In order to create an internal connection with haqq, with reality, we must be sincere in a profound way because without sincerity we are skirting the surface of reality, because without sincerity, we’re not really looking to make that connection, we’re just playing at making that connection.
And what is it that stops us from being sincere? What is it that holds us back from being able to dive in? The answer, quite simply, is the way we have prioritized our existence and what we consider of import in this world.
Maya, illusion, holds a three-headed staff, and the heads of that staff are: gold, women and earth. And, it is those things that separate us from sincerity and separate us from haqq. As long as we have a connection to gold, women and earth, we cannot, simultaneously have a connection to haqq, to reality, to Allah. They’re separate.
What happens is, if your sincerity is with wealth, then wealth becomes your God, and wealth can’t be your God, and Allah be your God simultaneously. If power is your intention, then power becomes your God, and Allah can’t be your God while power is your God. I can go on and on naming different attachments that we have in the world of illusion. But somehow, in order for real sincerity to form within us we have to dissuade, be rid of, be free of; the impact and effect of the intentions that deal with the illusory world.
So, we either are attached to what we see in this illusory space, or we’ve learned to not believe in it, not give our energy to it, not be influenced by it, not react to it, but instead, change our allegiance to Allah.
There is a word in the English language: “cleave”. “And ye shall cleave unto your Lord.” And that means to be very attached, strongly to your Lord. Well, to be able to make that attachment, you have to be able to break the attachments that stop you from making that attachment. You have to stop giving credence to the things that stop you from making that attachment.
It’s not such an easy thing because in this world, we all think that we have to work very hard at accomplishing the things we want to accomplish in the world, and we have a whole list of those kinds of things that we think we need. We have to be able to be educated, we have to get a job, we have to make money, we have to provide housing: “We, we, we”.
To come to the conclusion that we aren’t the ones who do it, but Allah is the one who does it, and that our role in this is just to perform the duty that brings us near those things, and then Allah decides whether they occur or not, is a break with the way we have been taught. We have been taught that it is our responsibility to get things done and that it is up to us whether we are successful or not, and it is through our doing that we make things occur.
As one ages, and is involved in more and more worldly endeavors, one begins to realize that the things that happen in the world are not truly in our hands. And once we begin to believe that we are the actors and we are the doers, there is this shift in our belief system. No longer do we believe God does it, we believe we did it. And who are the ones who believe this the strongest? The ones who are the most successful. Because it’s easy to make a separation between success and non-success, and since success is given such honors in the world, we take on those honors and then we fall victim to pride and to arrogance because we’ve done this, we’ve accomplished this.
If we can stay within the framework of, “Allah has done this, and I am the fortunate recipient of Allah’s grace, and mercy, and abundance.” Then attitudes shift, and the way and who we are, shifts. We can become small with an attitude that we are the beneficiary of Allah’s abundance. We can’t become small with an attitude that, “I did this, and whatever abundance has come my way is through my own work and my own effort.”
It’s a hard one to shake because we are directed through the Hadith and through the Quran to put forth effort, and we are told that Allah loves effort. Yet, we also have to understand simultaneously, that it’s not effort alone that accomplishes these things. It’s God’s will that accomplishes these things…
