What if the Corona Virus is the Medicine?

By Jonathan Hadas Edwards & Julia Hartsell

NOTE from Wakil: This takes my ‘What if’ poetry further and beautifully presents a way of looking at our current state that resonates deeply. I am finding myself more and more sure that what we are experiencing is in fact a rebirth, or at least holds that potential if we choose to learn from it. May it be so.

The emerging pandemic is already a watershed of the early 21st century: things won’t ever be the same. Yet for all that the havoc that the virus is wreaking, directly and indirectly, it may also be part of the bitter medicine the global body needs.

How could adding another crisis to an already crisis-ridden planet possibly be medicinal?

Before we explore that question, we want to be clear: our intent is not to downplay the severity or minimize the importance of lives lost to this disease. Behind the mortality figures lie very real pain and grief, and these numbers, often discussed so casually, are personal, representing the potential loss of our parents, elders, teachers, dance companions, grandmothers or immune-compromised friends. Already, our hearts are breaking for the physical distance with our aging parents until we know if we’re infected. There’s not only a risk of losing beloveds in this time, but having to do so from afar. Our hearts are breaking for those who may die or suffer alone, without the touch of their loved ones. We honor death as a sacred passage, but we do not minimize death, suffering or sickness in the slightest. We pray that each one who transitions from this virus (as from the many other deadly diseases, accidents, overdoses, murders, suicides, mass shootings, and on and on) be met with on the other side by unexpected blessing, connection, peace.

Neither are the economic implications to be taken lightly. Many in this country have already seen massive impact, and the recession has only begun. As always, those closest to the edge will be hit hardest. For some, a month sequestered in beauty could be a vacation. Others have a few months before financial panic sets in. And for others living paycheck to paycheck or gig to gig, there is a great immediacy of struggle. The economic ‘side effects’ of this coronavirus could be catastrophic.

And yet.

For many in our world, the pre-coronavirus status quo was already catastrophic. Many are facing an imminent end to their world–indeed, for many species and many peoples, the world has already ended. We are in the midst of a crisis of unprecedented magnitude: the choice for humanity is change or die. No one said change would be easy. (Neither is dying.) And incremental change is not enough. It will take radical change to shift our current, calamitous trajectory away from massive environmental devastation, famine, energy crises, war & refugee crises, increasingly authoritarian regimes and escalating inequalities.

The world we know is dying. What is unsustainable cannot persist, by definition, and we are starting to see this play out.

What hope is there, then? There is the hope that breakdown will become, or coexist with, breakthrough. There is the hope that what is dying is the caterpillar of immature humanity in order that the metamorphosis yields a stunning emergence. That whatever survives this collective initiation process will be truer, more heart-connected, resilient and generative.

We are entering the chrysalis. There’s no instruction manual for what happens next. But we can learn some things from observing nature (thank you Megan Toben for some of this biological info). For one thing, the chrysalis stage is preceded by a feeding frenzy in which the caterpillar massively overconsumes (sound familiar? We’ve been there for decades). Then its tissues melt into a virtually undifferentiated goo. What remain separate are so-called imaginal cells, which link together and become the template from which the goo reorganizes itself into a butterfly. Does the caterpillar overconsume strategically, or out of blind instinct? Does it know what’s coming and trust in the process, or does it feel like it’s dying? We don’t know. It’s natural to resist radical, painful change. But ultimately there’s little choice but to surrender to it. We can practice welcoming the circumstances that force us away from dysfunctional old patterns, be they economic or personal. We have that opportunity now.

Let’s return to a crucial word, initiation. On an individual level, initiations are those processes or rituals by which one reaches a new state of being and corresponding social status: from girl to woman, from layperson to clergy, and so on. Initiations can be deliberate or spontaneous, as in the case of the archetypal shamanic initiation, which comes by way of a healing crisis. To paraphrase Michael Meade, initiations are events that pull us deeper into life than we would otherwise go. They vary widely from culture to culture and individual to individual, but two characteristics they share are intensity and transformation. They bring us face to face with life and with death; they always involve an element of dying or shedding so that the new can be born.

