I work for smart people--I mean REALLY SMART people--rocket and robot scientists (no joke). About a month ago my primary professor presented a paper to a conference of colleagues. Here is an excerpt from an email he sent to me:
Pamela,
Jolly good show, boss.
I gave my plenary talk today.
I was so scared because everyone here is so smart
Yet,
Everyone came to my talk.
Can you believe it?
WoW!
I answered him:
Dear Prof ___,
I came to work today.
I was so scared because everyone here is so smart
Yet,
Everyone encouraged me and let me stay.
Can you believe it?
WoW!
Yesterday our intern Engineering student from France asked me where a pencil sharpener was...I led him to the copy room and showed him the electric pencil sharpener...He stared at me with his mouth half open as I took a pencil from his willing hand and began to demonstrate...His eyes got really big as he took the pencil back and proceeded to sharpen the remaining pencils in his hand.
"Wow!" He exclaimed, "I've never seen anything like that before..."
It stunned me for a minute that someone who is so smart that he comes to the US from France to help us make robots didn't know what an electric pencil sharpener was...and then it occurred to me...no one...not even rocket scientists can know everything...and even I, a mere assistant has a place in the vast Knowledge of the Universe...
We help each other in Unity.
Alhamdulillah!
ALA!!!
Hakima
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Rocket Science and Universal Knowledge
One thing I'm learning is that it's ok to not have all the answers or to know everything at once. My new job is teaching me that faster than anything I've known:
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
It's a Beautiful Day!
I arise facing East,
I am asking toward the Light,
I am asking that my day
Shall be beautiful with light,
I am asking that the place
Where my feet are shall be light,
That as far as I can see,
I shall follow it aright.
I am asking for the courage
To go forward through the shadow,
I am asking toward the light!
Mary Austin
Seek and ye shall find
Ask and it shall be given.
Toward the One
United with All!
Subhuti said: "If I understand correctly, one who wishes to reach perfect wisdom should study the way things are in the world and should practice the perfections fully and in depth but should not believe them to be ultimately real, nor should he make concepts and doctrines out of them."
The Buddha replied: "Just so, Subhuti. The one who contemplates existence in this way knows the nature of the conditioned and of the unconditioned and makes himself an expert in pointing out the truth to others, both with words and without words."
Subhuti asked: "But is this just for the wise and the intelligent?"
"No, indeed," replied the Buddha. "This is open to all, even to the dull witted and to those who can't pay attention. The door is open to anyone who wants to tread this path--but not to the person who is lazy and indifferent."
-Prajnaparamita
I LOVE this! Clear Vision can be had be even simple minded souls like me :)*grins*
Now if I can just avert my laziness.
Today's Daily Word - Tuesday, November 18, 2008
www.dailyword.com
Patience
I am patient, kind, and loving.
A tiny seed must be nurtured and given time to develop into its full potential. I, too, develop in my own time, producing the fruits of Spirit I am meant to produce.
I remember to be patient with myself, allowing time for my God-given talents to be revealed. Words from a familiar prayer help me remain calm and assured:
Prayer of Faith
I now am wise, I now am true, Patient, kind, and loving too.All things I am, can do, and be, Through Christ, the Truth that is in me.
Saying this prayer reminds me that the loving presence of God within gives me the wisdom and strength to meet any situation.
"But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance."--Luke 8:15
I don't often manifest the Divine attribute of Patience, but I believe that as a Daughter of God, it is alive and well inside of me.
Affirming myself as a Daughter of God and Heir to Their Divinity is the first step in manifesting All that I wish to become.
What a blessing!
"The sun neither rises or sets; it is our conception. When the earth turns its back to the sun, it is night; when the earth turns its face to the sun, it is day."
--Hazrat Inayat Khan
I have heard it said that when we feel that God has left us, we should examine who it is, indeed who has moved...
In actual fact, even so, we cannot move away from God because we are ever enveloped in Divine Light. We may only shut our eyes to the light for a time.
Alhamdulillah!
"Can you allow the Love of God to be your entire Reality?
It would be easier than the effort it takes to uphold the reality you now experience."
--The Voice for Love
La illaha illa 'lahu!
In the Sufi translation:
*There is no reality but the One Reality.*
There is only one thing to say:
Namaste'
*I behold the Beauty of God in You as I behold the Beauty of God in Me."
Namaste', Namaste!
All Love for Love,
Always!!!
