Commentaries on Divine Thought

8/3/2019 Commentaries on Divine Thought

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Knowing Revealed Wisdom

by

James Friday

[email protected] written for Mr. x, Sheffield, England, 2011 James R. Friday, 2011


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CONFIDENTIAL:

This paper is for reading and discussion only and is not meant to

argue or pose problems for any person of belief or thought. Pleaseforgive any unfortunate stupidity on my part if I accidentally offend

anyone. I am not a trouble-maker.

Commentaries on Divine Thought

by

Jim Friday

(retired historian of science)



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Introduction

Some of the best conversations I have these days are with taxi drivers. The privacy of

the car seems to allow for freer comment, questions and discussion, especially among

the large community of Muslim cabbies in Sheffield. Many admit that they could

never have such free talk with their friends or relatives. And for some reason, I have

always attracted rather deep conversations. I dont make judgements on other

peoples beliefs; I merely discuss my own strange encounters with thoughts, feelings

and intuition.

I am Bipolar I the classic manic depressive. As a person whose sanity is under

daily test and whose judgement is never trustworthy, I have had to deal with doubt

and uncertainty all my adult life. Despite this, I have achieved a fair amount, and I

am still active (in a very minor way) in writing, art and thought. My mind is open to

both science and the divine, though I have no religion. I believe that religions divide

people, and we have enough divisive forces in our times.

I have had divine experiences times when, without trying, I have spoken with what

most people would call God. My earliest, in 1983, was entirely negative, as my own

mad, evil self reacted as if the Divine were an allergen. I lived for some years

afterwards convinced that I saw shaitan frequently. I had my own gremlin or bad

jinn who accompanied me everywhere and all the time, rubbishing everything I did

and destroying most goodness in me. I did terrible and shameful things; I was alwaysfrightened; I drove away all my friends; I tried to kill myself many times. I was often

hospitalised.

In 1998, I had my second Divine experience. God explained to me that the shaitan

and thejinn were all in my own head. They were merely an externalisation of internal

horror and fear. God did not tell me what to do, except to be nice to people and do

good things. So I did, and I slowly began to gain control of my perceptions. I still



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behaved badly, was still mad, but I felt a bit less desperate. Talking with God, even

being seen by God, brought a certain punctuated joy like a glow and a feeling of

internal pleasant laughter.

The last Divine encounter I had was in 2003. It was a full-blown revelation about my

relationship with this tiny universe and the vastness of the non-universe. It was an

explanation of the Divine, and it changed me completely. I cannot, and would not, try

to convey it to others. As with all true Divine meetings, the message was not for all

people, and certainly not for any particular type of people; it was only for me. But

there was nothing selfish about it. God does that the Divine only deals with

individuals (and anyone can access God); God does not have a religion.

One of my taxi drivers found me so unusual that he thought I was some holy man.

Im not, but I do care about the Divine. He loaned me a book:

Servanthood and What It Is, from the teachings of

Mawlana Sheikh Mohammed Nazim Al-Haqqani Al-Naqshbandi

1999-2000, representing a certain strand of Sufi Muslim thought.

I think he just wanted to share one of the sources of his own strong feelings about the

Divine, and for that I am very grateful. But it put me in a dilemma. Should I actually

comment on a book of writings with which I could profoundly disagree, or should I

try to seek the common ground between my knowledge and that of the Sheikh? I

decided to respect the intelligence of my taxi driver by doing both. I mean no

offence, and for those who would take offence, I merely remind them that I have long

walked with shaitan and that most people think I am mad. I apologise in advance if I

hurt any persons sensitivities. I mean no disrespect.

In the following commentaries, I use the term God as a neutral one. Other names have

applied to God and still do; names are of no interest to God, only to humans.

Jim Friday,

Sheffield, 2011



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Commentary 1

The Sheikh rightly approaches God through the idea of servanthood (notservitude).

This is similar to the western notion of humility, which is fundamental for a proper

consideration of God. Humility is very hard for humans. We have such a short time

in this world time in which we must learn, establish ourselves, compete in the very

human market-place for our livelihoods and status and ensure the well-being of our

offspring that we have very little time to let go. If you never let go of worldly

concerns, you can never show true humility or servanthood. Humility must also be

generous, or open-hearted and without meanness of spirit. You cannot just turn on

humility, though many hypocrites do just that making for nauseating displays of

phoney goodness.

I agree with the Sheikh. In my terms, I think that generous humility is the highest

honour for mankind. And you can only achieve it by letting go of your self in the face

of the Awe of God.

