Lives of Human Beings

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Event Name: Lives of Human Beings
Transcription Date:Transcription Modified Date: 5/1/2019 2:46:37 PM
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ey

were told by our foreign policy here you

know we're going to stand behind you

don't you can stand up to him right and

that was a very easily you know not an

intractable problem at all but

unfortunately there are people that have

vested interests in using the violent

option before the diplomatic options

right there's a lot of money to be made

in war Bechtel was already was already

before that war began had contracts with

the Kuwaiti government to rebuild their

infrastructure right so I mean Thoreau

said an educated soldier is usually

called a deserter right if you really

know what what the fight is about you

know sorry

count me out on this one right what a

wonderful world it would be they say if

somebody called a war and nobody showed

up and you know the ancient peoples when

they used to fight they had these war

bonnets if it rained they'd call off the

battle and and they used to do you know

the Prophet Mohammed is seen as this but

in the West is this violent person over

over 23 years less than 1,200 people

were killed in all of the engagements

that took place less than 1,000 - we had

it's recorded every battle how many

people died and they actually prefer to

have you know the heroes would go out

and they Duke it out and then they you

win and they'd all go home right and

that's I mean would that be a great way

right let let it's like you know

Lindbergh said the America first during

World War two he said it's not their

sons that are going to die in this war

right the war mongers they never send

their sons right and that's why the

Iroquois nation in the Iroquois nation

it was the women that were the war

council the women decided whether the

nation would go to war with another

tribe with the belief that it was the

women who sent their sons to die right

and there's the great Greek play yeah

thank you about the women all going on

strike okay

 

