“seeing'” the unseen…

sufi picture

“Each of us sees the Unseen in proportion to the clarity of our heart, and that depends upon how much we have polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more - more Unseen forms become manifest.”

-Jalaluddin Rumi

Easwaran muses: *As your practice of meditation deepens, and the practice of utilizing your impartial observer within is more a known utility, there will still be occasions when you get upset, but you will be able to watch what goes on in the lab of your mind. It's like getting into a glass-bottomed boat, where you venture out onto the ocean and watch all the deep-sea creatures lurking beneath the surface: resentment sharks, stingrays of greed, scurrying schools of fear. You slowly gain a certain amount of detachment from your mind, so you can observe what is going on, collect data, and then set things right.

Some of the chronic problems that millions of people suffer from today might be solved by gaining a little detachment from their minds and emotions, so they can stand back a little when the mind is agitated and see the ways in which it makes mountains out of molehills. Many problems simply are not real; they start to seem real only when we dwell on them. The thorniest problems to solve are those that are not real; yet most of us go on giving them our best efforts.*

I have really experienced trials in this recently.

The Sufi mystics of Rumi’s day(13th century), used/borrowed one of Muhammad’s concepts—that is that of “polishing the heart” in order to remember God-in fact he assigned 100 names to God—this is the metaphor he used to explain the necessity we have to bring our hearts to remembrance—of God’s presence, his power, his provision. There are tremendous side benefits to this. As I continue to practice meditation, and contemplative prayer, I have grown more and more able to identify the sources of my own anxieties and fears. It seems petty when I confess it.

What agitates me incessantly is the uncertainty of income from our little IT consultancy! It seems that my level of anxiety and distress increases most dramatically when our contractual receivables are uncertain and our company checking account appears unable to sustain the expense reimbursements we need in order to pay our personal bills. This sets off worry—about my own responsibility to my creditors, or up holding “my end of the bargain” for my family expenses. I can become morose and ungrateful when I dwell on this!

But, through the practice of meditation/contemplative prayer—I am able to step back and gain that important detachment from my small self fears, so that I can venture forward into the day, bolstered by the faith that Christ has died for me and that Jehovah Jireh is my provider. There is no need to pursue the synapses caused by this doubt, especially when nothing has happened, other than the emergence of my fears, to cause the anxiety.

I am grateful for the Spirit of Christ, who enables me “polish the heart” and see clearly that Christ came into the material world to transform that fear, that small self gremlin of evil-into Trust-- in the Light of His Presence.

I need to regularly be called into that remembrance!

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