dissolve into the Oneness of our Creator and King

Relax and Become Still

Try relaxing now and allow yourself to feel as a droplet in the ocean … merging with each sensation that arises.

Let yourself melt so that you cannot feel where “you” end or begin.

Keep the mind quiet (it helps to focus on your breathing, a good technique for stilling the mind)

That is enough… When stillness is here, spiritual vibrations start to manifest and flow.

Attention must be focused on the inner. Once we surrender to our deep inner truth, without resistance, suffering fades away, dissolving easily and effortlessly in the light of The All-Encompassing.

Harmonising the opposites through greater expansion is enlightenment

Here truth throws light on the false. No matter how separate or contracted we may have been feeling, we are in truth always intimately connected to or expanded by Source. We just need to ‘remember’ this in a direct experiential way. Thinking, acting and doing …  which are activities that separate … must be brought into balance with ‘being’ … in surrender to the present moment.

When the mind is set aside and relieved of its self-appointed job of having to constantly think and analyse, and as you stop exhausting yourself with all of the doing, doing, doing… some space is created where you can relax deeply and become still. In the stillness, higher inner energies, the other side of the ‘lower energies coin’, such as abundance, clarity, peace, love, connectedness and joy are released and flow without any effort on your part

He guides unto Himself all who turn unto Him” S1A327

This is where you can know, with the certainty of experiential knowing (ilm al yakin), your connection with the All-Powerful and where your fulfilment, peace and deep satisfaction lies

Like Fish in an Ocean

We are like small fish living in a vast all-intelligent divine ocean of love, intimately connected with it and depending on it for our very existence, yet at the same time swimming around in our own little worlds, often oblivious to the whole wider reality. Much of our suffering is in that oblivion. As we swim around in the illusion that we are separate and alone, we have no real awareness of our deep connection to all that is. Most of our live are spent just running automatic patterns, disconnected from any awareness of our true reality, believing that our limitations are our whole world.

The enlightened person, however, is fully aware of the world and its forgetfulness, its separations and its limitations. He or she has awakened to another level, the vast ocean of all expansive, all-inclusive consciousness. The key is in remembering. At that moment we find ourselves reunited with that which we cannot live without, our intimate connection with everything.

Those who believe and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah: for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction.” S13A28

As long as the mind has forgotten this and believes we are a separate self, with separate thoughts that are totally disconnected from everyone and everything else, we will continue to live a life lost in distraction, agitation, suffering and pain.

When we turn our attention inwards to the higher frequencies of our hearts a deep inner connection to Allah is opened and everything falls into place. We are able to step outside of the box. Everything is harmonised and included in the bigger picture. When we look at the world from this inner perspective Allah’s patterning, energies, attributes and signs are revealed, experienced and understood.

O ye who believe! if ye fear (are consciously aware of) Allah He will grant you a criterion (to judge between right and wrong) remove from you (all) evil (that may afflict you) and forgive you: for Allah is the Lord of grace unbounded.” S8A29

The mistake many of us make is to assume that we are our mind when in fact the mind is only a tool. It becomes our master when it should be our servant. It masters us by constantly making us think, think, think – mostly about the past and future and hardly ever about the present, since the present moment is a doorway to the soul.

We need to open a heart or soul connection to what is latent or hidden within us, witness it and surrender

I was a hidden treasure and wished to be known  (hadith qudsi)

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Our Facebook community ‘Truly Transformational’ is full of resources for finding your true self, letting go of attachment to ego and moving towards a life of true happiness, peace, clarity and well being.

Join our community now!

“Since I joined the group, I have learned how to slow my thoughts through simple breathing techniques, and then connect my breathing to my heart. I’ve learned how to quieten my mind enough to hear and listen to my heart. I’ve learned that I am enough, and I have always been enough, I am loved, and I have always been loved and am love. I have always been… I had just forgotten.

Now I am learning to remember. The best thing of all that I have learned, is that I always have a choice. I can choose whatever I like. I am learning to become an observer of my thoughts and reactions, which is enabling me to realize that there are other options, other thoughts to think… which create other feelings… I can choose to feel happy whenever I wish, no matter what I might have previously automatically thought.

I love this feeling – it feels like being free… to be me… to be happy and loved… and to love x Joy, much love and gratitude to you… Today, I am remembering, and my wish is that I remember this every single day of my life xxx” Liz Fleming

Awareness - Gratitude

Awareness and Pain

January 15, 2017 by 0 Comments

Finding the Peace in Your Pain

In my work, which is directed at enabling and supporting seekers to find their way through all of life’s ups and downs, the bends and turns, on the road to happiness, peace and joy, I often get asked the question

“How can I find peace amongst all of this pain?”