all right is minaton online

the the next

these are the two classical divisions

some will put it into five and other

seven seven is you know Shakespeare has

the Verona tapestry that has the seven

stages of man and so it's consistent

some of the Western tradition but here

one through 1515 was traditionally more

commonly the onset of puberty was around

that age where I was in West Africa

that's that's pretty much when when

puberty happens for most of the people

there but you're obviously going to get

some are delayed and some are earlier

but it's around that and this is also

consistent with neurological research

that indicates that the brain is pretty

much by 15 its fully formulated and at

puberty there's actually a hormone

that's released that that will remove if

networking was not done it removes all

the potential so which is really

important why children need so much

stimulation in those early periods and

we've shown now there's a Israeli study

that indicated that for the first at

least 10 months there was strong

corollary study that showed that

children that were breastfed that their

IQs increased about a point for every

month that they had mother's milk and

it's interesting also that it's actually

a right of a child to be nursed with

breast milk it's it's a right and if a

woman is not able to do it then it's a

responsibility of the man to find what

we used to call wet nurses which

obviously we don't have this anymore but

mother's milk is seen as really

important and in fact the Arabic word

for the the actual tit of a woman's

breast is is Halima which mean it's the

same root word for compassion and

forbearance and there is a belief you

know it's what we used to call in this

tradition the milk of human kindness

that there's actually that that is

transmitted to the children through the

breasts that there is a transmission of

him and it's interesting that

historically the wet-nurse of the

prophet's name was Halima that was the

name of his wet nurse was Halima Satya

and so it's also believed in the Islamic

tradition that this hill which is

forbearance proceeds in which is

knowledge and so the woman for the first

seven years is inculcating forbearance

in the child that that is what the child

needs to learn in those first seven

years is how to be a human being how to

actually have the ability to be empathic

compassionate forbearing kind generous

the these this is what the mother is

imparting to the child and and this is

why she's been given and there's a very

interesting correlation between the

breast and the womb that many women know

the womb in Arabic is ryeom which which

the root word is compassion and there is

a hadith in which the the prophet

sallallaahu sanam said that God says I

have derived the womb from my name the

merciful so ever severs the womb has

been severed from my mercy so the womb

is the source of human Rama and this is

why kinship ties are so important

because if a child does not learn to

have mercy at the at the at the the unit

of the family it will never be able to

extend mercy to the greater human family

so in the Islamic tradition is it's

essential that a child learns to be

compassionate within

family unit and this is why rama is is

believed to be the dominant Sakina and

this why the quran says that the male

and the female come together with two

qualities moet de and rama moet de is a

love that is not less full its

transcending the the erotic love and

moving into the the the the divine love

and this is why one of the names of god

is edwin it's from the same root the one

who loves divinely so milada and also

the prophet peace be upon him said the

best woman was the wudood this woman

that has this divine love because she

will transmit it to her children and

then the second quality of marriage is

Rama which is compassion and mercy the

two of these result in Sakina which is

tranquility and Shekinah in the Hebrew

tradition right Shekinah which descends

the the Trank the word in Arabic for

that marital house is called muskan

which in arabic means the place of

tranquility so this is what the the

marital house is a place where this

divine Sakina is allowed to descend

because of divine love and compassion

and children that grow up in that

environment our children that are fit

for our children that will have

compassion love and tranquility so that

when they move out into the dominant

culture and society they're not a threat

to people they're actually a

contribution and this is why the the

prophet sallallaahu said i'm said one of

the three things that a human being

leaves behind that will benefit him in

the next life is righteous children

righteous children so

this stage cannot be underestimated this

stage will actually affect the parents

afterlife if they do it properly and he

also said that people that don't do it

properly they will accrue the wrong

actions of their children throughout

their lives so it will have the opposite

effect so at the age of fifteen to

thirty five you enter into the new stage

which is you it's called Shabab which

comes from a root word Shepperton all

the fire became inflamed so youth is

when you have this energy and this is

considered the age of plowing the field

there's a tradition of imam ali but of

the Ilan who said he's the nephew of the

Prophet and one of the greatest scholars

of Islam he said play with your children

for seven years

educate them for seven years befriend

them for seven years and then release

their reins right let their reins go

play with them for seven educate them

for seven and then befriend them for

seven though that age of fourteen to

twenty-one it's the identity they need

that mentorship you know they're they're

moving into the world and then at

twenty-one your job is done and now if

you do that then there'll be a

contribution to yourself and to society

so from that period is seen as the

period of struggle this is where you're

really meant to do your serious work one

of the scholars said if you if a man has

nothing to boast of by the age of

twenty-one he'll never have anything to

boast right that this is the real time

of effort and struggle at the age of 35

a new phase is coming in and some take

it to 40 40 is productivity versus

stagnation right in Erickson's model 40

is the age now where the other world

is really moving in to picture now one

of the things that happens at 40 is gray

hairs begin to emerge and there's a

wisdom in that because gray hairs what

what the scholars say is that gray hair

is a sign that harvest time is soon

right the chafe is yellowing the Grim

Reaper's on his way and so 40 is seen as

a time of getting serious if you haven't

been yet it's no longer you don't have

the youth to waste anymore it's it's

time to really start thinking about and

this is what Erickson says what you're

leaving behind what your contribution is

right what what are you going to leave

behind and that will determine his later

stage of integrity versus despair did

you do something worthwhile that you can

say my life has had meaning or was it an

egocentric life and this is why in our

culture 40 can be so frightening for

people right men will often leave their

wives and go find a woman and now women

are starting to compete with men in that

realm as well right and with enhanced

cosmetic surgery and things like that

people are doing you know really bizarre

things because and this is our death

denial culture we're not dealing with

this this is a turning point right it's

it's literally the focus on this world

is really meant to

forty is is the transition where you're

turning your back on this world and

you're really starting to face your

mortality at in a deep existential way

and so this is called now the age of

maturity you Jula it's the age the

module which it can apply to the male

and the female it generally means man

but it's the idea of somebody now who

who has reached this age of dignity they

are no longer going to do anything that

is indicative of the folly of youth that

they have wisdom now there's no longer

an excuse for the stupidities of lack of

experience you should know better right

shame on you and this this period then

will be the most productive period from

40 to 50 in terms of contribution

because now you really have you still

have remnants of the strength of youth

but you also have the maturation of

intellect and spirituality according to

this tradition at 50 you move into

what's known as chez hoo-ha cher or Shia

this is now where you become an elder

your your your wisdom now has has

matured in a way that you are now

guiding peoples that went before you

you're you're giving them insights into

their own journey because you've gone

down the path you've been through these

stages and now you can actually guide

them and there's a hadith in which the

prophet sallallaahu sanam said he is not

from us the one who does not respect our

aged nor has compassion on our youth so

there is an interesting dyadic

relationship between the aged and the

youth the aging have to have compassion

because the youth don't have the

experience so they make these mistakes

but the youth have to have the respect

of the aged in that they can derive from

them

the wisdom of those who have already

traveled the path so this is a really

important period and this will go on for

about 20 years at about 70 you're moving

into the ages now obviously the baby

boomers are going to alter this because

of you know people now they're like 75

and they're they have the strength of

people traditionally that were you know

in their 50s we're seeing this now and

it's interesting but traditionally 70

was really where you're settling down

into you're slowing down physiologically

and in every other way and so you're

really now you walk slowly right there's

a type of dignity that goes with this

age and it's it's an age where the

Prophet Muhammad said that that God is

shy of punishing somebody who reaches

the age of 70 in a state of submission

in the next world

and then he wept and they asked him why

are you weeping and he said I'm weeping

for those of my community who are not

shy about disobeying Allah at that age

right so this is really a time where

people should be really directed

the other world this is a time when you

really leave behind this world you begin

to go into spiritual in in many you know

physiologically this is a time of

insomnia for a lot of people and

traditionally the that was because the

body is designed at this age to go into

deep meditative states in the night

which replaces sleep and and in the

traditional Muslim culture that's what

people did at this time it was going

inwardly in a very deep way and spending

the nights in meditation getting ready

for the afterlife and then we have death

now death is an amazing thing if you're

familiar with Heidegger's philosophy he

built an entire philosophy around the

phenomenon of death and death is

ultimately you know if you don't want to

think about where your you came from

everybody at some point has to think

about where they're going and I had a

professor once in fact in in Western

schools he was really the only really great teacher that I had, was a very brilliant Catholic scholar, Ken Kramer.  Who in a class I had with him which summons materials taken from "Death and Dying in religious traditions" and he said one day, in class, there is a point in your life where you will become absolutely certain of your mortality and he said it comes to people at different stages in their life.  Some people, it happens really early and other people it happens really late.  When he said that to me, it struck a chord with me because I know that point with absolute certainty. 

When it happened to me, I was 17 and I was in a really intense car accident.  I realized during the accident that I might be going into the next world.  I realized it, I mean completely, a total realization of mortality.  And that completely altered my experience of life after that.  I was disconnected for about a year after that accident.  Completely disconnected.  Conversations:  I couldn't hear people talking.  I mean it was very very profound experience for me and that was my experience

For him, he said it happened when he was 25.  He was in Theological Seminary sitting on a windowpane looking out and he realized he was going to die.  That realization of death and mortality I think for most people and there's also