Generous humility can cure all human evils, since it allows us to talk with God who

will help us through the worst of things leaving purity in the most vile, hope in the

most despairing and joy in even the worst spiritual darkness.

Unlike the Sheikh, I do not believe that our respect for God is required. It would be

a limitation on God to think that God needs our respect. Do we need the respect of

each virus or bacterium in the universe? And as for Gods view of us, we cannot say

that God would respect or disrespect us. It just doesnt matter to God or to us.

God does not set tests for mankind. Anyone, whether good or evil to start with, who

can reach a genuine state of servanthood or generous humility will find themselves

with God.

Another point: animals are as sacred as we humans are. All life has a perspective on

the universe. All perspectives on the universe are sacred to God. Human souls are



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human constructs. So it is not the case that we must rise above the level of animals.

We and animals are on the same (low) level. It may be that my dog has a relationship

with the Divine, or my cat, or the flies on my window-ledge. Anyone who compares

the anatomy and functioning of any human with the anatomy and functions of animals

will know that we are another animal. Should intelligent people believe the old

stories about a separate creation for people?

Nothing in the universe has a purpose. There may be actions and functions, but

purpose, like the soul, is a human invention. It is an understandable attempt to

give meaning to the universe, but the universe (and the infinity beyond it) does not

have any intrinsic meaning.

Similarly, the mind is not a scientific word. It describes the collection of things the

brain does, and we know much more about the brain than the 10% mentioned by the

Sheikh, though I agree that there is still more to learn. I also agree that a part of our

brain deals with otherness the non-physical, part of which connects with the

presence of God. It is a feeling of someone looking over your shoulder, a

presence, a reality that we cannot understand. This is the root of our feelings about

what some call the supernatural.

As far as addressing God, it does not matter what words you use or what name you

give. Our mere words and names are like dust blowing against a dead leaf. Our

brains and hearts, when open to God, will know with whom they speak.



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Commentary 2

Though I have walked and dwelt with shaitan, I know from God that this devil is

not real. God made it to lead us to deeper thought, as God gave us visions of spirits,

angels,jinn and countless other images from the dawn of our human history. Weak

people will make others fear these images, whereas the true goal of humans is to

learn, through humility, to work together peacefully, with all our differences and

views. When humility becomes generous, then we can open our hearts to God. There

are no parallel, evil worlds, nor are there supernatural causes aside from God. This

whole area is illusion. There is no heaven, no hell but all people, all animals, all

plants, all creation, down to the tiniest possible piece of reality, has afterlife. Once

something exists in space and time, it can never un-exist in that space and time. God

connects all space and time, all past, present and future, and all points in all

dimensions (which are infinite).

God is much, much greater than our tiny universe, or even the infinity of space-time

beyond. The scale-difference is infinite, so our views of God are often confused.

God can and does see even the tiniest thing, however, but God is not offended by

anything we do or say or think; God doesnt care whether we believe or not. It is

not wrong to question Gods very existence, even; it is just pointless.

Nor does God demand obedience, and we should not imagine that God is like some

great human Master or Ruler. God is God the joining of all perspectives and all

configurations of all times and places. God is just very interested in us, especially

since we often demonstrate that we are very interested in God.

There is no unlimited freedom for humans, only for God. Humans struggle hard to

achieve any freedom at all. We are always fighting to have world freedom from

hunger, thirst, war, disease, and especially from fear. Lucky humans might win the

freedom to have children who outlive them. Very lucky humans might have the

freedom to own property. The luckiest humans have the freedom to think, and I am

deeply grateful for my luck in this respect.



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I disagree with the idea that what humans think is of no value. Thought is what

makes us people.

Thought gives us the tools to overcome the imposition of other peoples will upon us.

And God? God has no will, since God has no need of this very human form of force.

Since God is everything, plus a lot more ad infinitum, will would be a rather

childish feature. Though some aspects of God may be like a child, God is not

immature.

God does not care if you believe anything or not. Beliefin words or books is a much

weaker form of knowledge than openness of thought and observation. When I was

insane, I believed that I had to follow certain superstitions and rituals; when I was

well, I knew that these things were just silly. When religious beliefs are not based on

things which have been well-tested and proved to cause no harm to anyone, they can

often be just silly, too. If you approach God with your brain and heart, nothing you

hear will be silly. Avoid mere superstition and mere rituals they just become

boulders holding you down.

I very much agree with the Sheikh that, as we live life, we will be given insight, and

that if we learn to use our brains well, we will become closer to knowing God (though

our understanding will necessarily be tiny).

