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wisdomrays · 1 year ago

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NAFS (The Soul): Part 2

Indeed, the soul is also of great importance for humans to maintain a metaphysical tension. It (the soul) is like a mainspring allowing them to rise from being only potentially human to true humanity. This continuously keeps them busy, without allowing them to have a rest. It ceaselessly sharpens the resolution of people to struggle against its negative characteristics, and causes those who have brains to frequently beat their brains out. When, finally, human nature is matured to the degree intended for its creation, the soul becomes a slave of the king of human existence—the heart—and adopts an attitude that is capable of feeling the need to warn it from time to time, saying, "Do not be proud, O my king! There is God, Who is greater than you!" You can call the soul which has reached this point of maturity after having gone through the filters of purification "the soul refined and grown in purity," as stated in the following verses: And (by) the human soul and that (All-Knowing, All-Powerful, and All-Wise One) Who has formed it to perfection; and Who has inspired it with the conscience of what is wrong and bad for it, and what is right and good for it. He is indeed prosperous who has grown it in purity (91: 7-9).

Whatever you call it, the purified soul is the double of the spirit, continuously trying to keep away from evil, and always advancing toward good until it finally comes to a point where it abandons its basic mission—that is, being a powerful mechanism with negative aspects for human self- purification and perfection—to the nerves, extreme sensitivity, and other human temperaments. It begins to spend the remaining part of its life in the company and service of the spirit.

We have tried to explain in detail the stages of this journeying of the soul, which the Sufis experience in their spiritual journeying, under the titles of the Carnal, Evil-Commanding Soul, the Self-Condemning or Self-Accusing Soul, the Soul Receiving Inspiration, the Soul at Rest, the Soul Well-Pleased (with God, with however God treats it), the Soul Pleasing (to God), and the Perfected Soul, or the Purified or Innocent Soul. As the soul passes through these stages upward, the veils of darkness that veil human nature are torn apart one after the other. According to the degree of each, the rays of spirituality begin to shine on all sides of a human being, and an initiate or traveler thinks that they are floating in the elevated horizons of the inner, immaterial dimensions of existence.

Each of the stages mentioned above has a gift, pleasure, horizon, manner of expressiveness, and perception particular to itself. Sometimes the guide tells initiates at which stage they are, and sometimes sensitive, self-supervising initiates who are aware of themselves and lend an ear to the voice of their spirits are informed of their stage in a special way.

Even though the soul is mainly characterized by always commanding evil, when it undergoes an effective process of purification and is directed to obedience to its Lord, it can be transformed into a source of bright light, like the full moon receiving light from the sun. If, on the other hand, it is not purified, the fog and smoke of the lusts invade its horizon, and it suffers corruption under the influence of carnal thoughts and considerations, becoming so blind as not to be able to see into the transcendent dimension of existence. Then, the soul cannot continue its companionship with the spirit and becomes a marsh of evil in human nature, in conformity with the aspects of its nature, which is open to evil. Making use of certain weak spots in its owner, the soul attacks him from many fronts, and—may God preserve us—can knock him down with a single blow. The continuous request for forgiveness from God and prayer are important defenses against such attacks; the disciplines which have an important place in the spiritual journeying are a petition presented for Divine protection, and following the way of God's Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, strictly offers a reliable refuge. Further, restricting our consumption to absolutely essential human needs, silencing the soul by being content with legitimate pleasures, and incessantly warning the soul against illicit desires and appetites form another way of keeping it under strict control.

Basically, the soul is one of the faculties with which humans have been equipped. Provided that humans employ these faculties, which have been entrusted to them in their creation, in the direction established by their Creator, they greatly add to their value. For example, the eyes are windows for seeing things within their scope of sight; the ears are receptors and transmitters that receive and conduct sounds and voices at certain wavelengths to the brain; the tongue is an inspector of innumerable tastes, and the translator of thoughts and feelings. If the eyes are used to see things which are religiously permissible to observe, if the ears are kept closed to harmful, evil sounds and voices while transmitting the good ones, and if the tongue stirs up feelings of reflection on and thankfulness to the numberless bounties bestowed by God Almighty, and also acts in conformity with the Divine purpose for its creation as a means of speech—then individually and collectively these organs become wings for human beings to rise to human perfection. But if, on the contrary, the eyes busy themselves with those things that the Religion condemns as harmful or ugly, thus abandoning themselves to contamination; if the ears work like a telephone exchange for vices, receiving and transmitting that which is religiously forbidden; and if the tongue lives in attachment to the tastes it recognizes, in oblivion of its duty of inspection, and speaks without recognizing any criteria—then the wings of the heart are broken, and the spirit becomes as if nitric acid were poured into its eyes.

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principleofplenitude · 4 years ago

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Then he sank deeper and deeper into thought. He felt that the light, cloudless festival of love had gone, that love was, indeed, becoming a duty, that it was mingling with his life as a whole, forming part of its everyday functions, and gradually losing its rainbow colouring. Perhaps that morning he had seen its last rosy ray and henceforth it would no longer shine brilliantly, but warm his life imperceptibly; life would swallow it up and love would be its mainspring, powerful but hidden. All its expressions would now be so simple, so ordinary. Poetry was over and stern history was beginning...

Ivan Goncharov, from Oblomov (1859)

#oblomov #quote #quotes #ivan goncharov #love #in love

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tawakkull · 4 years ago

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Spirituality in islam: Nafs (The Soul)

The soul (an-nafs) is a substance that is essentially free of matter but which is in close connection with it in its acts and functions; it is the origin or essence of something or its self. There have been those who have used it in the sense of the spirit or the heart or the body, or in the sense of lusts or the mechanism through which Satan penetrates humans, or even in the sense of reason. In religious terminology, an-nafs, or the soul, is the origin or center of certain states or faculties such as lusts, anger, ill will, grudge, hatred, and irritation, and it is a transformable, reformable, and refinable mechanism connected to human corporeality.

The soul has a constant, experienced connection between the body and the spirit. It is through this connection that humans receive, recognize, and distinguish their outer and inner sense-perceptions and go beyond the corporeal realm into metaphysical worlds. It is again through this connection that any state, experience or gift that occurs in the spirit leaves its imprint upon the body and provokes it to move in a certain direction. Just as every influence on the spirit makes itself felt on the body, so too every state of and effect on the body shows itself on the horizon of the spirit.

For example, thinking of something which is nauseating may produce an urge to vomit. Certain events which touch the spirit and rouse distress may cause physical ailments that we call psychosomatic illnesses. The reaction that the sense of taste shows at the mention of something sweet or sour or bitter is also this same sort of impression. In short, there is a continuous interactive relationship between the spirit and the body. Similarly, evil conceptions and disagreeable manners and actions impress not only the body but also the spirit, while agreeable thoughts and considerations, and the plans and projects that are undertaken to please God Almighty, and the mentioning of the Divine Being by the heart and tongue all produce expansion and exhilaration in the spirit. It frequently occurs that even if we are not aware of it, this state gains some sort of luminosity and surrounds the entire horizon of the spirit by means of the spiritual intellect. It rouses the “secret” and begins to manifest itself in the metaphysical depths of human existence in different modes. Also, whenever the body expresses its submission to the Ultimate Truth through the acts of worship and obedience and lives in accordance with the purpose of its existence, deepening in belief through worship or religious acts and crowning its worship with excellence and awareness of God’s omnipresence, the breezes of great happiness and joy begin to blow in the spirit. Hope and expectation stir up eagerness for God, the Ultimate Truth, and the acts leading to consciousness and awe of God produce feelings of respect, self-possession, and wakefulness in the spirit. As a result, like the seas vaporizing to rise and form the clouds, and the clouds raining on the earth, and rains forming rivers and torrents that flow into the sea, there appear continuous currents between the body and the spirit.

Amidst such mutual influences between the spirit and the body, it is possible for humans either to fall into the lowest of the low as a result of being overcome by their corporeality, or to rise to human perfection and the highest of the high by God’s help and permission, through acting around the orbit of Islamic thought, belief, and awareness. Thus, what we call “spiritual journeying” is one of the significant ways of advancing toward and reaching the Ultimate Truth, and being a perfect human being through this tide.

All these tides, continuous mutual influences and flows, and journeys occur on the steed or ship or spacecraft of the human soul. The compass of this apparently abased vessel is belief, the path or direction it must follow is Islam, and its captain or guide is the Prophet Muhammad, the Master of creation, upon him be peace and blessings, and the dynamics to advance along this path are provided by reflection and remembrance of God. However, there are some apparently harmful characteristics incorporated in the nature of this steed for certain purposes. If the soul has not been purified of these characteristics and refined, it is inevitable that the meanings, conceptions, pieces of information, knowledge of God, and remembrances, and reflections that travel between the spirit and the soul suffer from some turbulence and even serious falls along the way. Such turbulence and falls should not be viewed as occurrences independent of certain other factors that originate in humans themselves. Sometimes sins, heedlessness, and carelessness cause them; sometimes temporary “whirlpools of contraction" or "spasms” interfere with the working of the rudder or the compass; sometimes direction is lost due to certain carnal amusements and relaxations; and sometimes they happen because of our unawareness that certain actions are contrary to the manner of traveling along the way, and our feeling proud of the good deeds done. If travelers view such things as viruses that can cause the demise of the spirit, and remain distant from them, and if they display serious endeavors to be purified of them under the shower of repentance, penitence, and contrition when accidentally exposed to them, then God will replace their evil deeds with virtuous ones(25: 70). That is, He will change their faculties which enable evil deeds into enablers of virtuous deeds.

Despite its satanic characteristics such as haughtiness, arrogance, egotism, jealousy, injustice, and enmity, all of which break the wings of the spirit, the soul has a fundamental potential so important and valuable that it raises it to companionship of the spirit. Provided it grasps that its essential function, as required by its position, is to become a unit of measurement to recognize God—thereby abandoning arrogance and the accompanying self-assertive, self-aggrandizing claims; so long as it turns to God in worship and prayer and seeks refuge in Him from the potential evils in its nature, following the heart and the spirit on the way to reaching God, then the soul can advance to the highest of the high on the way together with its companions, namely the heart and the spirit.

Indeed, the soul is also of great importance for humans to maintain a metaphysical tension. It (the soul) is like a mainspring allowing them to rise from being only potentially human to true humanity. This continuously keeps them busy, without allowing them to have a rest. It ceaselessly sharpens the resolution of people to struggle against its negative characteristics, and causes those who have brains to frequently beat their brains out. When, finally, human nature is matured to the degree intended for its creation, the soul becomes a slave of the king of human existence—the heart—and adopts an attitude that is capable of feeling the need to warn it from time to time, saying, “Do not be proud, O my king! There is God, Who is greater than you!” You can call the soul which has reached this point of maturity after having gone through the filters of purification “the soul refined and grown in purity,” as stated in the following verses: And (by) the human soul and that (All-Knowing, All-Powerful, and All-Wise One) Who has formed it to perfection; and Who has inspired it with the conscience of what is wrong and bad for it, and what is right and good for it. He is indeed prosperous who has grown it in purity(91: 7-9).

Even though the soul is mainly characterized by always commanding evil, when it undergoes an effective process of purification and is directed to obedience to its Lord, it can be transformed into a source of bright light, like the full moon receiving light from the sun. If, on the other hand, it is not purified, the fog and smoke of the lusts invade its horizon, and it suffers corruption under the influence of carnal thoughts and considerations, becoming so blind as not to be able to see into the transcendent dimension of existence. Then, the soul cannot continue its companionship with the spirit and becomes a marsh of evil in human nature, in conformity with the aspects of its nature, which is open to evil. Making use of certain weak spots in its owner, the soul attacks him from many fronts, and—may God preserve us—can knock him down with a single blow. The continuous request for forgiveness from God and prayer are important defenses against such attacks; the disciplines which have an important place in the spiritual journeying are a petition presented for Divine protection, and following the way of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, strictly offers a reliable refuge. Further, restricting our consumption to absolutely essential human needs, silencing the soul by being content with legitimate pleasures, and incessantly warning the soul against illicit desires and appetites form another way of keeping it under strict control.

* * *

The soul is no different from the faculties mentioned above with respect to its duties and its fulfilling or not fulfilling them properly. If the soul is purified and preserved against working like a telephone exchange for Satan, then while being, by its primordial nature, a reptile- like creature crawling on the ground, it becomes like a dove flying over our heads, as if it has undergone a mysterious metamorphosis, and it is praised by the words of God Almighty: I swear by the self-accusing soul (75: 2). When it takes two steps further, it is honored with the breezes of appreciation: O, you soul at rest! Return to your Lord, wellpleased (with Him and His treatment of you), and well-pleasing to Him (89: 27-28), and establishes itself comfortably next to the spirit.

Thus, this hard-natured substance, more harmful than snakes and scorpions, which is described by the Divine statement as Surely the carnal, evil-commanding soul always and insistently commands evil (12: 53)—by asking God for forgiveness in awareness of its sins, by avoiding its faults due to repugnance, by trying to keep distant from unbelief, hypocrisy, vice, and transgression, by shuddering with fear that the favors coming when it is in an agreeable state may be a means of perdition, and, in a further attempt, by finding its true purification through always seeing itself as impure, this primordially hard-natured, evil-commanding substance can rise to great heights and approach the heavenly beings. The soul at this level, which philosophers call “the speaking self or soul,” and which the Qur'an describes as “the soul at rest,” has become such an earthly being able to rise to the horizon of the heart and the spirit and possessing angelic manners, that it begins to take pleasure in religious responsibilities, which previously it did not like and which were difficult for it to fulfill. The things which it found bitter up until this point have become sweet, and in parallel with its attaining this station, the cloud of dust and smoke over the spiritual intellect and the secret that was produced by corporeality has been completely removed. Things and events appear differently to its view, and time and again it experiences raptures with the call to Him it hears from every thing and event, thinking itself to be among the pure spirit beings in great joy.