I believe in my own experience there is, a because this happened several times.  Since then there's an experience that that you can you know there's a belief

that you cannot experience get death in

this life there is a belief amongst a

lot of the Freudians and and and other

psychologists in this culture that you

know human beings cannot really

understand death as long as they're

alive

in all the traditional cultures death

spiritual death is real that you can die

to the sensory in this world before you

leave this world and in fact that is the

goal of most religious traditions that

the spiritual death and the spiritual

death is where one enters into meaning

you die to the sensory and this is an

inward experience and once that death

occurs you can never look at the sensory

world in the same light you're freed

from it the chains of it in a deep way

one of them said

furro furro Calissa and the decay

Niharika one Anna Magnani lay ahead Luke

Arakawa poet said he freed himself from

sensory sensoria that was his obstacle

and he embraced meaning and embrace that

he's not permitted to ever leave so the

ideas once you make this you embrace

this meeting which is your mortality and

that you will be brought back into the

divine present that will completely

alter your life you will never be able

to look at the world in the same way and

this is the spiritual goal of the

spiritual path now there's a lot of

reasons that why we fear why we fear

dying right and these these five are

going to be the majority of people are

going to fall into this people have a

fear of pain there is a hadith on which

the Prophet said whoever loves to meet

God God loves to meet them and his wife

said what about fearing death and he

said we all fear death

in other words it's very human to fear

the pain right that comes with death

what's called in the Quran Sakura to

melt at the Quran says a Jessica rattle

molt Bill Hawk the pangs of death have

come in truth and then it says this is

that which you were putting off right we

don't like to think about this the fear

of loss separation leaving this world

loved ones the fear of meaninglessness

right despair that comes with feeling

that your life really didn't turn out

the way you wanted that it wasn't really

you

didn't get what you wanted to get done

right I can't die now I've still got

things to do fear of the unknown right

of what's going to happen in the next

room many people will say well there's

nothing but it's Pascal's wager which is

in the Muslim tradition called Satan

Ali's wager because he preceded Pascal

by centuries with that somebody was

debating with him about you know believe

in the afterlife he said well if if I'm

right you're in big trouble but if

you're right I don't have a problem

right in other words in the next world

if the materials who says it all ends

with death if it indeed does then the

religious man has has or woman has led

an ethical life I think it was Whitehead

who said even if there isn't a day of

judgment we should all live our lives as

if there was which is the secular

humanist perspective right it's we've

still done the right thing

whereas the the the aesthetic or the

garment or the the person who wants to

live the sensual life

and not think about what's coming after

or say nothing's coming after if indeed

there is something after then he's he or

she is in in trouble and then fear of

non being right it's hard to imagine

ourselves in fact it's really at one

level impossible to imagine ourselves

just not here at all now

if you look at death there's different

types of death we have physical death

but we also have psychological death

what one is in Georgia with all cos a

homeopath said was in America we die at

25 but live to 75 right that that at a

certain point a lot of people literally

stop experiencing life and go into this

just numb to state where they've had a

psychological death a physical death is

determined by Harvard's right I used to

always be amazed in the hospital in it

because I saw a lot of people die nurses

can't say they're dead

you need the doctor to come in and

declare them dead I mean if that's not

religion I don't know what is the priest

has to come in right yeah he's dead okay

thank you

brainwaves that that determines death

right that is one type of death brain

death so if they're not seeing brain

activity they're determined to be dead

heart and blood if the heart stops and

blood start circulate stop circulating

death occurs very quickly all right

there can be resuscitation if somebody

is for instance defibrillated or

something brought back into you know a

beating heart but that happens pretty

quick the nervous system is one way of

determining so you poke you don't get

any reactions and then breath and lungs

you really have to have all four in

order for them to you know this is a

dead there there's no longer life now at

one point people started weighing

cadavers because there was a belief you

know that the soul leaves and obviously

it's going to be lighter which again is

such a stupid concept because

the soul is immaterial right so

obviously it's not going to have any

weight I mean that's the point of the

soul it's it's not material substance

it's not part of this this realm it's

from another realm the body is material

now the soul you know there's a lot of

people that don't believe in this all in

fact there's a lot of scientists with

that would really like to prove that we

are nothing other than anabolic and

catabolic processes just biochemistry

that's what we're dealing with now at

the psychological level you have types

of death so at the brain level you get

cognitive impotence where the brain is

not functioning anymore so

psychologically you know people

literally stop thinking and they become

automatics that that literally kind of

go through life without really ever

thinking about anything other than the

most functional things you know so

people go into these trance-like states

and and they go into this this

perfunctory life that is nothing other

than routines right and this is why like

Ezra Pound here all teachers Ezra Pound

said the day that a teacher is not

excited about teaching a class is the

day they should retire right so this

isn't really a type of of death of brain

death when you're no longer excited

about the material I was telling a Hakim

I rented a car and this man said to me I

said he was from another state and I

said how long you've been here he said

thirty years but I'm moving on I said oh

really what you don't like here anymore

he said well seen every mountain been on

every trail hunted every hunting area

fished every stream I'm bored right and

I was just I mean that always amazes me

because I've never looked out here and

seeing the

same place every single time looked here

I've been coming here all these years

I've never it's like where did that

mountain come from you know it's and

it's all lights you know it's always

changing here the lights are incredible

and so this idea of like boredom that's

something I you know I've that's another

thing I really always amazed me about

people who say I'm bored

right how people get into that state

what happens where something say I'm

bored and children are not like that

we teach them boredom right children are

not bored I mean they're just you know

they're you know in everything right

which is people that take hypertrophic

drugs or like that right they'd start

looking at leaves like you know amazed

at and that's why children are they're

in a whole other realm right and that

type of excitement about life is not

something that has to stop discovery in

in Arabic the word to find something or

discover something means to be ecstatic

and the word for existence is the same

root word existence is the arena of

ecstasy and but you have to be alive to

be in that to be in that state where it

is you are in an ecstatic state because

there's constant discovery this is a

theater of enlightenment there's all

