We hurt ourselves and others because we fail to realize that God’s signature is written on every soul, that it is apparent in every creation whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not. Fear drives sheep to commit atrocious crimes against innocent people. Frightened sheep are easy to herd, and quick to do what […]
Tag Archives: Middle East
Open minds will listen and learn truth
Truth is truth, whatever its source. Since 9/11 there has been some wild stuff said about Islam and Muslims, dangerous when digested by the ill-informed. There is too much misunderstanding about the Middle East by Westerners and there is too much misunderstanding about Westerners in the Middle East. Both situations are dangerous. Reality consists of […]
A fascinating and gripping story
Here is a poem from Rumi…. If A Tree Could Wander Oh, if a tree could wander and move with foot and wing! It would not suffer axe blows, nor the pain of saws! What if the sun did not wander off every night? How could, every morning, the world turn to light? What if […]
Rudolf Steiner on a Jewish state in Palestine
The Jews worshipped the one God Jehovah and men were thereby saved from wholly losing their way in polytheism. A natural consequence has been that the Jews have always kept themselves distinct from other men and so too — as always happens in such a case — have in many respects evoked dislike and antipathy. […]
11,600 years old temple
By Charles C. Mann Photograph by Vincent J. Musi Every now and then the dawn of civilization is reenacted on a remote hilltop in southern Turkey. The reenactors are busloads of tourists—usually Turkish, sometimes European. The buses (white, air-conditioned, equipped with televisions) blunder over the winding, indifferently paved road to the ridge and dock like […]
The Ashes of the Sufi Mystic
Hallaj’s corpse was burnt and when the flame Subsided, to the pyre a sufi came Who stirred the ashes with his staff and said: ‘Where has that cry “I am the Truth” now fled? All that you cried, all that you saw and knew, Was but the prelude to what now is true. The essence […]
A murderer who went to heaven
A murderer, according to the law, Was killed. That night the king who’s killed him saw The same man in a dream; to his surprise The villain lorded it in paradise – The king cried: “You! In this celestial place! Your life’s work was an absolute disgrace; How did you reach this state?” The man […]
The Heart of Man
SURAH YA SIN The Thirty-Sixth Collection of Recitals Eighty-Three Verses Among those reported to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the city of Mecca. 1. Ya Sin. 2. This is the Recitation, replete with wisdom! 3. You are one of the messengers of God, O Prophet! 4. You are set on a straight […]
A Rumi Poem
Inside Dome of the Blue Mosque, Sultan Ahmad, Istanbul
“Oh, if a Tree Could Wander”
Oh, if a tree could wander and move with foot and wings!
It would not suffer the axe blows and not the pain of saws!
For would the sun not wander away in every night?
How could at ev’ry morning the world be lighted up?
And if the ocean’s water would not rise to the sky,
How would the plants be quickened by streams and gentle rain?
The drop that left its homeland, the sea, and then returned?
It found an oyster waiting and grew into a pearl.
Did Yusuf not leave his father, in grief and tears and despair?
Did he not, by such a journey, gain kingdom and fortune wide?
Did not the Prophet travel to far Madina, friend?
And there he found a new kingdom and ruled a hundred lands.
You lack a foot to travel?
Then journey into yourself!
And like a mine of rubies receive the sunbeams’ print!
Out of yourself? Such a journey will lead you to your self,
It leads to transformation of dust into pure gold!
Jalaluddin Rumi
Translated by Annemarie Schimmel
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Rambam (רמב”ם – Hebrew acronym for “Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon”), was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. Maimonides was born during what some scholars consider to be the end of the golden age of Jewish […]
Excerpts from the book
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