On Dreams and the Soul

After rediscovering a quote by Mexican contemporary poet Jaime Sabines (see last post), I began to partially remember something I'd heard or read from the Bahá'í Faith related to dreams but couldn't quite place. Thus, I delved into the writings and discovered these two great explanations from Abdu'l-Bahá, wherein he explores the state of dreaming to deepen our understanding of the state of the immortal soul. They more or less say the same thing, though the second is more elaborate.

1.
"But in the world of dreams the soul sees when the eyes are closed. The man is seemingly dead, lies there as dead; the ears do not hear, yet he hears. The body lies there, but he—that is, the soul—travels, sees, observes. All the instruments of the body are inactive, all the functions seemingly useless. Notwithstanding this, there is an immediate and vivid perception by the soul. Exhilaration is experienced. The soul journeys, perceives, senses. It often happens that a man in a state of wakefulness has not been able to accomplish the solution of a problem, and when he goes to sleep, he will reach that solution in a dream. How often it has happened that he has dreamed, even as the prophets have dreamed, of the future; and events which have thus been foreshadowed have come to pass literally. Therefore, we learn that the immortality of the soul, or spirit, is not contingent or dependent upon the so-called immortality of the body, because the body in the quiescent state, in the time of sleep, may be as dead, unconscious, senseless; but the soul, or spirit, is possessed of perceptions, sensations, motion and discovery. Even inspiration and revelation are obtained by it."

-Abdu'l-Bahá, from a talk given in Washington DC in November 1912, The Promulgation of Universal Peace

2.
"The other manifestation of the powers and actions of the spirit is without instruments and organs. For example, in the state of sleep without eyes it sees, without an ear it hears, without a tongue it speaks, without feet it runs. Briefly, these actions are beyond the means of instruments and organs. How often it happens that it sees a dream in the world of sleep, and its signification becomes apparent two years afterwards in corresponding events. In the same way, how many times it happens that a question which one cannot solve in the world of wakefulness, is solved in the world of dreams. In wakefulness the eye sees only for a short distance, but in dreams he who is in the East sees the West: awake he sees the present, in sleep he sees the future. In wakefulness, by means of rapid transit, at the most he can travel only twenty farsakha an hour; in sleep, in the twinkling of an eye, he traverses the East and West. For the spirit travels in two different ways: without means, which is spiritual traveling; and with means, which is material traveling: as birds which fly, and those which are carried.

In the time of sleep this body is as though dead; it does not see nor hear, it does not feel, it has no consciousness, no perception: that is to say, the powers of man have become inactive, but the spirit lives and subsists. Nay, its penetration is increased, its flight is higher, and its intelligence is greater. To consider that after the death of the body the spirit perishes, is like imagining that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage. Our body is like the cage, and the spirit is like the bird. We see that without the cage this bird flies in the world of sleep; therefore if the cage becomes broken, the bird will continue and exist: its feelings will be even more powerful, its perceptions greater, and its happiness increased. In truth, from hell it reaches a paradise of delights, because for the thankful birds there is no paradise greater than freedom from the cage. That is why with utmost joy and happiness the martyrs hasten to the plain of sacrifice.

In wakefulness the eye of man sees at the utmost as far as one hour of distance..."

-Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions

Dreams vs. Seeing

Occure que la realidad es superior a los sueños. En vez de pedir "déjame soñar", se debería decir: "déjame mirar".
Juega a vivir.
-Jaime Sabines

which roughly translates to:
It so happens that reality is superior to dreams. Instead of asking "let me dream," one should say: "let me see".
Play to live.
-Jaime Sabines

I used to have this quote as an email signature. What do folks think of it? It sure would be interesting to know more about the spiritual impact of dreams... ;)

I will follow up with another post soon regarding what's said about dreams in the Baha'i writings.

Rediscovering My Love for a Love Poem

From Pablo Neruda's Cien Sonetos de amor (1oo Love Sonnets)

XVII

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio I don ’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego: or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras, I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma. secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores, the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra. from the earth lives dimly in my body.

Te amo sin saber como, ni cuándo, ni de donde, I love you without knowing how, or when, or
from where
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo: I love you directly without problems or pride:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera, I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres, except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño. so close that your eyes close with my dreams.