On this very precious journey to wholeness, surrender, peace and well-being …  pain …  whether mental, emotional, physical or spiritual, often raises its head in order to be seen and known.

The call to freedom seems to have the effect of inviting to the surface everything within us that is not free.

If we are not prepared it can take us by surprise. It can pull our whole focus into a contracted and painful experience of heavy, negative, stuck energies and physical symptoms combined. This can cast a dark and ominous cloud, at least temporarily, over our whole experience of ourselves and the world. Falling into what could be described as a big black hole, we are suddenly thrown into a full-on engagement with victim-hood, helplessness and despair. The downward spiral pulls us, floundering, into a vortex of self-criticism, depression, gloom and even more intensified pain.

From this place it is very difficult to even imagine how it would be to feel positive, peaceful and uplifted. Or to imagine being able to just ‘pull ourselves out of it’ and ‘get on with living’, as exhorted by the faceless voices of society internalised within

What kind of living is that?

At an energetic level the normal positive, loving and life-enhancing energy flow that, when unhindered, gives us clarity and a sense of peace, has been blocked or disrupted, overwhelmed or veiled.  The light is there but we’re in denial of it.

 The way has been shown to him whether he is grateful or in kufr” (S76A3)

‘Kufr’ contains the meaning of covering up, or being buried in the ground, or being in a state of denial.

At this point, seeing ourselves and our life in a good and positive light, free from internal conflict and agitation seems like some far-away, unattainable dream. 

Just as dark sunglasses can block out the bright rays of the sun, you could just as well say that we have put on our dark shades and now we see the world as gloomy and dark.This can lead to us becoming stuck or lost in a kind of never-ending loop or circle where we take this as our defining reality, as “just the way it is”. 

When we see our situation as negative, when we feel agitated or down, we are operating from a lower vibrational state which attracts more of the same. The negative energy creates a disturbance in the body’s energy field which acts like a magnet, drawing in more feelings of depression, anger, helplessness and pain. We lose sight of what it is to be joyful in life, what it means to be grateful, becoming totally self-absorbed in our pain.

If we are buried deep in the earth how can we look up and see the sky?

When we are in Kufr it seems like too big an effort, too big a jump, too heavy a task ….

This is the perspective of ego. Everything feels difficult, a struggle, overwhelming, often dramatic, very serious and of course all of this is ‘justified’.

Ego shouts ‘How can it be otherwise!’  

It can feel like you’ve been turned into a heavy, immovable block of concrete or like you’re stuck in a deep pool of very sticky, black treacle.

So what can we do? Funnily enough this is, in fact, an ego question… ego is about ‘doing’. Ego is fearful and wants to resist, fight, ‘get rid of’ the problem … or resign itself to being closed down.

Our natural calling is simply to ‘be’

At the level of or true being what we are really aiming for, our natural calling, is simply to ‘be’… to reconnect and be in surrender to the true Source of our ‘being’, a place of acceptance, allowing and easy flow.

So how can we reconnect?

The true self, beyond ego, is accessed by becoming very still and turning our focus inwards.

He guides unto Himself all who turn unto Him (S13A27)

We can start by bringing our attention to the breath (this gives ego a job and it is always happy when it has a job to do) and then by taking a few deep breaths in, allowing ourselves to relax … the eyes… the neck … shoulders etc … down to the feet

Once we have become more still and deeply relaxed, the way is opened for us to take a look at ourselves from the standpoint of a compassionate witnesser. We then focus and observe what’s going on inside of us. We can simply ‘be’ with the ‘yukky’ feelings, allowing them to be there, without needing to ‘do’ anything about them.

Just sit with the energy and maybe explore. Does it feel heavy or light? Does it have a particular colour or texture? Which feeling is here? If more than one, which one is the strongest? Focus on that and continue to sit with it in an embrace of compassionate awareness.

Drop the story around it and allow yourself to be with the pure, raw emotion. The amazing thing about our true essence is that it is not static. By nature it is in flow and so when you connect through relaxing and allowing yourself to be still, your energy will flow into a higher state, all by itself, without you having to do anything.

The essence of the soul, the language of the heart is very subtle, like rays of the sun, radiating through, all by itself out of the stillness.

As we connect and surrender we start to transition ourselves to our higher and more joyful, positive vibration.

From low, to neutral to something ‘better’ or wider or more expansive. In that higher state your lower energies will feel acknowledged and will then simply dissolve, leaving you in a state of greater clarity and peace.

