Spiritual Letter 22 - Original Version About Spiritual Letter 22 Title: "What is Our Duty To Each Other", Date: July 19, 2002 Written by: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) Written to: Muhammad Sulaiman (Curtis Wahlgren) Home Page-Spiriutal Letters Go To Spiritual Letter 23 Letter 22: Expanded Version Library Navigation Tree Go To Spiritual Letter 21 Letter 22: Outline & Summary Go To Table of Contents - Spiritual Letter 22 Related Material Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu kulluhu. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon us all. My love you (anbu), my dearest loving brothers and sister. Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). 1. Introduction To Letter Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam alaykum, my dearest brother Muhammad Sulaiman (Curtis Wahlgren). My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen. Thank you for your letter. You have raised some interesting points, which we need to discuss a little. It is really a small thing, but something that can cause us a lot of confusion in our life. 2. What is Our Duty To Each Other - the presence of God in our lives, rather than the presence of us Everything that you shared in your letter, about trying to help someone move closer to the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) is fine. What was done is fine, and should be accepted with Al-hamdu lillah, all praise and praising be to God and to God alone, and Allahu Akbar, only God is Great. But how you reacted to what was done is not so fine, and potentially very dangerous, because you have taken on the responsibility for what was said, or not said, for what was done, or for what was not done, and that is very dangerous for your life, and for the lives around you. In this way, we start our fine, giving the responsibility to God, but then when things don't go the way we expect them to go, or want them to go, we immediately pull the responsibility back from God, and make it our responsibility. That is the problem with what was done, nothing else. Let it go. What was done was done, whether good or bad, whether correct or incorrect, from your perspective. Now let it alone, as Ok, because God is in charge, not you. and move onto what is next. It is a small thing. Stop making what you do in the world of such great significance, because its not, and instead get into what God is doing within you, within each of us, as of great significance, because it is. Stop trying to live in the world and instead learn to leave the world and enter your own heart, then what happens around you in the world will become a small thing, and what you begin to experience as happening within you will become the only thing that is happening in your life. Then you and the people around you in the world will become safe, them safe from you, and you safe from them. This is the only way to live successfully in the world, by doing our duty "here" from "there", by doing our duty "here" from within our very own heart, not "here" from "here", not "here" from our life of "separation and differences" that we are currently experiencing in our ignorance as existing "outside" of us. Remember Bawa teaches us that, "The only way to win the drama that is your current life is not to play." You are still playing the drama, trying to win, thinking that perhaps you have lost, but then jumping back into the game again, and again, to try to win this time. That is the problem, nothing else. Everything is fine, everything is always fine, because God is in charge, not you, not me, and not anyone else. Remember, Bawa teaches us that, "Our entire life and everything that happens to us is conducted by Allah, not by us. He is the One who carries out everything. He is responsible for the cause and the effect." So our duty to each other is to let God be present in our lives, not us, so God can do what God does, which is the qualities and actions of God, not the qualities and actions of us, of "us" in the state of "separation from" God, of "separation from" each other, and of "separation from" the Creation of God within us. This is our only duty to each other at all times, the presence of God instead of the presence of us, so that the lives of the Creation of God within us can be raised properly by God within us, not by us. The lives of the Creation of God that God has personally and lovingly placed within each of us, but in our current state of "separation and differences" that we currently see and experience as living in front of us, in the world that we in our ignorance see as existing "outside" of us. This is our real work, to join in partnership with God within us, not anything else, not anything that we in our ignorance may think is our duty or our responsibility in the world. Remember Bawa teaches us, "Never have the thought that there is something that you have to do." In this way, if you have the thought that something needs to be done, then hand the thought to God with the intention that God do it, and be done with it, and then accept whatever happens as but God completing that intention within you, always correctly and properly, no matter what you may experience or believe is the consequence of that intention, because all that we ever see in our current state is but a dream that is always happening "outside" of us, and not what is really happening within us. And how do we establish the presence of God in our life. That is the easy part for the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with each of Us), for the Children of God for this age, which is everyone living at this time, just say the word "Bawa", or "Bawa Muhaiyaddeen", or "Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen" (may God be pleased with Him), before you say or do anything, inviting His Holiness to come out of His place of clarity and purity within us, within our very own heart, which is where He lives within us, and come into our mind and desire, which is where we still live within us, and complete God's intention within us. Remember Bawa teaches us, "If you are there God is not there, and if God is there you are not there." So the real work in our life is not to be there, by making God be there, by "intending as God intends", and by calling forth the presence of God in your life, to complete God's intention in our life, and for this age, the name of God is "Bawa". It is just this simple. May we both do it like this in our lives. Then we will have peace, and all of the lives around us will find peace within our peace. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. 