We Are All Interconnected!
By Jamal Rahman, New Age Islam
15 May 2021
At A Deep Level, Our Souls Get
Connected'
Main Points:
1.
All
humans are interconnected.
2.
The
soul in all is sacred.
3.
All
of creation is interconnected.
4.
Nature
is a sacred manuscript.
-----
A wonderful revelation in the Quran (2:115)
states:
Whichever way you turn, there is the Face of God.
One level of meaning of this sentence is
that all of us humans are interconnected. Now, someone might say, “Wait a
minute! There’s this person who is adversarial, who despises me. I don’t like
him. I don’t feel connected with him.” But the truth is that if I don’t like
someone, if someone feels like an enemy, I am angry with some aspect of that
person’s behaviour that I find unacceptable. But, their soul is sacred : it is
their Buddha nature or their Christ nature or their God nature, or however you
want to term it. This aspect of their being is holy, no matter what their
behaviour might be. In that sense, all of us are connected. Just by making this
discernment in our heart and mind—that one is angry at their behaviour, not at
their being or essence—as one deals with a person one finds it difficult to
relate with, has the power to shift heaven and earth, as it were. At a deep
level our souls get connected.
Another level of the Quranic verse cited
above is that not only are we connected to all fellow humans, we are also
connected to all of God’s creation—with Nature, with animals, with plants, and
so on. In the Quran, dozens of verses extol Nature. Again and again, the Quran
says there are signs of God in Nature.
Spiritual masters say that Nature is a very sacred manuscript.
Everything about life that you want to learn about, you can learn by observing
Nature. And the Quran (6:38) says that
animals are communities just like us:
All living beings roaming the earth and
winged birds soaring in the sky are communities like yourselves.
A Buddhist story resonates deeply in me. It
beautifully illustrates the teaching wisdom of Nature and our interconnection
with creation. A monk is about to give a sermon in the open. Hundreds of
disciples have gathered in the forest to hear him. He is just about to step up
on the podium to speak when, suddenly, a bird in a tree begins to chirp.
Everyone falls silent. Then, after a while, the bird stops chirping. The monk
steps down, saying, “The sermon has been delivered”!
----
Based in the USA, Jamal Rahman is a
popular speaker and author on Islam, Sufi spirituality, and interfaith
relations. Along with his Interfaith
Amigos, he has been featured in The New York Times, CBS News, BBC, and various
NPR programs. Jamal is co-founder and
Muslim Sufi Imam at Interfaith Community Sanctuary and adjunct faculty at
Seattle University. He travels
nationally and internationally, presenting at retreats and workshops. Jamal’s passion lies in interfaith community
building and activism.
URL:
https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/interfaith-sacred-soul/d/124830
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