Let us never forget...
"I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known;
so I created the world that I might be known."
Hadith from the Prophet Muhammed, peace and blessings
Becoming Good Food
Notice to cooks by Bulent Rauf
Now know this – that cooking is an art. It is also an integral part of esoteric training because it is a twofold means of service: Service to humanity and service to the food prepared.
That is why the sect which has aligned itself to the great Saint Jallalludin of Rum: The Mevlevis, refer to the esoteric education of the novices as cooking, and to achievement as taste. Those who use ingredients of food without consideration of providing the best possible means of an ingredients expression, are devaluing service, awareness and value of life.
Therefore cooking is not a mixture of ingredients, but a harmonious composition of artistic value, nutrient and transcendent, giving the possibility of the best expression to the ingredients as well as to the composition in general. It should be undertaken only in an attitude of deep respect and consideration and full awareness of the bounty and clemency in the Divine Order.
Note that there is no expression of the divine manifestation devoid of beauty. Beauty of taste (Dhawq) is an absolutely necessary ingredient of the essential (in all senses) composition. Had it been in the Divine Order of things that mankind should graze, there would have been no need for cooking at all, but such not being the case it is erroneous to think that all value in vegetables is only in a raw or undercooked ingestion. Therefore certain fruits and vegetables have to be cooked properly before they can be eaten. The human being has neither tripe nor crop. Hence it is an incalculable error to think mankind could or should imitate avian or bestial mores. Know then – cooking is a responsibility in awareness wherein under-cooking or over-cooking is equally reprehensible and a clear oversight.
May the Himma of the great Saint who was Rumi’s personal cook till his death – Shamsuddin Ateshbaz Wali, be upon you who undertake to serve in this kitchen.
(from "Addresses II" by Bulent Rauf, Beshara Publications, 2001)
Alchemy of the Heart
"It is knowledge that leads us to love. Without knowledge, love, which is pure energy, cannot be anchored and fixed."
"Knowledge must be balanced with love, that is, balanced by the yearning of the heart for the Beloved."
"The alchemy of the heart is the total transformation that is necessary for gnosis, of knowledge of God, to ocuur."
"The heart becomes the only place big enough te reveal the essence of God."
(from "Steps to freedom" by Reshad Feild , Chapter '"Alchemy of the heart")
Transformation
"We are the bridge between heaven and earth
and we can return to God through the sacrifice of all that we think we are, while at the same time acting as a channel for the Divine will to manifest on earth."
"The time is not tomorrow. It is now."
"The work of transformation is dependent on practices. We might be given all the best theories in the world but these will not necessarily do anything unless they are put into practice. [...]
The purpose of all practice is transformation. This is what a ‘real’ school is about. Most people come to a spiritual school to get something for themselves. They think that the practices are for their self-development when, in fact, they are for the transformation of the self, not its development. Transformation involves sacrificing our concepts of the self; otherwise there is no transformation. It involves real change, and for something new to come about, something else has to die away."
"Another misconception is that we can transform ourselves by ourselves. Transformation happens to us and for us, depending on the degree of work we do. People often talk about working on themselves without knowing what this means. You cannot transform personality with personality. When you work on yourself what is working on what? If you try to destroy the ego with the ego, you create a thousand-headed serpent. So what can you do? It is said that love can turn even copper into gold. Love will melt the personality, because love redeems all into itself. We have to allow ourselves to be loved, which is to be transformed in the fire of love."
"We keep thinking we are so very important. We keep thinking and talking about ‘me’: ‘Me, me, me.’ If we cannot get past this sense of ‘me’, we cannot take the next step in the octave, which is a step into the heart, a step into love. We are not important, at least we are not more important than this great, wonderful universe. We are no more important than anyone else, but we think we are with all the demands we make every day. We demand others to be as we want, we demand our own happiness, we demand our important experiences. As long as we demand anything for ourselves we are stuck in the ‘me’ centre, and we can never cross ‘the great water’."
"The secret to crossing the great water is the breaking of what I call the dome, which is between the solar plexus and the heart. The dome acts as a filter between the higher and the lower aspects of ourselves. [...]
The key to relaxing the dome and entering the heart is to do with breath and the attitude of service. If we can learn to breathe out love from the heart in service to all around us, then we are certainly helping in God’s work, which cannot happen without us."
(from "Alchemy of the Heart" by Reshad Feild, chapter "Transformation" )
In the School of life
Unquestionably - everything is there.
Every being and every thing
whispers you an answer.
The fruit tends to the mouth.
Why thy crying?
Searching - what the heck?
You have already
been found
a long time ago.
Everything is there
all is yours.
Wide open the gate.
Do not care about the key.
Come into Being
Gerda Benzler
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