A time comes when reason becomes like the heart, and its products take on the color of those of the spiritual intellect. An initiate with such a level of reason feels stunned by awe of God and advances full of the feeling of modesty; he sometimes becomes exhilarated with the showers of Divine gifts. The heart beats “God! God!”, combining this with the breaths of reason that utter, “O the All- Forgiving! O the All-Veiling (of His servants’ sins and shortcomings)!” The initiates at this level of reason hear the whole of creation mentioning God by His Names, and their breaths resound with Him. While, on the one hand, signals come to them from the horizon of the spiritual intellect, arousing them to the worlds beyond, on the other hand they feel great worry that the gifts may be interrupted and unexpected obstacles may come in between them and the Source of these gifts, causing them to turn to Him more frequently and more intimately, admitting that whatever good visits them is essentially from Him.

The zeal they feel is the zeal of the heart, and the sorrows they suffer are the sorrows of the sincerely penitent ones. While looking at their past with repugnance, they are revived and refreshed with the hope of a brighter future and the hope that they will be able to compensate for their past defects with future opportunities. They try to fill their past voids with heartfelt sighs and groans and with reflection and remembrance. While others are busy with a life of ease, thinking that they have already lived so before, they always try to do whatever they must on the way to God.

Such people always feel themselves to be in the presence of the Lord. They stand before Him in awe, bow before Him in utmost modesty, prostrate before Him with utmost humility, and sit before Him in self-supervision. They advance with utmost awe and care, and try to fulfill what is required by having reason in the company of the heart. They shudder with awe while thinking of Him, they breathe His mercy with reflection and remembrance of Him; they focus their observations on deepening their knowledge of Him with new discoveries, and their eyes twinkle with eagerness for reunion with the All-Beloved. They do not forget their defects, which are incompatible with servanthood to God, seeing them as precipices between them and their Lord; they entreat Him, saying, “Do not abandon me to myself, even for the blink of an eye!”

Now they have distanced themselves from Satan, but they also reinforce the barriers they have put before Satan’s inlets into their heart and continue to erect new ones. Whenever they remember Satan, they feel as if they are in the valley of bandits, and they always seek refuge in God, saying, “I seek refuge in You from the promptings and provocations of the satans; I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they be present with me!” (23: 97–98).

They never rely on themselves, their labor, or their deeds; they do not approve of their acts, and treat them with disdain. They are always troubled and shake like a tree in a storm with the worry that hypocrisy and expectation of others’ acceptance and appreciation have found, and do find, a way into even their best deeds. These considerations follow them ceaselessly along the way, until finally the soul is welcomed with the compliments, “O you soul at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with Him and His treatment of you), and well-pleasing to Him! Enter, then, among My servants (fully content with servanthood to Me)! And enter My Paradise!” (89: 27–30); while those who have dropped halfway groan with deep regrets, “Would that I had forwarded (some good deeds) for my life (to come)!” (89: 24). They are honored with surprising bounties of the Hereafter, and favored with many different gifts from the horizon of the heart.

They are treated thus because they have lived a life of austerity without being deceived by worldly pleasures, and they have advanced toward the horizon of the peace of the heart, spiritual contentment, and resignation to God’s treatment of them. They felt obliged to advance so, conscious of their essential impotence and poverty and their absolute need of Him. They have advanced and been favored with His special wealth. They have heard many things which other ears could not hear, and seen many things which other eyes could not see; they have experienced how the most honored of creatures—humanity—was created from wet clay, how matter rose almost to the level of the spirit, and how the evil-commanding soul developed into the soul at rest. With the pleasureof watching the smiling face of their fate, they have proceeded beyond space within space and toward the All-Beloved within corporeality, to the point where the invisible becomes visible.

The exacting people of truth and wisdom have seen the soul as we have so far tried to explain. If the Master of all domains had willed it to be so, there is none who could have willed or done otherwise. If He has dressed non- existence in the array of existence, why then should we wonder at “nothing” being “everything”? If He wills, He can make a drop into a sea, a minute particle into the sun, manifest thousands of instances of existence in non- existence, and bestow kingdoms upon those who initially have no trace of one.

O my God! Surely I ask You for a soul content with You, believing in meeting You, resigned to Your decrees, and content with Your bounties. And bestow blessings and peace on the most perfect and complete of the spirits, who is our master Muhammad, and Your beloved, and on His Family and Companions, whom You love!

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xgeronimowrks · 6 years ago

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Art and Magic

(extracts from "Ancient Art and Ritual" book by Jane Harrison, 1913)

Art and ritual, it is quite true, have diverged today. Yet these two divergent developments have a common root, and neither can be understood without the other. It is at the outset one and the same impulse that sends a man to church and to the theatre.

Ancient Greece theater practices were very different from modern culture both in terms of meaning and scheduling of performances. The theatre at Athens is not open night by night, nor even day by day. Dramatic performances take place only at certain high festivals of Dionysos in winter and spring. It is, again, as though the modern theatre was open only at the festivals of the Epiphany and of Easter. Our modern, at least our Protestant, custom is in direct contrast. We tend on great religious festivals rather to close than to open our theatres. Another point of contrast is in the time allotted to the performance. We give to the theatre our after- dinner hours, when work is done, or at best a couple of hours in the afternoon. The theatre is for us a recreation. The Greek theatre opened at sunrise, and the whole day was consecrated to high and strenuous religious attention. During the five or six days of the great Dionysia, the whole city was in a state of unwonted sanctity, under a taboo. To distrain a debtor was illegal; any personal assault, however trifling, was sacrilege.

Ancient art and ritual are not only closely connected, not only do they mutually explain and illustrate each other, but they actually arise out of a common human impulse.

Art, Plato tells us in a famous passage of the Republic, is imitation. The artist imitates natural objects, which are themselves in his philosophy but copies of higher realities. All the artist can do is to make a copy of a copy, to hold up a mirror to Nature in which "are reflected sun and heavens and earth and man,"anything and everything. Never did a statement so false, so wrong-headed, contain so much suggestion of truth. But first its falsehood must be grasped, and this is the more important as Plato's misconception in modified form lives on today. A painter not long ago thus defined his own art: "The art of painting is the art of imitating solid objects upon a flat surface by means of pigments." A sorry life - work! Few people today, perhaps, regard art as the close and realistic copy of Nature; photography has at least scotched, if not slain, that error; but many people still regard art as a sort of improvement on or an "idealization" of Nature. It is the part of the artist, they think, to take suggestions and materials from Nature, and from these to build up, as it were, a revised version. It is only by studying those rudimentary forms of art that are closely akin to ritual that we come to see how utterly wrong-headed is this conception.

Take the representations of Osiris, for example - the mummy rising bit by bit from his bier. Can anyone maintain that art is here a copy or imitation of reality? However "realistic" the painting, it represents a thing imagined not actual. There never was any such person as Osiris, and if there had been, he would certainly never, once mummified, have risen from his tomb. There is no question of fact, and the copy of fact, in the matter. Moreover, had there been, why should anyone desire to make a copy of natural fact? The whole "imitation" theory, to which, and to the element of truth it contains, errs, in fact, through supplying no adequate motive for widespread human energy. It is probably this lack of motive that has led other theorizes to adopt the view that art is idealization. Man with pardonable optimism desires, it is thought, to improve on Nature.

Among the Huichol Indians, if the people fear a drought from the extreme heat of the sun, they take a clay disk, and on one side of it they paint the "face" of Father Sun, a circular space surrounded by rays of red and blue and yellow which are called his "arrows," for the Huichol sun, like Ph?bus Apollo, has arrows for rays. On the reverse side, they will paint the progress of the sun through the four quarters of the sky. The journey is symbolized by a large cross - like figure with a central circle for midday. Round the edge are beehive-shaped mounds; these represent the hills of earth. The red and yellow dots that surround the hills are cornfields. The crosses on the hills are signs of wealth and money. On some of the disks birds and scorpions are painted, and on one are curving lines which mean rain. These disks are deposited on the altar of the god - house and left, and then all is well. The intention might be to us obscure, but a Huichol Indian would read it thus: "Father Sun with his broad shield (or 'face') and his arrows rises in the east, bringing money and wealth to the Huichols. His heat and the light from his rays make the corn to grow, but he is asked not to interfere with the clouds that are gathering on the hills."

Now is this art or ritual? It is both. It's a presentation of the strong inner desire, it's a sculptured prayer.

Ritual then involves imitation; but does not arise out of it. It desires to recreate an emotion, not to reproduce an object. A rite is, indeed, a sort of stereotyped action, not really practical, but yet not wholly cut loose from practice, a reminiscence or anticipation of actual practical doing; it is fitly called by the Greeks a dromenon , "a thing done."

At the bottom of art, as its motive power and its mainspring, lies, not the wish to copy Nature or even improve on her-- the Huichol Indian does not vainly expend his energies on an effort so fruitless-- but rather an impulse shared by art with ritual, the desire, that is, to utter, to give out a strongly felt emotion or desire by representing, by making or doing or enriching the object or act desired. The common source of the art and ritual of Osiris is the intense, worldwide desire that the life of Nature which seemed dead should live again. This common emotional factor it is that makes art and ritual in their beginnings well-nigh indistinguishable. Both, to begin with, copy an act, but not at first for the sake of the copy. Only when the emotion dies down and is forgotten does the copy become an end in itself, a mere mimicry.

Anthropologists who study the primitive peoples of today find that the worship of false gods, bowing "down to wood and stone," bulks larger in the mind of the hymn-writer than in the mind of the savage. We look for temples to heathen idols; we find dancing- places and ritual dances. The savage is a man of action. Instead of asking a god to do what he wants to be done, he does it or tries to do it himself; instead of prayers he utters spells. In a word, he practices magic, and above all, he is strenuously and frequently engaged in dancing magical dances. When a savage wants sun or wind or rain, he does not go to church and prostrate himself before a false god; he summons his tribe and dances a sun dance or a wind dance or a rain dance. When he would hunt and catch a bear, he does not pray to his god for strength to outwit and outmatch the bear, he rehearses his hunt in a bear dance.

Here, again, we have some modern prejudice and misunderstanding to overcome. Dancing is to us a light form of recreation. But among the Tarahumares of Mexico the word nolávoa means both "to work" and "to dance." An old man will reproach a young man saying, "Why do you not go and work?" ( nolávoa ). He means "Why do you not dance instead of looking on?"

Magical dancing still goes on in Europe today. In Swabia and among the Transylvanian Saxons it is a common custom, says Dr. Frazer, for a man who has some hemp to leap high in the field in the belief that this will make the hemp grow tall. When Macedonian farmers have done digging their fields they throw their spades up into the air and, catching them again, exclaim, "May the crop grow as high as the spade has gone." There is little possible doubt as to the practical reason of this mimic dancing.

These are rituals of sympathetic magic in a form of an utterance and action, a discharge of emotion and longing. When doing magic it is not enough only to utter emotion, it must be represented, that is, we must in some way reproduce or imitate or express the thought which is causing us emotion.

The Greek word for a rite, as already noted, is dromenon , "a thing done" - and the word is full of instruction. The Greek had realized that to perform a rite you must do something, that is, you must not only feel something but express it in action, or, to put it psychologically, you must not only receive an impulse, you must react to it. The word for rite, dromenon , "thing done," arose, of course, not from any psychological analysis, but from the simple fact that rites among the primitive Greeks were things done, mimetic dances and the like. It is a fact of cardinal importance that their word for theatrical representation, drama, is own cousin to their word for rite, dromenon ; drama also means "thing done." Greek linguistic instinct pointed plainly to the fact that art and ritual are near relations.

When representation (rite) is repeated there grows up a kind of abstraction which helps the transition from ritual to art. When the men of a tribe return from a hunt, a journey, a battle, or any event that has caused them keen and pleasant emotion, they will often re - act their doings round the campfire at night to an attentive audience of women and young boys. The cause of this worldwide custom is no doubt in great part the desire to repeat a pleasant experience; the battle or the hunt will not be re-enacted unless it has been successful. Together with this must be reckoned a motive seldom absent from human endeavour, the desire for self - exhibition, self - enhancement. But in this re-enactment, we see at once, lies the germ of history and of commemorative ceremonial, and also, oddly enough, an impulse emotional in itself begets a process we think of as characteristically and exclusively intellectual, the process of abstraction. The savage begins with the particular battle that actually did happen; but, it is easy to see that if he re-enacts it again and again the particular battle or hunt will be forgotten, the representation cuts itself loose from the particular action from which it arose, and becomes generalized, as it were abstracted. Like children, he plays not at a funeral, but at "funerals," not at a battle, but at battles; and so arises the war- dance, or the death -dance, or the hunt- dance.

Plato never saw a savage war- dance or a hunt- dance or a rain - dance, and it is not likely that, if he had seen one, he would have perceived it art at all. But he must often have seen a class of performances very similar, to which unquestionably he would give the name of art. He must have seen plays like those of Aristophanes, with the chorus dressed up as Birds or Clouds or Frogs or Wasps, and he might undoubtedly have claimed such plays as evidence of the rightness of his definition. Here were men imitating birds and beasts, dressed in their skins and feathers, mimicking their gestures. In other words, if we look at the beginning of things, we find an origin and an impulse much deeper, vaguer, and more emotional.

#art #magic

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watch1home · 2 years ago

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What Kind of Mechanical Watch is Worth Buying?

Before answering this question,we need to know how they work first. Check following introduction:

1.How do Mechanical/Automatic Watches Work?

