A short time ago, I read this passage on the website referenced below:

Allah says in the Quran: “And if any one puts his trust in Allah, sufficient is (Allah) for him. For Allah will surely accomplish his purpose. Verily, for all things has Allah appointed a due proportion” (Surah Al-Talaq, verses 3)

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “If only you relied on Allah a true reliance, He would provide sustenance for you just as He does the birds: They fly out in the morning empty and return in the afternoon with full stomachs. (Ahmad, An-Nasa’I, Ibn Majah, Al-Hakim and At-Tirmidhi)

Source: http://productivemuslim.com/18-sources-of-barakah/#ixzz3Y4K7hokW

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And it made me immediately think of Luke 12:27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” (NIV)

Every faith tradition, at least every one I have spent any time with, teaches us that we need only surrender to our God, just like nature demonstrates, and all will be well in our world. Consider these words found in the Gleanings
From the Writings of Baha’u’llah, Pages 308-312: gr8 : “Aid me, O my Lord, to surrender myself wholly to Thy Will, and to arise and serve Thee, for I cherish this earthly life for no other purpose than to compass the Tabernacle ...”

I honestly think that with just a little effort I could list examples from all the world’s legitimate spiritual traditions in which the message is abundantly clear: “Surrender of the ego’s will to the Will of the Divine is a necessity in order to dwell in peace.” Of course this last statement is my paraphrase of this Truth, but I think you get the idea.

The beauty about surrender is that there is nothing to be angry or upset about when we stop resisting “what is” in acquiescence to the desires of our Higher Power, whatever or whomever that may be. This is an exceptionally peaceful way of living ones life.

I will close, today, with these words from A Course in Miracles, Book 1, Chapter 8, IV: “The Gift of Freedom, 1) If God’s Will for you is complete peace and joy, unless you experience only this you must be refusing to acknowledge His Will. His Will does not vacillate, being changeless forever. When you are not at peace it can only be because you do not believe you are in Him. Yet He is All in all. His peace is complete, and you must be included in it. His laws govern you because they govern everything. You cannot exempt yourself from His laws, although you can disobey them. Yet if you do, and only if you do, you will feel lonely and helpless, because you are denying yourself everything.”

Simply do this: Stop resisting life. Stop fighting ‘what is.’ Move in the direction of your dreams. Share the gifts and talents, which fill you with joy, in every way you can imagine, but move like the stream which takes the path of least resistance. Flow with life, and peace shall be yours. If you practice a religion, surrender to your God every aspect of your existence. Life will, once again, become play and your days shall be filled with Joy, for peace is always accompanied by ecstatic joy.

Today my Secret will be short as I have a household project which needs my attention. Instead of today’s writing offering suggestions for living a life filled with peace, I am going to pose a question for your careful consideration.

Listen to these words from a speech which Alan Watts gave, entitled “From Time to Eternity:”
“We in the West think of the world as an artifact, something made by a grand technician, the Creator. But the Hindu’s do not think that the world is created at all. They look upon the world as a drama, not as created, but as acted and they see God as the supreme actor or what is called the cosmic self, playing all the parts. In other words, you and the birds and bees and flowers, rocks and the stars are all a big act being put on by God, who is pretending in order to amuse himself, through the many eternities, who is pretending that he is all of you. And this is not, after all an unreasonable idea because if I were to ask you very seriously to consider what you would do if you were God, you might find, I think, that being omniscient for always and always and always, and being in control of everything would be extremely boring. You would want a surprise. After all, what are we trying to do with our technology – we are trying to control the world. And if you will imagine the ultimate fulfillment of technology, when we really are in control of everything, and we have great panels of pushbuttons whereon the slightest touch will fulfill every wish, you will eventually arrange to have a special red button on it marked “surprise.” And you would touch that button and you will suddenly disappear from your normal consciousness, and find yourself in a situation very much like the one you’re in now, where you feel a little bit out of control of things, subject to surprises, and subject to the whims of a not altogether predictable universe.

My question, for today, is: “Do we really need the chaos, the uncertainty, that Watts speaks of, in order to life a full life? And, if we do need these surprises, in what ways do we ensure their existence in our lives?”