Most all of us have undergone initiations of one sort of another, from the death of a parent to the birth of a child. Many have experienced initiation in the form of a crisis or trial by fire. Those of us who have gone through more deliberate, ritualized forms of initiation can state unequivocally: the process is not fun, comfortable or predictable. You may well feel like you’re going nuts. You may not know who you are anymore. You don’t get to choose which parts of you die, or even to know ahead of time. One of the overriding feelings is of uncertainty: you don’t know where you’re going, only that there’s no going back. And there’s no way of knowing how long the transformation will take. It can help to remember that the initiatory chrysalis phase is a sacred time, set apart from normal life.That it has its own demands and its own logic. That it cannot be rushed, only surrendered to. That it may be painful, but also, ultimately, healing.

Imagine what happens when an entire society finds itself in the midst of a critical initiation. Except you don’t have to imagine: it’s already happening, or starting to. It looks like chaos, a meltdown. We’re in a moment of collective, global-level crisis and uncertainty that has little precedent in living memory. The economic machine–the source of our financial needs and also a system that profits from disease, divorce, crime and tragedy–is faced with a dramatic slow-down. We are all facing the cessation of non-essential activities. There is opportunity here, if we claim it.

This is a sacred time.

However, unlike a traditional rite of passage ceremony, there’s no priest or elder with wisdom born of experience holding the ritual container, tracking everything seen and unseen. Instead, all at once there are millions of personal quests inside one enormous initiatory chrysalis. And yet, look closely: amid the goo, you may start to notice imaginal cells appearing. Pockets of people who are aligned with something they may not fully understand, in receipt of a vision or pieces of one, beaming out their signal to say: let’s try something different.

This is an opportunity to loosen our grip on old and familiar ways. Those ways worked for as long as they did, and they got us here, for better and for worse. They seem unlikely to carry us much further. What if we’re instead being asked to feel our way forward, from the heart, without benefit of certainty–which, when concentrated, quickly becomes toxic? No one has all the answers in this or any other time. Right now the questions may be more valuable.

What if we honor this time with sacred respect?

What if we take the time to listen for the boundaries and limits of our Earth mother?

What is truly important?

How can we receive the bitter medicine of the moment deep into our cells and let it align us with latent possibility?

How can we, with the support of the unseen, serve as midwives to all that is dying here and all that is being born?

With these questions resounding, let us   s l o w d o w n and listen. For echo back from the unseen, for whisperings from the depths of our souls and from the heart of the mystery that–no less so in times of crisis–embraces us all.

The 3 Essentials – A message for these time from Atum O’Kane

We train in recognizing our uptightness. We train in seeing that others are not so different from ourselves. We train in opening our hearts and minds in increasingly difficult situations.
~ Pema Chodron

The Message of today is Balance.
~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

Dear Soul Friends,
The above wisdom from a Buddhist teacher and a Sufi teacher are core to the present condition of the world in a time of profound passage. To these, I would add holding your center and knowing where to find refuge. As I have mentioned countless times, both the Dalai Lama and Pir Vilayat speak of being continuously aware that sustaining a spiritual attunement can be your most important contribution to the state of Humanity.

In Buddhism there are three profound sources of Refuge: The Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha. As Reb Zalman pointed out to me, these three are foundational to any authentic tradition.

The Buddha is the archetype of the teacher. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche asks the essential question, “Who are you going to call out to when you are dying?” Then he wisely suggests, do not wait to die to call out to that being. Find refuge in the archetype of the teacher that you most trust through the difficult times in life. If some of the environmental predictions become a reality, this practice is a profound gift that will sustain one and help you to hold the center. A core relationship with God, The Goddess, Christ, Buddha, Quan Yin, Mary, Hazrat Inayat Khan, or other archetypical teachers gives one a place to turn for refuge.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche defines the Dharma as “that which holds.” What teachings and practices can carry you through disorienting experiences in your inner and outer life. The fear and uncertainty with the current virus moving throughout the world is an example. The continuous flooding by some of the media with such fears is unique to our time.

