“The Ancients weighed the achievement of an individual by the sum and substance of his actions. Most of Plutarch‘s biographies–for example, of Themistocles, Alcibiades, Pompey, and Antony— are heroic assortments of virtues and vices, clear renderings of the psychological diversity and paradox which seem almost indispensable components of historic greatness.

We moderns, on the other hand, influenced by our religion, qualify all our estimation with a surgical standard of moral purity.

For the ancients, virtue was action, accomplishment, contribution; for us it is an essence so pure and fragile in nature that a beaker of goodness can be ruined by a dram of sin.

Dante makes his beloved teacher, Brunetto Latini, a sufferer in hell, because all his memorable virtues were combined with a single serious vice. Francis Bacon is almost never mentioned as a historical figure without reference to the single act of malfeasance which, deftly exploited by an enemy, ended his political career. The grievous and numerous faults of Winston Churchill are expounded upon interminably by the beneficiaries of the free institutions he fought to save.

And this stubborn altruism, often so extreme as to constitute a conspiracy against nature, extends beyond our histories into our daily lives. Shunning peccadillos, we suffer infamies. Anxious to avoid even appearing to do harm, we lose touch with the necessarily hazardous practice of goodness. We use rectitude to mask our envy of achievement.”

— Robert Grudin

 
I like how Blavatsky uses the word ‘wish’ when she describes the opportunity that awaits each of us at the start of a new year. A wish is different from a desire, or an idea in the mind about what we think we want. The word wish connotes a blending — not exactly a desire, not exactly a prayer — but something in-between. A silent ceremony that occurs between one’s soul (the personal experience of presence) and one’s Being (one’s existence and presence as the divine).

The fascinating fact about Being is that Being is not intrinsically involved with wanting, desiring or wishing. It’s much more immediate, beyond the confines of time and space. It is simply Being. As presence that is fully present, Being is simply being. Although our soul can register Being as being involved in the process of thinking about the past, registering the present and looking towards the future — objectively, Being is only about being. All the beauty, fulfillment and freedom that the ego dreams about ‘someday achieving’ is all contained, now, within the present-time experience of Being. So there’s nowhere to venture, nothing to get. This is very disturbing to the usual, conventional, ego-based sense of self.

The start of a new year is often a trap for us, because there are such high expectations for experiencing opportunities to do or be something new and different. Resolutions are made, lists are written. The habits we want to lose are noted, the skills we want to develop are highlighted. But within all of that resolving and planning we miss the most important part of what the new year symbolizes — what it is really about. Namely, the opportunity to partake of another cycle of the earth moving around the sun, from solstice to solstice. Another year to experience the mystery of Being. Read more

Relationship persists so long as subsidiary cause persists,
and subsidiary cause persists so long as quest persists,
and quest persists so long as thou persistest,
and thou persistest so long as thou sees Me not;
but when thou seest Me, thou art no more,
and when thou art no more,
quest is no more, and when quest is no more,
subsidiary cause is no more, and when subsidiary cause is no more,
relationship is no more, and when relationship is no more,
limit is no more, and when limit is no more, veils are no more.

— Niffari

This ‘school’ has two phases, fanã’ (‘annihilation’) and baqã’ (‘subsistence’), the reaching of fanã’ being equivalent to entering the kharãbãt. We have already seen that when the disciple reaches the end of the Tariqa, he arrives first at the contemplation of Divinity. This is the stage of fanã’, or death to self, of which there are two kinds, outward and inward.

Outward fanã’ is the annihilation of the acts of the disciple by the manifestation of the Divine Will. The disciple reaches a stage in which he is drowned in the sea of the Divine Acts, to the extent that he sees the Divine Will in everything that happens and not his own will or that of others. At this stage he is deprived completely of free-will.

Inward fanã’ is the annihilation of the attributes and the being of the Sufi. At this stage at times he contemplates the Divine Attributes, in which his own attributes have become annihilated, and at times he contemplates the Being of the Divinity, thus annihilating his own being. At the beginning of inward fanã’, the disciple is deprived of all sensation; but gradually, according to his capacities, he becomes aware of the outer world, even though his being has ceased to exist. His inward state is annihilation in God, while outwardly he is present in the external environment and completely aware of what is happening around him.

