“You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

- Steve Jobs, Commencement speech at Stanford University, 2005

Ya Haqq!

The Sufi Message of Love, Harmony, and Beauty

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

“The Sufi sees the truth in every religion. If invited to offer prayers in a Christian church, the Sufi is ready to do so. The Sufi will go the synagogue and pray as the Jews do; will offer Salat with Muslims; and in the Hindu temple worships the same God. Yet the Sufi’s true temple, the true mosque, is the human heart, in which the divine Beloved lives. Sufism is a religion if one wants to learn religion from it; it is a philosophy if one wants to learn wisdom from it; it is mysticism if one wants to be guided by it in the unfoldment of the soul; and yet it is beyond all these things. It is the light of life which is the sustenance of every soul. It is the Message of Love, Harmony, and Beauty.”

- Hazrat Inayat Khan

Ya Haqq!

Teaching by Example

“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”

- St. Francis of Assisi

Image: Wood engraving “St. Francis, Sermon to the Birds.” (1952) by Fritz Eichenberg, Quaker Artist (1901 – 1990).

Ya Haqq!

Google Ebook of Master of the Jinn Now Available in 14 Countries

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

The Google Ebook of Master of the Jinn is now available for $3.82 in the US, and comparable pricing in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, Russia, Japan, and South Korea. More countries to come soon :) And you can read it on your PC or Mac, Tablet, iPad, iPhone, Nook, Sony, or Smartphone :) Click HERE to order.

Ya Haqq!

LISTEN to the Master of the Jinn Audiobook Sample :)

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

PLEASE HELP!!! I have started working on recording the Audiobook of Master of the Jinn. Please go to the link and listen to part of the Prologue, which is the first trial run, and let me know what you think. Does it sound clear? is the pacing ok? etc. I had to put it on the website since WordPress does not accept MP3 files. If your browser does not supoort it, email me at Irvingk1945 at gmail dot com and I will email it to you.

http://masterofthejinn.com/author.html

Thank You for Helping :)

Ya Haqq!

Rumi’s Easter Poem – Happy Easter 2013 :)

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

Easter is Sunday, March 31st this year, and I pray we all know at least once in our lives the rebirth of faith and love which is manifest each spring in the story of Jesus (pbuh).  And so, once again, here is Rumi’s beautiful homage:

________________

Everyone has eaten and fallen asleep. The house is empty. We walk out to the garden to let the apple meet the peach, to carry messages between rose and jasmine.

Spring is Christ,
Raising martyred plants from their shrouds.
Their mouths open in gratitude, wanting to be kissed.
The glow of the rose and the tulip means a lamp is inside.
A leaf trembles. I tremble in the wind-beauty like silk from Turkestan.
The censer fans into flame.

This wind is the Holy Spirit.
The trees are Mary.
Watch how husband and wife play subtle games with their hands.
Cloudy pearls from Aden are thrown across the lovers,
as is the marriage custom.

The scent of Joseph’s shirt comes to Jacob.
A red carnelian of Yemeni laughter is heard
by Muhammad in Mecca.

We talk about this and that. There’s no rest except on these branching moments.

- Jalaluddin Rumi, from The Essential Rumi, by Coleman Barks

Ya Haqq!

Calling Out to God

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

All night, a man called out “God! God!”
Until his lips were bleeding.
Then the Adversary of mankind said, “Hey! Mr Gullible!
… How come you’ve been calling all night
And never once heard God say, “Here, I AM”?
You call out so earnestly and, in reply, what?
I’ll tell you what. Nothing!”

The man suddenly felt empty and abandoned.
Depressed, he threw himself on the ground
And fell into a deep sleep.
In a dream, he met an angel, who asked,
“Why are you regretting calling out to God?”

The man said, “ I called and called
But God never replied, “Here I AM.”

The Angel explained, “God has said,
“Your calling my name is My reply.
Your longing for Me is My message to you.
All your attempts to reach Me
Are in reality My attempts to reach you.
Your fear and love are a noose to catch Me.
In the silence surrounding every call of “God”
Waits a thousand replies of “Here I AM.”

- Rumi

Ya Haqq!

The Mayonnaise Jar Lesson

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. 

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and fills it with golf ballsHe then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “YES”.

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – God, family,
children, health, friends, and favorite passions. Things, that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else — the small stuff.” he said.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “There is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are
important to you…” he told them.

“So… pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Worship with your family. Play with your children. Take your partner out to dinner. Spend time with good friends. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap. Take care of the golf balls first — the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor said, “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for cup of coffee with a friend.”

Ya Haqq!

The Poetry of Life

Love is the poetry of life
Gratitude its prose

Kindness the sentences
In patience composed

Prayer is the syntax
As Heaven knows

Be silent then, or
Speak truly

As the moon does
As the river flows

As each breath
Of our life goes

And each day
Of loving kindness

Is better than
The one before

And life itself
Becomes a poem

Until our last breath
And the farther shore

- Irving Karchmar, Copyright 2013

“That your drop may become a sea…”

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

XII

Every form you see has its archetype in the placeless world;
If the form perished, no matter, since its original is everlasting.
Every fair shape you have seen, every deep saying you have heard,
Be not cast down that it perished ; for that is not so.
Whereas the spring-head is undying, its branch gives water continually .
Since neither can cease, why are you lamenting?
Conceive the Soul as a fountain, and these created things as rivers:
While the fountain flows, the rivers run from it.
Put grief out of your head and keep quaffing this river water;
Do not think of the water failing; for this water is without end.
From the moment you came into the world of being,
A ladder was placed before you that you might escape.
First you were mineral, later you turned to plant,
Then you became animal: how should this be a secret to you?
Afterwards you were made man, with knowledge, reason, faith;

Behold the body, which is a portion of the dust-pit, how perfect it has grown!
When you have travelled on from man, you will doubtless become an angel;
After that you are done with this earth: your station is in heaven.
Pass again even from angelhood: enter that ocean,
That your drop may become a sea which is a hundred seas of ‘Oman.
Leave this ‘ Son,’ say ever’ One’ with all your soul;
If your body has aged, what matter, when the soul is young?

- from Selected Poems from the Divani Shams i Tabriz by Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson.

Ya Haqq!