The lifeblood of almost any watch is the mainspring which is tightly wound (similar to a measuring tape). This mainspring will slowly unwind over time, causing the watch to tick. When that spring uncoils all the way, it needs to be rewound. In the case of a manual watch, you would have to rewind the watch every time the coil becomes unwound. However, with an automatic watch, you will never have to worry about this. Automatic watches have a mainspring, as well as manual ones, but they also have a rotor attached to them. This rotor is attached to both the mainspring and your watch’s wristband.When you move your wrist, you create movements that the rotor can use to wind the spring back up.

So, in essence, you are the motor that keeps your watch ticking! Having an automatic wind on your watch is one of the most appealing things about mechanical watches. You won’t have to worry about it stopping (until it has become extremely old and worn) and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that your watch will be a reliable tool for telling you the time 24/7.

2. Things to Check Before Buying a Worth Buying Mechanical Watch

Movement

We know mechanical watches are not as accurate as quartz; most people buy these watches to follow trends or as a fashion as they are brilliant in looks. But instead of a manual-wind watch, if you have a watch with an automatic movement, you do not need to bother about winding the watch every day to guarantee that it continues to function correctly. And this makes watches with automatic movements quite popular. Winding the watch is unnecessary as long as you are wearing it since it will keep its power without needing winding.Movement of any Mechanical watch can be one important factor for buyer to consider purchase or not.

Band Material

Although the market has a variety of watches with bands made of different materials like leather bands, silicon bands, nylon bands, Stainless Steel bands, etc. But if you want a band that gives an ultimate resistance against water, UV rays, oxidation, oil, and many other things,you should consider to pick one favourite band material for your mechanical watches.(Of course if you are planning to buy more pieces watch for daily use in different occasions,you may consider combination groups to buy)

Water-Resistant

Normally speaking,to explain how well-equipped a watch is withstanding water, manufacturers use the water-resistance rating as a benchmark. It is essential to check because if your watch is not water-resistant, it will get damaged easily if it contacts with water while washing hands, in the rain, or during swimming.

Maintenance

Another one of a mechanical watch’s glorifying traits is that little to no maintenance is required to keep it in working order. If you purchase a watch with low sensitivity and a powerful sealant system, you shouldn’t have any problems with it. Keep it away from magnets and moisture of any kind, but otherwise, there’s not much that needs to be done. Just give it a good polish now and then and you’ll be good to go.

However, any maintenance that needs to be done cannot be undertaken by you, and it can sometimes be fairly expensive. Unless you are an expert watch repairman or enthusiast, you should know better than to mess with a watch on your own. Watches are finicky things and if you were to make a wrong move, it could mess the mechanism up completely and permanently.

Brand Reliability

No doubt, branding does make something of a difference. However, don’t mistake a big name brand for quality because the two of them are not even close to the same thing. Brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe have nice watches but they aren’t always designed for telling time per se. We know the most expensive watches work fine, but they are more often used as status symbols. Mechanical watches are used equally often to accessorize and accentuate outfits. Talk to some trusted people/friends who have owned watches before to get some tips on where to buy from. Brands like Marvin and Manjaz are both fairly reliable Swiss brands that offer extended warranties on their products.

Warranty is one thing you should pay close attention to. As we said, it is almost always smart to buy a watch from a brand that offers extended warranties. That way, you will be able to experience peace of mind upon your first purchase.

Price

In general, the price will not affect the features that need to be in your watch; nevertheless, it will affect the quality of the materials, construction, and heritage associated with the wristwatch that you choose. Instead of buying cheap mechanical watches, it is better to pay full attention while buying one as it is an investment, not a matter of mere pennies.

We find most Mechanical watches sold online or offline normally around $500-$2,000+ . If you wanted to go the super expensive route, you would buy a watch from some high-quality brand like Rolex or Patek Philippe(though keep in mind that these watches are sometimes purchased more for their style than their reliability,normally higher than $5,000 per Original watch ).It would probably be a good idea to thoroughly read some customer reviews before you get one.You will almost always be getting your money’s worth if you find a trust able supplier for a nice watch at a reasonable watch.

Conclusion

Most people would say that a mechanical watch is perfectly worthwhile. It is pretty likely that you’ll be able to appreciate the benefits of the watch for years and years to come. These watches are finely crafted and will last for multiple decades if you treat them right.Besides,we could consider for Mechanical from Marvin and Manjaz,which mostly cover the above good items.

3.Which Mechanical Watch is Worth Buying

Based on the above factors about how is a worthy Mechanical watch look like,here i would suggest you the next following 3 mechanical automatic watches for reference:

A. Marvin Genuine Leather Watch Mechanical Watch Men's Wrist Watches M116.13.22.68

B.MARVIN K1 Mineral Glass Bottom Watch Mirror Mechanical Watch Stainless Steel Belt 41MM Case Diameter Wrist Watch M125.13.21.13

C.MANJAZ 5ATM Waterproof Standard Mechanical Watch SW240/ETA2834 Movement Apollo Collection Stainless steel 316L Band White Case Wrist Watch 7073M SW-WW-A2

You could find out all above items belong to Swiss Brand Marvin and Manjaz,which both has real over 130 years Mechanical Watch Manufacturing and Sales Experience,and winning 99.99% real watch wearer’s positive comments.

If you are interested above models,or want to explore more personalized items,click here to learn more,we believe you will find your favourite one.

4.Where to buy Mechanical Automatic watches?

Watch1home Can be one trust able Watch store for any Watchlovers,with very reasonable competitive price of Original Swiss Watches (Brands: Marvin and Manjaz).Simply Click our site: watch1home.com and pick your favourite watch,and complete the purchase,you will get your Swiss Mechanical Automatic watch home.All watches are beautiful and give a classic look with high quality. As they have an automatic movement, they are accurate and need no daily winding.Besides, the material offers resistance to dirt and is dense and soft. The chain has fluorine atoms, resulting in the rubber having exceptional resistance to heat, oxidation, oil, and corrosion.

If you still have questions about Mechanical to learn more, or having any doubt our our watches,welcome to contact us now,we shall reply you within 24hours. Tags: mechanical watch,What Kind of Mechanical Watch is Worth Buying?

#mechanical watch #What Kind of Mechanical Watch is Worth Buying?

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risalei-nur · 7 years ago

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TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fifteenth Ray.Part43

The Fourth and Fifth Steps

Through the mysteries of necessity, total detachment, and complete otherness of essence; and the mysteries of unrestrictedness, not being bound by space, and indivisibility.

It being very difficult to express the reality of these two steps to everyone, their meaning will be explained in one or two very brief points. That is, in relation to the power of an Absolutely Powerful One Whose existence is at the degree of necessity, the most powerful and stable of the degrees of existence, and is pre-eternal and post-eternal, and Who is totally detached from and free of materiality, and Whose holy nature is totally different to all other natures, - in relation to His power, the stars are like minute particles, and the resurrection of the dead like the spring, and to raise to life all men at the resurrection is as easy as raising to life a single soul. For as much as a fingernail from the levels of existence that are powerful may hold a mountain from an insubstantial level of existence, and may manipulate it. For example, a mirror and faculty of memory from the level of powerful, external existence may hold a hundred mountains and a thousand books from the level of existence of the World of Similitudes and non-material existence, which are weak and insubstantial, and they may have disposal over them. Thus, however inferior as regards power the level of existence of the World of Similitudes is to the level of external existence, the created, accidental existences of contingent beings are thousands of times more inferior and weaker than a pre-eternal, everlasting, necessary existence, so that through the manifestation of a particle He can manipulate a world from the worlds of contingent beings. Regretably, for the time being, three important reasons do not permit me to explain this lengthy truth and its fine points in full, so we refer it to the Risale-i Nur and another time.

Sixth Step

Through the mystery of the transformation of obstacles and impediments into means of facility.

Through a law of the manifestation of Divine will called in science “the knot of life,” and of the creational command, and through the command and will being turned towards them, the unconscious branches and hard twigs of a huge tree do not form obstacles or impediments to the necessary substances and foods which pass to its fruits, leaves, and flowers from the “knot of life,” which is like the tree’s mainspring and stomach; indeed, they facilitate the process. In just the same way, since all [potential] obstacles in the creation of the universe and creatures cease being obstacles in the face of a manifestation of will and regard of the dominical command and become means of facility, eternal power creates the universe and all the species of creatures on the earth as easily as creating a single tree. Nothing at all is difficult for it. If all those acts of creation are not ascribed to that power, then the creation and administration of the single tree would be as difficult as the creation and administration of all trees, indeed, as the universe. For then everything would become obstacles and obstructions, and if all causes were to gather together, they could not send the necessary sustenance to the fruits, leaves, branches and twigs in orderly, regular fashion from the stomach and mainspring of a tree’s “knot of life,” which proceeds from command and will. Unless all the parts of the tree, and all its particles even, were given an eye, all-encompassing knowledge, and wondrous power which would see the entire tree together with its parts and particles, and know them and assist them.

So climb these five steps and take a look; see what difficulties -indeed, impossibilities- are present in unbelief and associating partners with God, and how distant they are from reason and logic, and how precluded they are. Then see what ease there is on the way of the Qur’an, indeed, that its facility is at the degree of necessity, and how acceptable and reasonable it is, and what certain and satisfying truth is found on its way, so certain as to be necessary. Understand this and say: “All praise be to God for the bounty of belief!” (The difficulties I was suffering and my indisposition caused the remaining part of this important step to be postponed.)

#allah #islam #muslim #transformation #divine will #creation #reverthelp team #muslim revert #salvation

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divinesayings · 8 years ago

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Nafs (The Soul)