these revelations happening in every

moment you know the divine attributes

are manifesting all over the place and

and then the next is emotive dissonance

people who die emotionally and this is

the ruin of myriad marriages emotional

death that occurs in marriages where

there's no nothing's happening people

are dead and numb inside to each other

which one of the things about death and

really keeping death in perspective is

unlike having the morbid experience it

actually invigorates your experience of

life because

it's like this might be the last time

I'm ever with you right this might I

might never see you again we leave we go

to work or and come home and think that

it's always going to be like this

but there's people all over this country

right now that are getting phone calls I

hate to tell you this but your husband

was in a car accident today

you know your wife or I hate to tell you

this but you know the tests came back

positive

you've got terminal cancer I mean this

is going on all over right now

everywhere right and we forget that you

know we go into this thing that's always

going to be like she'll always be around

he'll always be around volitional

routinization of life right just sit

down at the terminal turn on plug in

check my email coffee you know phone

rings yes okay it's people all over the

world like that literally just right

driving cars same radio station right

it's amazing so that's a type of death

and then intuitive paralysis losing that

expansion contraction the breath you

know losing that that experience of

right that that breath can be cut off

and that when you're connected to your

breath you're connected to yourself in a

really powerful way which is why breath

is a primary meditation now you have

these are not universal and there's

actually knew death work that's that's

beginning to go beyond kubler-ross is I

mean she was important at one point

singh's book the art of dying which is

published by Harper has taken a whole

other and that's probably going to

become an important book it's going

really beyond that because there are

many people that do not go through these

ages there are many people that you know

but but this is a common death denial

people in a death denial culture this is

very common these stages and they do

work denial is the first stage right

he's relating them to these but I'm not

going to go into that but denial is the

first stage you know people hear it

there's a film called the doctor I don't

know if people saw that but that's very

much in that genre of somebody who's

told they're going to die and they

thought it's not going to happen to me

it happens to everybody else and this is

one of you know our joonas asked krishna

with what is the the greatest wonder of

the world and he replies that the

greatest wonder is that you see people

dying all around you and you don't think

it's going to happen to you right so we

you know we go into this denial of death

and and once people overcome that it's

it's anger will often emerge getting

angry why is this happening to me

especially you know you're 3540 and

you've got terminal cancer there's a

wonderful piece that was written by Lee

was it Lee Atwater who was the campaign

manager for Bush huh

Lee Atwater really bad guy this guy was

bet and he admits it in it was a piece

that was published in an Inc New Age

magazine several years back when he

first do you remember he had the brain

tumor he said that he based his life on

Machiavelli's The Prince you know he

said that that was my life Machiavelli

this guy on top of the world could do no

wrong the Republican golden boy but his

you know screw unto others before they

screw unto you that was the motto of

that man's life right really and he

admits that in there if he could you

know dam

bitch attack people's reputations do the

worst things that that was his realm and

that's why they loved him so much

right because he got people elected when

he suddenly came to terms with you know

this guy's early 40s wealthy politically

powerful one of the major players in

Washington at that time and suddenly

incurable brain tumor right that his

back piece you know that should be

memorized by every politician before

they're allowed to run for office

because he just talks about wanting to

make amends with all the people he ever

heard right and this is something

amazing is that even the the worst

people can have radical transformations

when confronted with their mortality why

does it have to take that right why does

it have to take that and the you know

one of the things about our age is work

we're confronting species death right

we're looking at you know our entire

world is being threatened with death

right our biosphere is is is showing

signs that it can no longer sustain us

because of what we're doing to it and

what if if that really enters in to the

collective consciousness of human

societies now what type of

transformation is that but as long as

we're in denial about this right or in

the anger stages like the echo warriors

right because they're furious right

earth first people they're not in denial

they see it happening but they're angry

you know the Unabomber let's blow these

people up that are ruining our world

right this is all anger what but if we

as

as species could really see that we are

threatened with our own extinction that

there is not going to be a sustainable

world for our children for our

grandchildren what type of

transformation is going to occur

bargaining give me another chance

god I know I mucked up give me another

chance right

and then acceptance this is submission

and I mentioned that you know the denial

is Kufa that's what Kufa means rejection

right anger is fighting it

fighting the truth bargaining is trying

to deal with the truth on your own terms

right trying to deal with it on your own

terms I know it's true okay but can't we

leave you know let's let's bargain here

a little bit you know give me a break

this is hard I can't deal with this and

submission is I submit I'm accepting

this thing completely and from that

experience is an incredible liberation

you transcend yourself you are a free

human being before that you're a slave

you're a slave to your fear you're a

slave to your desires once you accept

your own mortality

right what higher calls up being unto

death you can nurture you can enter into

your humanity as long as you're in

denial with that most fundamental fact

and Heidegger goes to the radical

proposition that that you that your

death Act will be the only real thing

that you will ever do that was not

determined by anybody else

that every act that you do in your life

is because you've been influenced by

your parents by

appears by your education by your

society it is death alone that will be

uniquely yours

no one will teach you how to do that no

one will show you that path you take it

on your own and so that is your one true

act that can be absolutely volitional

you can die and and that is really a in

harmony with the Islamic understanding

this is kind of interesting just in our

culture all these these are like

euphemisms because people don't like to

say he died I passed on croaked kicked

the bucket gone to heaven gone home

expired breathed his last to come left

us went to his return reward loss met

his maker wasted checked out eternal

rest laid to rest pushing up daisies

called home was a goner came to an end

bit the dust annihilated liquidated

terminated gave up the ghost left this

world rubbed out snuff six feet under

consumed found everlasting peace wishful

thinking went to a new life in the great

beyond no longer with us made the change

got Myrtle eyes on the other side God

took him asleep in Christ a part of

transcended bought the farm with the

Angels feeling no pain lost the race

time was up cashed in crossed over

Jordan Paris lost it was done in

translated into glory returned to dust

withered away in the arms gave it up it

