HMD

@BlueOak Thanks, that helps a lot. If you have other points drop them below.

@StarStruck Of course, they are dominated by Shias. It’s odd of you to point this out.

@Optimized Life If in doubt, look for other sources of omega 3s. Salmon is not the holy grail of Omega 3s. Also, ensure that you are taking care of the omega 3 to omega 6 ratio. Or else it gets problematic.

@StarStruck “Sufism started as an imitation of the Prophet's (PBUH) simplicity and spiritual life in a time where the Umayyad caliphs lived lavishly. The origins of Sufism have certainly been extensively debated but that Persia was the cradle of traditional Sufism is beyond any doubt.“

That's relateable

@Dez I'll check it out

There is Truth and then there is deviation from Truth. There is no up and down (with regard to a hierarchy). This is just a half baked insight. Add to it anything that comes up.

@Breakingthewall That would be the other end of the stick. The brutal, heart-wrenching majority of people. And yeah, the alternative is bleak. Titillation and stimulation. But perhaps this is an essential step towards higher consciousness and we get to experience it. It's fascinating.

@PurpleTree I have those on my list as well, the ones in Turkey, too. Let me know if you actually visit. We can cross paths someday, perhaps watch the patterns on psychedelics

@PurpleTree Well, these can also be used to expand your Love and sense of self. It's not the tool, but how you use it.

Nope, not so many. But yeah, a minority of them. It's obvious, most people don’t seek Truth. It’s something rare in itself, and when we limit the demographic to Muslims or Sufi Muslims, then the Truth seekers get less and less. The interest in Truth is not generated by Sufism, you have to have that drive yourself.

God created all the religions, right? Perhaps, as tools to get enlightened. Consciousness manifests in a form that enables other forms to awaken, like psychedelics. But not everyone knows how to use these tools and ends up shooting themselves in the foot. Similar to how some people commited suicide from watching the same videos (Leo’s) that helped others stay alive and transcend.

@Breakingthewall Most (not all) Muslims, especially in the West and Middle East (Saudia, Egypt, Jordan, etc) are Wahhabists type. But there is a prevailing population of open-minded Muslims in the east. Because as I mentioned earlier, society (especially the West) is at the peak stage of orange and materialism, inching towards stage green. Wahabism corresponds with that, the outward material objectives and the rigidity. So, as a consequence, many Muslims fall into this trap and stay stuck there. But on the other hand, those who have been warned against Wahhabism from the get-go (me for instance) have very open minds. But many of these types also fall into the traps of materialism unless they get serious about finding God and that is where the practices and rules come into play. To avoid all the bullshit.

@Davino Yup, he seems like he got the essence. I have heard his name but never looked into him. I’ll have to read more about him

@Breakingthewall Yeah, that's exactly what Wahabism is like for the most part. It lacks soul. They stripped away the soul from the religion. The problem is that Saudia is a Wahabist country, and because they have the most important holy sites (the two haram mosques), they get to represent the whole Islamic community. And it does not help that they are ridiculously rich. Now that Wahabist image is carried over to the world as the poster child of Islam, when in fact, it is but a subset and a manifestation of it.

Yeah, that’s not a good place to find Sufis. They are more prevalent in the east. Persia was their home ground and they spread from there to the surrounding areas.

@Breakingthewall You’re describing Wahabism. The left-brained, materialist manifestation of Islam. Sufism on the other hand is where the real juice is at. And Ibn-Arabi has plenty of followers and many respect his teachings. He understood the essence of Islam, the core, and then stripped the rest away from it. He built his work on the works of Al-Ghazali, who was influenced by various other teachers like Al Halaj. And there were other scholars who worked on various philosophical and metaphysical stuff, like ibn tufail and ibm Nafis who worked on epistemology. So the essence has always been there, but it has manifested in two distinct forms, and Wahabism is prevailing nowadays. But there was a time when the other side was prevalent.

@at_anchor A good place to start would be to not take it personally. I know, how does that even work? But see it as a game of chess, those evil guys sit on the opposite side and play their moves. You don’t blame them for making moves that hurt your position. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. But you don’t ask others to see how bad those evil people are. You take responsibility to win. You focus on making your best moves consciously. Read the 48 laws of power. Skim through it at the least. It’ll empower you with tactics and strategies to deal with this lot of humans. What you are dealing with is malevolence, which is worse than evil. But don’t let it make you bitter and resentful. Stay solid and keep fighting and then break free.

@Davino And it fucks me up when I ask other Muslims about him; most of them tell me that reading Ibn al Arabi is dangerous and should be done with caution; you should rather stick with someone more casual. They don’t deny his teachings but have a stigma against him. He’s sort of like the psychedelics of the Muslim world.

@An young being Of course! Truth often takes the back seat. Of course. Society is a humongous ego game. This is why Sufis are somewhat reclusive, and they don’t teach out in public, and the highest truth they keep to themselves, as no one is capable of validating it but themselves. So that plays into why they are not mainstream. Our society is mostly stage orange materialistic type, and Wahabism (the other side of Islam) corresponds mostly with that, and it is Rampant everywhere.

Islam is a robust system if you follow it intelligently. Especially the sufis. I mean, the terminology and distinctions for all the traps and the whole path are sophisticated and elaborate. They even tell you that you have to transcend religion at a point and it is one of the scariest things to do. I haven’t done any psychedelics ever and had deep mystical experiences and God-realisations through sufism and occasional weed.

I believe that too. Because all of us have an affinity towards Truth and higher consciousness, to various degrees. We can ignore this drive, and most people do, but this wilful ignorance renders us miserable. There is a distinct satisfaction experienced when we open ourselves up to the reality that is impossible to find anywhere else. So, reality is nudging itself to experience itself at deeper and deeper levels. And by cycles do you mean systems?

Can you talk more about this?

Of course. Toxic skepticism doubts everything but itself. It’s a blindspot.

There is a very simple logic behind it, but most people can’t see it. Absolute infinity is reality. And reality is whatever exists. Truth. Anything that you claim exists is by definition reality or infinite consciousness. It's a mind fuck when you realize this completely.