From the Rose Garden of Islam

Having taken several blogs to introduce you to the book I am writing in various ways, today I would like to share a little bit about Islam with you, along with a reading which will be in the book.

I grew up in Pakistan and India. Pakistan means "Land of the Pure" and is a Muslim country. My parents were medical missionaries there, and worked in three different hospitals as doctor and nurse. I grew up playing with Pakistani children, cared for by a Pakistani "ayah" or nanny several hours a day, speaking Urdu, the language of Pakistan, and hearing the Call to Prayer five times every single day for the first fifteen years of my life. I was surrounded by Muslims, and each day, many would come into our spacious compound, and wash their faces, arms, hands, and feet at the faucet on the outside of our house, and then proceed with their prayers. I was fascinated by this, and sometimes would imitate the movements they made in prayer in the privacy of my bedroom, since I thought my parents would take a dim view of their daughter doing Muslim prayers! I had many talks with Muslim friends as I grew up about their beliefs and mine. My parents would sometimes entertain old Muslim elders who had been on pilgrimage to Mecca and were wise and devout. They would spend hours talking about God and faith.

I am offended sometimes by the unfair and distorted descriptions of Islam that appear in the media, as if all Muslims and all Islam could be painted with the same brush as Muslim fanatics and terrorists. Of course, there are people in all religions who are poor representatives of the ideals and faith of their religions. But the way forward to peace and understanding among people of different faiths is to explore the best that each has to offer , and that is what I hope to do in the book I am writing.

So, without further ado, here is a beautiful collection of sayings by the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim faith. Karen Armstrong has written a very fine book on him and his life and teachings which I highly recommend, entitled, simply, "Muhammad."

This particular reading is taken from the book "The Knowing Heart" by Kabir Helminski. The author says that Ali, a close companion of Muhammad, preserved these sayings.

Meditation in God is my capital.

Reason and sound logic are the root of my action.

Love is the foundation of my existence.

Enthusiasm is the vehicle of my life.

Contemplation of Allah (God) is my companion.

Faith is the source of my power.

Sorrow is my friend.

Knowledge is my defense.

Patience is my clothing and virtue.

Submission to the divine Will is my pride.

Truth is my salvation.

Worship is my practice.

And in my prayer lies the coolness of my eye

and my peace of mind.

There is a lot to ponder in those few words! They go deep, and I invite you to go deep with them.

See if they spark a prayer in your heart.

Here is a prayer they sparked in mine.

"You, O God of Mercy and Compassion, are everything to me.

I receive Your gifts in meditation.

I commune with You in contemplation.

I strive to keep your Word of Truth in my mind and heart always.

I seek to know and do Your Will in all the circumstances of my life.

I desire to worship and serve You alone.

As often as I pray, I am refreshed and at peace in Your Presence.

May I never forget you, even for a moment.

May the remembrance of You bind us together in unbroken Unity

in the Rose Garden of Your Love.

Amen

"Take Time to Smell the Flowers"

One of my hopes in writing the book "Flowers from Gardens of Faith" is to inspire people to take the time to "smell the flowers," as the saying goes.

To take time to really enjoy, inhale the fragrance, and appreciate the beauty of the sacred words of wisdom from various faith traditions is an important decision anyone can make for their own good.

So many things clamor for our attention. It is too easy to spend that attention on what does not really nourish our soul, and allow ourselves to be distracted from doing what is really good for us. It takes a constantly renewed determination and considerable courage to claim special time for spiritual practice---but the rewards are great indeed.

In today's blog, I want to quote from a wonderful little booklet that came into my hands this past week, entitled

"A Golden Mind, a Golden Life." It is written by a wise and eloquent contemporary Indian woman guru, named Gurumayi. The first quote is actually from the Forward to the book.

"From the most ancient of times, teachers in the various religious traditions of the world have instructed spiritual seekers to practice a special kind of contemplation in which aspirants read or listen attentively to concise passages of scripture or to powerful words of sages. Seekers then quietly and with deep reverence reflect on the inner significance of the teachings and search within themselves for ways to apply those lessons in their own lives.

