01.28.09
Posted in Pearls of Wisdom at 7:23 pm by Shhh....
On Tuesday around noon, it became official: Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, and black people won’t have President George W. Bush to kick around anymore. Some of us may find that hard to do.
Just think of it: NAACP board Chairman Julian Bond won’t be able to give his annual anti-Bush tirade at the organization’s convention. No more cracks about Republicans being America’s version of the Taliban. No more NAACP Voter Education Fund “issue ads” all but claiming Bush supports lynching.
Bush-bashers who skewer him for supporting the No Child Left Behind Act will feel an emptiness inside, although they were on shaky logical grounds to begin with. Really, what can you do with otherwise intelligent people who make remarks like this: “No Child Left Behind is awful, and it’s underfunded.”
A columnist colleague of mine said pretty much that to NAACP Washington, D.C. bureau chief Hilary Shelton back in November. Shelton responded by agreeing wholeheartedly. Neither he nor my colleague quite grasped the notion that bad laws shouldn’t be funded at all, “under” or otherwise. By contrast, Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights did have enough integrity to point out that the NCLB law did have some good provisions.
The NCLB law was a bipartisan effort supported by none other than Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, a Democrat with some pretty liberal street cred. That didn’t stop the Bush-bashing when it came to NCLB and darn near everything else. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.22.09
Posted in Pearls of Wisdom at 5:35 pm by Shhh....
There are many stories of spiritual masters embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There is even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to live among his students. From an everyday perspective, this is difficult to comprehend. We generally work hard to avoid people and things that we find annoying so they don’t bother us.
From a deeper spiritual perspective, however, irritation can be an important teacher and indicator that we are making progress on our path. Being able to remain centered and awake even when we feel uncomfortable is much more impressive than doing so in an environment where everything is to our liking. No matter how good we are at controlling our circumstances, there will always be factors and people that we cannot control. How we respond to these experiences to a great degree determines the quality of our lives. The goal of spiritual development is not to learn to control our environment—which is more of an ego-driven desire. And while having some measure of control over our external reality is important, it is when we are confronted with a person or situation that irritates us and we can choose not to react that we know have made progress spiritually. It is when we have mastered our internal reality that we will have become the masters of our lives.
The more we try to eliminate annoyances, instead of learning to handle them gracefully, the further we get from developing the qualities that come with spiritual growth, such as patience, tolerance, and acceptance. It is often in the presence of people and experiences we find annoying that we have an opportunity to develop these qualities. Fortunately for most of us, our lives offer an abundance of opportunities to practice and cultivate these traits.
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01.21.09
Posted in Pearls of Wisdom at 8:18 pm by Shhh....
by Abu ‘Abdir-Rahman Mohammad Navaid Aziz
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Alhamdulillâhi rabbil-’âlamîn was salâtu was salâmu ‘ala ashrifil anbiyâ wal-mursalîn nabîyina Muhammad wa ‘ala âlihi wa sahbihî ajma’în Amma ba’ad: Truly, we were granted this life to be tested which of us would remain steadfast in the dhikr (remembrance) and shukr (gratitude) of Allah, the Sublime. Living in a landmine where every step you take can lead to your possible destruction, and not destruction of the body but rather of the soul, we see people being annihilated every single day. This world is one big attraction, making those who in reality are meagre and full of weakness look strong and mighty, making those who are ignorant seem intelligent, and portraying those who have been misguided and enslaved to their own desires as being the most guided of people. Know, that no one lives in this dunya (world) except that he will be eaten by it in its entirety or will leave bruised and scarred except for those whom Allah, the Most High, has mercy upon. Hasan al-Basree, may Allah have mercy upon him, had some wise words concerning the dunya when he said:
“So beware of this land (the dunya) that is falling down and is misleading and deceiving, being decorated by its deceit and having eluded (others) by its delusion, and having killed its people with its hopes. It looks forward with anticipation towards the one who proposes to it for marriage. Hence it becomes like the unveiled bride - all the eyes are looking towards it, and the souls are in love with it, and the hearts are captivated by it.” [Related by Abu Nu’aym in al-Hilyah (2/135-136)]
Indeed he was true in his words, as we are all guilty of the crime of being deceived by the dunya with its beauty and glamour. Some of us were fortunate to get out, praise be to Allah, while others have wandered off into the everlasting dark tunnel that had no light at its beginning and has no light at its end, and the only thing that will allow him to leave is death itself. Refuge is sought with Allah, the Most High, from such an evil ending. And know for a fact that no matter how much good you may see in this dunya, in reality it is just a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing. Had there been any good in it, then Allah, the Beneficent, would have made it a place of reward, and place of dissension of His mercy but rather Allah only sent one of His mercies upon the earth through which we are kind to one another, and rather He has made it a place of trial and tribulation and a true prison for the believer. Likewise, had there been good in it we would have seen the Prophet, peace be upon him, being attached to it and living in its luxuries but rather he sacrificed it all with full certainty in that which will come after is better and everlasting. Thus, he said:
“The dunya is cursed. Cursed is all that is in it except for the remembrance of Allah, and that which resembles it, a scholar, and a student (of knowledge).” [Related by Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah, and Bayhaqi. The wording is taken from Shaykh al-Albaanee’s Sahîh at-Targhîb wat-Tarhîb (1/34)] Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Pearls of Wisdom at 6:58 pm by Shhh....
Eric Butterworth describes the two different types of relationships in a very neat way: In one relationship we are hypnotized staring moodily into each other’s eyes; in the other we stand together, hand in hand, looking out the window onto the great panorama of life. In the first, we have made gods of each other; in the second, we rejoice together in acknowledging the One God. In the first, we have narrowed down our source of happiness to one little person; in the second, we remain open to the fulfillment that all of life can offer to us.
The relationships that work are those in which partners seek to serve and support each other with encouragement and confidence; where the partners refrain from making demands upon each other; and where the individual creativity of each person is honored and encouraged. More important, the relationships that have God at their center, or that have at least some kind of commitment to a higher purpose than to fulfill each other’s fantasies, are the ones that are the strongest. People with individual spiritual foundations create marriages with strong spiritual foundations. Anything that is dedicated to the ideals of Godliness works. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
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01.17.09
Posted in Pearls of Wisdom at 2:03 am by Shhh....
“If people are going to get back into balance, one of the things they have to do is seek the truth. They have to start really speaking the truth themselves, and that’s a difficult thing to do. The way it is now in the world, we don’t mind lying.” –John Peters (Slow Turtle), WAMPANOAG
Well everybody’s doing it. Do unto others before they do unto you. If it wasn’t for back luck I would have no luck at all. These are excuses and rationalizations for giving up accountability. Be true to yourself. Seek the truth, The Great Spirit is the truth. The truth shall set you free. This is the truth. We cannot be free if we are dishonest nor can we live a balanced life if we are dishonest. As we grow, we need to start taking stands. All warriors take stands. The warrior’s belief is constantly being aligned to truth. The warrior will always know where he/she stands.
Great Spirit, help me today to seek Your truth, not my tuth.
Courtesy:
www.whitebison.org
Tags: Honesty, Native Wisdom, Truth, WhiteBison.org
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