[English translation by Mark Eisner 2004, from City Lights' The Essential Neruda]

Different Perspectives on the Meaning of Faith

I discovered an American Public Media episode, "The Meaning of Faith" (on the program Speaking of Faith), which includes 4 guests representing 4 different religious perspectives: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism.

Each guest grapples with the meaning of faith. It's a fantastic way to spend way to spend 52 minutes - I highly urge you to listen when you have the time.

Meanwhile, here are a few snippets to ponder and to entice you:

• Faith is the "courage to step forward into the unknown" and "admit that we don't know", yet to still have an "open-hearted participation in life" [this is my favorite definition]
  
• Faith is "like a journey" and "an unfolding of the heart that's based on our love for ourselves and being able to reach out to others and let others reach out to us, to have a bigger picture of life where there's a sense of belonging and connection instead of feeling so alone and apart." [this is my other favorite]
  
• Doubt and questioning are built into faith.
• The opposite of faith is despair, not doubt.
• When we hold onto our beliefs too tightly, they do not take us on to a place of greater faith.
• Faith is "bigger than belief or not belief."
• Rather, faith is "an abiding trust that the way things are working out is part of something bigger and probably incomprehensible." [this rings most closely to how I've thought of faith over the years]
  
• Faith follows action.
• "Our commonality comes from passionately clinging to our uniqueness and our individuality and our difference."
• "Faith is a verb", "it's really an action word, faith is."
• Faith speaks to "a belief and an interest in matters that are spiritual rather than the institution and creeds that you associate with religion."
• "People of faith and spiritual communities understand that everyone is a child of God"
  

Independent Investigation

A quote from the radio program I mention in my last post, which I love in the light of thinking about independent investigation.

"The Buddha said don't believe anything just because I said it or just because you read it in a sacred text. He said put it into practice and see for yourself if it's true." -Sharon Salzberg

A Tale of How We Should Depend on Each Other

Here's a story from Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Being Peace, to illustrate the principle of what he calls "dependent co-arising."

* * *

Suppose you and I are friends. (In fact, I hope we are friends.) My well-being, my happiness depends very much on you, and your well-being, your happiness, depends upon me. I am responsible for you, and you are responsible for me. Anything I do wrong, you will suffer, and anything you do wrong, I have to suffer. Therefore, in order to take care of you, I have to take care of myself.
There is a story in the Pali Canon about a father and a daughter who performed in the circus. The father would place a very long bamboo stick on his forehead, and his daughter would climb to the top of the stick.... One day the father told the daughter, "My dear daugher, we have to take care of each other. You have to take care of your father, and I have to take care of you, so that we will be safe. Our performance is very dangerous." Because if she fell, both would not be able to earn their living. If she fell, then broke her leg, they wouldn't have anything to eat. "My daughter, we have to take care of each other so we can continue to earn our living."
The daughter was wise. She said, "Father, you should say it this way: 'Each one of us has to take care of himself or herself, so that we can continue to earn our living.' Because during the performance, you take care of yourself, you take care of yourself only. You stay very stable, very altert. That will help me. And if when I climb I take care of myself, I climb very carefully, I do not let anything wrong happen to me. That is the way you should say it, Father. You take good care of yourself, and I take good care of myself. In that way we can continue to earn our living." The Buddha agreed that the daughter was right.

Pondering the Meaning of Faith

Last night, C, T and I were discussing the meaning of "faith". Traditionally, this word is associated with a lack of rationality, with a blind trust. T asked something like, doesn't faith inherently mean trusting in something that can't be proven? Sure, I agree that this is true. But I don't necessarily think that faith should be irrational. So how can we use reason to develop trust in something we ultimately can't understand?

Kahlil Gibran, one of my favorite writers to whom I often turn for guidance in understanding what I cannot, describes faith in the following way:
“Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.”

Suffice it to say, I interpret this to mean that faith is not something we will ever be able to fully understand with our minds, but something that we know with our hearts. Faith involves belief in something that cannot be proven. Yet, how can we understand this quote without giving into the notion that faith is irrational? Just because our brains can't fully comprehend something doesn't mean that we shouldn't use reason to come closer to understanding the truth. Perhaps one interpretation of this quote could be that our brains alone, without the heart to guide us in our path, will certainly never come close to understanding faith.

