Khalid Latif – speaks about meditation in Muslim traditi

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.