was curtains a long sleep on the

heavenly Shores out of his or her misery

ended it all angels carried him away

resting in peace changed form dropped

the body rode into the sunset that was

all she wrote

so a lot of ways to say the same thing

one of the Arabs said

in them to mood to be be safe and mid to

be ready to know why this babble and

motor what I do if you don't die by the

sword

you'll die by something else there's a

lot of ways to die but death is one

right now

what happens then from the Islamic

perspective of when we die obviously in

in pre-islamic cultures the Arabians

most fascinating aspect of arabian

culture the arabs did not believe in an

afterlife really interesting because

most cultures have a concept of the

afterlife the arabs did not believe in

an afterlife they said now move to an

idea will not you live the lacunae

alleged we live and we die and nothing

kills us but time there have said and

and will we be decayed bones dust in the

earth and brought back to life they say

who's going to revive these dead and

decayed bones the quran says paul Yoji

Haneda and shia

/ Amara the one who brought them to life

the first time he'll do it the second

time the Quran says we created you the

first time the commentators say second

time around is always easier right if it

was done once it can be done again now

how did the Quran deal with this

disbelief because it's very interesting

that the the Arabs didn't believe this

how did it deal with it the way that it

dealt with it was it told the Arabs to

look at the dead earth and instead we

take a dead earth send down rain from

the heavens it mixes with the seed

and we bring forth we bring the earth

back to life again and like that you

will be brought back now this analogy

there is a hadith that says that the

Prophet Muhammad said every human being

has what's called as Ashbaugh venom the

wondrous tale and it's it's at the tip

of the coccyx and it's the seed of the

human being so the Muslims believe that

there is a seed that every human being

has and like seeds seeds are very

interesting because they're very hard to

destroy right you swallow seeds they

come out the other end hydrochloric acid

doesn't break them down in fires seeds

stay right forests that are burned down

come back to life because of seeds that

are there that aren't destroyed drought

comes kills everything but the seeds

when the rain comes back it comes back

to life now the belief of the Muslims is

that every human being has a seed and

that seed will not be destroyed we don't

know where it is or what it is the

hadith indicates that it's in the coccyx

but we don't know what size it is what

it looks like nothing like that but from

that seed every human being will be

recreated from a divine reign and it's

interesting that we deny resurrection

and yet our own culture is talking about

recreating human beings from one cell

bringing back the entire human being by

cloning one cell because all

of the information about you is

contained in one of your cells and this

one of the verses in the Quran is it

says we will continue to show them our

signs in their selves and on the horizon

until it becomes clear to them that what

we're saying is true so the belief in

the resurrection is absolutely

fundamental to the Islamic tradition and

there is a belief that every soul will

be completely renewed the body but the

body that's recreated is not the same as

this physical body

yeah no it's not reincarnation now

here's a little schematic the this was

what we called the world of spirits and

from that we move into now one of the

things about the world of spirits

according to the prophet muhammad's

Eliza time if you met people in the

spiritual realm because we actually

intermingle if you met people in the

spiritual realm you will have a natural

affinity for them in this realm so there

will be people that you meet in your

life that you immediately connect with

and this is believed to be a pre worldly

meeting that is replicated in this realm

and there's a recognition of that and

likewise the people most distant from

you on that primordial plane will be

people that you have natural you you're

not attracted to them and this can also

be within within families and within

religious tradition in other words it

could be a Muslim for a Muslim you know

there could be Muslims you just don't

feel comfortable with and that is not

seen you know you're not you're not

supposed to be mean or cruel to them you

know or take them as enemies or

something but it's recognized that there

are natural affinities and these

affinities are from a pre worldly

recognition and there is a hadith in

which the Prophet said souls are like

regimented ranks those who knew each

other before feel affinity in this realm

and those who did not fit if there's

differences you know and it's like if

you look at it for a metaphor here you

know you have the the Armed Forces and

they're all on the same side but when

Marines are at a bar drinking and then

some Navy boys come in right there's all

this kind of aggression that that will

often happen you know because they're

from different regiments you know that

that these guys are another group even

though it's the same army there are

another group and there's that kind of

animosity that's a result of not being

from that same

Regt now this area is the world of life

choice and effort this is called anima

dunya so you enter into this and from

here you move into the butter sock

now according to the hadith when your

soul dies it hovers above your body and

it's a very discomforting experience and

this is why a sleep is considered to be

the little brother of death in Islam and

the Quran talks about we cause them to

die and there are those we return to

their bodies and others that we keep

them in other words that sleep is a

death it is a type of debt one of the

things sleep is the indication of the

afterlife because what happens when you

go to sleep is like you live your life

you go to sleep and you enter into this

this bottle Zac and then waking up is

like the resurrection you come back into

the body or and you wake up you your

resurrected during sleep you can live

lives you can have extraordinary dreams

you can feel like you were dreaming for

just all these things happen and those

are indications of another world and

this is why the Muslims believe that the

dream realm is a very important realm

and they differentiate between dreams

the quran differentiates between dreams

that are at what we would call in this

culture like food dreams you eat a lot

of food before you go to sleep and then

you have all these funny garbled dreams

so there's but you're still in that

what's called the animal haya the

imaginal world it is part of the unseen

realm but there is also true dreams and

the more ones spirituality soul

work becomes Lucent the more access they

have to that realm and the more opaque

and materialistic they are the more cut

off they are from that realm so there

are people who literally their dream

world is incredibly rich there are

people in our tradition there are many

people who saw The Messenger of Allah

every night in their dreams like Imam

matica van Deniz he said he never woke

up without having seen the Prophet in

his dreams there are others that have

what are called true dreams in which

there's information given to them and

much of the dream realm is symbolic and

there is an extensive science of dream

interpretation in Islam several books

written on it where you will see very

specific things and they have very

specific meanings and this is a first

century work by eben Sedin which is

about dream work just very extensive if

you see this it means this if you see

this and there are there multiple

interpretations that it doesn't always

mean one but that work is deals with

these other realms there are also

spiritual journeys that are taken in the

unseen world so people will have very

profound spiritual experiences in in