What do others think?

How to Build Trust in Marriage

I came across this article on a Jewish website on how to built trust in a marriage. Much of what is said is, I would say, universally applicable to all relationships. The author argues that the key to building trust is "building a safe emotional space".
To do so, you must:

• Constantly work on improving your communication skills.
• Take responsibility to express your needs and express them clearly and assertively.
• Be positive and give pleasure.
• Don't allow issues to go unresolved.
• Learn to fight fairly.

And now that I've summarized it for you, I encourage you to read the rest of this short article.

More from Bahá'u'lláh on Trustworthiness

1. "Were a man in this day to adorn himself with the raiment of trustworthiness it were better for him in the sight of God than that he should journey on foot towards the holy court and be blessed with meeting the Adored One and standing before His Seat of Glory. Trustworthiness is as a stronghold to the city of humanity, and as eyes to the human temple. Whosoever remaineth deprived thereof shall, before His Throne, be reckoned as one bereft of vision."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

2. "Be ye God's manifestations of trustworthiness in every land. So perfectly should ye mirror forth this quality that even were ye to travel through cities heaped with gold, your gaze would not for a single moment be seduced by its allure. This is the standard required of you, O assemblage of true believers."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Arabic)

3. "Say: O bearer of My Name! Upon thee be My glory and My loving-kindness. Thou hast ever been adorned with the fair robe of trustworthiness and piety. These twin qualities are as two companions for thee in whom thou mayest find solace. They are as two sentinels who shall stand watch over thee, and two guardians that shall, by God's leave, keep thee from harm."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

4. "The fourth Taraz* concerneth trustworthiness. Verily it is the door of security for all that dwell on earth and a token of glory on the part of the All-Merciful. He who partaketh thereof hath indeed partaken of the treasures of wealth and prosperity. Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the tranquility and security of the people. In truth the stability of every affair hath depended and doth depend upon it. All the domains of power, of grandeur and of wealth are illumined by its light."

("Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas", p. 37)
* Does anyone know the meaning of the word "Taraz"?

5. "O beloved friends! Whoever adorneth his character with such virtues will be reckoned among the true servants of God, and his name will be commemorated by the Concourse on High; but he who depriveth himself thereof shall not be accounted of their number. Strive diligently to acquire such goodly qualities and traits of character as will be the cause of everlasting salvation. Make not the fruits of the tree of trustworthiness targets for the stones of treachery, nor rend its boughs asunder with the instruments of tyranny and oppression. Truthfulness and sincerity have always been the ornament of a man's character, and so they shall ever be."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

6. "I counsel you, O friends of God, to comport yourselves with the utmost trustworthiness in your dealings with my servants and people. By its aid shall the Cause of God be promoted throughout the world and its exalted sanctity become manifest to all creation. Be ye the repositories of the trust of all men. Thus have We commanded them in the Tablets. Thy Lord is, verily, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Arabic)

Abdu'l-Bahá on Trustworthiness

1. "The primary characteristic of true believers is trustworthiness whereas the primary characteristic of the rebellious is faithlessness."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

2. "If a man were to perform every good work, yet fail in the least scruple to be entirely trustworthy and honest, his good works would become as dry tinder and his failure as a soul-consuming fire. If, on the other hand, he should fall short in all his affairs, yet act with trustworthiness and honesty, all his defects would ultimately be righted, all injuries remedied, and all infirmities healed. Our meaning is that, in the sight of God, trustworthiness is the bedrock of His Faith and the foundation of all virtues and perfections. A man deprived of this quality is destitute of everything. What shall faith and piety avail if trustworthiness be lacking? Of what consequence can they be? What benefit or advantage can they confer? Wherefore 'Abdu'l-Bahá counselleth the friends -- nay, rather, fervently imploreth them -- so vigilantly to guard the sanctity of the Cause of God and preserve their own dignity as individuals that all nations shall come to know and honour them for their trustworthiness and integrity. They can render no greater service than this today. To act otherwise would be to take an axe to the root of the Cause of God -- we take refuge with God from this heinous transgression and pray that He will protect His loved ones from committing so flagrant a wrong."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

