Turn your face toward the sacred Mosque (Koran 2:144149150) Commentary: The word sacred means that a heart which has not disengaged itself from the sphere of the soul and the sphere of created beings is forbidden to penetrate into this place…. Wherever you are turn your face [toward the sacred Mosque] means Wherever you are in the accomplishment of works of worship or in the ordinary acts of life contemplate Him in what you eat in what you drink in him or her whom you marry always knowing that He is at once the Contemplator and the Contemplated….
As a people our most cherished and valuable achievements are the achievements of spirit. With an Afrocentric spirit all things can be made to happen; it is the source of genuine revolutionary commitment.
Emphasis on educational and vocational rehabilitation must not be allowed to overshadow the profound need that will exist for spiritual reorientation. Inevitably there will exist to a considerable degree psychological maladjustments manifested in disillusionment resentment toward civilians depression and a sense of guilt. Spiritual therapy available in the resources of the Christian faith can accomplish most in overcoming these problems.
If that vital spark that we find in a grain of wheat can pass unchanged through countless deaths and resurrections will the spirit of man be unable to pass from this body to another?
As we become more conversant with the Holy Spirit our lives become refined. The sordid and base have no attraction. It is developed spirituality which separates us from the secular world.
There is a great difference between a lofty spirit and a right spirit. A lofty spirit excites admiration by its profoundness; but only a right spirit achieves salvation and happiness by its stability and integrity. Do not conform your ideas to those of the world. Scorn the intellectual as much as the world esteems it. What men consider intellectual is a certain facility to produce brilliant thoughts. Nothing is more vain. We make an idol of our intellect as a woman who believes herself beautiful worships her face. We take pride in our own thoughts. We must reject not only human cleverness but also human prudence which seems so important and so profitable. Then we may enter like little children with candor and innocence of worldly ways into the simplicity of faith; and with humility and a horror of sin we may enter into the holy passion of the cross.
Words are good but there is something better. The best is not to be explained by words. The spirit in which we act is the chief matter. Action can only be understood and represented by the spirit.
Ibn `Arabi was above all the disciple of Khidr {an invisible master}… such a relationship with a hidden spiritual master lends the disciple an essentially transhistorical dimension and presupposes an ability to experience events which are enacted in a reality other than the physical reality of daily life events which spontaneously transmute themselves into symbols.
I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics but for our contribution to the human spirit.
There is [a] spiritual strength derived from the subjecting of the physical appetite to the will of the individual. He who reigns within himself and rules passions desires and fears is more than king. If there were no other virtues in fasting but gaining strength of character that alone would be sufficient justification for its universal acceptance.
The spiritually starving hesitate to partake of the Spirit like a childs reaction to new and strange food. They must be offered a tiny bite on a spoon.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man.
One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong it creates world history. If it is weak it suffers world history.
As we give of our time talents and resources to tend the needs of the sick offer food to the hungry and teach the dependent to stand on their own we enrich ourselves spiritually beyond our ability to comprehend.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Do you know what astonished me most in the world? The inability of force to create anything. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit.
Turn your face toward the sacred Mosque (Koran 2:144149150) Commentary: The word sacred means that a heart which has not disengaged itself from the sphere of the soul and the sphere of created beings is forbidden to penetrate into this place…. Wherever you are turn your face [toward the sacred Mosque] means Wherever you are in the accomplishment of works of worship or in the ordinary acts of life contemplate Him in what you eat in what you drink in him or her whom you marry always knowing that He is at once the Contemplator and the Contemplated….
As a people our most cherished and valuable achievements are the achievements of spirit. With an Afrocentric spirit all things can be made to happen; it is the source of genuine revolutionary commitment.
Emphasis on educational and vocational rehabilitation must not be allowed to overshadow the profound need that will exist for spiritual reorientation. Inevitably there will exist to a considerable degree psychological maladjustments manifested in disillusionment resentment toward civilians depression and a sense of guilt. Spiritual therapy available in the resources of the Christian faith can accomplish most in overcoming these problems.
We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
If that vital spark that we find in a grain of wheat can pass unchanged through countless deaths and resurrections will the spirit of man be unable to pass from this body to another?
As we become more conversant with the Holy Spirit our lives become refined. The sordid and base have no attraction. It is developed spirituality which separates us from the secular world.
An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions. He is neither hot nor timid.
We are spirits clad in veils; Man by man was never seen; All our deep communing fails To remove the shadowy screen.
You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man?s actions are such must be his spirit.
There is a great difference between a lofty spirit and a right spirit. A lofty spirit excites admiration by its profoundness; but only a right spirit achieves salvation and happiness by its stability and integrity. Do not conform your ideas to those of the world. Scorn the intellectual as much as the world esteems it. What men consider intellectual is a certain facility to produce brilliant thoughts. Nothing is more vain. We make an idol of our intellect as a woman who believes herself beautiful worships her face. We take pride in our own thoughts. We must reject not only human cleverness but also human prudence which seems so important and so profitable. Then we may enter like little children with candor and innocence of worldly ways into the simplicity of faith; and with humility and a horror of sin we may enter into the holy passion of the cross.
Words are good but there is something better. The best is not to be explained by words. The spirit in which we act is the chief matter. Action can only be understood and represented by the spirit.
There are incalculable resources in the human spirit once it has been set free.
Every spirit makes its house but as afterwards the house confines the spirit you had better build well.
Ibn `Arabi was above all the disciple of Khidr {an invisible master}… such a relationship with a hidden spiritual master lends the disciple an essentially transhistorical dimension and presupposes an ability to experience events which are enacted in a reality other than the physical reality of daily life events which spontaneously transmute themselves into symbols.
I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics but for our contribution to the human spirit.
There is [a] spiritual strength derived from the subjecting of the physical appetite to the will of the individual. He who reigns within himself and rules passions desires and fears is more than king. If there were no other virtues in fasting but gaining strength of character that alone would be sufficient justification for its universal acceptance.
The spirits of men are being born into the world by divine appointment and not by accident.
Unrest of spirit is a mark of life.
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen both when we wake and when we sleep.
The spiritually starving hesitate to partake of the Spirit like a childs reaction to new and strange food. They must be offered a tiny bite on a spoon.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man.
A lively understandable spirit Once entertained you. It will come again. Be still. Wait.
One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong it creates world history. If it is weak it suffers world history.
The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.
As we give of our time talents and resources to tend the needs of the sick offer food to the hungry and teach the dependent to stand on their own we enrich ourselves spiritually beyond our ability to comprehend.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.