I am not offering any answers today, just questions. I think this concept is worth consideration. If I decide that I, in fact, do need the feeling that life is happening, beyond anything I can control, what keeps me struggling; what keeps me stuck in resistance to this understanding?

May you spend some time considering these questions and may the answers you find lend you some insight into the ways you choose to act and to react as a result of life’s many adventures.

Much Light, Love, and Laughter to you on this fine summer day.

Today we will complete our Examination of The Hsin Hsin Ming –  Verses on the Faith Mind by Chien-chih Seng-ts’an, the Third Zen Patriarch.

Lets jump right in:

When all things are seen equally

the timeless Self-essence is reached,

No comparisons or analogies are possible

in this causeless, relationless state.

Consider movement stationary

and the stationary in motion,

both movement and rest disappear.

When we truly know who and what we are, we realize that the Truth of our being is beyond words, beyond the human mind’s comprehension. Everything which is uniquely human, the concept of time, for example, disappears when we finally dwell in this incomparable Truth.

When such dualities cease to exist                  

Oneness itself cannot exist.

To this ultimate finality

no law or description applies.

For the unified mind in accord with the way  

all self-centered striving ceases.

Doubts and irresolutions vanish

and life in true faith is possible.

With a single stroke we are freed from bondage:

Nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.

The first part of this verse really stumped me. I read a half-dozen different interpretations of The Hsin Hsin Ming and only two of them alluded to this idea that in non-duality, Oneness would cease to exist. In carefully reading the other interpretations and drawing my own conclusions, it appears to me that what was meant is that Oneness, as understood by the human mind, ceases to exist, just as everything which can be understood by the human mind ceases to exist, once this state of complete surrender is reached. It is the only conclusion which makes sense to me, because certainly Chien-chih Seng-ts’an can not mean to imply that Oneness no longer exists to the individual who no longer follows the rules of dualism. I think we will see confirmation of this understanding in the next few verses:

All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,

with no exertion of the mind’s power.

Here thought, feeling,

knowledge and imagination are of no value.

Since any idea of Oneness could only possibly be understood, by the human mind, as an opposite of separateness, this idea would cease to exist once the mind, which could conceive of separateness, disappeared. In other words, there could be no idea of Oneness without an opposing idea of separateness. Since no such idea would exist in the individual who transcended beyond any and all ideas created by the human mind, it could not exist.

In this world of suchness

there is neither self nor other-than-self.               

To come directly into harmony with this reality

just say when doubt rises “not two”.

   ***

In this “not two” nothing is separate,

nothing is excluded.

No matter when or where,

enlightenment means entering this truth.

And this truth is beyond extension

or diminution in time and space:

In it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Enlightenment is simply movement, of the Self, beyond the restraints of the mind which maintains self-identity. It is a realization that the Truth of who and what we are cannot be understood by the same mind which entertains thought. An enlightened individual dwells in such an Awareness without the limitation of thought.

Emptiness here, emptiness there,                              

but the infinite universe

stands always before your eyes.

Infinitely large and infinitely small;     

no difference, for definitions have vanished

and no boundaries are seen.

***

So too with Being and non-Being.

Don’t waste time in doubts and arguments

That have nothing to do with this.

One thing, all things,

move among and intermingle without distinction.

***

To live in this realization

is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.

To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,

because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.

   ***

Words! Words!

The Way is beyond language,

for in it there is

no yesterday

no tomorrow

no today.

Perhaps this entire piece could be summarized in this last short verse. The Great Way is beyond words, thoughts, and certainly time, all of which are constructs of the human mind. Enlightenment cannot be defined; it can only be pointed towards. Even the individual who has obtained enlightenment finds definitions to be impossible to write about, to speak about or to teach. Suffice it to say, I have just spent five days attempting to use words to point toward Truth which is beyond words, but such is the challenge inherent to all writings of this nature.

I hope you have enjoyed this dissection of this one interpretation of this profound writing. It has been a labor of love and I know, as well as anyone could, that my thoughts are incomplete and fall well short of any type of conclusive definition.  I have posted one other translation of The Hsin Hsin Ming on my Secrets to Peace website and may post a few other translations just for fun.

Thank you for being here and feel free to share your wisdom with me and my readers about this or any of my other writings. I would also welcome suggestions about topics you would like to see me tackle.