Hakima
ALLAH!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
To be Hu-Man
The following quote is part of an article in the latest issue of EnlightenNext magazine:
When spirit took the leap from formlessness to form, from nothing to something, from being to becoming, it emerged from emptiness as the creative impulse—the urge to become, the desire to exist. This creative impulse expresses itself at all levels of the human experience. Any human being can locate it at the lowest level of their being—at the gross physical level—as the sexual impulse, which is really the presence or movement of the big bang as a biological imperative. But at higher levels of being, humans are the only life forms we know of that are compelled to innovate and to create. We can see this especially in individuals who are pioneers in their fields, whether they are great philosophers, musicians, artists, politicians, or poets. Most individuals who are deeply talented are driven by a sense of urgency, an ecstatically urgent sense that “I must bring into life this potential that I see and experience in the depths of my own being. This must come through me.” If we get to know them, we will usually find that truly great human beings are driven by a passion that transcends their separate self-sense.... And in the way I understand it, the highest expression of this creative impulse is the urge to evolve at the level of consciousness itself.
--Andrew Cohen
I'm fascinated by the phrase:
"...driven by a passion that transcends their separate self-sense.... "
Sufi tradition says that before the worlds and humankind were God said, "I was a hidden treasure and desired to be known..." Thus became humankind (interesting at this point to note that the Sufi pronoun for God is "Hu" as in hu-man).
Creativity does not happen alone. Whether it be in the co-creative process with Spirit or with the Spirit in other Hu-man Beings, evolution appears to be a community effort.
Alhamdulillah!
and as always...
ALA!!!
Hakima
When spirit took the leap from formlessness to form, from nothing to something, from being to becoming, it emerged from emptiness as the creative impulse—the urge to become, the desire to exist. This creative impulse expresses itself at all levels of the human experience. Any human being can locate it at the lowest level of their being—at the gross physical level—as the sexual impulse, which is really the presence or movement of the big bang as a biological imperative. But at higher levels of being, humans are the only life forms we know of that are compelled to innovate and to create. We can see this especially in individuals who are pioneers in their fields, whether they are great philosophers, musicians, artists, politicians, or poets. Most individuals who are deeply talented are driven by a sense of urgency, an ecstatically urgent sense that “I must bring into life this potential that I see and experience in the depths of my own being. This must come through me.” If we get to know them, we will usually find that truly great human beings are driven by a passion that transcends their separate self-sense.... And in the way I understand it, the highest expression of this creative impulse is the urge to evolve at the level of consciousness itself.
--Andrew Cohen
I'm fascinated by the phrase:
"...driven by a passion that transcends their separate self-sense.... "
Sufi tradition says that before the worlds and humankind were God said, "I was a hidden treasure and desired to be known..." Thus became humankind (interesting at this point to note that the Sufi pronoun for God is "Hu" as in hu-man).
Creativity does not happen alone. Whether it be in the co-creative process with Spirit or with the Spirit in other Hu-man Beings, evolution appears to be a community effort.
Alhamdulillah!
and as always...
ALA!!!
Hakima
Thursday, April 17, 2008
April 17, 2008
It is the surface of the sea that makes waves and roaring breakers; the depth is silent.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The bubbles are to be found on the surface of the sea. The depth of the sea is free from bubbles. The commotion is to be seen on the surface, the depth of the sea is still. The mind is the commotion of that something that is within us, that something which we call heart. The happiness, knowledge, pleasure and love that is stored in our innermost being is in our profound depth. Changing emotions and passions, dreams, ever-rising thoughts and imaginations, all belong to the surface, as the bubbles belong to the surface of the sea.
from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/II/II_41.htm
It is an effective visualization of mine when things are stormy and tumultuous to imagine myself as a pearl in an oyster at the bottom of a very deep ocean.
When I allow the shell of the oyster to open and I look up with pearly eyes, I see activity over me...fish swimming, sometimes eating each other, reflections of waves crashing against themselves over me, and far, far above the ocean itself, the moon looking back with the same pearly, opaque eyes as mine...I am a beautiful part of all that I see, but I am not the activity itself. I simply sit and sit in my gooey, ishqy oyster throne and be...
All Love,
Always!!!
Hakima
Monday, April 14, 2008
April 14, 2008
How humble is God?
God is the tree in the forest that allows itself to die
and will not defend itself in front of those with the ax,
not wanting to cause them shame.
And God is the Earth that will allow Herself
to be deformed by man’s tools,
but SHe cries, yes, God cries,
but only in front of Her closest ones.
And a beautiful animal is being beaten to death,
but nothing can make God break His silence to the masses and say,
“Stop, please stop, why are you doing this
to Me?”
How humble is god?
Kabir
wept
when
I
knew.
Kabir
Love Poems From God
Twelve Sacred Voices From
The East and West
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Divine Humility.
Just enough.
ALA!!!
Hakima
God is the tree in the forest that allows itself to die
and will not defend itself in front of those with the ax,
not wanting to cause them shame.