It is such a beautiful transformation, being able to notice, appreciate and contrast the difference between the lower, more contracted fear-based ego vibration and the more expansive, higher love-energy of the heart and soul. It gives us the ability to distinguish light from dark, love from fear, joy from pain. It  empowers us with an awakened choice ….  to turn our hearts towards the highest and most nurturing Source of our being.

Join our thriving Free Facebook Community Truly Transformational for support on your healing journey to unleashing your joy

The Truly Transformational community is somewhere to come to break free from the chains of triggered negative emotions, unleash your joy and find support on your journey of surrendering to love

Gratitude

The Power of Gratitude

September 20, 2016 by 0 Comments

An Exploration into the Meaning and Power of Gratitude

How does it feel when you are grateful? Let’s just take a few moments to explore this.

Let us start by recalling a time when we were feeling grateful. You can choose something from a long time ago or something that happened much more recently. For the purpose of this exercise it doesn’t really matter which.

Take a few deep breaths in and let yourself softly focus on that memory of when you were feeling grateful…

Close your eyes and breathe a few deep breaths to get centred and focused ahhhhhh … letting yourself become still as you let yourself be with the memory, exploring it now …

How does it feel in your body?

Most people will feel a sense of expansion in the heart or in the chest area or maybe around the throat  … you might feel a kind of buzziness, or tingling or some heat inside.

Close your eyes for a few minutes, breathe deeply and give yourself time to really explore what’s going on inside of your body.

You may notice a subtle outpouring of energy from the inside, flowing outwards and it may actually feel quite pleasant. If you continue to focus you may even notice yourself beginning to smile. It feels good, wholesome, self-validating and light.

Can you feel that love is here? It’s a feeling that harmonizes, unites or brings us together in a wide embrace. In fact I would say it is virtually impossible to feel alone or separated when you are immersed in a state of gratitude.

It also feels very abundant. Where there is gratitude there is no sense of lack or wanting. We feel fulfilled, happy and satisfied. The energy of lack and wanting dissolves into appreciation and fullness.

How to Engage with the Energy of Gratitude

When we take the time to sit for a few minutes in a state of gratitude, we raise our energy to a higher state and from this place we can see things more clearly, free from the grip of fear, doubt and stuckness.

Whenever we align with the higher energy of gratitude, we dissolve resistance and enable our brain to envision and bring about positive shifts in our lives and step into living with ease, trust and joy

We can choose to engage with this beautiful and very powerful and nurturing gift of gratitude as a regular and practical on-going process, an active, dynamic and transformative form of worship. The more we practice it the more it will continue to nurture and nourish us and to turn our hearts to what is best

Have you noticed how joyful grateful people are? You find them not wanting, since they act out of a sense of ‘enough’.

Ungrateful people on the other hand are miserable and complain and suffer, since they act out of a sense of ‘not enough’.

So in our busy, busy lives … imagine we were to just stop … take ourselves off automatic … breathe and refocus … even for just a few minutes … and start to bring gratitude back into our minute-to-minute daily schedule. Instead of distractedly chasing the next thing, and the next in the attempt to fill what we often feel is a deep, empty and insatiable hole, we can simply choose to appreciate what we have in this moment

You Are a Miracle

There is just so much we take for granted. What if we just stop and take the time to remember with gratitude the absolute miracle we are …

 And Allah brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers, knowing nothing and gave you hearing and sight and hearts that haply you might give thanks (S16A78)

…. we would then reconnect with our true and higher gifted nature and find ourselves being nourished and guided by love in all of our affairs.

Everything we know and understand is from Allah. There is so much to be grateful for. The discovery of ourselves, our potential and our relationship to Allah and the world is an amazing and beautiful journey.

And Allah blesses the grateful with more. Focus on the things you are grateful for and Allah will give you more to be grateful for. The secret Law of Attraction has been here all along.

Through our journey in life and all of its experiences, Allah gives us the knowledge and capacity to understand the difference between heart-expanding, life-affirming gratitude and the contraction and deprivation of ingratitude. 

Even our pain contains so many hidden treasures. We can wander from the Path and by His Mercy be brought back to a deeper appreciation of our lives and loved ones, to be grateful to have found our way back home after experiencing the angst of feeling like a victim, abandoned, separated, lost and alone.

Profound gratitude brings deep surrender and bliss

In the end it’s a choice….

We showed him the way whether he be grateful or ungrateful (S76A3)

The very essence of our being on this earth is the test of our being grateful or not.

…. And swiftly shall we reward those who are grateful … (S3A45)

We show our gratitude to Allah by following, with a sincere and unhurried heart, the Way He has laid out for us. When we follow it we are promised further reward.

His bounties are unending. Let our gratitude follow suit.