Theos-Talk Archives (April 1994 Message tl00016)

This is by Brenda.

The rites of purification are tremendously satisfying in some
regards.  They produce an air about a person that is hard to pass by
without noticing.  It is a form of work that does not require
outright speech, espousal of great principles, or description of the
steps necessary to live the life of discipleship.  I don't have to
share the great truth of the "path" in order to perform purifications
in the atmosphere, etc.  Through using purification meditations I
have noticed changes in my daily interactions with others.  There is
a more positive sense of well-being, more order, more inner activity,
more blessedness, and more adherence to powerful concepts of living,
such as harmony, healing, and light.  But when I neglect to perform
these meditations, the well-ordered living returns to inner chaos,
loss of control over my interactions, and a return to negativity.

While I accept and appreciate the way these laws works through mental
matter, I am also very quick to call to mind my well-learned
exercises at the first hint of difficulty, at the first sign of
anyone needing assistance or stumbling over obstacles.  This is
exactly what happened when I heard about the difficulty my friend was
having because of a houseguest.

Here is the scene: a husband and wife, both M.D.s, with two young
girls ages seven and nine, who are very devout Muslims born and
raised in Syria and currently working in Ohio.  If you understand
some of the implications of the Islamic community life, you might be
aware that for entertainment friends come over, spend a weekend or a
few days camping, and are enriched by the hours, visiting, cooking,
child-rearing, and telling stories.  Well, this particular "first"
invitation to a couple they had met through the hospital they both
work at, held a few surprises.  Not only was the guest room left in
disarray, the food refused, and the company generally repelled to the
planned activities of cooking and eating and straightening, but they
actually produced their bag of marijuana and rolled a cigarette.
When the host objected to drugs in his house and in front of his
girls, the guests wondered couldn't the girls leave, which greatly
insulting the young doctor.

Well, after the weekend the two had to continue working together only
with less regard for one another, even to the extent that she
criticized the doctors for living so simply and for not even spending
on refined furnishings, a housekeeper, or the usual decorations, art,
and frill found in designer homes.  Well, besides the many oversees
visits, the two cars, the RV, education, clothes, and gifts of money
(devout Muslims give away 3% of their income to people in need or
charities) they spent enough to live comfortably and were well-liked
because of their generous nature and fierce good will to those who
were less fortunate.  You may not be one to leave their home with
decorating ideas, but you usually left a better person than you went
in or with fewer troubles or with greater understanding of your
troubles or the world's troubles.

In fact this is the lesson which their weekend provided them with.
Of course the drug incident added an especially beastly side to the
affair, which is where I sought to provide assistance through my
simple, but sometimes effective, purification rites.  My initial
reaction was to release them from the rather degrading and insulting
side of the affair so that they could resume normal activities.

Instead of interest in this purification fascination of mine,
however, they provided me with another worthwhile tactic which may
surpass the one I am so in the habit of trying.  BELIEF.  They not
only believe in the goodness of each human heart, but their belief in
God is such that they are able to interpret the experiences in their
life as signals to their own inner and outer actions.  For instance,
we all plan to improve ourselves eventually when the time is right,
but how many people would be alert to the signs and signals that
change is upon them, that the time is imminent.  We prefer to choose
our own time for convenience, economics, whatever, but if they are
faced with a dilemma like the one above, they believe so strongly in
this form of communication of spirit that they make all about them
believers and participators in belief, too.  Maybe this somewhat
impressive and somewhat qualified person hasn't had time to formalize
their beliefs into a system of practice or to even sort out what is
believable and what isn't.  In any event, even with some of the
beliefs in the right place, the measure of how we live doesn't always
embody what we believe to be true.  At heart, the guests may be going
where experience takes them, and by meeting my two doctor friends,
they certainly may have been faced with a new kind of faith, an
all-inclusive faith, one that includes communication from the divine,
one that is a living faith, that reaches into their very soul and
makes them think through what life is all about while doing the
actual living.

The lesson I'm afforded with is that Right Belief certainly comes
before any keen interest in purification, and I can only sensibly see
purification as the result of Right Belief.  In this kind of case,
the involvement of the character of the person as a spiritual being
is so obvious that purification would not only be the wrong route to
take, but would be largely ineffective in accomplishing any kind of
change within a person which would be lasting.  Belief and the
accompanying lifestyle are much more capable of catching the ray of
light and reflecting it in a purposeful manner and my own beliefs,
when held strongly enough and seen manifesting through all life,
might very well stimulate a similar process in someone else.

While I admit that their custom of visiting and socializing may be
looked down on somewhat by average Americans, I wish Islamics could
change our society instead of our society changing them.  Besides
when you know people only at the hospital so long (the wife wears the
scarf over her head signifying a spiritual life), you miss the
fun-loving, caring, side of an individual, which is evident in the
home, with the children, especially with the way they teach and
interact with the children, and performing the mundane tasks of home
life, and evident when she feels the freedom to be a friend, wife,
and mother casually at home.  We give our free time to the things
that are important to us: reaching out, facing that divine center
within and asking for its expression more fully in life.

This story was like an early morning hour dream and never really
played itself on the physical plane as far as I know.