Abandonment

While walking in the sand near the Red sea I stumbled upon this empty abandoned bucket.

I decided to capture this image because it expressed my own feelings of abandonment, loneliness and emptiness.

The downside of traits like loneliness and emptiness can lead one into a path of destruction. However, an empty cup free of desires and pre-conceived stereotypes allows for constant renewal as every moment is experienced with an open heart ready to be filled with new knowledge.

Loneliness leads to stillness. Closeness to the divine spirit. Creation of one’s individuality and one step closer to the self.

As for abandonment, well being that we’re all reflections internal state means that abandonment by others teaches me to never abandon the self.

Beautiful character, good mannerism or wholesome disposition is the foundation upon which a human being establishes his or her being. The art of Being Human is solidly founded upon the character that a person embodies. If this very foundation is weak, no matter how much knowledge, intellect or eloquence in speaking the person carry, all are as if castle built upon thin air. The accumulation of whole life time, the building of empire can come crushing in a moment when the character of the person is not balanced / wholesome. Thus in authentic spiritual learning and training - great emphasis is placed upon focusing on building the proper character for the seeker.

Read the entire article on Mystic Saint titled, “Forty Ahadith on Character”

I’m grateful for the opportunity to work as hard as I can every minute to develop better character. 

Az-Zahir: The Manifest One

When a dispute arises as to the ownership of the husk,
the husk belongs to the one who possesses the kernel.
The heavenly sphere is the husk;
the light of the spirit is the core.
This sky is visible; spirit is not;
but don’t stumble because of this.
The body is manifest;
Life’s spirit is hidden:
the body is like a sleeve;
the spirit is the hand.


Rumi, Mathnawi II;3251-3252, tr. Asad

Aung San Suu Kyi: “I am happy because I am Free”

“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

It would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the truth unfettered by fear. With so close a relationship between fear and corruption it is little wonder that in any society where fear is rife corruption in all forms becomes deeply entrenched.

We live in interesting times. A climate of fear allows the corrupt and the cruel to continue with their ways of repression and oppression. Myanmar/Burmese need to take up our cudgels, rise up and break the chains of fear, which bind us. Revolutionise our minds! Free the spirit!”

-Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi, 65, Burmese spiritual activist

Finding True Love

The lowest love is sex - it is physical

The highest refinement of love is compassion.

Sex is below love, compassion is above love; love is exactly in the middle. 

Very few people know what love is. Ninety-nine percent of people, unfortunately, think sexual attraction is love - it is not.

In fact it feeds the animal and material nature. Food for the ego. Fuel for the arrogant. A great cover for the empty.

According to Sufis of the past, if one looks closely and deeper into the heart where the spirit lies. True love is found. 

Love of the material will bring great hardship and pain due to the perishable nature of material things. 

One must realize, sex is the seed, love is the flower, compassion is the fragrance. 

Photo property of: Vanessa Pike-Russell 

This site dedicated to the remembrance of the Divine.