Nafs (The Soul) The soul (an–nafs) is a substance that is essentially free of matter but which is in close connection with it in its acts and functions; it is the origin or essence of something or its self. There have been those who have used it in the sense of the spirit or the heart or the body, or in the sense of lusts or the mechanism through which Satan penetrates humans, or even in the sense of reason. In religious terminology, an-nafs, or the soul, is the origin or center of certain states or faculties such as lusts, anger, ill will, grudge, hatred, and irritation, and it is a transformable, reformable, and refinable mechanism connected to human corporeality. The soul has a constant, experienced connection between the body and the spirit. It is through this connection that humans receive, recognize, and distinguish their outer and inner sense-perceptions and go beyond the corporeal realm into metaphysical worlds. It is again through this connection that any state, experience or gift that occurs in the spirit leaves its imprint upon the body and provokes it to move in a certain direction. Just as every influence on the spirit makes itself felt on the body, so too every state of and effect on the body shows itself on the horizon of the spirit. For example, thinking of something which is nauseating may produce an urge to vomit. Certain events which touch the spirit and rouse distress may cause physical ailments that we call psychosomatic illnesses. The reaction that the sense of taste shows at the mention of something sweet or sour or bitter is also this same sort of impression. In short, there is a continuous interactive relationship between the spirit and the body. Similarly, evil conceptions and disagreeable manners and actions impress not only the body but also the spirit, while agreeable thoughts and considerations, and the plans and projects that are undertaken to please God Almighty, and the mentioning of the Divine Being by the heart and tongue all produce expansion and exhilaration in the spirit. It frequently occurs that even if we are not aware of it, this state gains some sort of luminosity and surrounds the entire horizon of the spirit by means of the spiritual intellect. It rouses the “secret” and begins to manifest itself in the metaphysical depths of human existence in different modes. Also, whenever the body expresses its submission to the Ultimate Truth through the acts of worship and obedience and lives in accordance with the purpose of its existence, deepening in belief through worship or religious acts and crowning its worship with excellence and awareness of God’s omnipresence, the breezes of great happiness and joy begin to blow in the spirit. Hope and expectation stir up eagerness for God, the Ultimate Truth, and the acts leading to consciousness and awe of God produce feelings of respect, self-possession, and wakefulness in the spirit. As a result, like the seas vaporizing to rise and form the clouds, and the clouds raining on the earth, and rains forming rivers and torrents that flow into the sea, there appear continuous currents between the body and the spirit. Amidst such mutual influences between the spirit and the body, it is possible for humans either to fall into the lowest of the low as a result of being overcome by their corporeality, or to rise to human perfection and the highest of the high by God’s help and permission, through acting around the orbit of Islamic thought, belief, and awareness. Thus, what we call “spiritual journeying” is one of the significant ways of advancing toward and reaching the Ultimate Truth, and being a perfect human being through this tide. All these tides, continuous mutual influences and flows, and journeys occur on the steed or ship or spacecraft of the human soul. The compass of this apparently abased vessel is belief, the path or direction it must follow is Islam, and its captain or guide is the Prophet Muhammad, the Master of creation, upon him be peace and blessings, and the dynamics to advance along this path are provided by reflection and remembrance of God. However, there are some apparently harmful characteristics incorporated in the nature of this steed for certain purposes. If the soul has not been purified of these characteristics and refined, it is inevitable that the meanings, conceptions, pieces of information, knowledge of God, and remembrances, and reflections that travel between the spirit and the soul suffer from some turbulence and even serious falls along the way. Such turbulence and falls should not be viewed as occurrences independent of certain other factors that originate in humans themselves. Sometimes sins, heedlessness, and carelessness cause them; sometimes temporary “whirlpools of contraction”[1] or “spasms” interfere with the working of the rudder or the compass; sometimes direction is lost due to certain carnal amusements and relaxations; and sometimes they happen because of our unawareness that certain actions are contrary to the manner of traveling along the way, and our feeling proud of the good deeds done. If travelers view such things as viruses that can cause the demise of the spirit, and remain distant from them, and if they display serious endeavors to be purified of them under the shower of repentance, penitence, and contrition when accidentally exposed to them, then God will replace their evil deeds with virtuous ones(25: 70). That is, He will change their faculties which enable evil deeds into enablers of virtuous deeds. Despite its satanic characteristics such as haughtiness, arrogance, egotism, jealousy, injustice, and enmity, all of which break the wings of the spirit, the soul has a fundamental potential so important and valuable that it raises it to companionship of the spirit. Provided it grasps that its essential function, as required by its position, is to become a unit of measurement to recognize God—thereby abandoning arrogance and the accompanying self-assertive, self-aggrandizing claims; so long as it turns to God in worship and prayer and seeks refuge in Him from the potential evils in its nature, following the heart and the spirit on the way to reaching God, then the soul can advance to the highest of the high on the way together with its companions, namely the heart and the spirit. Indeed, the soul is also of great importance for humans to maintain a metaphysical tension. It (the soul) is like a mainspring allowing them to rise from being only potentially human to true humanity. This continuously keeps them busy, without allowing them to have a rest. It ceaselessly sharpens the resolution of people to struggle against its negative characteristics, and causes those who have brains to frequently beat their brains out. When, finally, human nature is matured to the degree intended for its creation, the soul becomes a slave of the king of human existence—the heart—and adopts an attitude that is capable of feeling the need to warn it from time to time, saying, “Do not be proud, O my king! There is God, Who is greater than you!” You can call the soul which has reached this point of maturity after having gone through the filters of purification “the soul refined and grown in purity,” as stated in the following verses: And (by) the human soul and that (All-Knowing, All-Powerful, and All-Wise One) Who has formed it to perfection; and Who has inspired it with the conscience of what is wrong and bad for it, and what is right and good for it. He is indeed prosperous who has grown it in purity(91: 7-9). Whatever you call it, the purified soul is the double of the spirit, continuously trying to keep away from evil, and always advancing toward good until it finally comes to a point where it abandons its basic mission—that is, being a powerful mechanism with negative aspects for human self- purification and perfection—to the nerves, extreme sensitivity, and other human temperaments. It begins to spend the remaining part of its life in the company and service of the spirit. We have tried to explain in detail the stages of this journeying of the soul, which the Sufis experience in their spiritual journeying, under the titles of the Carnal, Evil-Commanding Soul, the Self-Condemning or Self-Accusing Soul, the Soul Receiving Inspiration, the Soul at Rest, the Soul Well-Pleased (with God, with however God treats it), the Soul Pleasing (to God), and the Perfected Soul, or the Purified or Innocent Soul.[2] As the soul passes through these stages upward, the veils of darkness that veil human nature are torn apart one after the other. According to the degree of each, the rays of spirituality begin to shine on all sides of a human being, and an initiate or traveler thinks that they are floating in the elevated horizons of the inner, immaterial dimensions of existence. Each of the stages mentioned above has a gift, pleasure, horizon, manner of expressiveness, and perception particular to itself. Sometimes the guide tells initiates at which stage they are, and sometimes sensitive, self-supervising initiates who are aware of themselves and lend an ear to the voice of their spirits are informed of their stage in a special way. Even though the soul is mainly characterized by always commanding evil, when it undergoes an effective process of purification and is directed to obedience to its Lord, it can be transformed into a source of bright light, like the full moon receiving light from the sun. If, on the other hand, it is not purified, the fog and smoke of the lusts invade its horizon, and it suffers corruption under the influence of carnal thoughts and considerations, becoming so blind as not to be able to see into the transcendent dimension of existence. Then, the soul cannot continue its companionship with the spirit and becomes a marsh of evil in human nature, in conformity with the aspects of its nature, which is open to evil. Making use of certain weak spots in its owner, the soul attacks him from many fronts, and—may God preserve us—can knock him down with a single blow. The continuous request for forgiveness from God and prayer are important defenses against such attacks; the disciplines which have an important place in the spiritual journeying are a petition presented for Divine protection, and following the way of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, strictly offers a reliable refuge. Further, restricting our consumption to absolutely essential human needs, silencing the soul by being content with legitimate pleasures, and incessantly warning the soul against illicit desires and appetites form another way of keeping it under strict control. * * * Basically, the soul is one of the faculties with which humans have been equipped. Provided that humans employ these faculties, which have been entrusted to them in their creation, in the direction established by their Creator, they greatly add to their value. For example, the eyes are windows for seeing things within their scope of sight; the ears are receptors and transmitters that receive and conduct sounds and voices at certain wavelengths to the brain; the tongue is an inspector of innumerable tastes, and the translator of thoughts and feelings. If the eyes are used to see things which are religiously permissible to observe, if the ears are kept closed to harmful, evil sounds and voices while transmitting the good ones, and if the tongue stirs up feelings of reflection on and thankfulness to the numberless bounties bestowed by God Almighty, and also acts in conformity with the Divine purpose for its creation as a means of speech—then individually and collectively these organs become wings for human beings to rise to human perfection. But if, on the contrary, the eyes busy themselves with those things that the Religion condemns as harmful or ugly, thus abandoning themselves to contamination; if the ears work like a telephone exchange for vices, receiving and transmitting that which is religiously forbidden; and if the tongue lives in attachment to the tastes it recognizes, in oblivion of its duty of inspection, and speaks without recognizing any criteria—then the wings of the heart are broken, and the spirit becomes as if nitric acid were poured into its eyes. The soul is no different from the faculties mentioned above with respect to its duties and its fulfilling or not fulfilling them properly. If the soul is purified and preserved against working like a telephone exchange for Satan, then while being, by its primordial nature, a reptile- like creature crawling on the ground, it becomes like a dove flying over our heads, as if it has undergone a mysterious metamorphosis, and it is praised by the words of God Almighty:I swear by the self-accusing soul (75: 2). When it takes two steps further, it is honored with the breezes of appreciation: O, you soul at rest! Return to your Lord, wellpleased (with Him and His treatment of you), and well-pleasing to Him (89: 27-28), and establishes itself comfortably next to the spirit. Thus, this hard-natured substance, more harmful than snakes and scorpions, which is described by the Divine statement as Surely the carnal, evil-commanding soul always and insistently commands evil (12: 53)—by asking God for forgiveness in awareness of its sins, by avoiding its faults due to repugnance, by trying to keep distant from unbelief, hypocrisy, vice, and transgression, by shuddering with fear that the favors coming when it is in an agreeable state may be a means of perdition, and, in a further attempt, by finding its true purification through always seeing itself as impure, this primordially hard-natured, evil-commanding substance can rise to great heights and approach the heavenly beings. The soul at this level, which philosophers call “the speaking self or soul,” and which the Qur’an describes as “the soul at rest,” has become such an earthly being able to rise to the horizon of the heart and the spirit and possessing angelic manners, that it begins to take pleasure in religious responsibilities, which previously it did not like and which were difficult for it to fulfill. The things which it found bitter up until this point have become sweet, and in parallel with its attaining this station, the cloud of dust and smoke over the spiritual intellect and the secret that was produced by corporeality has been completely removed. Things and events appear differently to its view, and time and again it experiences raptures with the call to Him it hears from every thing and event, thinking itself to be among the pure spirit beings in great joy. A time comes when reason becomes like the heart, and its products take on the color of those of the spiritual intellect. An initiate with such a level of reason feels stunned by awe of God and advances full of the feeling of modesty; he sometimes becomes exhilarated with the showers of Divine gifts. The heart beats “God! God!”, combining this with the breaths of reason that utter, “O the All- Forgiving! O the All-Veiling (of His servants’ sins and shortcomings)!” The initiates at this level of reason hear the whole of creation mentioning God by His Names, and their breaths resound with Him. While, on the one hand, signals come to them from the horizon of the spiritual intellect, arousing them to the worlds beyond, on the other hand they feel great worry that the gifts may be interrupted and unexpected obstacles may come in between them and the Source of these gifts, causing them to turn to Him more frequently and more intimately, admitting that whatever good visits them is essentially from Him. The zeal they feel is the zeal of the heart, and the sorrows they suffer are the sorrows of the sincerely penitent ones. While looking at their past with repugnance, they are revived and refreshed with the hope of a brighter future and the hope that they will be able to compensate for their past defects with future opportunities. They try to fill their past voids with heartfelt sighs and groans and with reflection and remembrance. While others are busy with a life of ease, thinking that they have already lived so before, they always try to do whatever they must on the way to God. Such people always feel themselves to be in the presence of the Lord. They stand before Him in awe, bow before Him in utmost modesty, prostrate before Him with utmost humility, and sit before Him in self-supervision. They advance with utmost awe and care, and try to fulfill what is required by having reason in the company of the heart. They shudder with awe while thinking of Him, they breathe His mercy with reflection and remembrance of Him; they focus their observations on deepening their knowledge of Him with new discoveries, and their eyes twinkle with eagerness for reunion with the All-Beloved. They do not forget their defects, which are incompatible with servanthood to God, seeing them as precipices between them and their Lord; they entreat Him, saying, “Do not abandon me to myself, even for the blink of an eye!” Now they have distanced themselves from Satan, but they also reinforce the barriers they have put before Satan’s inlets into their heart and continue to erect new ones. Whenever they remember Satan, they feel as if they are in the valley of bandits, and they always seek refuge in God, saying, “I seek refuge in You from the promptings and provocations of the satans; I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they be present with me!” (23: 97–98). They never rely on themselves, their labor, or their deeds; they do not approve of their acts, and treat them with disdain. They are always troubled and shake like a tree in a storm with the worry that hypocrisy and expectation of others’ acceptance and appreciation have found, and do find, a way into even their best deeds. These considerations follow them ceaselessly along the way, until finally the soul is welcomed with the compliments, “O you soul at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with Him and His treatment of you), and well-pleasing to Him! Enter, then, among My servants (fully content with servanthood to Me)! And enter My Paradise!” (89: 27–30); while those who have dropped halfway groan with deep regrets, “Would that I had forwarded (some good deeds) for my life (to come)!” (89: 24). They are honored with surprising bounties of the Hereafter, and favored with many different gifts from the horizon of the heart. They are treated thus because they have lived a life of austerity without being deceived by worldly pleasures, and they have advanced toward the horizon of the peace of the heart, spiritual contentment, and resignation to God’s treatment of them. They felt obliged to advance so, conscious of their essential impotence and poverty and their absolute need of Him. They have advanced and been favored with His special wealth. They have heard many things which other ears could not hear, and seen many things which other eyes could not see; they have experienced how the most honored of creatures—humanity—was created from wet clay, how matter rose almost to the level of the spirit, and how the evil-commanding soul developed into the soul at rest. With the pleasureof watching the smiling face of their fate, they have proceeded beyond space within space and toward the All-Beloved within corporeality, to the point where the invisible becomes visible. The exacting people of truth and wisdom have seen the soul as we have so far tried to explain. If the Master of all domains had willed it to be so, there is none who could have willed or done otherwise. If He has dressed non- existence in the array of existence, why then should we wonder at “nothing” being “everything”? If He wills, He can make a drop into a sea, a minute particle into the sun, manifest thousands of instances of existence in non- existence, and bestow kingdoms upon those who initially have no trace of one. O my God! Surely I ask You for a soul content with You, believing in meeting You, resigned to Your decrees, and content with Your bounties. And bestow blessings and peace on the most perfect and complete of the spirits, who is our master Muhammad, and Your beloved, and on His Family and Companions, whom You love! [1] In Sufi terminology, “contraction” (qabd) is used to mean that the link between an individual and the source of his or her spiritual gifts and radiance has been severed for a certain period. This causes distress and makes one suffer from spiritual obstruction and blockage. For further explanations, seeEmerald Hills of the Heart – Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism, The Light, NJ, 2004, vol. 1, pp. 167–170. (Tr.) [2] See M. Fethullah Gülen, Emerald Hills of the Heart – Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism, The Light, NJ, 2004, vol. 2, pp. 251–261. (Tr.) www.reverthelp.com

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watchilove · 5 years ago

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The mighty MB&F just released a new piece in their Legacy Machine 101 Collection – MB&F LM101 Palladium. The 18 pieces limited series will be manufactured with a palladium case and will feature a “vert d’eau” dial (mot-à-mot translation will be “water green” – sea green or aquamarine). I visited the MB&F M.A.D. Gallery to see the MB&F LM101 Palladium in the metal and these are my impressions. The official press release and pictures are available at the end of the article.

MB&F LM101 Palladium

The new version of Legacy Machine 101 is a continuation of the selection of precious metals. The LM101 was previously available in red gold and white gold, a “Frost” limited edition of red and yellow gold, plus a spectacular platinum edition.

Have a look at the video below for a first live impression. (The wrist roll video and the live images were taken at M.A.D. Gallery in Geneva with improper setup and lighting)

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The first thing that stroke me was the engaging shine of the palladium case. The good look is given by the specific silvery-white appearance of the Platinum group metals (palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium). The metals are rare and have a vital role in our daily life. Just think about the catalytic converters in the cars that surround us (Wikipedia is a good source of info on this topic).

The palladium case looks great. Sized at 40mm diameter with a height of 16mm, the watch has balanced dimensions, imposing no gender barrier (no real collector, lady or gent will care about such a frivolous topic).

The brushed case’s side makes a nice contrast with the polished bezel and lugs. Moreover, the brushed surfaces make a good introduction for the sunray dial.

A Switzerland lake or Polynesian sea?

The ones accustomed with the previous versions of MB&F LM101, the new dial will appear familiar. Again, the dial is centrally dominated by the ‘flying’ balance wheel. This time, the arresting mechanical detail floats over calm waters. The “vert d’eau” dial has that undefined green, grey, blue shade. The colour simply immerses you in a calm state, emphasising the balance wheel and the raised sub-dials.

The layout is “relative” simple. The clean design gives the impression of simplicity, while we all know that is not the case. The central balance wheel steals the eye of the viewer. A small raised dial, placed at 6 o’clock displays the power reserve. The time, hours and minutes, is shown on another small raised dial, somewhere between 1 and 2 o’clock traditional position.

The view offers great legibility due to the high contrast of the blued gold hands on white enamel.