their souls

now that the mirage of the messenger is

believed to have been was not a dream it

was a of the soul and the body although

time expanded because he returned to his

bed and it was still warm so he went

through this entire experience he saw

many things on that journey he described

them he went in fact if you are seen

palacios work indicates that much of the

Divine Comedy is actually taken from a

very famous exposition of the messengers

journey through the

the hell's and through the heavens the

seven heavens right

until you have the beatific vision which

is was the result of that now Dearing at

the point of death it's encouraged you

wash the body you do a ritual you pray

for the body and then you put them into

the grave the grave

this is shoulder link and then there's

what's called a nod where you put the

body there's not supposed to be any

coffin it's wrapped in a white gown

white seamless garment like the one that

men wear on the Hajj both women and

females males and females are placed

into this you're placed into your grave

facing Mecca and then three when they

place them in the grave you everybody

throws dust the whole community who goes

to the funeral partake cygnus they all

throw dust and they recite a verse of

the quran from dust we created you from

dust we return you and from dust we will

bring you forth again and then it is

believed that the beginning of the next

stage this is the barzakh stage right

we've got these five stages the next

stage begins in the Barza there are

angels that come to angels munkar and

nakir these angels are very frightening

they're very powerful

they have voices like thunder and they

ask a person who is your Lord

what is your Deen your your religion

your way and who is your prophet the

Prophet Muhammad said the only thing a

man takes or a woman takes into their

grave will be their actions according to

the tradition because now you're moving

into the realm of meaning you're no

longer in the

of sensory although the realm of sensory

is a symbolic realm according to the

Quran these are signs in the next world

the signs right it's not sensoria that

you're in you are in meaning so all of

the things that you did in this in this

life are translated into meanings in the

next life so there are these foul

creatures that people will find in their

grave that smell and they have a strong

stench and the soul is distressed by it

and the soul says leave me alone who are

you and they say don't you know us we're

your actions and this is people who did

evil things in their lives and then

there's others where it's very pleasant

and there's a perfume that diffuses and

the soul finds itself in this and and

and he asks who are you and they say

we're your good actions so these angels

ask and this begins the testing phase

and according to the Quran it says we

will make firm those who believed and

did good works in this life and in the

next with the true word which is lela

lela but we will make them firm so they

won't have these tribulations and the

prophets on the lot is that I've said

that according to the person's

experience in the grade that will

determine whether what comes after it is

easy or difficult so it's the first

stage of the next journey at this point

the grave either becomes a very wide and

expansive or it becomes dark and

constricted based on what people did in

this life and there's a verse there's a

hadith also that indicates every human

being will have an initial constriction

the grave will literally constrict them

to where they think they're going to

burst their soul and then it will become

either easy or difficult and there's a

prophetic tradition of Jesus son of Mary

who they were looking at a man who was

being buried

and all the companions said it sews

constricted and narrow and Jesus says to

them you don't remember the wombs of

your mothers that expanded for you in

other words that the tomb can also

expand for you if the soul grew in this

life whereas if it was stunted it won't

so this is the sole work that's done in

this dunya realm that's going to

determine whether you're constricted or

expanded in this next stage here in this

stage now everybody who has died before

us is in this realm with the exception

of the martyrs the martyrs do not go

into this realm they go directly to to

the divine presence they're not they

don't go through this stage so they're

there they are the exception and Islam

does not restrict martyrdom to those who

died witnessing their their belief which

is the traditional meaning including in

Greek a martyr was anybody who died

witnessing their belief a person who

dies in a fire is considered a martyr a

person who dies of a sudden disease like

cholera a person like dies in a plague

that's a martyr death a person whose

roof falls on them like in an earthquake

and the Scott modern scholars have said

that includes by analogy airplane

crashes and car accidents that these are

martyr deaths as recompense for the

trauma of that experience and not having

been able to deal with your difficult

you know people I mean it's people who

know they're going to die it really

helps them to resolve a lot of things

where if you die suddenly there's a lot

of untaken care of business and so this

is a recompense for that drowning is a

martyr death those who drown so these

are all deaths of Martin

so in other words if you've been a real

rascal all your life when you died in a

car wreck because you were DWI or

Sackett how you be drunk yes yeah see I

mean it's it's it's based on acceptance

yeah like it just depends on what state

you were in because people who can die

you know that's the the assumption of

the community is it's a martyr's death

but but that is not an absolute

including people who died on the

battlefield we assume that they're

martyrs but there's a hadith that said

one of the first people to go to the

Hellfire is a soldier who fought to be

called brave and he tells God I know I

fought for your sake and God says you

lied you fought to be called a brave

person and you got your reward they said

you were brave and the same with a

scholar who learns that God says why did

you say he said I studied for your sake

to teach your religion and he said you

lied you studied to be called a learned

man and you got your reward and the same

with a wealthy person mm-hmm on the

other hand you have a prostitute

according to the hadith who once came to

a well and and and put her shoe down and

brought water up and drank it and there

was a dog who was who was dying of

thirst and she looked at the dog and

thought that dog is like me thirsty and

so she put her shoe down and gave the

water to this dog and got and the

Prophet Muhammad said she was forgiven

all her wrong actions for that one act

right and there's another man who said

who comes on the day of judgment the

only good action that he had was used to

loan money to people and when he sent

his bill collector out he said if they

don't have it just leave them and the

hadith says that God said I am more

generous in absolving my debts than this

man so he forgives him mm-hmm

case of soldiers fighting both sides of

the name of Allah safest iran-iraq war

yeah give the souls of both sides that

can happen and be back in happen yeah it

depends on it whether it was a valid is

she hard or not if there's a hadith

which says the one killing and the one

killed are in the fire right so

generally it's it's not the case and

they said we understand the one killed

what about the one killing or we

understand the one killing what about

the one killed and he said well he would

have wanted to kill him had he been able

so they both have that whereas if there

was a valid ich T had which is where you

know both sides like in Maui and Ali

this and the initial Great Tribulation

between the two companions who fought

the there is a hadith that said the one

killing and the one killed are both in

paradise except the one who killed Ahmad