On Trustworthiness and Governance

"In discharging the functions of the office to which thou hast been appointed, thy conduct and actions should attest to the highest standard of trustworthiness and honesty, to a degree of sincerity that is altogether above suspicion, and to an integrity that is immune to the promptings of self-interest. Thus shall all know that the Bahá'ís are the embodiments of probity, and the very essence of spotless virtue. If they accept office, their motive is to render service to the whole of humanity, not to seek their own self-interest; and their object is to vindicate the cause of truth, not to give themselves over to self-indulgence and base ingratitude."

-Abdu'l-Bahá (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

"As for those who are engaged in government service, they should perform their duties with the utmost fidelity, trustworthiness, rectitude, uprightness, integrity and high-mindedness. Let them not tarnish their good repute by pursuing personal interests, nor, for the sake of transient worldly benefits, make themselves objects of public odium and outcasts of the Threshold of Grandeur."

-Abdu'l-Bahá (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

Faith, a poem

Faith
-by David Whyte, from Where Many Rivers Meet

I want to write about faith,
about the way the moon rises
over cold snow, night after night,

faithful even as it fades from fullness,
slowly becoming that last curving and impossible
sliver of light before the final darkness.

But I have no faith myself
I refuse it even the smallest entry.

Let this then, my small poem,
like a new moon, slender and barely open,
be the first prayer that opens me to faith.

On Trustworthiness & Commerce

1. "We have enjoined upon all to become engaged in some trade or profession, and have accounted such occupation to be an act of worship. Before all else, however, thou shouldst receive, as a sign of God's acceptance, the mantle of trustworthiness from the hands of divine favour; for trustworthiness is the chief means of attracting confirmation and prosperity. We entreat God to make of it a radiant and mercifully showering rain-cloud that shall bring success and blessings to thy affairs. He of a truth is the All-Bountiful, the Gracious."

-Bahá'u'lláh (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian and Arabic)

2. "Commerce is as a heaven, whose sun is trustworthiness and whose moon is truthfulness. The most precious of all things in the estimation of Him Who is the Sovereign Truth is trustworthiness: thus hath it been recorded in the sacred Scroll of God. Entreat ye the one true God to enable all mankind to attain to this most noble and lofty station.

-Bahá'u'lláh (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian and Arabic)

3. "You have written on the question of how the friends should proceed in their business dealings with one another. This is a question of the greatest importance and a matter that deserveth the liveliest concern. In relations of this kind, the friends of God should act with the utmost trustworthiness and integrity. To be remiss in this area would be to turn one's face away from the counsels of the Blessed Beauty and the holy precepts of God. If a man in his own home doth not treat his relations and friends with entire trustworthiness and integrity, his dealings with the outside world -- no matter how much trustworthiness and honesty he may bring to them -- will prove barren and unproductive. First one should order one's own domestic affairs, then attend to one's business with the public. One should certainly not argue that the friends need not be treated with undue care, or that it is unnecessary for them to attach too great importance to the practice of trustworthiness in their dealings with one another, but that it is in their relations with strangers that correct behaviour is essential. Talk like this is sheer fantasy and will lead to detriment and loss. Blessed be the soul that shineth with the light of trustworthiness among the people and becometh a sign of perfection amidst all men."

-Abdu'l-Bahá (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

4. "Every business company should be established on divine principles. Its foundations should be trustworthiness, piety and truthfulness in order to protect the rights of the people."

-Abdu'l-Bahá (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

5. "Commerce, agriculture and industry should not, in truth, be a bar to service of the one true God. Indeed, such occupations are most potent instruments and clear proofs for the manifestation of the evidences of one's piety, of one's trustworthiness and of the virtues of the All-Merciful Lord."

-Abdu'l-Bahá (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

Summoning all mankind to trustworthiness...

"They who dwell within the Tabernacle of God, and are established upon the seats of everlasting glory, will refuse, though they be dying of hunger, to stretch their hands, and seize unlawfully the property of their neighbour, however vile and worthless he may be. The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to piety and trustworthiness, to resignation and submissiveness to the will of God, to forbearance and kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom. His object is to array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds...."