The base dial plate bears the calligraphic hand-engraved “Legacy Machine”.

Signed Kari Voutilainen

MB&F LM101 Palladium is powered by the three-dimensional horological machine developed in-house. The original construction breaks the conventional barriers.

The movement is gorgeous superlative finished respecting the 19th-century style (official wording used to describe the movement’s finishes). The idea is: the calibre bears the “signature“ of Kari Voutilainen. Once – engraved on one of the bridges (visible through the exhibition case back), second – on the quality of and magnificently executed decorations. Take a big loupe (I mean the Project LpX), go to MB&F M.A.D. Gallery and see if you can contradict me.

When traditional stays only in finishes

The new MB&F LM101 Palladium is a gorgeous machine. The brand is anyway a grand consumer of beauty epithets and the latest addition makes no exception.

I find the palladium case to be an exceptional choice for the “vert d’eau” dial. The exotic case shine is balanced by the exotic dial colour. The entire watch is an ultra-modern eye arresting concept, keeping though an idea of classicism through the traditional finishing.

The technical specification, the live images and the official press release photos can be found at the end of the article.

MB&F LM101 Palladium Press Release

For the ones interested in the official press release, this is available below with the official video and pictures.

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Original Press Release MB&F LM101 Palladium

Legacy Machine 101 (LM101) was launched in 2014 and houses the very first movement developed entirely in-house by MB&F – this initiated a long series of movements developed internally. The latest addition to the series – the LM101 Palladium edition – is also the first MB&F piece in palladium, a rare silvery-white metal. The naturally white colour of palladium contrasts with a new sunray dial, which varies between grey and shades of pale blue and green depending on the light.

For a classically sized 40mm wristwatch, Legacy Machine 101 covers a lot of ground. Or to be more precise, LM101 covers a lot of time: over 100 years between inspiration and realisation.

Legacy Machine 101 embodies and accentuates the very essence of what is essential in a wristwatch: the balance wheel, which is responsible for regulating precision; how much power remains in the mainspring, which indicates when it needs to be next wound; and of course, the time.

Visually, LM101 is dominated by the monumental suspended balance wheel, its sedate oscillations drawing the eye ever closer. Two pristine-white subdials hover just above the fine sunray-engraved movement top plate: At the top right, highly legible hours and minutes are displayed by beautiful blued-gold hands contrasting against the immaculate white, while the 45-hour power reserve indicator is displayed in a smaller, but similar subdial below. Two ‘Frost’ limited editions add even more contrast between these elements and the effervescent backdrop of the hand-finished frosted dial plate.

In an apparent feat of magic, the sapphire crystal protecting the dial appears to be invisible; creating the illusion that you can reach out and touch the prodigious balance wheel hanging mesmerisingly from elegant twin arches. The arches are milled from a solid block of metal and require many hours of hand polishing to achieve their mirror-like lustre.

Turning over Legacy Machine 101, the display back crystal – domed to reduce the thickness of the caseband and, visually, the height of the watch – reveals the exquisitely hand-finished movement. Sensually curved plates and bridges pay homage to the style found in high-quality historic pocket watches and testify to the respect accorded to historical legitimacy.

With its undulating Geneva waves, hand-polished bevels, gold chatons and countersunk blued screws, the beauty of LM101’s movement doesn’t just stay faithful to a bygone era. It also heralds the dawn of a new epoch as it was the first MB&F calibre to be entirely conceived and designed in-house.

While award-winning independent watchmaker Kari Voutilainen took responsibility for the movement’s fine finishing specifications and fidelity to the horological past, its architecture and construction are 100% pure MB&F.

LM101 was first launched in 18k red or white gold, then in two limited ‘Frost’ editions with frosted finishing (18 and 33 pieces), followed by a limited edition of 33 pieces in platinum 950. The latest addition to the series is the LM101 Palladium, limited to 18 pieces.

Legacy Machine 101 in detail

Engine: While the movement of Legacy Machine 101 is superficially similar to that of Legacy Machine No.1, closer examination reveals that it is an entirely new calibre. It is not merely a scaled down version of LM1’s movement, but an entirely new calibre conceived and developed in-house by MB&F.

The balance wheel and spring are at the very heart of any mechanical watch movement and their isochronal (equal intervals of time) oscillations regulate the movement’s precision. Büsser has long been fascinated by the large slowly oscillating – 2.5 Hz/18,000 vph compared with the much faster 4 Hz/ 28,800 vph more common today – balance wheels of antique pocket watches. So it was no surprise that this was his starting point.

What was surprising though is just how radically he re-interpreted tradition by relocating the balance wheel from its more usual position hidden at the back of the movement to majestically floating not just the above movement but high above the dial.

While the location of LM101’s oscillator may be considered avant-garde, ‘tradition’ is upheld by the large 14mm diameter balance wheel, featuring regulating screws specifically developed for MB&F, balance spring with Breguet overcoil and mobile stud holder.

And if you thought that the balance wheel looks impressive in Legacy Machine N°1, it looks even larger in the smaller diameter setting of LM101.

Dial and Indications: While the animated suspended balance visually dominates LM101, the immaculate white dials for the time (hours and minutes) and power reserve indications are both aesthetically appealing and highly legible thanks to the high contrasting blue hands.

Complementing the three-dimensionality of the balance floating in space, the white dials with their bright blued-gold hands float just above the top of the movement. The dials are gently domed with a translucent, high-gloss lustre created using a laque tendue process in which multiple layers of lacquer are applied and heated, causing them to stretch over the surface of the dials.

To ensure aesthetic purity of the dials, a sophisticated fixation underneath removes the necessity of visually obtrusive attachment screws. A fine golden perimeter circumscribing each dial elegantly reinforces their timeless classicism.

Fine Finishing and Historical Legitimacy: While the movement was developed entirely in-house, acclaimed master watchmaker Kari Voutilainen assumed responsibility for ensuring the movement’s historical accuracy of the bridge design and fine finishing.

A finely engraved sun-ray pattern on top of the movement plate (dial side) subtly catches the eye at certain angles without distracting attention from the white dials of the time and power reserve indications and suspended floating balance. But it is in the style and finish of the bridges and plates visible through the display on the back of the movement where Kari Voutilainen has excelled in providing exquisite historical fidelity in both the shape of elegantly curved bridges and the traditionally wide space between the bridges and between the perimeter of the bridges and the case.

On the back of the movement, over-sized ruby jewels set in highly-polished countersunk gold chatons provide striking visual counterpoints to the Geneva waves. While providing historical links with the large jewels seen in high-grade antique pocket watch movements, the ruby bearings have a practical application in reducing wear/increasing longevity by accommodating large diameter pinions and holding more lubricating oil.

Frosted finish for the Frost editions:

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, frosting was created by treating the components with a special acid mixture and then heating on an open flame (what could possibly go wrong). The result was a silvery-white effect looking similar to frost, which protected the surfaces from oxidation; this was important when watches and clocks were not water resistant at all.

As watchmakers became more attentive to the potential hazards associated with working with powerful acids, alternative methods were explored, the most effective – in terms of the quality of finish – being to very carefully brush the surface with a wire brush. However, it is extremely difficult to obtain a uniform result because just slightly too much pressure or brushing for too long can quickly ruin the desired matte surface with uneven polish.

Today there are very few craftsmen with the skills and experience necessary for creating a traditional frosted finish, and they closely guard their secrets. Modern traditional brushed frosting actually burnishes the surface (compresses the metal without removing material), creating a finish so hard that it is impossible to hand engrave.

Inspiration and Realisation: MB&F’s Legacy Machines were conceived when Maximilian Büsser started fantasising: “What would have happened if I had been born in 1867 instead of 1967? In the early 1900s the first wristwatches appear and I would want to create three-dimensional machines for the wrist. There are no Grendizers, Star Wars or fighter jets for my inspiration but I do have pocket watches, the Eiffel Tower and Jules Verne. So what might my early 20th century machines look like? They had to be round (tradition) and three-dimensional (MB&F Machine): Legacy Machines are the answer.”

Maximilian Büsser has had a long affinity with pocket watches of the 18th and 19th centuries. Virtually all horological complications we see today were not only imagined in that period, they were developed using just paper and pen (no sophisticated computer programs), components were produced to extremely high precision using – by today’s standards – fairly primitive machines (no electricity) and finely finished, assembled and regulated to an incredibly high quality that we still strive to match today. Their generous size compared with modern wristwatches allowed for uncluttered movement architectures with beautifully shaped bridges and plates.

While MB&F’s futuristic Horological Machines have a firm foundation in the very best of traditional horology, Büsser wanted to pay homage to that rich tradition by imagining the type of timepiece he might create if he had been born a 100 years earlier. With its large, sedately oscillating balance, domed dials, historical bridge design and classical fine-finishing, Legacy Machines are the very contemporary, yet traditionally elegant fruition of that dream.

Legacy Machine 101 Palladium Technical Specifications

Retail price of the LM101 Palladium is CHF 55,000 + VAT (USD 58,000 / EUR 51,000 before taxes) and is limited to an 18 pieces series.

Engine

Three-dimensional horological movement developed in-house by MB&F

Movement aesthetics and finish specifications: Kari Voutilainen

Manual winding with single mainspring barrel

Power reserve:

45 hours

Balance wheel:

Bespoke 14mm balance wheel with four traditional regulating screws floating above the movement and dials

Balance spring:

traditional Breguet curve terminating in mobile stud holder

Balance frequency:

18,000bph/2.5Hz

Number of components:

229 components

Number of jewels:

Chatons:

gold chatons with polished countersinks

Fine finishing:

superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th-century style;

internal bevel angles highlighting handcraft;

polished bevels; frosted dial plate for the “Frost editions”;

Geneva waves;

hand-made engravings

Functions:

Hours, minutes and power reserve indicator.

Large suspended balance wheel over dial

Case

Available in 18k red gold or 18k white gold, in platinum 950 (33 pieces), in palladium 950 (18 pieces) and in two frosted editions in 18k red gold (33 pieces) and 18k yellow gold (18 pieces).

Dimensions:

40mm wide x 16mm high

Number of components:

Sapphire crystals:

High domed sapphire crystal on top and box sapphire crystal on back, both with anti-reflective coating on both side

Strap & Buckle:

Black or brown hand-stitched alligator strap with gold, platinum or palladium buckle to match case.

The new MB&F LM101 Palladium (with live images and video) The mighty MB&F just released a new piece in their Legacy Machine 101 Collection - MB&F LM101 Palladium.

#live images #LM101 #LM101 Palladium #MB&F #MB&F LM101 #MB&F LM101 Palladium #news #Palladium #Press release

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nwarrior777 · 11 months ago

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yes! game! the working tittle is

"Mainspring Rays: The Power of Star Fire"

btw

i am shocked by game industry choice of priorities (like devs ignoring exsistence of disabled people, and deciding that visuals is the main thing in game as art media (it's not, the core of games is interaction), wild capitalism things tm). so i decided not to wait for change and make cool game myself

if to describe this game in 3 words it would be: accessibility, representation, and free. A little bit details for each one:

1. it's accessible

The main focus of developing this game was to create a game which players, yk, can play. It means disability access and also it means that the goal was devices being able to run it

Disability-access is first and main priority of the project, so all developing choices are made with this in mind - soft choice (friendly for disability soft like screenreaders), all-aspects balanced to be on one level (sound, visuals, writing etc), so if a person not able to experience some aspect of the game, they not missing biggest part, and can get same info and experience from other aspects (looking not-respectfully at industry decided that visual aspect is very special one, time to stop that)

2. it's representative

well if you know what my art is, i think you know what to expect here. if you new one: expect all characters be fat and queer and having other realistic features, doing realistic things like being hot. the story also go here: my writing method for this game was taking current life... things.. happening and my reflections on it and describing it in relatable narrative using dark fantasy words

3. it's free

idk what to say much here - you will get it for free, no buying, no transactions (well maybe playing for main character being nonbinary shape shifter can be count as trans-action lol)

the game is very small, and i am almost finished something like prototype, i need only add sound and finish some plot events.

visuals, sounds and music, and everything i am making by myself but!

of course i will need accessibility testers and some other people, i am working on getting them in development process (i wanted to make prototype first to see if this thing will work at all. seems like working!)

so yeah, that's the news! wanted to tell all that in the video, but, at midnight i realised that i have like 20 minutes of not rendered material and was like, well, it's better to go sleep

apd: description improved!

Video Description: NWarrior777 - afab xenogender person in black lipstick with horns on the head and messy hair, wearing a choker- with bow-and-bell on neck and a crafted black t-shirt with open shoulders. Rings on hand and fingerless black gloves. White background with rug with folds of fabric and red pillow in fron of camera. He is pooring cola into fancy glass and talks.

person says: yeah so. a-. the game. a- [he catch almost spilled glass with cola and give it funny look]. i made the game, that's the content. [video freezes on one frame, voice of the person, from the other record, keep talking] sorry guys i can't keep making this video because it's too late and i need to sleep and i will go because i need to sleep well for staying alive and fibishing this game. so yeah, a- love yall byeee

End description

throwing this on you and run cartoonishly into the bed, happy valentine day

#accessible gaming #mainspring rays the power of star fire #mrtposf #mainspring rays

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wisdomrays · 6 years ago

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KEY CONCEPTS OF SPIRITUALITY IN ISLAM : Nafs (The Soul)

For example, thinking of something which is nauseating may produce an urge to vomit. Certain events which touch the spirit and rouse distress may cause physical ailments that we call psychosomatic illnesses. The reaction that the sense of taste shows at the mention of something sweet or sour or bitter is also this same sort of impression. In short, there is a continuous interactive relationship between the spirit and the body. Similarly, evil conceptions and disagreeable manners and actions impress not only the body but also the spirit, while agreeable thoughts and considerations, and the plans and projects that are undertaken to please God Almighty, and the mentioning of the Divine Being by the heart and tongue all produce expansion and exhilaration in the spirit. It frequently occurs that even if we are not aware of it, this state gains some sort of luminosity and surrounds the entire horizon of the spirit by means of the spiritual intellect. It rouses the "secret" and begins to manifest itself in the metaphysical depths of human existence in different modes. Also, whenever the body expresses its submission to the Ultimate Truth through the acts of worship and obedience and lives in accordance with the purpose of its existence, deepening in belief through worship or religious acts and crowning its worship with excellence and awareness of God's omnipresence, the breezes of great happiness and joy begin to blow in the spirit. Hope and expectation stir up eagerness for God, the Ultimate Truth, and the acts leading to consciousness and awe of God produce feelings of respect, self-possession, and wakefulness in the spirit. As a result, like the seas vaporizing to rise and form the clouds, and the clouds raining on the earth, and rains forming rivers and torrents that flow into the sea, there appear continuous currents between the body and the spirit.