and that is considered a motivator

hadith which has the highest level of

veracity it's it's a hadith that so many

people narrated it it's impossible for

it to have been considered a lie and and

that that's in the tradition so and

that's part of you know human beings do

crazy things and and this is part of the

human condition you know that there's

fits not what's called sedition and

troubles right and and and these are

often seen also as purification because

a lot of the tribulations people go

through are actually purification and

raising them to higher levels so at a

certain point there are two trumpets

which obviously this is not like you

know these are things that we don't

really understand but these are

approximations and and we have this in

the judeo-christian tradition also the

the first blast

is what's called the our the Sam and I'm

going to talk about this on the last

lecture I have which is about the end of

time at the moment it literally means

the moment the great moment when the

world comes to an end and it says in the

Quran that like the the the cosmos was

expanded at the end it will be

contracted and rolled up like a scroll

right which you know the modern

physicists talk about the Big Crunch

which is you know when it all goes back

to this initial and that's consistent

with with the Quranic view that there is

a rolling up of the cosmos and it's also

the heat death because everything heat

like the it says that the oceans boil

over everything ends in it in a massive

heat death so when this moment comes

every person that's on the earth is

going to be killed at that point it's

all over and and then the second is that

what's called the bath which is the

resurrection and then what happens then

is a very mapped out scenario in the

Islamic tradition at this point all of

the souls have left the dunya and the

next stage they go to which is the

bottle

and then you have the bath you have the

the what's called the neva

which causes the resurrection now at the

point of resurrection all of the souls

are bought brought to a plane and that's

what Auto phat is a preparation for that

they're all brought to the plane and

then according to the tradition

everybody is naked and they stand this

is this is where they wait for what's

called the that he said the reckoning

and according to the tradition it says

the waiting is 500 years and and people

are in it five I'm in the pod on talks

about you know a year with God is like

fifty thousand of years a thousand in

different verses so the idea of time is

very different in this realm it's not

like it isn't where we are here and

according to the Quran when they're

asked how long did they tear in the

earth they'll say a day or part of a day

that's what our lives on earth will seem

like in relation to the next world now

at this point according to the Islamic

tradition all of the souls some are

shaded by their actions and others are

literally up in sweat drowning in their

own sweat because it's so intense and at

this point after waiting an incredible

amount of time and it literally says

that people are going in and out like

waves in and out it's a very there's a

lot of confusion there's a lot of it's

it's actually the descriptions are

terrifying with the exception of people

that were the good people in this world

and then what happens is people say

let's go ask the prophets to get us out

of this and the tradition says they go

to Adam the first man and they say help

us intercede for us and he says nefzi

NFC my own soul my own soul

so he refuses he said I can't do

anything for you people go to their

mother they go to their father they say

nefzi NFC this is the day where nobody's

thinking about anybody else because the

soul is looking at infinity and in the

Quran it says when when we enter into

this realm the first thing the soul says

is Yahweh Lana member tottenham in

Medina oh woe to us who has woken us

from our sleep this is what the

messengers promised this is what they

told us they were truthful in telling us

this and this is the promise of the

merciful and they use that attribute

because that's what they want now in the

world people like Thomas Jefferson said

I used to beg for divine justice and

still when I looked at others and then I

start examining my own soul and started

asking for mercy right so this is the

day where people aren't thinking about

justice they're thinking about divine

mercy and what happens is they go to

each of the prophets they go to Noah

they go to Abraham they go to Moses each

one of them says nefzi NFC and they give

a reason that relates to stories that

are mentioned in the poem and finally

all of humanity according to the Islamic

tradition goes to the Prophet Muhammad

all of you met the Muslims the Buddhists

the Hindus everyone goes to the Prophet

Muhammad and that's why in the Quran he

is called a mercy to all the worlds

because on this day when they go to him

he according to our tradition is

uniquely the one who says Allah this is

my place and he takes the intercession

and it said that he enters into the

divine presence prostrates praises and

then it says

to him raise your head ask and you will

be given intercede and you will have

intercession and he asks for the

judgment because people are so terrified

in this waiting period they just want

the judgment to happen you know it's

like people that would rather just I

just tell me what's going to have I

can't wait anymore and so they that they

move to the next stage which is that he

sab because of this shafa'a

so so the intercession occurs here now

it's interesting the the Muslims

identify in the in the New Testament and

one of the names of the Prophet in the

Islamic tradition is parallels which is

the Muslims identify the Paraclete that

is mentioned in John 16 in the gospel

when he says I'm leaving but another

comforter is coming after me the word in

Greek Paraclete means comforter but

actually the first meaning of it is

intercessor it's the one who intercedes

who gives comfort and the Muslim

traditionally have believed that that is

the Prophet Mohammed the Christian

belief is that it's the Holy Spirit and

at this point they go now to the

reckoning that he Sam now there are

people that will not get up and remember

from the Muslim perspective the all the

traditions the righteous of every

tradition is going to be in a good

situation on this day this is not you

know I mean the prophets community is

only one community there are many

previous communities of prophets and

those people that were following their

prophets living according with their

prophet each one has their place and

that's why according to the hadith they

line up behind the people that they were

behind including the bad ones like false

prophets and say everybody's going to be

with the people they followed and those

people

the burden of leading people astray so

you know the Marxists are going to be

behind Karl Marx the whole it's it's the

Nazis are going to be behind Adolf

Hitler everybody's going to be with

what's that a big sign right

materialists over here well yeah I mean

there's a history of materialism so

there's there's definitely the first

philosophers of materialism the Greeks

have you know there in fact if you read

I really like Prometheus press I don't

know if anybody knows about them do you

know about Prometheus press it's a New

York public they publish everything

against religion right there they're

like total materialists and they can't

stand with it they publish books called

like the problem of God right why I am

NOT a Muslim and they're actually really

interesting because it's it's always

important to get reality checks right

from really radically different

perspectives you know I like to do that

for my own you know just okay I see how

you're seeing it's helpful to clarify

your own understandings to listen to

something that's so different from what

you know it's a really good thing to do

so at this point then at the hey sab

