RUMI: KING SOLOMAN and the ANGEL OF DEATH

Happy Thursday to You!

And it is a Happy Thursday to me too!

Yesterday was intensely busy for me. I practically had to run to the gym to squeeze in a short 15-minute workout.

I put together a little circuit of medicine ball push passes outside in the sunshine ☺ with a 40 pound medicine ball for 10 reps, followed by single arm cable pushes at 110 pounds for 10 reps a side, followed by Swiss ball-dumbbell bench press at 75 pounds for max reps.

I managed to get in a warm-up cycle and three circuits in 15:00, then a quick cold shower and off to do my PPS coaching call for the week (learn more about PPS membership options at www.ppssuccess.com).

I also did an audio presentation Q&A style with Sean Croxton for his upcoming REAL Food Summit launching early July.

Last night, just moments before leaving for home, I finished a new slide show for my presentation for the British Society For The Study Of Craniomandibular Disorders (BSSCMD) in the UK.

This is an important presentation for me.

There is likely to be a nice collection of holistic dentists, CHEK Practitioners and other healthcare professionals interested in a holistic approach to temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD and TMJ).

I have many years experience dealing with TMD from a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual perspective.

For several years, I worked directly with John Rothrock, MD, head of UCSD’s headache and head trauma unit. He referred me a wide variety of serious cases that were failing in the medical system.

In that period of my career, I was seeing so many medical failures that were very complex, so I started a chronic pain group. The group consisted of 13 elite doctors and therapists from a variety of different specialties.

We would meet every three months and bring our toughest cases to share with the group. We would then have an opportunity to hear each professional’s viewpoint as to possible causes and solutions.

Through this practice and participation in other groups like it (including a TMJ group at Sharps Hospital in San Diego), I was able to learn to see through the eyes of many specialists.

As my personal career developed, my spiritual practice continued to grow fruit, giving me the subtle energy assessment skills to see through the veil of a person’s story into the treasure chest of their body-mind.

By emptying myself of any personal opinions or needs and being fully present with the person before me, I could see where they were holding onto energy and read it.

That skill allowed me to ask them carefully constructed questions about their life events.

Very frequently, I found that their pain emerged from inner-confusion about how to handle life situations, such as how to end a long-term relationship with someone they (usually had children with) no longer felt intimate love attraction for, or incompatible to.

Naturally, when I’d identify such events with them and talk about them, there would be all sorts of interesting physical reactions.

Sometimes, being able to talk to me as an unbiased witness caused tremendous alleviation of their pain. Other times, as soon as I asked the question that touched upon their withholding, their pain got much worse.

In either case, it was clear to the patient that their uncertainty about the issue at hand was indeed contributing to their inability to heal.

Having worked with thousands of such people now after 28 years in practice, I’ve been able to identify many essential lifestyle factors that create, or contribute to a wide variety of health problems that seem intractable, but aren’t once the etiology is identified and addressed effectively.

The challenging part of this kind of work is that, sadly, many people find it easier to live encased in their own pain and confusion or to die than to take responsibility for their own creations.

For such people, we can only send our blessings that they learn what they came to learn on this earth journey.

My presentation is open to anyone, yet the presentation will be pitched at a level suitable for those with good understanding of anatomy, physiology and related fields.

The program I’ll share will be perfect for all C.H.E.K Practitioners and will help them understand TMD much better.

This is also a great opportunity to rub elbows with other professionals (such as Biological Dentists) and get some healthy cross-pollination and develop your network of referral options.

The Presentation is being held on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. It will be held at The Royal Automobile Club, 89-91 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5H5.

The fee for entry is £150, including lunch and refreshments.

For more information or to register, phone (UK) 01372 457959 or email [email protected]

I’ve got a very informative presentation to share and we will take a deep dive into a holistic approach to TMD/TMJ.

What you learn in this presentation will effectively apply to anyone with any kind of chronic pain.

I have built the show to allow some great practical learning experience as well, so it won’t just be a day of sitting and filling the head.

I finished my day with Rory and I getting out into the garden. I did tai-chi for about 40 minutes with the setting sun. We then had dinner and I did a piece of art to cap the day!

RUMI: KING SOLOMAN and the ANGEL OF DEATH

Today, I’d like to share one of Rumi’s teaching stories.

It comes from a fantastic book titled, “Selected Poems From Mathnavi” (Persian – English), Translated by Reynold Nicholson. (p. 41-42) ISBN: 964-6188-66-4

The story is how Azrael looked at a certain man, and how that man fled to the palace of Solomon; and setting forth the superiority of trust in God to exertion and the uselessness of the latter.

One forenoon a freeborn (noble) man arrived and ran into Solomon’s hall of justice,
His countenance pale with anguish and both lips blue. Then Solomon said, “Good sir, what is the matter?”
He replied, “Azrael cast on me such a look, so full of wrath and hate.”