Having heard or read a powerful teaching, a seeker must endeavor to bring the liberating insights and tranformative truths presented by those words into effect in his or her life. Otherwise the words merely entertain, mystify, or even clutter the mind. True contemplation is part of a process: hearing, contemplating, understanding, imbibing, and becoming. As one sage puts it "Knowledge that is not put into action is a burden."

Contemplating these truths, we can recognize the Truth they contain because the same Truth lies within us.

It may be that much of time that Truth is, for us, still vague and unformed because we have not found the words with which to express it. Contemplating words of wisdom from scriptures and sages inspires the awakening and blossoming of our own inner wisdom."

This has certainly been my experience, and the words I will choose from the saints, sages, and scriptures of the seven great Wisdom traditions I have mentioned in an earlier blog will, I hope, inspire the blossoming of your own inner wisdom as you "take time to smell the flowers."

I would like to conclude today with just a little bouquet from Gardens of Faith.

If you think you are free, you are free.

If you think you are bound, you are bound.

For the saying is true: You are what you think.

Ashtavakra

You are wherever your thoughts are.

Make sure your thoughts are where you want to be.

Rabbi Nachman

Habits are human nature.

Why not create some that will mint Gold?

Hafiz

God is the friend of silence.

Trees, flowers, grass grow in silence.

See the stars, moon, and sun

how they move in silence.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Spring flowers, autumn moon,

summer breeze, winter snow---

When the mind is free

from unnecessary thoughts,

Every season is just perfect!

Ekai

Flower Power

Maybe some of you remember flower power? The sixties? Hippies putting blossoms in the bayonets of soldiers sent to dispel or arrest them?

Actually, flowers do have tremendous power. Without them, biologists tell us, our earth's ecology would be in big trouble, and we would probably not survive. Moreover, they are powerful symbolically speaking as well.

They speak to us of beauty, love, fertility, and grace.

In this blog, I want to follow up on my intention to write an excerpt from the introduction (a first draft) to my book Flowers From Gardens of Faith. In this case, flowers symbolize the beauty, wisdom, and truth which one can find in the great religion/wisdom traditions of the world. The flower pictures that accompany this excerpt were taken by me over the past few months.

In the blogs that follow this one, I will be using the beautiful flowers photographed by my friend Richard Wedemeyer, with his kind permission. And I will begin publishing meditations of the sort I intend to put into my book. Each meditation, or devotional, if you will, includes a suggested ritual, a reading, suggested music, and a prayer written by me as a response.

But for now, here is the excerpt from my introduction. As always, your responses and input are most welcome.

"From time immemorial, there have been pe0ple of faith living in every culture, every land, and every cetury. Some of the religions they developed have come and gone. Some still survive in our century. I like to thing of these religions, or "wisdom traditions," as beautiful gardens filled with the flowers of faith. each garden reflects the particular context in which it was created and developed over time. Each garden has in it gorgeous flowers of many kinds. To me, these are the rituals, the sacred teachings, the music, the symbols, and the prayers of each faith. They make it possible for us to enter into the sacred heart of each faith, in a spirit of good will and a desire to understand and grow wiser.

In times past, ignorance, misunderstanding, and even hostility on the part of some people towards the faith of others has contributed to the lack of peace among the peoples of the world. In fact, there have been religious wars and persecutions--people trampling upon and trying to destroy gardens of faith that are different than their own. I believe it is high time all this came to a halt, once and for all. It is a travesty of all the highest values that bloom in all gardens of faith. People of faith the world over have the high calling and responsibility to behave more wisely, more maturely, and in a way that contributes to world peace, rather than making it impossible.

Now that the human race is so connected through trasnportation and the innovations of modern technology, it is possible for us all to learn to appreciate the spiritual wisdom in all the world's great religious traditions. They are a precious legacy available to the whole human race for the first time in history. Finally, we have evolved to the point of being able to walk in each other's gardens of faith, and enjoy the beauty and truth that bloom there.

May you find many blossoms with which to create spiritual bouquets for your soul to enjoy.