I also agree that asking God for things is a waste of time. Prayer (or contemplation)

should be internally pleasing, even quietly joyous. Try to say something new to God

some thought youve had, some observation youve made, something you dreamt --

and listen for the gentle laughter and feel the smile. God is very interested in us, and

only we can give the little perceptions that make God know humans. But God is not

like a master or king; God does not want us to be crushed with fear, any more than we

would wish a baby to be terrified. A free-thinking person, even one in chains, has no

master. God is not kind to would-be masters, because they have no humility.



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God does not ask for or give forgiveness. This is a human thing, and it is right that

forgiveness should be the first reaction of a thinking human to a wrong done. We can

only live together through continuous mutual forgiveness.



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Commentary 3

God does not care if you dont please God.

God is very interested to hear of new thoughts, observations, music, poetry, art and

science, but God is just as interested to learn of how much wringing-out the washer-

woman had to do in the morning. Equally, God does not care if an atheist does not

believe that God exists. God cannot be offended, since God is everything, plus an

infinite lot more. Any relationship with God is equal to any other relationship with

God. There are as many ways to God as there are particles in the universe. God is

not interested in us because we perform tricks; God is interested in us so that God can

see through our eyes, think through our brains and feel through our core being. We

are a part of God, and God is interested in all of Gods parts, as well as an infinity

more.

The job of a human is to have the humility to live peacefully with all other humans,

except those who refuse peace. So we should try to please other people. Cooperative

human action based on individual understanding and humility is the only way we

know to minimise the horrors we have to live through.

Anyone can become aware of God. It takes only calm reflection and thought to begin

to do so. I recommendEuclids Geometry as translated in the great Court of the

Caliphate in Baghdad long ago. Geometry shows you that you cannot picture

everything, that there is higher (but not "hidden") knowledge (and reality), and that

we humans are limited. For example, we see points, lines, planes, cubes , but

whats next? We look down on a childs toy cube; from what dimension are we

looking, and what do we look like from another dimension? As questions grow, so

does the brains capacity for answering them, though you have to go to higher

mathematics for that. Indian, Pakistani, Persian and Arab mathematicians achieved

such understanding centuries ago, leading to much of Western science and



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technology. These wonderful feats of human thinking and imagination are a joy

added to the joys of God, and they are very interesting to God. They show the human

perspective, a perspective that only humans can give.

I agree with the Sheikh that God always watches and knows all, because God is

everything, plus infinity. Whether God is interested in "all" or whether God judges

us, I cant say; nor can anyone else. The problem seems to relate to our human fears

of death, and what if anything lies beyond.

Heaven and Hell are mere human fantasies, created long before any religion, to

frighten people into behaving according to this or that holy mans rules. But there

really is eternal existence.

From a thinking point of view, and from my own experiences of revelation, I can

simply state that all things, all creatures, all humans once they exist cannot cease

to exist in the universe. For example, I was born on a certain day in 1946; if I die on a

certain day in, say, 2012,I will always exist in that time period 1946-2012. I can

never cease to exist unless the whole universe ends. But it isnt heaven or hell; its

just space-time.

I think the dead can more easily talk with God, and those years are eternal; there is an

infinite amount of time in them. In the same way, a still-born child always exists;

every micro-organism exists, every grain of sand and every drop of water always

exists. What comes after 2012, in my hypothetical case above, is a new perspective.

From my new dimension, I can see life all of it -- and sand and water flowing on

until times end, as I can look back and see everything and everyone forming from the

beginning of time. And I am overlooked by God, through an infinity of dimensions.

It is all fairly straightforward hyper-geometry.

What you do in this life is permanent. You cant change it later, though you may be

able to follow parallel universes to see alternative realities. But they wont be your

realities. By your mere existence, you have effects on everything and everyone else,



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however tiny. This knowledge comes from the mathematics of fractals, which shows

that even the smallest energy exchange will affect everything else eventually. The

universe is not empty; it is crowded with existence. As humans it is our duty to make

sure that we help to populate our part of reality with interest, thought, creativity and

human cooperation. God will appreciate this and give us more joy than we can

imagine.

God exists and is greater than all existence, but that does not mean that humans have

to concentrate only on God. To do so is to fail to avert the chaos which occurs when

good people do nothing. We are by nature social animals, and we have to try our

hardest to make a world where peace, justice and thought have the highest social

standing, which all can participate in. Though God may not judge us, mankind must

learn to judge itself, and we must strive for human perfection which also involves

the perfection of our relationships with nature, our Earth and our fellow creatures.

I agree with the Sheikh that we should all act spiritually and think so too. This is

what makes us want to cooperate instead of fighting.

I also agree that material things should be no persons goal, but that material things

can help humans to cooperate.