And God is the Earth that will allow Herself
to be deformed by man’s tools,
but SHe cries, yes, God cries,
but only in front of Her closest ones.
And a beautiful animal is being beaten to death,
but nothing can make God break His silence to the masses and say,
“Stop, please stop, why are you doing this
to Me?”
How humble is god?
Kabir
wept
when
I
knew.
Kabir
Love Poems From God
Twelve Sacred Voices From
The East and West
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Divine Humility.
Just enough.
ALA!!!
Hakima
Sunday, April 13, 2008
April 13, 2008
As a young girl, whenever I went out the front door of my house, I heard my mother call to me,
"Remember who you are, Pamela"
and my father would echo,
"Remember Whose you are"
In Sufi tradition, we use a practice called zikr, which means: remembrance
La illaha illa 'llahu!
There is no god, but the One.
and we go on further to connect with That One in Divine Belonging:
Toward the One
the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty
United with All the Illuminated Souls
Who form the embodiment of the Master,
the Spirit of Guidance.
Who are the illuminated souls? I am learning that illumination comes in various forms, but is essentially One...All who live and breath, All who have lived and breathed, All who will live and breathe...All Belong...
Passover is about belonging...it is about setting a sign at the door of one's own heart as a sign of eternal living...a sign to oneSelf, a sign to the One Self.
I say "Shema" and mean this:
Shema: means to hear, but also to ‘understand’, to ‘guard’, to ‘nail down with nails’, and to then ‘act upon by following understanding with righteousness’. It's very root is Divine Light.
Yisroel: Those who struggle to Remember, in order to Ensure the Divine Essence prevails upon the world.
Eloheinu: The original is written, Aloheinu. The sound, “Ah” represents the feminine aspect the Divine, El represents the Masculine:
Aloheinu: The One Breath of the Universe, Ruach, or Ru
Ehad: Oneness which is produced through activity. “Uniting separate threads’; To be bound together, like
cords in a rope; To Unite, to join together, to be a Unity.
Therefore the most Holy prayer, Shema, which is to spoken by many three times
each day, may be better understood and read as:
“Hear! Understand!
Guard These Words!
And Act Upon Them!
Struggle to Remember!
The Divine Essence of the Universe.
Our Oneness Is! Bound together! For Eternity!
O, Remember!
Divine Being!
The One Breath
Of The Universe!”
Amen, Amin, Ameyn!
Shalom!
ALA!!!
Hakima
Friday, April 11, 2008
April 11, 2008
Today's Daily Word - Friday, April 11, 2008
The Fool's Journey or Moronic Path is viable...
It's simply slow.
But if progression is not a goal, then perhaps direction is...
Perhaps not. The Sun shines on the Backs of Fools as well as the Faces of the Wise.
Guidance
Attuned to Spirit, I act with wisdom and grace.
A homing pigeon that has been set free miles away from its loft will instinctively return to its nest—its source of food and safety. Even when blown off course by the wind or delayed by the weather, pigeons trust their instinct to lead them home.
I have a homing intuition—a wisdom of my heart from Spirit—my source of inspiration and guidance. I am continually guided along my right path as I trust Spirit within to lead me in the right direction and guide me at every turning point.
If I wander from the path or get confused, I pause and listen for the inner guidance that speaks to my heart. Attuned to Spirit, I act with wisdom and grace. I move forward, confident that I am on the right course to my next destination.
“Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.” —Psalm 119:33
The Pillar of Cloud
John Henry Newman (1801–1890)
LEAD, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,—
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet! I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years!
So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
Turning right is my job...
Leading me onward is God's...
ALA!!!
Hakima
The Fool's Journey or Moronic Path is viable...
It's simply slow.
But if progression is not a goal, then perhaps direction is...
Perhaps not. The Sun shines on the Backs of Fools as well as the Faces of the Wise.
Guidance
Attuned to Spirit, I act with wisdom and grace.
A homing pigeon that has been set free miles away from its loft will instinctively return to its nest—its source of food and safety. Even when blown off course by the wind or delayed by the weather, pigeons trust their instinct to lead them home.
I have a homing intuition—a wisdom of my heart from Spirit—my source of inspiration and guidance. I am continually guided along my right path as I trust Spirit within to lead me in the right direction and guide me at every turning point.
If I wander from the path or get confused, I pause and listen for the inner guidance that speaks to my heart. Attuned to Spirit, I act with wisdom and grace. I move forward, confident that I am on the right course to my next destination.
“Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.” —Psalm 119:33
The Pillar of Cloud
John Henry Newman (1801–1890)
LEAD, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,—
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet! I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years!
So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
Turning right is my job...
Leading me onward is God's...
ALA!!!
Hakima
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