which is the reckoning and this is why

there's a hadith that says reckon

yourselves before you're taken to

account in other words if you do your

work in this world you don't have to

deal with it in the next world so

there's a tradition in Islam of what's

called Mahasabha and it's also a

Christian tradition they're they're

they're orders that do this as a

practice in Christianity of at the end

of the day taking oneself to account and

really looking at one's actions during

the day if they were good you praise and

if they're bad you ask forgiveness right

and this is also penitence and you know

confession in the Catholic tradition is

going and getting this stuff off your

chest admitting

you know I did these things and then

having some way of atoning those wrongs

and then what happens is there is a

record on this day of everything your

entire life and according to the Imam at

Ozaki people will watch their lives in

front of them like a film they'll

literally watch their entire life and

there's a hadith that God will veil

people who for his veiling because

having to see your life you know all the

things that you did so in other words

there are edited versions right there's

a divine editing that can take place

where things are removed from your life

if if you ask them to be removed with

sincerity and at each stage there will

be testimony against you the hands

according to the Quran testify the feet

testament they ask them how will they

speak and he said the one who gave them

who made your tongue speak will make

your hand speak and the genitals

testified the tongue test because all of

them are afraid well the body is that we

don't want they know what's coming and

they're they're afraid and so they're

all owning up and they're saying he made

us do this in other words they don't

want to be taken to account which is

also there's an indication of this in

the Gospels when Jesus said if your

right hand offends thee then cut it off

for it's better to enter the kingdom of

heaven Maine right then than to go into

the fire with that you know it and and

that is obviously a spiritual severing

it's the it's not you know it's not

literal right I mean they're probably

some people out there they take that

stuff out and

oddly center yeah those are values that

when you enter into Islam everything is

erased with the exception of debt so so

in that case we may believe that all the

seems to happen for anything that you

have not taken on a literally removed

from your slate completely and then what

happens is there's what's called a

sahifa which is your the book of your

life right the book of your life and

your actions are weighed in in scales

and you'll find this in Egyptian

mythology and tradition in the Egyptian

Book of the Dead the way and there are

many glyphs about this right the

weighing of the basket and the soul

being in the basket and the actions

weighed and you know I had a in the same

teacher professor Kramer you know

mention the you know that isn't that

from that Egyptian mythology and there's

absolutely no indication that that

information was available in the 7th

century in Arabia and the way the

Muslims would look at that

is that much of Mythology is in fact

remnants of prophetic traditions and in

fact much of mythology you know some

religious scholars differentiate between

mythos and myth you know mythos is is

truth related in symbolic tradition and

myth is like fables and fairy tales and

stories whereas mythos is is something

that's true

and so people then are given their their

books and the book of their life will

either be given in the right hand or in

the left hand if it's given in the right

hand then it's an indication that they

they were successful in this reckoning

now there's also at this point there's

intercession so there are people that

intercede for other people in all the

traditions the righteous people of the

traditions can intercede for other

people and the first to intercede are

the prophets they will intercede for

their communities so Jesus will

intercede for the Christians Moses will

intercede for the Jews and and then

there are people from the community that

reached very high spiritual stations

that will be given permission to

intercede also and then after this the

Me's on the wing the next stage is so

you have the weighing here and you have

the people of the right and the people

of the left the people of the left

go to the place of ultimate divine

alienation which is the fire and the

people of the right go to the place of

ultimate divine intimacy which is the

garden now the Quran says that the

people that go to the garden inherit

they inherit places in the garden

because every human being according to

the Islamic tradition has a place

allotted to them in the fire and a place

allotted to them in the garden every

human being has property in both places

and they will sell their property from

one or the other

those whose free their souls in this

world and sell their place in the fire

then their places are taken up by others

those who free themselves in this world

and purchase according to Quran it says

we have purchased the souls of the

believers and their wealth and against

it is paradise that's the that's the

bargain that's the that's the

transaction that you give your soul to

God and God gives you the garden and so

now there's also a point here which is

known as the the hole and this is a

massive according to the Prophet

Muhammad it extends more than the

distance of between Yemen and Syria and

it is a watering place in which those

who drink from it will never have thirst

after that and he will those who were

the most righteous from his community he

will actually give them drink from his

own hand and this is followed by

what's known as the the qantarah which

is a bridge and people see the hellfire

and go over this bridge to paradise now

according to the hadith the Prophet

Muhammad said that the most punished

person who had the worst life in in this

world in the next world he will be asked

did you ever know grief sorrow or pain

and he'll say I never knew grief sorrow

or pain in other words just entering

into this divine presence all

remembrance of the suffering of the

world is removed and also the person the

wretched one who had the most pleasure

in this world is asked the same question

in the fire did you ever know pleasure

and he can't remember any pleasure in

the world

so these these are the final the these

are the according to the Islamic

tradition the final oppose then and that

day which is the day of judgement is

known as the last day there's there's no

day after it is there any questions

twelve O'Clock that's pretty good I

didn't even look at my watch everything

comes to an end

see this is the realm now the soul

according to the Muslim belief knows all

of these things what's happened in this

realm is were in the realm of

forgetfulness and this is why in the

quran in surah turn off the the QAF

chapter it says a young chef Narang

kelapa vibhava

waka chef Nawab autocad Yamaha D we have

removed the veils from your inner sight

and now your understanding is

penetrating see people will know all of

these things right people are going to

know these things

is there God is a fire in the city well

this possibility right now there people

do according to some tuition there were

people that will taste the fire and then

come out of it and there's two views and

these are not dominant views but there

and it's interesting because there are

two extremes who meet at this place

there's the view of eben tamiya who's a

very famous scholar from the 9th century

Syria Damascus who actually believed

that the fire went out he believed that

ultimately the mercy overrides and that

was his bleep the other extreme was

somebody who he didn't even consider a

Muslim at one point in his life is the

position of even our abhi the Andrew

Seon philosopher Sufi philosopher who

said that the fire also eventually

b