Amidst such mutual influences between the spirit and the body, it is possible for humans either to fall into the lowest of the low as a result of being overcome by their corporeality, or to rise to human perfection and the highest of the high by God's help and permission, through acting around the orbit of Islamic thought, belief, and awareness. Thus, what we call "spiritual journeying" is one of the significant ways of advancing toward and reaching the Ultimate Truth, and being a perfect human being through this tide.

All these tides, continuous mutual influences and flows, and journeys occur on the steed or ship or spacecraft of the human soul. The compass of this apparently abased vessel is belief, the path or direction it must follow is Islam, and its captain or guide is the Prophet Muhammad, the Master of creation, upon him be peace and blessings, and the dynamics to advance along this path are provided by reflection and remembrance of God. However, there are some apparently harmful characteristics incorporated in the nature of this steed for certain purposes. If the soul has not been purified of these characteristics and refined, it is inevitable that the meanings, conceptions, pieces of information, knowledge of God, and remembrances, and reflections that travel between the spirit and the soul suffer from some turbulence and even serious falls along the way. Such turbulence and falls should not be viewed as occurrences independent of certain other factors that originate in humans themselves. Sometimes sins, heedlessness, and carelessness cause them; sometimes temporary "whirlpools of contraction" or "spasms" interfere with the working of the rudder or the compass; sometimes direction is lost due to certain carnal amusements and relaxations; and sometimes they happen because of our unawareness that certain actions are contrary to the manner of traveling along the way, and our feeling proud of the good deeds done. If travelers view such things as viruses that can cause the demise of the spirit, and remain distant from them, and if they display serious endeavors to be purified of them under the shower of repentance, penitence, and contrition when accidentally exposed to them, then God will replace their evil deeds with virtuous ones(25: 70). That is, He will change their faculties which enable evil deeds into enablers of virtuous deeds.

* * *

Thus, this hard-natured substance, more harmful than snakes and scorpions, which is described by the Divine statement as Surely the carnal, evil-commanding soul always and insistently commands evil (12: 53)—by asking God for forgiveness in awareness of its sins, by avoiding its faults due to repugnance, by trying to keep distant from unbelief, hypocrisy, vice, and transgression, by shuddering with fear that the favors coming when it is in an agreeable state may be a means of perdition, and, in a further attempt, by finding its true purification through always seeing itself as impure, this primordially hard-natured, evil-commanding substance can rise to great heights and approach the heavenly beings. The soul at this level, which philosophers call "the speaking self or soul," and which the Qur'an describes as "the soul at rest," has become such an earthly being able to rise to the horizon of the heart and the spirit and possessing angelic manners, that it begins to take pleasure in religious responsibilities, which previously it did not like and which were difficult for it to fulfill. The things which it found bitter up until this point have become sweet, and in parallel with its attaining this station, the cloud of dust and smoke over the spiritual intellect and the secret that was produced by corporeality has been completely removed. Things and events appear differently to its view, and time and again it experiences raptures with the call to Him it hears from every thing and event, thinking itself to be among the pure spirit beings in great joy.

A time comes when reason becomes like the heart, and its products take on the color of those of the spiritual intellect. An initiate with such a level of reason feels stunned by awe of God and advances full of the feeling of modesty; he sometimes becomes exhilarated with the showers of Divine gifts. The heart beats "God! God!", combining this with the breaths of reason that utter, "O the All- Forgiving! O the All-Veiling (of His servants' sins and shortcomings)!" The initiates at this level of reason hear the whole of creation mentioning God by His Names, and their breaths resound with Him. While, on the one hand, signals come to them from the horizon of the spiritual intellect, arousing them to the worlds beyond, on the other hand they feel great worry that the gifts may be interrupted and unexpected obstacles may come in between them and the Source of these gifts, causing them to turn to Him more frequently and more intimately, admitting that whatever good visits them is essentially from Him.

Such people always feel themselves to be in the presence of the Lord. They stand before Him in awe, bow before Him in utmost modesty, prostrate before Him with utmost humility, and sit before Him in self-supervision. They advance with utmost awe and care, and try to fulfill what is required by having reason in the company of the heart. They shudder with awe while thinking of Him, they breathe His mercy with reflection and remembrance of Him; they focus their observations on deepening their knowledge of Him with new discoveries, and their eyes twinkle with eagerness for reunion with the All-Beloved. They do not forget their defects, which are incompatible with servanthood to God, seeing them as precipices between them and their Lord; they entreat Him, saying, "Do not abandon me to myself, even for the blink of an eye!"

Now they have distanced themselves from Satan, but they also reinforce the barriers they have put before Satan's inlets into their heart and continue to erect new ones. Whenever they remember Satan, they feel as if they are in the valley of bandits, and they always seek refuge in God, saying, "I seek refuge in You from the promptings and provocations of the satans; I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they be present with me!" (23: 97–98).

They never rely on themselves, their labor, or their deeds; they do not approve of their acts, and treat them with disdain. They are always troubled and shake like a tree in a storm with the worry that hypocrisy and expectation of others' acceptance and appreciation have found, and do find, a way into even their best deeds. These considerations follow them ceaselessly along the way, until finally the soul is welcomed with the compliments, "O you soul at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with Him and His treatment of you), and well-pleasing to Him! Enter, then, among My servants (fully content with servanthood to Me)! And enter My Paradise!" (89: 27–30); while those who have dropped halfway groan with deep regrets, "Would that I had forwarded (some good deeds) for my life (to come)!" (89: 24). They are honored with surprising bounties of the Hereafter, and favored with many different gifts from the horizon of the heart.

They are treated thus because they have lived a life of austerity without being deceived by worldly pleasures, and they have advanced toward the horizon of the peace of the heart, spiritual contentment, and resignation to God's treatment of them. They felt obliged to advance so, conscious of their essential impotence and poverty and their absolute need of Him. They have advanced and been favored with His special wealth. They have heard many things which other ears could not hear, and seen many things which other eyes could not see; they have experienced how the most honored of creatures—humanity—was created from wet clay, how matter rose almost to the level of the spirit, and how the evil-commanding soul developed into the soul at rest. With the pleasureof watching the smiling face of their fate, they have proceeded beyond space within space and toward the All-Beloved within corporeality, to the point where the invisible becomes visible.

The exacting people of truth and wisdom have seen the soul as we have so far tried to explain. If the Master of all domains had willed it to be so, there is none who could have willed or done otherwise. If He has dressed non- existence in the array of existence, why then should we wonder at "nothing" being "everything"? If He wills, He can make a drop into a sea, a minute particle into the sun, manifest thousands of instances of existence in non- existence, and bestow kingdoms upon those who initially have no trace of one.

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tawakkull · 8 years ago

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SUFISM 101-Nafs (The Soul)

