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Feeling Stuck?

By shaykh ibrahim Ansari

 

It’s only natural to feel stuck at certain times in our life. Why? Well, if you’re like me, we like to keep learning and growing.  To keep growing means to enter unknown areas, and learn about them, and map and explore them. Most people fear the unknown. But artists and sufis enjoy the frisson of fear, the thrill of coming across an unexplored realm within.

 

The other part of growing means to let go of the old ideas and concepts so you can move forward. To go through the next door, you have to shut this one. This is part of living: coming to the end of the step you’ve been on, and trying to figure out how you are going to get to the next step. It looks so very high and far away. You don’t know how you are ever going manage the height. You can’t leap, you can’t crawl, and no one seems to be throwing down a ladder or rope for you to shimmy up. So what are you going to do?

 

If you are an artist, one way to break through this block is to do all the really bad, old things you hate to do. The ruts, the garbage, the junk you want to vomit on, and pour gasoline (petrol) on and burn. If you don’t worry about whether you are doing something “good”, you will discover, with sometimes a great deal of surprise, that there is nothing left of the old stuff. It has transformed or been left behind somehow, and now you are doing new, unknown explorations again! 

 

For the sufi, or anyone on a spiritual journey, it is natural and healthy to reach the end of the step you are currently on and wonder, “Where do I go from here?” For one thing, if you didn’t ask this question, life would become a very boring place. Secondly, you feel your heart tugging at you to move on. These steps, by the way, go on forever. As long as you are alive, the mystery of God cannot ever be completely revealed, only slowly and partially unveiled.

 

So here you are at the Big Wall, and it seems like there is no way out. Turn around and look back where you came from. You see all those nails and hooks holding ideas, concepts, habits, people, values? It is you who are attached to all those things. Because you have things nailed down, there is no way you can move! You’ve got to let go of some of this, because this is what is holding you here. 

 

Yes, it is time to review. What is important to you, and what is not? What habits do you have now that serve no good purpose? Have you made yourself into a god? Do you think you know God?  My friend, there is no way to get to the next step, until you have looked at this collection, and trashed the unnecessary.

 

When you do the sifting properly, you will be transported to the next step. It will be as though you have sprouted wings or perhaps the air itself lifts you up and carries you like a feather. Because you are leaving the weight of the world behind you, you ascend with love and Allah’s blessings. 

 

Getting stuck is part of life. Letting go of the old takes effort, practice, and needs continuous awareness, diligence, and perseverance. Ask for help when you need it. Knowing when you need help shows strength and intelligence. 

Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners,

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