“The Divine Feminine has always been present in Islam. This may be surprising to many people who see Islam as a patriarchal religion. Maybe the reason for this misconception is the very nature of the feminine in Islam. The Divine Feminine in Islam manifests metaphysically and in the inner expression of the religion. The Divine Feminine is not so much a secret within Islam as She is the compassionate Heart of Islam that enables us to know Divinity. Her centrality demonstrates her necessary and life-giving role in Islam. Sufism, or as some would define it “mystical Islam” has always honored the Divine Feminine. Of course, Allah has both masculine and feminine qualities, but to the Sufi, Allah has always been the Beloved and the Sufi has always been the Lover. The Qur’an, referring to the final Day, perhaps divulges a portion of this teaching: “And there is manifest to them of God what they had not expected to see.” ” – Laurence Galian
“Muhammad al-Harraq (d. 1845): “Seekest thou Laila [Divine Reality], when she is manifest within thee? Thou deemest her to be other, but she is not other than thou.”
Laurence Galian: She is the holiest and most secret inwardness of Allah
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Scott Kiloby: The Voice In Your Head – Is That You?
The first time you notice the voice in your head chatting away endlessly can be a monumental moment!
At that moment, you have a choice. You can go on just believing whatever that voice says throughout the day. Or you can watch that voice and whenever you notice it, take a brief moment—just a few seconds—letting the voice come to rest. In that few seconds, you get a taste of a peaceful, quiet mind. Even if it is only one taste, it is revealing something interesting about our experience as humans.
Most of our lives the voice just arises and falls, commenting on everything—the self, others, work, family, the world. We believe every word of that voice because we believe, at the most basic level, that the voice itself is our real self.
Is that what you are—this voice? If so, if you believe that you are that voice, then you are at the mercy of whatever it says. If that voice comments on how the day is awful, then you are likely to have an awful day. If the voice comments on how angry you are at your boss, then you are likely to experience some really awful emotions about your boss whenever you see him or her.
Gregory Bateson: Number is Different from Quantity
The following article was originally published in the CoEvolution Quarterly, Spring 1978, pp. 44-46.
Number is different from quantity. This difference is basic for any sort of theorizing in behavioral science, any sort of imagining of what goes on between organisms or inside organisms as part of their processes of thought.
Numbers are the product of counting. Quantities are the product of measurement. This means that numbers can conceivably be accurate because there is a discontinuity between each integer and the next. Between two and three there is a jump. In the case of quantity there is no such jump, and because jump is missing in the world of quantity it is impossible for any quantity to be exact. You can have exactly three tomatoes. You can never have exactly three gallons of water. Always quantity is approximate.
In other words, number is of the world of pattern, of gestalten and digital computation, while quantity is of the world of analogic computation.