The significance of the Sangha or Spiritual Community is accented in all the great traditions. We do not stand alone. Rather we hold each other in mutual support on our spiritual journeys. The initial calling to create the Spiritual Guidance Wisdom School conveyed that it would be a community of mature spiritual seekers, serving together the emergence of Planetary Consciousness. The present situation of the virus holds the possibility of our awakening to the reality that we are one human family, sharing the journey of the spiritual evolution of our Planet Earth.

Beautiful poetry by Joy Harjo

Shared by my friend Nalani. I wept all through reading it.

For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet

Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.
Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean.
Give it back with gratitude.
If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars’ ears and back.
Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment of the guardians who have known you before time, who will be there after time. They sit before the fire that has been there without time.
Don’t worry.
The heart knows the way though there may be high-rises, interstates, checkpoints, armed soldiers, massacres, wars, and those who will despise you because they despise themselves.
The journey might take you a few hours, a day, a year, a few years, a hundred, a thousand or even more.
Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time.
Do not hold regrets.
When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed.
You must clean yourself with cedar, sage, or other healing plant.
Cut the ties you have to failure and shame.
Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet. Let go the pain of your ancestors to make way for those who are heading in our direction.
Ask for forgiveness.
Call upon the help of those who love you.
Call your spirit back. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse.
You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return.
Speak to it as you would to a beloved child.
Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Gather them together. They will be happy to be found after being lost for so long.
Your spirit will need to sleep awhile after it is bathed and given clean clothes.
Now you can have a party. Invite everyone you know who loves and supports you. Keep room for those who have no place else to go.
Make a giveaway, and remember, keep the speeches short.
Then, you must do this: help the next person find their way through the dark.

  • Joy Harjo, 2019 Poet Laureate

New Blog by Imam Jamal Rahman

My friend Jamal has launched a new blog that I know will be filled with his incredible wit and wisdom. Here is a copy of his first posting:

Longing

Posted on March 9, 2020
by Jamal Rahman

Allah asked, “Am I not your Sustainer?”  
They replied, “Yes!  You are! We testify!”  (Qur’an 7:172)

“I was a secret Treasure and I longed to be known.  And so I created you, and the worlds, visible and invisible.”  
~ Hadith Qudsi 

The Qur’an says that prior to sending human beings to earth, Divinity gathered all of the unborn souls and established with them a sacred covenant. Our mission is to know and connect with our Creator. Cosmically encoded deep inside of us is a mysterious longing to bond with God.

 Thus, within every desire for anything in our lives is a yearning for our Beloved. The inexplicable unease we experience in our life even when our wants are fulfilled is expressed in the utterance of the beloved eighth century female Islamic saint Rabia: “There is a disease in my breast no doctor can cure; only union with the Friend can cure this.”

 Or, consider the exclamation of Rumi, “There is a kiss we want all of our lives-a touch of Spirit on the body.”

 What does it mean to connect with God, who, the Qur’an explains, is within and without?

To connect with Allah inside of us, we have to do the essential inner work of evolving into the fullness of our being by removing the veils of our ego so that we move closer to our higher self.  By awakening to our divine spark, we experience inner peace and fulfillment. To bond with Divinity outside of us, we make a commitment to serve God’s creation. Our dedication to serve the common good makes our soul leap with joy! The twentieth century Indian poet Tagore wrote: “I slept and dreamt that life was joy; I awoke and found that life was service; I served and lo, service was joy!”

Canceled Events – Whidbey Zikr, Seattle/Shoreline Dances of Universal Peace

Please be aware that the Whidbey Zikr and the Seattle and Shoreline Dances of Universal Peace have been canceled for at least the month of March.

I want to post this message that I sent out to our local “Nextdoor” neighborhood social media site. I have had over 200 responses in 24 hours and remarkably, they have all been neighbors offering to help. So far, no one has asked for assistance!