Baqã’ consists of subsistence in God and is realized when God gives a new will to the disciple directly from himself, in order to replace that which had become annihilated in the course of the path. This subsistence, or ‘permanence’, is obtained in exchange for inward annihilation, which consists of the disappearance of the being and the mortal attributes of the disciple, which are like a veil separating him from the Real. At this very advanced stage God does not veil the world from the Sufi nor does the world veil God; no sort of separation exists any longer and duality is transformed into Unity.

— Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh

Aries: The paradox of control! Curses! When it’s wrenched away we feel like we’re going to die; but after we’ve let go we’re, well, born again. A Full Moon in Aries. Might as well write: A big bright spotlight on you. What’s it signaling? Time to surrender the unessential. Pluto pulls his Persephone trick and opens the trap door beneath your feet. Down, down you go — to the basement (in dream parlance that would be your unconscious). Are you ready to meet the dragon that needs slaying? Let’s call him Mammon. Sorry Aries, but you’ve got to come to terms with the annoying fact that details, damn them, are important to making the cash pile grow. Start small. A balanced check book, coupons for corn flakes, an itemized outline for winning your dream project or vocation. That’s a start. But discriminating your worth is the rub. Pluto’s angle to your Sun has one predominate message: Develop or die. The key: Employ what you do, to go beyond what you do. See, we are back to paradox again. But that’s OK, what’s life for an Aries without a kick-ass koan? (Don’t argue.)

Taurus: When the Tarot’s Chariot rolls into a reading for a Taurean I know I’ve got to broach the subjects of health, dieting, discipline and the tendency to let sloth rule the day. My gentle reminder (never jab a bull) is always: Beauty must, occasionally, be worked for and maintained. Jupiter and Neptune have goaded your creativity. Inspirations. Visions. Illumination. (Lights, camera, action!) But the Muse can grow weary, hatching fear, doubt and various reasons to rationalize not doing what your body requires to stay in optimal shape. Channel some of your creativity into your exercise regiment: Try some outlandish Martha Graham-like dance routines. Or explore the world of naked yoga. Maybe a private nature hike to your favorite hideaway. Body and nature, you need a solid connection between both. As the Western world comes to an end for each of us — which is really just a new hologram beginning to materialize in place of the old one, it’s Taurus that suffers the hardest. Don’t believe the hype. Best to repeat after Emerson: “…what we pray to ourselves for is always granted.”

Gemini: Staunch and fusty Saturn is dragging his ball and chain to a section of the zodiac that will feel kinder for you, soon, very soon. In fact, can’t you feel the atmosphere beginning to shift and shimmy around you? A pre-party, celebratory giddiness setting in? You’ll notice this first in your chest. Maybe a slight buzzing sensation (that’s Mercury working his way down, from your cranium, to make contact). And do listen carefully. Your heart’s preparing to align with one your most vital private dreams. (Sorry, Gemini, you need to just focus on the one for right now). Saturn’s ironfisted square felt like you were stuck within a sludge of ineffective frustration. Lots of rub and friction and jammed-up byways. But take a moment during tonight’s Full Moon and reflect on the sort of pearl that’s grown in your heart. Sure there is sobriety, but with the temperance comes a new ability to conjure. Hasn’t the pressure been been worth it? Now, how are you going to share your upcoming contentment? That’s the burning question for you tonight.

Cancer: Finally there’s some fire in the sky with tonight’s Full Moon in Aries. So you can channel some of that lunar courage to deal with what I’m about to broach. It’s a complex subject. Mars has been rummaging around your unconscious, opening locked boxes and rending veils. For overly impressionable Cancerians (is that an understatement?) the War God usually stirs up the worst within your nocturnal realm: Insomnia, misplaced projections, dreams about thugs, tyrants or circus animals that have escaped the tent. So let’s talk about it, this odd mix of the human and animal that your unconscious keeps flashing. The poet and raconteur Michael Mead has a reminder for you, he says: “Humans are half animal and half other. The other part can be godlike or else act worse than any animal. Humans are required to bear the presence of inhuman things and experience the extremes of being.” So, get out your leash and harness Cancer; it’s time to put your inner zoo in order. No more free-roaming gorillas and gazelles. Experience those instinctual extremes, by aiming them high: Art. Beauty. Truth. And then bring all of that back to earth: Paint, cook, write, draw, dig. Put those animals to work. Keep in mind Rumi‘s warning too: “Too often we put saddle bags on Jesus and let the donkey run loose in the pasture.”

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