Khalid Latif – speaks about meditation in Muslim traditi
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of the idea of reflection, contemplation, and mindfulness in Islam. They emphasize that actions are not just the deed of the person, but the intentions of the person. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of using secshions to amplify and enhance understanding of the experience of the heart, and the need for a state of spiritual growth and excellence to reach a full potential.
AI: Summary ©
I'm standing, by the way.
So
I think as I mentioned before, none of
our faiths actually have ownership over these values
or practices. But
the emphasis that is placed within our traditions
respectively, I think speaks very
well to the importance of these practices
and how we can actually utilize this as
a means to really build shared narrative.
For us in Islam,
the idea
of reflection,
contemplation,
mindfulness,
seeking solitude to better
Muhammad gets his initial revelation, it's after he
has had
a
real kind of relationship built with just seeking
solitude.
What our tradition tells us is that when
the initial revelation comes,
he is
sitting in solitude contemplating,
in the cave and isolation and seclusion from
society
so that he can understand how it really
functions, but more importantly, what his role is
within it.
And I think as our tradition develops on
a theological legislative level,
the idea of how the spirit
and its relationship with the mind and the
body,
is really emphasized is one that's quite fascinating.
One of the foundational narrations in our tradition
says that actions are by their intentions.
Right? That it's not simply the deed that
you do, but you
understand why you're doing it in the first
place. Right? What is your intentionality?
What is the motivation behind it? What is
really found present within that deed and decision?
Are you even cognizant of that?
And the second narration that I think is
important to understand, complementing that, says that
indeed in your being, there is a morsel
of flesh.
That if it is good, your entire body
will be good, your entire being will be
good. And if it is not good, if
it's not said aright, then your entire being
will not be said aright.
Indeed, it is your heart.
What Islam emphasizes is this constant battle
between
the serving of the ego
versus
the
presence of your heart.
And I think it's important to understand
as a starting point, especially in the city
that we live in, because much of the
time we're moving and we're going without necessarily
really understanding where it is where we're going
or why it is we're doing what we're
doing and we ourselves are not present in
our own actions.
We become a little bit more mechanical
and ritualistic,
but
it doesn't necessarily
penetrate our internal
and we're totally just satisfied by a pursuit
of the external. Does it make sense? Mhmm.
And I think what Islam says, at least
to me, is that you want to not
necessarily
chase after the material of this world and
let that be your pursuit,
but it places
a consciousness in the framing of the next
world so that you're not really living through
an egocentric
worldview.
And as you start to understand a little
bit more about the I that is uniquely
you, you move away from this egocentricity
towards a worldview that's god centric that never
puts you in front of somebody else. It's
not even necessarily about us, but it's always
about the other.
It's about what someone else will gain as
opposed to what you will lose or where
someone else will benefit rather than where you
will feel detriment.
And I think what it seeks to battle
is a simple satiation of your stomach
and it focuses more so on satisfying your
soul,
not chasing after something that will give you
complacency
or short lived satisfaction,
but movement towards something that will render you
contentment. You wanna feel good not just in
the moment, but you wanna feel good all
the time.
And I think the last point that I
would say is that it's not meant to
be self serving. It's interesting how we can
go almost in a full circle and land
at the point that we're trying to avoid
through practice that's meant to actually enhance our
understanding.
I think a lot of the time when
we turn to spiritual retreat or seclusion or
whatever you wanna call it, it ends up
not really being retreat, but it ends up
being an escape from reality.
And what Islam says is that you wanna
utilize those seclusions, you wanna use those retreats,
or even those pilgrimages as an understanding that
they themselves are not the sole process or
journey of your heart, but your heart is
in a constant state of journey, and those
are means by which you can amplify them.
But if you make those things that are
escapes from reality rather than means by which
you enhance your understanding of it, then you're
not taking from it everything that you fully
can.
If I get to a place where I'm
so attuned with myself and I'm instead of
in such a state of consciousness,
it has to be able to render within
me an ability to do something for somebody
else.
I'm not meant to just be in a
place where I have now found an internal
peace that replaces chaos within,
but now that growth internal
is meant to bring benefit to the world
external.
And so when I find synergies between the
2, it's when I start to really reach
a state of spiritual growth and excellence
that is actually as meaningful and reaching its
full potential as it as it possibly could.