In any case, I think this or something like this should be posted in every community. I was inspired by a message the Interfaith community of Spokane, WA sent as a letter to the editor in their City. We have an opportunity here to heal and be caregivers for each other.

Here’s my message:

Neighbor to neighbor – Caring for each other in these times

No matter where you come down on your opinions of our current health crisis, it is increasingly apparent that many are suffering. Whether that’s from anxiety-fear, actual illness, or from more practical issues like lost wages, lost business, children or family members needing care because schools or businesses are closed, or any of the other manifestations of this health crisis.

How can we, as compassionate, caring neighbors help support each other? I propose we use this forum to post needs and resources.

If you have a need for someone to drop off a meal, pick up groceries or prescriptions, etc. because you are self quarantined – post that request here. If you have children who need care because their school is closed or other activities have been canceled – post it here.

If you are financially suffering due to lost work or business due to the panic, post it here.

If you just need to talk to a caring person about your fear and anxiety, post it here.

If you can provide a meal, pick up food or prescriptions, help with child or pet or elder care, or any other service, post it here.

If you can give someone part-time work or help financially, post it here.

If you are a compassionate, skilled listener – especially if you are a trained companion and able to offer pro-bono assistance, post it here.

Let’s decide that we are going to act in love and compassion, not fear and divisiveness. Let’s use this forum to ask for what we need and provide what we can for each other.

Let’s demonstrate that even as media tells us we are divided, we know, believe, and act as one community regardless of our differences.

Shall we?

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Beautiful and timely poetry

WASH YOUR HANDS

From Dori Midnight

We are humans relearning to wash our hands. 
Washing our hands is an act of love
Washing our hands is an act of care
Washing our hands is an act that puts the hypervigilant body at ease 
Washing our hands helps us return to ourselves by washing away what does not serve.

Wash your hands 
like you are washing the only teacup left that your great grandmother carried across the ocean, like you are washing the hair of a beloved who is dying, like you are washing the feet of Grace Lee Boggs, Beyonce, Jesus, your auntie, Audre Lorde, Mary Oliver- you get the picture. 
Like this water is poured from a jug your best friend just carried for three miles from the spring they had to climb a mountain to reach.
Like water is a precious resource 
made from time and miracle
Wash your hands and cough into your elbow, they say.
Rest more, stay home, drink water, have some soup, they say.
To which I would add: burn some plants your ancestors burned when there was fear in the air,
Boil some aromatic leaves in a pot on your stove until your windows steam up.
Open your windows 
Eat a piece of garlic every day. Tie a clove around your neck. 
Breathe.
My friends, it is always true, these things.
It has already been time.
It is always true that we should move with care and intention, asking
Do you want to bump elbows instead? with everyone we meet.
It is always true that people are living with one lung, with immune systems that don’t work so well, or perhaps work too hard, fighting against themselves. It is already true that people are hoarding the things that the most vulnerable need. 
It is already time that we might want to fly on airplanes less and not go to work when we are sick.
It is already time that we might want to know who in our neighborhood has cancer, who has a new baby, who is old, with children in another state, who has extra water, who has a root cellar, who is a nurse, who has a garden full of elecampane and nettles. 
It is already time that temporarily non-disabled people think about people living with chronic illness and disabled folks, that young people think about old people.
It is already time to stop using synthetic fragrances to not smell like bodies, to pretend like we’re all not dying. It is already time to remember that those scents make so many of us sick. 
It is already time to not take it personally when someone doesn’t want to hug you.
It is already time to slow down and feel how scared we are. 
We are already afraid, we are already living in the time of fires.
When fear arises, 
and it will,
let it wash over your whole body instead of staying curled up tight in your shoulders.
If your heart tightens,
contract
and expand.
science says: compassion strengthens the immune system
We already know that, but capitalism gives us amnesia
and tricks us into thinking it’s the thing that protect us
but it’s the way we hold the thing.
The way we do the thing.
Those of us who have forgotten amuletic traditions, 
we turn to hoarding hand sanitizer and masks. 
we find someone to blame. 
we think that will help. 
want to blame something? 
Blame capitalism. Blame patriarchy. Blame white supremacy. 
It is already time to remember to hang garlic on our doors
to dip our handkerchiefs in thyme tea
to rub salt on our feet
to pray the rosary, kiss the mezuzah, cleanse with an egg.
In the middle of the night,
when you wake up with terror in your belly, 
it is time to think about stardust and geological time
redwoods and dance parties and mushrooms remediating toxic soil.
it is time
to care for one another
to pray over water
to wash away fear
every time we wash our hands