-Bahá'u'lláh (Cited in Shoghi Effendi, "The Advent of Divine Justice", p. 24)

On Trust and Self Acceptance

I just read a very interesting piece on the relationship between trust and self acceptance, as well as developing trust with one's spiritual community, sangha. www.berkeleybuddhistpriory.org/_dharma/refuge.htm

I'm wondering, what does it take to really develop the kind of trust needed to make ourselves vulnerable and share with others the parts of ourselves that we most reject? How can we foster such open and nonjudgmental relationships?

The Báb on Trustworthiness

One day the Báb asked that some honey be purchased for Him. The price at which it had been bought seemed to Him exorbitant. He refused it and said: "Honey of a superior quality could no doubt have been purchased at a lower price. I who am your example have been a merchant by profession. It behoves you in all your transactions to follow in My way. You must neither defraud your neighbour nor allow him to defraud you. Such was the way of your Master. The shrewdest and ablest of men were unable to deceive Him, nor did He on His part choose to act ungenerously towards the meanest and most helpless of creatures." He insisted that the attendant who had made that purchase should return and bring back to Him a honey superior in quality and cheaper in price.

(Cited in "The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation", trans. and ed. Shoghi Effendi, (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 303)

Bahá'u'lláh on Trustworthiness

After a weekend at Bosch, both N and I have decided to put more effort into focusing on our virtue of the month. For me, I take this renewed commitment to our VOTM club as an incentive to expand my spiritual growth. In an effort to apply my strengths to the task, I shall set out to do a bit more research each month on the virtue at hand. This month it is trust. This is the first post of several to come on trustworthiness.

Extracts from the utterances of Bahá'u'lláh:

1. "O people! The goodliest vesture in the sight of God in this day is trustworthiness. All bounty and honour shall be the portion of the soul that arrayeth itself with this greatest of adornments."

(From a Tablet - translated from Persian)

---

2. "Regard thou faith as a tree. Its fruits, leaves, boughs and branches are, and have ever been, trustworthiness, truthfulness, uprightness and forbearance."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

---

3. "I beseech Thee, O my God, by all the transcendent glory of Thy Name, to clothe Thy loved ones in the robe of justice and to illumine their beings with the light of trustworthiness. Thou art the One Who hath power to do as He pleaseth and Who holdeth within His grasp the reins of all things, visible and invisible."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Arabic)

4. "It behoveth ye all so to adorn your inner and outer beings that, robed in trustworthiness, girt with righteousness and arrayed in truthfulness and rectitude, ye may become a means for the exaltation of the Cause and the education of the human race."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)

5. "Cleave ye at all times to the cord of trustworthiness and hold fast the hem of the garment of truthfulness: thus biddeth you He Who is the Truthful, the Trusted One. God is my witness, trustworthiness is a light that shineth reflugently from the heavens, and leadeth to the exaltation of the Cause of God, the Omnipotent, the Incomparable, the All-Praised. Whoso hath remained faithful to the Covenant hath been steadfast in his adherence to trustworthiness, whilst those who have repudiated it have erred grievously."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Arabic)

6. "Trustworthiness, wisdom and honesty are, of a truth, God's beauteous adornments for His creatures. These fair garments are a befitting vesture for every temple. Happy are those that comprehend, and well is it with them that acquire such virtues."

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian and Arabic)

7. "Beseech the Lord that He deprive not His dominions of the effulgent light of the sun of trustworthiness, nor deny them the radiance of the Day-Star of truthfulness or the splendour of the orb of justice and equity. Trustworthiness and piety are even as two luminaries shining resplendent above the horizon of the heaven of the Tablet in which are inscribed the ordinances of God. Well is it with them that have discerned them, and woe betide the heedless!"

(From a Tablet - translated from the Persian and Arabic)

Questions about Patience

A friend's post on the month of patience makes me wonder,
How can we be patient, yet not passive? How can we be patient, yet direct our futures? Is patience simply a matter of being grounded in the present? Is patience non-attachment to the future or the past?