Friday, October 07, 2005

THE PALACE OF MIRRORS
This world is a house of mirrors, the reflection of one is mirrored upon another. In this world where so many things seem hidden, in reality nothing remains hidden; everything some time or other rises to the surface and manifests itself to view.
The concept of the Palace of Mirrors runs all throughout the deeper teachings of Sufism. Briefly stated it says that all things reflect all other things all of the time. This is a simple statement, not many words at all yet it has enough depth to keep a person occupied for their lifetime attempting to discover all of the permutations of such a statement. And, as Pir O Murshid says above, nothing is hidden. Now that is a scary thought.
We are so used to having secret thoughts, hidden desires and clandestine acts and attitudes, that we keep from even our closest friends, that the idea of all things being open and known is a bit difficult to want to accept. Additionally the thought that All Things reflect All Other Things is kind of complex to wrap one’s mind around. There is a good answer to these thoughts, don’t think.
Now that we have solved that………………!
Seriously, these concepts, and that is just what they are until they become reality for you, these concepts are best felt, not thought about. One cannot really think about everything-everywhere-all the time, there is too much, too many things. Does a star reflect a worm? Does the flea relate to the Crab Nebula? We can maybe understand stars communicating with one another if we accept that there might be come kind of consciousness there and maybe we can even think about the atoms that comprise a star interacting but it is difficult to think of those atoms also reflecting, mirroring, us. In our normal conscious state we tend to focus on either our personal problems or the task before us. The idea that all things are in a constant state of interaction can be a stretch.
My friend Raqib asked that I say something about the last sentence in the previous blogs quote from Hazrat Inayat Khan, which was, “The difference between consciousness and the soul is that the soul is like a mirror, and the consciousness is a mirror which shows a reflection in it.” I had to think about this a bit myself. The way it might be thought of is to see that the soul is part of this constant interaction with all things, it is within Unity where everything is everywhere and has no need to describe or to focus on a particular thing, such as problems or tasks. The consciousness on the other hand must focus and therefore it creates a reflection to focus upon. This is another example of the two basic states of awareness that mystics constantly speak of, Multiplicity within Unity vs. Unity within Multiplicity. This thought can then lead to the question, why? The answer of course is, because. There are very elaborate metaphysical explanations for all of this. The great metaphysician Muhiyuddin Ibn al Arabi wrote over three hundred books of explanation many of which are available in translation, some of which I have read. They are exciting to decipher and lots of fun to think about but eventually a person must come to their own understanding.
The Universe exists. As Intelligence? Perhaps. What is certain is that we have existence within The Universe. What that means to each of us and how we explain our own existence is also up to us.
Tell me then what you feel. Do you occasionally feel the pull of The Universe? Or is this all a strange and unimportant area of exploration. Can you get to a place of no-thought? Does that even have meaning. I look forward to your comments.
Love & Blessings, Musawwir

6 comments:

Nicky Reed said...

You are like me, I tend to think to much also. I always think about the Universe and our place in it. Being acquainted with the Universe is always worthy of exploration in my opinion. It always surprises me how most people could care less about it. Like the above poster said everthing is connected in the Universe sun, moon, stars, planets,ect. Everything outside is a reflection of the inside. As above, so below. I am trying to get to a place where I'll have no thought but I doubt that one seriously. You are making me think too hard! Keep up the good work. Recommend some books.

Anonymous said...

Dearest Phillip, as for thinking to much, who said to much is to much ? I can say I feel a pull when seasons change and I have come to learn to deal with such changes. Life is about changes, as the climate arises for us to prepare and we do so. I strongly believe that if one looks at one self and that is to study one self then all will make sense to one. One is one .

Go In Love ~ Shakti

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the pull of the universe is what we feel (and I mean completely what we feel!) in Zkir and other expanding practices. What a wonderful thought and feeling; 'toward the One'.

Anonymous said...

I'm interested in the idea the line: "But when this Intelligence is caught in an accommodation such as body and mind, its original nature of knowing then knows and that knowing Intelligence becomes consciousness." Could we then say; as Rumi talked about 'the touch of spirit on the body', that our intelligence is confined by the touch of body on the soul,' or something like that?

I rather like that idea and am going to think about it more. If we were not caused to "accomodate" when we arrive to humanity, we might be much more equally divine - but then perhaps we would not have the experience of Free Will that humanity has access to. Wow, here I am again, I don't know if it's a twist of my mind, or what; but I keep coming to this.

Suriya said...

I think I told you once that I managed to have no thoughts for a very brief period of time! It was in fact when I was lying on the front sofa of your living room...in August..It was a wonderful feeling of pure conscousness and of existing but without any desires , any needs ...simply a presence , warm loving wise and devoid of any sense of ego..woow..I know you said if we can do it once we can get to it again ..

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm interaction. The world we live in, our thoughts and our actions. If we have belief in ourself and our ability we can accomplish great things. This we all know to be evident.
Logical thought process:So from this we can also deduce that our thoughts and actions may influence the world and others around us.
We can often feel anothers joy anxiety, anger, dipleasure without words being passed and even without actions occurring. This is through our own perception, non verbal cues and often scent.
Our world is alive an entity one might say so in the same way we respond to those around us it to responds to us. How could it not!
Everyday we take energy, life force from all that is around us, and when we replace it with negativity and destruction the balance is thrown of center.