Coming camps/retreats/events/Zikr

Whidbey Zikr
Sunday, March 8, 2020 – at Unity of Whidbey
( https://www.unityofwhidbey.org/ )

Meet in parking lot in front of Azteca Restaurant at about 4:50 pm if carpooling from the mainland – please call or text Wakil (206-272-0580) so we know to wait for you there.

– 6:15 – Potluck dinner
– 7:30 – 9 Zikr
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Sacred Sema Ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes
Sunday, March 15, 2020 at 3 PM – 5 PM at Ballard Alki Odd Fellows Lodge – 1706 NW Market St, Seattle, Washington 98107
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One Root, One Being – A Ritual of Remembrance
April 30th, 7 pm – at the Interfaith Community Sanctuary – 1763 NW 62nd Street, Seattle, Washington 98107
This is a worship service/ritual that I am creating with presenters from several spiritual traditions, harkening back to the most ancient teachings that implore us to care for our earth and its beings. More information to come soon!
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Mendocino Sufi Camp
July 19-26 – near Mendocino, CA https://mendosuficamp.org/

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Northwest Sufi Camp
August 2-8 in Oregon – https://nwsuficamp.org/
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Wilderness Dance Camp
August 16-22 in Couer de Alene, ID https://onenessproject.com/wilderness-dance-camp/

Unity Zikr on Leap Day!

From Murshida Khadija:

“Friendship in the path of God,
friendship in the path of truth
is greater than any friendship in life.”
Hazrat ABU HASHIM MADANI

The Inayati Order • Mevlevi Order of America
Sufi Ruhaniat Int’l • Halveti-Jerrahi • Rifai-Marufi Order
Seattle Sufi Community UNITY ZIKR 2/29/20
POTLUCK • 6:30 pm ZIKR • 7:30 pm

Ballard IOOF HALL • 1706 NW Market Street • Seattle, WA
$10-$20 Charitable Contribution to BALLARD FOOD BANK
Canned Food Donations also welcome • Many Thanks to Ballard Oddfellows

• The Inayati Order 2/29/20 sarmad@michaeltide.com (425) 835-0817
Mevlevi Order of America 5/30/20 rumiseattle.org@gmail.com mailto:rumiseattle.org@gmail.com (206) 784-1532
Sufi Ruhaniat Int’l 8/29/20 halway@comcast..net mailto:halway@comcast.net mailto:halway@comcast.net (206) 850-2111
Halveti-JerrahI Rumi Festival ‘20 ecotoolsllc@comcast..net mailto:ecotoolsllc@comcast.net (206) 713-6917
Rifa’i-Marufi Order 1/30/21 rmoseattle@gmail.com mailto:rmoseattle@gmail.com (206) 235-1902

Local Sufi tariqat representatives, friends traveling the inner path in community and mutual respect for decades, gather to pray, practice, update news, share food, and make a charitable contribution. Please arrive on time.
• HOST TARIQAT (1) selects a charity, (2) holds post/opens/closes, (3) greets, (4) serves, (5) is responsible for clean-up.
• SACRED ATMOSPHERE Announcements and fliers only pre/post-Zikr, only in entry hall or dining room, please.
• FIFTH SATURDAYS 2020 2/29, 5/30, 8/29, Rumi Festival, 10/31 2021 1/30, 5/29, 7/31, Rumi Festival, 10/30