Nafs (The Soul) The soul (an–nafs) is a substance that is essentially free of matter but which is in close connection with it in its acts and functions; it is the origin or essence of something or its self. There have been those who have used it in the sense of the spirit or the heart or the body, or in the sense of lusts or the mechanism through which Satan penetrates humans, or even in the sense of reason. In religious terminology, an-nafs, or the soul, is the origin or center of certain states or faculties such as lusts, anger, ill will, grudge, hatred, and irritation, and it is a transformable, reformable, and refinable mechanism connected to human corporeality. The soul has a constant, experienced connection between the body and the spirit. It is through this connection that humans receive, recognize, and distinguish their outer and inner sense-perceptions and go beyond the corporeal realm into metaphysical worlds. It is again through this connection that any state, experience or gift that occurs in the spirit leaves its imprint upon the body and provokes it to move in a certain direction. Just as every influence on the spirit makes itself felt on the body, so too every state of and effect on the body shows itself on the horizon of the spirit. For example, thinking of something which is nauseating may produce an urge to vomit. Certain events which touch the spirit and rouse distress may cause physical ailments that we call psychosomatic illnesses. The reaction that the sense of taste shows at the mention of something sweet or sour or bitter is also this same sort of impression. In short, there is a continuous interactive relationship between the spirit and the body. Similarly, evil conceptions and disagreeable manners and actions impress not only the body but also the spirit, while agreeable thoughts and considerations, and the plans and projects that are undertaken to please God Almighty, and the mentioning of the Divine Being by the heart and tongue all produce expansion and exhilaration in the spirit. It frequently occurs that even if we are not aware of it, this state gains some sort of luminosity and surrounds the entire horizon of the spirit by means of the spiritual intellect. It rouses the “secret” and begins to manifest itself in the metaphysical depths of human existence in different modes. Also, whenever the body expresses its submission to the Ultimate Truth through the acts of worship and obedience and lives in accordance with the purpose of its existence, deepening in belief through worship or religious acts and crowning its worship with excellence and awareness of God’s omnipresence, the breezes of great happiness and joy begin to blow in the spirit. Hope and expectation stir up eagerness for God, the Ultimate Truth, and the acts leading to consciousness and awe of God produce feelings of respect, self-possession, and wakefulness in the spirit. As a result, like the seas vaporizing to rise and form the clouds, and the clouds raining on the earth, and rains forming rivers and torrents that flow into the sea, there appear continuous currents between the body and the spirit. Amidst such mutual influences between the spirit and the body, it is possible for humans either to fall into the lowest of the low as a result of being overcome by their corporeality, or to rise to human perfection and the highest of the high by God’s help and permission, through acting around the orbit of Islamic thought, belief, and awareness. Thus, what we call “spiritual journeying” is one of the significant ways of advancing toward and reaching the Ultimate Truth, and being a perfect human being through this tide. All these tides, continuous mutual influences and flows, and journeys occur on the steed or ship or spacecraft of the human soul. The compass of this apparently abased vessel is belief, the path or direction it must follow is Islam, and its captain or guide is the Prophet Muhammad, the Master of creation, upon him be peace and blessings, and the dynamics to advance along this path are provided by reflection and remembrance of God. However, there are some apparently harmful characteristics incorporated in the nature of this steed for certain purposes. If the soul has not been purified of these characteristics and refined, it is inevitable that the meanings, conceptions, pieces of information, knowledge of God, and remembrances, and reflections that travel between the spirit and the soul suffer from some turbulence and even serious falls along the way. Such turbulence and falls should not be viewed as occurrences independent of certain other factors that originate in humans themselves. Sometimes sins, heedlessness, and carelessness cause them; sometimes temporary “whirlpools of contraction”[1] or “spasms” interfere with the working of the rudder or the compass; sometimes direction is lost due to certain carnal amusements and relaxations; and sometimes they happen because of our unawareness that certain actions are contrary to the manner of traveling along the way, and our feeling proud of the good deeds done. If travelers view such things as viruses that can cause the demise of the spirit, and remain distant from them, and if they display serious endeavors to be purified of them under the shower of repentance, penitence, and contrition when accidentally exposed to them, then God will replace their evil deeds with virtuous ones(25: 70). That is, He will change their faculties which enable evil deeds into enablers of virtuous deeds. Despite its satanic characteristics such as haughtiness, arrogance, egotism, jealousy, injustice, and enmity, all of which break the wings of the spirit, the soul has a fundamental potential so important and valuable that it raises it to companionship of the spirit. Provided it grasps that its essential function, as required by its position, is to become a unit of measurement to recognize God—thereby abandoning arrogance and the accompanying self-assertive, self-aggrandizing claims; so long as it turns to God in worship and prayer and seeks refuge in Him from the potential evils in its nature, following the heart and the spirit on the way to reaching God, then the soul can advance to the highest of the high on the way together with its companions, namely the heart and the spirit. Indeed, the soul is also of great importance for humans to maintain a metaphysical tension. It (the soul) is like a mainspring allowing them to rise from being only potentially human to true humanity. This continuously keeps them busy, without allowing them to have a rest. It ceaselessly sharpens the resolution of people to struggle against its negative characteristics, and causes those who have brains to frequently beat their brains out. When, finally, human nature is matured to the degree intended for its creation, the soul becomes a slave of the king of human existence—the heart—and adopts an attitude that is capable of feeling the need to warn it from time to time, saying, “Do not be proud, O my king! There is God, Who is greater than you!” You can call the soul which has reached this point of maturity after having gone through the filters of purification “the soul refined and grown in purity,” as stated in the following verses: And (by) the human soul and that (All-Knowing, All-Powerful, and All-Wise One) Who has formed it to perfection; and Who has inspired it with the conscience of what is wrong and bad for it, and what is right and good for it. He is indeed prosperous who has grown it in purity(91: 7-9). Whatever you call it, the purified soul is the double of the spirit, continuously trying to keep away from evil, and always advancing toward good until it finally comes to a point where it abandons its basic mission—that is, being a powerful mechanism with negative aspects for human self- purification and perfection—to the nerves, extreme sensitivity, and other human temperaments. It begins to spend the remaining part of its life in the company and service of the spirit. We have tried to explain in detail the stages of this journeying of the soul, which the Sufis experience in their spiritual journeying, under the titles of the Carnal, Evil-Commanding Soul, the Self-Condemning or Self-Accusing Soul, the Soul Receiving Inspiration, the Soul at Rest, the Soul Well-Pleased (with God, with however God treats it), the Soul Pleasing (to God), and the Perfected Soul, or the Purified or Innocent Soul.[2] As the soul passes through these stages upward, the veils of darkness that veil human nature are torn apart one after the other. According to the degree of each, the rays of spirituality begin to shine on all sides of a human being, and an initiate or traveler thinks that they are floating in the elevated horizons of the inner, immaterial dimensions of existence. Each of the stages mentioned above has a gift, pleasure, horizon, manner of expressiveness, and perception particular to itself. Sometimes the guide tells initiates at which stage they are, and sometimes sensitive, self-supervising initiates who are aware of themselves and lend an ear to the voice of their spirits are informed of their stage in a special way. Even though the soul is mainly characterized by always commanding evil, when it undergoes an effective process of purification and is directed to obedience to its Lord, it can be transformed into a source of bright light, like the full moon receiving light from the sun. If, on the other hand, it is not purified, the fog and smoke of the lusts invade its horizon, and it suffers corruption under the influence of carnal thoughts and considerations, becoming so blind as not to be able to see into the transcendent dimension of existence. Then, the soul cannot continue its companionship with the spirit and becomes a marsh of evil in human nature, in conformity with the aspects of its nature, which is open to evil. Making use of certain weak spots in its owner, the soul attacks him from many fronts, and—may God preserve us—can knock him down with a single blow. The continuous request for forgiveness from God and prayer are important defenses against such attacks; the disciplines which have an important place in the spiritual journeying are a petition presented for Divine protection, and following the way of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, strictly offers a reliable refuge. Further, restricting our consumption to absolutely essential human needs, silencing the soul by being content with legitimate pleasures, and incessantly warning the soul against illicit desires and appetites form another way of keeping it under strict control. * * * Basically, the soul is one of the faculties with which humans have been equipped. Provided that humans employ these faculties, which have been entrusted to them in their creation, in the direction established by their Creator, they greatly add to their value. For example, the eyes are windows for seeing things within their scope of sight; the ears are receptors and transmitters that receive and conduct sounds and voices at certain wavelengths to the brain; the tongue is an inspector of innumerable tastes, and the translator of thoughts and feelings. If the eyes are used to see things which are religiously permissible to observe, if the ears are kept closed to harmful, evil sounds and voices while transmitting the good ones, and if the tongue stirs up feelings of reflection on and thankfulness to the numberless bounties bestowed by God Almighty, and also acts in conformity with the Divine purpose for its creation as a means of speech—then individually and collectively these organs become wings for human beings to rise to human perfection. But if, on the contrary, the eyes busy themselves with those things that the Religion condemns as harmful or ugly, thus abandoning themselves to contamination; if the ears work like a telephone exchange for vices, receiving and transmitting that which is religiously forbidden; and if the tongue lives in attachment to the tastes it recognizes, in oblivion of its duty of inspection, and speaks without recognizing any criteria—then the wings of the heart are broken, and the spirit becomes as if nitric acid were poured into its eyes. The soul is no different from the faculties mentioned above with respect to its duties and its fulfilling or not fulfilling them properly. If the soul is purified and preserved against working like a telephone exchange for Satan, then while being, by its primordial nature, a reptile- like creature crawling on the ground, it becomes like a dove flying over our heads, as if it has undergone a mysterious metamorphosis, and it is praised by the words of God Almighty:I swear by the self-accusing soul (75: 2). When it takes two steps further, it is honored with the breezes of appreciation: O, you soul at rest! Return to your Lord, wellpleased (with Him and His treatment of you), and well-pleasing to Him (89: 27-28), and establishes itself comfortably next to the spirit. Thus, this hard-natured substance, more harmful than snakes and scorpions, which is described by the Divine statement as Surely the carnal, evil-commanding soul always and insistently commands evil (12: 53)—by asking God for forgiveness in awareness of its sins, by avoiding its faults due to repugnance, by trying to keep distant from unbelief, hypocrisy, vice, and transgression, by shuddering with fear that the favors coming when it is in an agreeable state may be a means of perdition, and, in a further attempt, by finding its true purification through always seeing itself as impure, this primordially hard-natured, evil-commanding substance can rise to great heights and approach the heavenly beings. The soul at this level, which philosophers call “the speaking self or soul,” and which the Qur’an describes as “the soul at rest,” has become such an earthly being able to rise to the horizon of the heart and the spirit and possessing angelic manners, that it begins to take pleasure in religious responsibilities, which previously it did not like and which were difficult for it to fulfill. The things which it found bitter up until this point have become sweet, and in parallel with its attaining this station, the cloud of dust and smoke over the spiritual intellect and the secret that was produced by corporeality has been completely removed. Things and events appear differently to its view, and time and again it experiences raptures with the call to Him it hears from every thing and event, thinking itself to be among the pure spirit beings in great joy. A time comes when reason becomes like the heart, and its products take on the color of those of the spiritual intellect. An initiate with such a level of reason feels stunned by awe of God and advances full of the feeling of modesty; he sometimes becomes exhilarated with the showers of Divine gifts. The heart beats “God! God!”, combining this with the breaths of reason that utter, “O the All- Forgiving! O the All-Veiling (of His servants’ sins and shortcomings)!” The initiates at this level of reason hear the whole of creation mentioning God by His Names, and their breaths resound with Him. While, on the one hand, signals come to them from the horizon of the spiritual intellect, arousing them to the worlds beyond, on the other hand they feel great worry that the gifts may be interrupted and unexpected obstacles may come in between them and the Source of these gifts, causing them to turn to Him more frequently and more intimately, admitting that whatever good visits them is essentially from Him. The zeal they feel is the zeal of the heart, and the sorrows they suffer are the sorrows of the sincerely penitent ones. While looking at their past with repugnance, they are revived and refreshed with the hope of a brighter future and the hope that they will be able to compensate for their past defects with future opportunities. They try to fill their past voids with heartfelt sighs and groans and with reflection and remembrance. While others are busy with a life of ease, thinking that they have already lived so before, they always try to do whatever they must on the way to God. Such people always feel themselves to be in the presence of the Lord. They stand before Him in awe, bow before Him in utmost modesty, prostrate before Him with utmost humility, and sit before Him in self-supervision. They advance with utmost awe and care, and try to fulfill what is required by having reason in the company of the heart. They shudder with awe while thinking of Him, they breathe His mercy with reflection and remembrance of Him; they focus their observations on deepening their knowledge of Him with new discoveries, and their eyes twinkle with eagerness for reunion with the All-Beloved. They do not forget their defects, which are incompatible with servanthood to God, seeing them as precipices between them and their Lord; they entreat Him, saying, “Do not abandon me to myself, even for the blink of an eye!” Now they have distanced themselves from Satan, but they also reinforce the barriers they have put before Satan’s inlets into their heart and continue to erect new ones. Whenever they remember Satan, they feel as if they are in the valley of bandits, and they always seek refuge in God, saying, “I seek refuge in You from the promptings and provocations of the satans; I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they be present with me!” (23: 97–98). They never rely on themselves, their labor, or their deeds; they do not approve of their acts, and treat them with disdain. They are always troubled and shake like a tree in a storm with the worry that hypocrisy and expectation of others’ acceptance and appreciation have found, and do find, a way into even their best deeds. These considerations follow them ceaselessly along the way, until finally the soul is welcomed with the compliments, “O you soul at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with Him and His treatment of you), and well-pleasing to Him! Enter, then, among My servants (fully content with servanthood to Me)! And enter My Paradise!” (89: 27–30); while those who have dropped halfway groan with deep regrets, “Would that I had forwarded (some good deeds) for my life (to come)!” (89: 24). They are honored with surprising bounties of the Hereafter, and favored with many different gifts from the horizon of the heart. They are treated thus because they have lived a life of austerity without being deceived by worldly pleasures, and they have advanced toward the horizon of the peace of the heart, spiritual contentment, and resignation to God’s treatment of them. They felt obliged to advance so, conscious of their essential impotence and poverty and their absolute need of Him. They have advanced and been favored with His special wealth. They have heard many things which other ears could not hear, and seen many things which other eyes could not see; they have experienced how the most honored of creatures—humanity—was created from wet clay, how matter rose almost to the level of the spirit, and how the evil-commanding soul developed into the soul at rest. With the pleasureof watching the smiling face of their fate, they have proceeded beyond space within space and toward the All-Beloved within corporeality, to the point where the invisible becomes visible. The exacting people of truth and wisdom have seen the soul as we have so far tried to explain. If the Master of all domains had willed it to be so, there is none who could have willed or done otherwise. If He has dressed non- existence in the array of existence, why then should we wonder at “nothing” being “everything”? If He wills, He can make a drop into a sea, a minute particle into the sun, manifest thousands of instances of existence in non- existence, and bestow kingdoms upon those who initially have no trace of one. O my God! Surely I ask You for a soul content with You, believing in meeting You, resigned to Your decrees, and content with Your bounties. And bestow blessings and peace on the most perfect and complete of the spirits, who is our master Muhammad, and Your beloved, and on His Family and Companions, whom You love! [1] In Sufi terminology, “contraction” (qabd) is used to mean that the link between an individual and the source of his or her spiritual gifts and radiance has been severed for a certain period. This causes distress and makes one suffer from spiritual obstruction and blockage. For further explanations, seeEmerald Hills of the Heart – Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism, The Light, NJ, 2004, vol. 1, pp. 167–170. (Tr.) [2] See M. Fethullah Gülen, Emerald Hills of the Heart – Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism, The Light, NJ, 2004, vol. 2, pp. 251–261. (Tr.) www.reverthelp.com

#nafs #observation #sufism 101 #sufi #Allah #islam #revert #revert help #revert help team #sufism #tasawwuf #love

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risalei-nur · 7 years ago

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TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fifteenth Ray.Part40

Also, through the mystery of order, the setting in motion of a large ship or an aeroplane through pressing a button with one’s finger is as easy as setting in motion the mainspring of a clock by turning the key with one’s finger. So too since through the principles of pre-eternal knowledge, and laws of eternal wisdom, and universal manifestations of dominical will and its specified principles, all things, universal and particular, large and small, many and few, have been given an immaterial mould, particular measure and proportions, and sheer limits, they are entirely within the order of Divine knowledge and laws of Divine will. Certainly, it is as easy for the Absolutely Powerful One to rotate the solar system and cause the ship of the earth to voyage around its annual orbit through His infinite power as it is for Him to make blood circulate in a body in orderly and wise fashion and the red and white corpuscles circulate in the blood, and the particles circulate in the tiny corpuscles, for without difficulty He creates a human being together with his wondrous organs from a droplet of fluid on the pattern of the universe. This means, if ascribed to that pre-eternal, infinite power, the creation of the universe is as easy as the creation of a single human being. But if not ascribed to that power, it becomes as difficult to create a single human being together with his wondrous organs, members and senses as to create the universe.

Also, through the mystery of obedience, compliance, and conforming to commands, with the command of “Forward march!” a commander impels a single soldier to attack, and with the same command he drives forward to the attack a large, disciplined army. So too, with innate desire and eagerness resembling soldiers totally obedient to the laws of Divine will and subservient to the signs of the dominical creational commands, creatures are a thousand times more obedient than the soldiers of an army -within the bounds of the line of action determined by pre-eternal knowledge and wisdom- and are completely compliant and subservient. It is therefore as easy through the dominical command of “Come into existence out of non-existence and get down to your business!” and in the manner determined by knowledge and in the form specified by will, for power to clothe an individual animate being in an existence particular to it, and take it by the hand and bring it into being as it is to create the army of living beings of the spring and to assign them their duties. That is to say, if everything is attributed to that power, the creation of the entire army of minute particles and divisions of stars is as easy and free of trouble as the creation of a single particle and single star. Whereas if attributed to causes, the creation of a particle in the pupil of a living being’s eye or in its brain together with its ability to perform its wondrous duties, would be as difficult and troublesome as that of the army of animals.

#allah #islam #muslim #dominical will #knowledge #creating #reverthelp team #muslim revert #salvation

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risalei-nur · 7 years ago

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TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part67

In His Name, be He glorified!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

The most effective remedy for the ghastly troubles and hopelessness of the world, especially at this time, especially those smitten by disaster and the Risale-i Nur students in particular, is to console and enhearten one another and strengthen one another’s morale, and like true, devoted brothers to pour balm on one another’s sorrows and afflictions and with true compassion, soothe one another’s troubled hearts. The true brotherhood between us which looks to the hereafter cannot sustain anyone feeling offended or taking sides. I have placed all my trust in you and am counting on you, and you know that I have decided to sacrifice happily not only my comfort, selfrespect, and honour for you, but also my very spirit, and indeed, you can see this. I swear even that the torment caused these last eight days by the trifling incident of two leading Risale-i Nur students apparently avoiding and upsetting each other instead of consoling each other, has caused my spirit, heart, and mind to weep and cry out:

“Alas! Alas! Mercy! Succour us O Most Merciful of the Merciful! Preserve us and save us from the evil of satans from among jinn and men. Fill my brothers’ hearts with loyalty, love, and fraternal feelings for each other!”

My brothers, as unyielding as steel! You help me. Our situation is extremely sensitive. I relied on you to such an extent that I handed over all my duties to your collective personality. So for your part, you should help me immediately. For sure, the incident was trifling, temporary, and unimportant, but even a hair, a mote, on the mainspring of our clock or the pupil of our eye causes pain. This point must be very important, for three physical explosions and three nonphysical observations gave news of it exactly.