God will never cut off anyone merely because they fail to live up to some arbitrary

standard. Such a thing would limitGod, and God cannot be limited. There are no

rituals or other acts which please or displease God. God cannot be limited by our

own tiny morality.

God is not enough for humans. Humans have duties to work, care, think and

communicate so that the world of people can cooperate. God is not involved in these

details, though they interest God. But God does not interfere in our world; to think

that God does so would make us into puppets. What use would God have for

puppets? We are not puppets, and we must not act as if we are.



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No life is a waste. Whatever a person does, he or she should cooperate with other

humans. Those who dont, however the outlaws, the mad, the enfeebled, the

addicted, the mindless do not waste their lives. They will live them for all eternity,

just as a good person does. They provide a spur for other humans to show

compassion, innovation in justice, creative solutions to difficulties.



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Commentary 4

After death, the only difference we will see is that we will know we used to be limited

we saw through a glass darkly. Then we will know, and knowledge heals all in

our strange afterlife.

While we have life, we should pursue our physical side as well as our mental side.

Nowhere has God ever condemned attention to the physical, as the old Song of

Solomon shows. Physical life not only allows you to work, it also helps to keep you

healthy. Labour, exercise, work, sport should all be given high social status in our

world. So, too, should the private physicality of love, lust, sex, which when

decently practised (i.e., cooperatively and causing no harm to anyone, including

yourself) leads to much art, literature and other forms of beauty. God is very

interested in what seems beauteous to us. It is a new idea in the universe.

Much new knowledge is also found through the senses, and through the instruments

we have made to expand our view, as well as viewing the minute things of our

universe. This perspective is of great interest to God.

Foods and drinks which meet our basic hunger have also given us innovations which

have changed our world (e.g., the agricultural revolutions of ancient times). This has

allowed us to widen our tastes and smells increasing the newness we can create.

These new tastes and smells are interesting to God. The next time you pray, try to

describe the taste of some food which you like; you will be rewarded with simple joy.

Music and dance and all sorts of physicality are the sources of many inspirations. So,

make a joyful noise to God, and you will be similarly rewarded.



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We should enjoy the gifts of physicality. However, the physical must always be

constrained by strong respect for all others and cooperation in all things.

There is no hierarchy in the knowledge of God. No human is better than anyone else

in knowing God, nor do we have any "special status" for God. God is interested in

each of us as equally as God is interested in every grain of sand. No sand grain has

any special place.

The difficulties of this world -- the depression, addiction, misery, self-loathing,

loneliness, danger, criminality -- all come from nature, be it earthly or human. God

does not bring these ills, nor does God interfere to counteract them, unless you can be

diverted by joy forever, as some so-called holy men are. It is for humans to

cooperate to ease the pains of our world. We must not put the blame on God nor say

that God caused this or that.

God did not necessarily make the universe. Perhaps God did not always exist in our

universe. Perhaps God did not always exist. God was just as surprised as we were

when we discovered each other -- we were interested in God, so God was interested in

us. God knows each sand grain, certainly, but living like humans throws up new

stuff, new perspectives. God is an infinite reservoir of curiosity. God wants to know

all things, from all perspectives, forever. It is a true delight that God finds us

fascinating. But God does not make our rules; we make those ourselves, as nature

evolves its own laws.

I do not believe in "hidden knowledge". Knowledge comes from three, and only

three, sources -- the senses (which may be fooled), reason (which can be empty if you

wrongly set your categories) and intuition (revelation, as in pattern-recognition,

insights and divine conversation). None of these is "hidden", and "hidden

knowledge" would be offensive to God. If you want a vision of God, imagine the

shining of a torch into dark corners (not the one who bears the torch, but the actual act

of shining). God is Enlightenment; God hides nothing.



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I thoroughly studied the holy books in my youth. I have read the Abrahamic texts

(the Old Testament) and the Christian ones. I have read much about Buddhism and I

have read the Koran (in English translation, alas). I have also studied many other

religious texts over the years, scholarly and popular. This was before I had my

conversations with God (as Neale Donald Walsch might put it).

Since then, I have found that the best way I can reach out to God is the direct way. I

lose all pre-conceptions and try to think just of the torch shining in the dark corners.

Then I "walk" into its shining. If my thinking is good, I become confused -- God is

too big for any brain, so I take just a small portion of the shining beam. Then when I

have forgotten to expect it, I am caught by joy. That is God. Sometimes God "talks".

I can ask questions, but I may get no answer -- especially if the questions do not

interest God. No point in complaining. But the experience leaves me happier than I

was. God refreshes our lives. Praise be to God.


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Commentaries on Divine Thought