“Come,” said the king, “what (boon) do you desire now? Ask (it)!” “O protector of my life,” said he, “command the wind
To bear me from here to India. Maybe, when thy slave is come thither he will save my life,”
Lo, the people are fleeting from poverty; hence are they a mouthful for (a pray to) covetousness and expectation.
The fear of poverty is like that (man’s) terror; know thou that covetousness and striving are (like) India (in this tale).

He (Solomon) commanded the wind to bear him quickly over the water to the uttermost part of India.
Next day, at the time of conference and meeting, Solomon said to Azrael:
“Didst though look with anger on that Moslem in order that he might wander (as an exile) far from his home?”
Azrael said, “When did I look (on him) angrily? I saw him as I passed by, (and looked at him) in astonishment,
For God had commanded me, saying, ‘Hark, to-day do thou take his spirit in India.’

From wonder I said (to myself), (Even) if he has a hundred wings, ‘tis a far journey for him to be in India (to-day).’”
In like manner judge of all the affairs of this world and open your eyes to see!
From whom shall we flee? From ourselves? Oh, absurdity!
From whom shall we take (ourselves) away? From God? Oh, crime!

COMMENTARY:
This story will have more meaning for most people when they understand some of the hidden symbology it contains.

Solomon represents The Magician, The Mind Of God.
Azrael represents The Angel Of Death.

Rumi was both a Sufi, and the founder of a Sufi order called The Whirling Dervishes.

The Sufi’s were not afraid of death. They also saw death in more than one way. For the spiritual aspirant, death to the ego’s shadow was necessary to experience enlightenment, or what a Buddhist would refer to as nirvana (extinction of the self).

For the Sufis the Angel of Death (Azrael) heralds the hour of spiritual awakening from the slumber and vain dreams of our earthly life, as the words of the prophet Muhammad state:

“People are asleep; only when they die to they wake up.”

This is exactly why zen masters are willing to guide their students into the state they refer to as “no-mind”, which is the equal of nirvana.

The Sufi word “fana” means “passing away, annihilation”, which signifies the extinction of the lower self and the false life of the ego and its delusions.

Therefore, this story can be viewed from the perspective that the man wasn’t necessarily being selected to die a physical death, but that he was being ushered to the moment of his ego-death, the experience of enlightenment.

The moment of Truth with regard to who and what God is!

The story gives another subtle indication of a common deficiency of the ego-mind.

The man projected his own fears and biases (beliefs) onto Azrael and assumed that Azrael was angry with him.

The truth, as the story tells, is that Azrael was simply shocked to see the man so far from India, where he was to have his death experience.

The lesson we are offered here is that when we “think someone means something by their facial expression or gesture, we can never be too sure until we ask!”

The drawing above is one I created after a very deep meditative experience where I was practicing what some Yogi’s refer to as “the death breath” (you can do this by getting very calm, then take a deep breath and do your very best to relax so deeply that you don’t need to breath, and see what rises in you ☺.)

I found that I was very willing to let go of my body, but my head was repeatedly reminding me of all the beautiful relationships I have and how my wife, Penny, and my son, Paul Jr., wouldn’t be so impressed if I did indeed leave my body and not come back.

By practicing the death breath meditation, we can be reminded of all the things we love about life.

This helps us stop fussing about the small stuff of life and become more appreciative for what we have and to celebrate that with each breath.

When we learn to die before we die, fear of death looses hold over us. Once we are no longer afraid to die, we are also no longer afraid to live!

Most people are living such a shallow life, largely because of all the “ideas” they have been implanted with, and collected along the way.

A large number of the ideas that stop them from either living or dying fully have their origins in traditional religious doctrine. What few seem to realize is that no such religious book is written in plane language.

They are all full of symbolism and language of that time period. If you are reading a book like the Bible literally, as a “dictation” as opposed to a “connotation”, you are as sure to be confused as someone trying to read Rumi’s poetry that way.

What makes me sad as a man that has a reasonable grasp on religious and metaphysical teachings is watching so many people miss-interpret stories and allegories as real!

When we do such things (often out of ignorance or simply being too lazy to investigate the true meanings of such teachings), we both clutter our heads with mind viruses (that aren’t true!), and create impossibility walls.

We put up walls making it impossible to:
– Fully enjoy sex
– Fully enjoy financial or material abundance
– Fully enjoy learning, which can only happen with an open mind!
– Fully understand and realize what God is, and to
– Fully understand and experience LOVE!
– Fully enjoy creating and experiencing your dreams.
– Fully enjoy LIFE!

I look forward to seeing you all in “no-mind”; don’t worry, I’ll recognize you without your head!

Love and chi,
Paul Chek