S a i d N u r s i * * *

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

My stove and the two drinking-cups of the Feyzi’s, Sabri, and Husrev disintegrating foretold a terrible calamity. It is absolutely essential that we practise true solidarity and disregard one another’s faults, our most powerful point of support, and never take offence at a hero of the Risale-i Nur like Husrev, since he takes my place and is an important representative of the Risalei Nur’s collective personality. The last few days I felt a terrible distress and despair, and said to myself in alarm: “Our enemies have found a way to defeat us.” Both my stove and the absolutely correct observation I made in my imagination gave correct news. Beware! Beware! Beware! Quickly repair your solidarity, which up to now has been as strong as steel. There is a strong possibility this incident will cause more harm -especially at this juncture- to our service of the Qur’an and belief than our being sent to prison.

S a i d N u r s i * * *

In His Name, be He glorified!

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

The night of the Prophet’s (PBUH) Ascension is the equivalent of a second Night of Power. Working this night as much as one possibly can causes a thousandfold increase in spiritual gains.

In accordance with the mystery of spiritual partnership, on this valuable night, God willing, like some angels who glorify God with forty thousand tongues, you will perform worship and supplications with forty thousand tongues. This will yield much reward in this place of tribulation, and you will be offering thanks through your worship tonight for the coming storm involving us being reduced a thousandfold. Together with congratulating you for your perfect caution and prudence, I give you the good news that dominical grace is being manifested most clearly for us.

S a i d N u r s i * * *

My Dear, Loyal Brothers!

Firstly: I congratulate you with all my heart and soul for the Night of the Ascension.

Secondly: It has been our claim for twenty years that as far as it is possible the Risale-i Nur students do not disturb public order. As a Divine favour, and as a wonder resulting from your loyalty and sincerity, the harm of our imprisonment has been reduced a hundredfold. For there was a strong possibility that those who attack us could have taken it as a sign supporting their main claim that we disturb public order and breach security and made it a pretext for refuting our case. The mountain was made into a molehill. Otherwise those who makes mountains out of molehills concerning us could have taken advantage of it and induced many people to believe their slanders against us.

Thirdly: Do not worry about me. My being in the same building as you reduces all my difficulties and distress to nothing. In fact, our being gathered together here is important in numerous respects, and it is in many ways beneficial for our service of belief. Indeed, since a number of significant facts in the supplement to my written objections have been sent to the six departments of government, and have come to their attention and influenced them to an extent, it has reduced all our troubles to nothing.

Fourthly: Busying oneself with the Risale-i Nur both dispels distress, and may be counted as five sorts of worship.

Fifthly: The previous misfortune was lessened a hundredfold through the teachings of the Risale-i Nur. Otherwise, because of the sensitivity of the time and place, that single molehill would have become mountains, like putting a match to gunpowder. In fact, some officials said:

“Those who listen to the lessons of the Risale-i Nur were not involved.”

If only everyone had listened to its teachings, nothing would have happened. As far as you can, don’t allow things to escalate; don’t let anything else be added to the difficulties of prison. Like the Nurjus, the other prisoners should be brothers and not be angry at each other.

S a i d N u r s i * * *

#allah #islam #muslim #compassion #trust #spirit #heart #mind #sacrifice #loyalty #love #solidarity #angel #revert help team

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watchilove · 6 years ago

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MB&F comes with a new Legacy Machine – the Split Escapement Titanium Green. As usual, the MB&F press release is excellently written and the pictures are great, so I shared all the info below. I will come in the next days with my own few photos and my impressions about the MB&F Legacy Machine “Split Escapement” Titanium Green. At the end of the articles are shared pictures with all the LM Split Escapement.

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SUMMARY

There is one technical constant that defines every single watch in the MB&F Legacy Machine collection. Functions may vary, and different complications come to the fore in each edition, but the suspended balance wheel remains literally and metaphorically above everything else. In Legacy Machine Split Escapement, this feature is not only highlighted, but raised to another level of achievement.

Just below the highest point of the domed dial crystal, the balance of LM SE beats at a sedate, traditional 2.5Hz / 18,000bph. What is rather less traditional is its construction. Unlike most of the other suspended balances in the Legacy Machine collection — indeed, unlike any other balance outside of MB&F — the balance of LM Split Escapement seems to oscillate on its own, without any visible intake of energy. The essential remaining parts of the escapement, which provide the driving impulse – anchor and escape wheel – are concealed on the opposite side of the movement, almost 12 mm below; hence the name ‘Split Escapement’.

Under the balance, the triple-dial design of LM SE gives the time at 12 o’clock, the power reserve indication at 4 o’clock and the date at 8 o’clock. The date can be quickly and easily adjusted thanks to a push-button on the side of the case, next to the date dial.

Other design features are natural evolutions of those found in previous Legacy Machines, such as the organically arched balance bridge found in the LM Perpetual. The white gold launch editions of LM SE feature the micro-textured “frosted” finish that is so closely associated with antique pocket watches of the 18th and 19th century; this traditional technique was presented by MB&F for the first time in the LM 101 ‘Frost’ editions.

Antique watches featuring a frosted finish used acid baths to achieve this effect, but modern methods of replicating a frosted finish involves manually burnishing a metal surface with a wire brush. LM Split Escapement is a celebration of this technique, which is executed completely by hand for all 72 pieces of the launch editions.

The LM Split Escapement was first launched in 2017 in four white gold “frosted” editions, each limited to 18 pieces:

– Blue frosted finish paired with rhodium-plated movement;

– Ruthenium frosting with similarly darkened movement;

– Red gold frosting and movement;

– Yellow-gold frosting and movement finish;

In 2019, MB&F introduces a new limited edition of 33 pieces in grade 5 titanium, with a spectacular green CVD-treated dial. The sun-ray dial finish catches the light from alternating angles, constantly changing between blue and green hues – adding a more contemporary edition to the series.

MB&F Legacy Machine “Split Escapement”

MB&F LM SPLIT ESCAPEMENT IN DETAIL

THE LM SE ENGINE

The first Legacy Machine drew on the atmosphere of wonder and optimism that characterised the World’s Fair expositions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The suspended balance was designed to channel this heady mix of emotions, an effect achieved by its sharp departure from established watchmaking tradition. By transporting the impulse jewel, anchor and escape wheel to the opposite end of the engine, Legacy Machine Split Escapement magnifies the visual impact of its balance, akin to an illusionist meticulously hiding all traces of the mechanisms that drive his latest show-stopping opus. And just like any other enigmatic feat of visual wonder, it’s achieved by bending some old rules and writing some new ones.

The sensitivity of the balance and the paramount role that it plays in chronometric precision are usually reason enough for watchmakers to avoid straying too far from convention when it comes to escapements. However, the outstanding horological mind of Stephen McDonnell, the watchmaker behind the award-winning Legacy Machine Perpetual, was able to circumvent the real and perceived hindrances to creating a new configuration of mechanical regulator.

Legacy Machine Perpetual was the first MB&F creation to utilise the split escapement in 2015, although the attention then was rightfully focused on the groundbreaking new perpetual calendar. Now, with Legacy Machine Split Escapement, the time for its eponymous feature has arrived.

Despite the technical hurdles faced in creating the split escapement, the LM SE engine is still designed with aesthetics and classicism in mind — beautifully symmetrical, with bridges that frame their underlying components and curve smoothly around gold chatons and countersunk jewels.

Dial-side, the balance bridge is the third iteration of a component that has been central in all Legacy Machines thus far. In the first Legacy Machines, the bridge was characterised by an industrialist aesthetic, but progressed to a more rounded form with a wedge-like base in Legacy Machine 101 and in the final edition of Legacy Machine N°1. In LM SE, similar to Legacy Machine Perpetual, the bridge assumes an organically arched line from end to end.

TECHNICAL CHALLENGES OF THE SPLIT ESCAPEMENT

In watchmaking parlance, the escapement is the set of components that allows the stored energy of the mainspring to escape in a series of regular controlled impulses instead of unwinding all at once. In its most common configuration, it consists of the balance assembly, anchor and escape wheel, and horological tradition dictates that these components should be as close to each other as possible to minimise external disturbing influences. In this particular area of horology, which is rarely challenged, MB&F is doing a new thing.

Whilst the balance of LM Split Escapement beats just under the dial-side dome of sapphire crystal, its impulse jewel, anchor and escape wheel are on the other side of the movement, visible through the transparent caseback. This necessitates an unusually long balance arbour, which runs through the centre of the movement, a true milestone of micro-mechanical and manufacturing technique.

The distance between the balance wheel and the impulse jewel is a full 11.78 mm, the length of the arbour that traverses the movement and projects through the dial to support the oscillator. A longer arbour increases the likelihood of disrupting influences on the oscillator, as well as the potential distorting effects of a long axle under continuous torsion. The inertia of the balance and the rigidity of the arbour are key factors in this delicate equation, and the LM SE engine is precisely engineered to ensure its chronometric integrity.

In the Split Escapement, stability of construction becomes exponentially more important than it usually is, which significantly restricts the margin of dimensional error during the manufacturing process. In addressing this, the balance arbour is fitted at both ends with anti-shock jewel bearings, and the bridge that holds the anchor and escape wheel is separately fixed for optimal fine adjustment.

Because a longer balance arbour has a higher mass, which potentially detracts from the amount of energy ultimately transmitted to the oscillator, the LM SE engine is driven by two barrels in parallel, which allows up to 72 hours of optimal timekeeping.

FINE-FINISHING

The first launch editions featured very traditional finishing with a hand-frosted dial. The burnished surface finish is closely associated with watch movements from the 18th and 19th century. It was originally functional as well as decorative, providing an oxidised matte surface that resisted tarnish and gave off a subtle and even sheen, which is prized by antique collectors and enthusiasts.

Traditional methods of creating the frosted finish are no longer practicable, due to its hazardous nature (the procedure involved heating metal over an open flame before dipping it in concentrated nitric acid). To achieve the same effect, MB&F works with specialist craftsmen to recreate the texture and sheen of frosting without the use of chemicals.

The surface to be frosted is hand-worked with a wire brush, creating minute indentations one small area at a time. Each time, the wire brush must meet the metal surface with exactly the same angle and the same amount of pressure, and the indentations have to be evenly distributed over the entire surface in order to create the desired finish.

For Legacy Machine Split Escapement, a wider, more diffuse frosted finish was used, to accommodate the larger area and to draw attention to the hand-worked process. The surfaces were then PVD treated to colour them — blue, ruthenium, red gold or yellow gold.

The latest grade 5 titanium edition with green CVD-treated dial is decorated with a spectacular sun-ray finish, which catches the light from alternating angles and makes the dial colour vary between blue and green.

THE LEGACY MACHINE COLLECTION

MB&F debuted the Legacy Machine collection in 2011, the result of a radical thought experiment by founder Maximilian Büsser: “What would have happened if I had been born in 1867 instead of 1967? In the early 1900s the first wristwatches appear and I would want to create three-dimensional machines for the wrist. There are no Grendizers, Star Wars or fighter jets for my inspiration, but I do have pocket watches, the Eiffel Tower and Jules Verne. So what might my early 20th-century machines look like? They had to be round (tradition) and three-dimensional (MB&F Machine): Legacy Machines are the answer.”

Legacy Machine N°1 simultaneously marked a sharp departure from the Horological Machines for which MB&F was already known, and also established the aesthetic codes for a new family of MB&F creations. Round cases, white lacquer dials, movements classically finished with Geneva stripes and polished chamfers, and the one disruptive element — the suspended balance — all the more arresting because of its wholly traditional setting.

Since the double time-display LM1 was released, the Legacy Machine collection has been completed with five further series, making six in total. Legacy Machine N°2, with its two regulators, premiered in 2013. Legacy Machine 101, the distillation of the aesthetics of the Legacy Machine collection and MB&F’s first in-house movement, came a year later, and the high-complication Legacy Machine Perpetual arrived in 2015. In 2019 MB&F released the LM FlyingT featuring a flying tourbillon, and the first MB&F Machine dedicated to women.

The emphasis on technical creativity that characterised LM Perpetual also defines LM Split Escapement, whose engine is derived from LM Perpetual but has shed its complication to reveal the innovation at its heart.

LM SPLIT ESCAPEMENT TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

4 white gold launch editions limited to 18 pieces each, with a frosted dial plate in blue, ruthenium, red gold or yellow gold; and a limited edition of 33 pieces in titanium with a sun-ray-finish, green CVD dial.

Engine

Movement developed for MB&F by Stephen McDonnell.

Split escapement with the balance wheel suspended above the dial and the anchor under the movement.

Manual winding with double mainspring barrels.

Bespoke 14mm balance wheel with traditional regulating screws visible on top of the movement.

Superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th-century style; bevelled internal angles highlighting hand craft; polished bevels; Geneva waves; hand-made frost and engravings.

Power reserve: 72 hours

Balance frequency: 2.5Hz / 18,000bph

Number of components: 314

Number of jewels: 35

Functions & indications

Hours, minutes, date and power-reserve indicators.

Push-button next to the date dial for quick adjustment of the date.

Case

Material: launch editions in 18K white gold; grade 5 titanium edition

Dimensions: 44mm x 17.5mm

Number of components: 49

Water resistance: 30m / 90′ / 3ATM

Sapphire crystals

Sapphire crystals on top and display back treated with anti-reflective coating on both faces.

Strap & buckle

Black or brown hand-stitched alligator strap with white-gold or titanium folding buckle matching the case.

For more information, please visit the MB&F Website.

MB&F Legacy Machine “Split Escapement”

News: MB&F Legacy Machine “Split Escapement” Titanium Green MB&F comes with a new Legacy Machine - the Split Escapement Titanium Green. As usual, the MB&F press release is excellently written and the pictures are great, so I shared all the info below.

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