3. What Has Bawa Done To Us - He has offered to liberate our soul You have raised the question of what Bawa has done to us while He was physically with us in the world, and you offer the suggestion that it was Love, not Wisdom, that He gave us, because we were not ready for Wisdom, but may be at a later time. Specifically you suggested, "The thought was that Bawa never spoke wisdom to us while He was here in the body because He knew we were not ready for it. The thought was that all He spoke to us was love because that was the way to capture us. Then perhaps later we would be ready to learn wisdom." My dearest loving brother Muhammad Sulaiman, on the one hand you have made us too important, and on the other hand you have not made us important enough. Let us explain. One day in the room Bawa looked at us and said, "I have not come for you, I have come for your soul, to awaken the wisdom surrounding your soul, so the wisdom surrounding the soul can do battle with the enemy of the soul." When this child heard this, I immediately looked at Bawa and said, "Bawa, who is the enemy of my soul?". And Bawa immediately look right back at this child and said, "You are!" This is the great dilemma of our life, we are both what has to leave and what has to come forward in our life, both what is wrong with us and at the same time what is right with us, both what God has discarded from us and what God has placed within us as His secret or Sirr, as His Essence or Dhat, as His Qutb or Action, as His Wilayat or Power, and as His Sifat or Form. What a wonder is this God of ours. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Another day this child was riding His bicycle to the Fellowship house in Philadelphia when Bawa said in my heart, "Tell the children to stop fighting with the Shaikh for their soul." Such is the choice we each have to make, to either join with our Shaikh, with our wisdom, against the enemy of our soul, or join with the enemy of our soul against our Shaikh, against the wisdom within us. And the enemy of the soul is "us" in the state of "separation and differences", is us in the state of "separation from" God, of "separation from" each other, and of "separation from" the Creation of God, which God has so lovingly placed within each of us. Such is our choice, our only choice, as there is no other option available, though we can certainly come up with many more, all of which are truly invalid, all of which are merely variations of joining with the enemy of the soul against our wisdom, against our direct connection to God within us, so we can sin, so we can continue to sin, so we can continue to live a life of "separation and differences" in the world that we currently experience as existing "outside" of us. Remember, Bawa teaches us that, "Jesus (peace be upon Him) didn't die on a cross outside of us for our sins, He died within each of us, and continues to die within each of us with each breath, on the cross of our elemental body, so we can sin." And what is keeping Jesus (peace be upon Him) within us, which is the life of our soul within us, nailed to the cross of our elemental body, are the 5 nails within us, the 5 nails of desire for earth, desire for fire, desire for water, desire for air, and desire for ether, which only the wisdom within us can remove, and our wisdom in this age is the life and teaching of our Shaikh, of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) within us, that God has personally placed within each of us, within each of the Children of God for this age, which is all of us living in this age. The choice is ours. The choice is always ours, not God's, because God has already made His choice, and He chose "Oneness with" us. Now we must choose "Oneness with" Him, not "separation from" Him, which is how we are currently living. And remember "no choice" is still a choice, "no choice" is the choice of "separation from" God. Know this now my dearest loving brother. May we both know this now, and make the choice of "Oneness with" God. In this way, "what Bawa has done for us" is to offer us the liberation of our soul, and He has done that with all that God has within Him, which includes both Love and Wisdom, which includes the grace, the wisdom, and the ilm or divine knowledge of God, which includes the 124,000 prophets of God, which is the look of God, the 6,666 verses of the Holy Qur'an, which is the word of God, and the 99 beautiful names of God, which is the understanding of God, and all of everything else that is of God. My love you (anbu) my dearest loving brother Muhammad Sulaiman. We are very good Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with each of Us). We must never forget this truth of our lives, and knowing this we must join with God in each thing that He puts in front of us, and immediately put it in front of Him, we must take everything that God puts in our hands and immediately put it into His hands. This is the path. This is the way. By joining in partnership with God within us, through the gift of God for our age, which for our age is the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) within us, that God has personally and lovingly placed within each of us living in this age, not trying to live in the world well, or better, or more intelligent, or more wise, or more wealthy, or more anything, or less selfish, or less angry, or less anything. All of this "more" and "less" stuff just keeps us "separate from" God, and "separate from" each other, and "separate from" the Creation of God within us. Please share this letter with your friend, who God put in front of you for His purpose, not for your purpose, not for my purpose, and not for the purpose of your friend, but to move forward what God is doing within each of us, not what we think we are doing in the world that we see as existing "outside" of us. Remember, in truth we are all One, and we find our Oneness within the heart of God for our age, and for this age that is within the heart of our Shaikh, of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), the gift of God for this age, for this age of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), for the Children of God for this age, which is all of us living in this age. Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Finally, please share this letter with your wife and family, and with all of our brothers and sisters. It is very important. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). End of Spiritual Letter 22 - original version - ..................... or Go To Spiritual Letter 22: Table of Contents Expanded Version Outline & Summary Version Related Material or ( a top-down version of the Library Home Page) (a bottom-up version of the Library Home Page) |
This page was last updated on: July 24, 2002
