I Have A Fear Towards Islam. I Get Nightmares Where An Islamic Radical Tries To Kill Me. This Fear Originated

I have a fear towards Islam. I get nightmares where an Islamic radical tries to kill me. This fear originated after moving to an Arab country where I live now. Despite having Muslim friends, I am still hateful towards the religion. How can I stop?

What you’re afraid of is terrorism and murder. Islam is simply a religion. 

You can hate on the followers of a religion, their misinterpretations, and their personal prejudices. But the religion itself is purely philosophy and doctrine. 

In my experience with Christianity and Islam, what you look for is what you find. If you are looking for archaic and even cruel philosophies, you will find aspects of that in their canonical texts. If you are looking for insightful and moving wisdom, you can find that too. 

I feel we live in an era that is incapable of being fully served by the religions of the past. While we may learn much from them, the future must come from the present. 

Much of that may depend on each and every one of us to discover our own paths. That is why I encourage meditation. It is like giving you a flashlight in the dark. Where you decide to go is up to you but at least you will be awake and aware. Your mind and heart will be healthy and in balance. 

You don’t have to approve of Islam or any other religion in order to be at peace with its presence and the presence of its followers.

My advice to you is to meditate daily. But also maybe to explore a bit of Islam’s mystical tradition called Sufism. There you will find a mysterious tradition of unknowable love. Read poetry by Rumi and Hafiz.

I find that when I have received some sort of wisdom from a religion, I can feel grateful for it. 

Namaste! 

The story of the useless tree.

The Crooked Tree

Hui-tse said to Chuang-tse, “I have a large tree which no carpenter can cut into lumber. It’s branches and trunk are crooked and tough, covered with bumps and depressions. No builder would turn his head to look at it. Your teachings are the same, useless and without value. Therefore, no one pays attention to them.”

"As you know," Chuang-tse replied, "a cat is very skilled at capturing its prey. Crouching low, it can leap in any direction, pursuing whatever it is after. But when its attention is focused on such things, it can easily be caught with a net. On the other hand, a huge yak is not easily caught or overcome. It stands like a stone, or a cloud in the sky. But for all its strength, it cannot catch a mouse."

"You complain that your tree is not valuable as lumber. But you could make use of the shade it provides, rest under its sheltering branches, and stroll beneath it, admiring its character and appearance. Since it would not be endangered by an axe, what could threaten its existence? It is useless to you only because you want to make it into something else and do not use it in its proper way."

Om.

I don't even remember why I started, only that it was a long time ago on a whim. Something about making a clever statement on the nature of capitalism, I think. And then I kept it going, kind of like a silly ritual for when folks would come back from trips. And when I started going to conventions, it became an exercise in researching design, exploring the many ways to summarize oneself on a tiny piece of cardboard. It was a mnemonic device, each card holding a specific memory of the person I received it from, or at least that was an idea. And I kept taking them, piles and piles of them, filling up books and bags and tiny novelty filing cabinets. But now that I've dug around my life, I can honestly say they don't have much meaning for me any more. The world has changed, and I have changed. And I think it's good to release the past in this way. So thank you, to everyone that's ever given me one of their tiny pieces of cardboard, thank you for the memories.

The importance of discernment.

So I’ve gotten a bunch of asks and tweets asking me whether or not we should be worried about the impending explosion of the largest volcano on Earth (which I happen to live very nearby). No, you should not.

This latest round of speculation was sparked by a YouTube video…yes, literally a single...

We all have an infinite, constant path to walk.

Patience

‘The third quality of spiritual maturity is patience. Patience allows us to live in harmony with the dharma, the Tao. As Chuang Tzu stated:

The true men of old

Had no mind to fight Tao

They did not try by their own contriving

To help Tao along.

Spiritual maturity understands that the process of awakening goes through many seasons and cycles. It asks for our deepest commitment, that we take the one seat in our heart and open to every part of life.

True patience is not gaining or grasping, it does not seek any accomplishment. Patience allows us to open to that which is beyond time. When Einstein was illustrating the nature of time, he explained, “When you sit with a pretty girl for two hours, it seems like a minute, and when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, it seems like two hours. That’s relativity.” When the Buddha spoke of practicing for one hundred thousand mahakalpas of  lifetimes, he did not mean that it takes forever to awaken, but that awakening is timeless. Awakening is not a matter of weeks or years or lifetimes, but a loving and patient unfolding into the mystery just now.

“The problem with the word patience,” said Zen master Suzuki Roshi, “is that it implies we are waiting for something to get better, we are waiting for something good that will come. A more accurate word for this quality is ‘constancy,’ a capacity to be with what is true moment to moment after moment, to discover enlightenment one moment after another.” In the deepest way it understands that what we seek is what we are, and it is always here. The great Indian teacher Ramana Maharshi said to students who were weeping as his body died, “but where do you think I could go? Maturity of spiritual life allows us to rest just here in the truth that has always been and always will be.’

- Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the perils and Promises of Spiritual Life.

keep it simple, keep it classy.