The First Valley
We start the meeting by getting strength from the Almighty God
Hello friends, I am Hossein, the master of the ceremony, please keep silent for 14 seconds and resort to God as our refuge in order to free ourselves from our strongest enemy, which is our own ignorance. (14 seconds of silence)
Thank you. The first valley reads: All structures begin with contemplation; without contemplation, all that exists will decline.
A valley is a settlement or a stage. When we want to go on a route, there may be settlements on this route, and the word wadi (valley) is applied to these settlements.
It may have other meanings, too, for example, you want to go to a city, you want to go to Mecca or a city, and on the way, you pass through valleys or many settlements.
To get out of the problem or impasse, 14 valleys are designed that you have to go through in order to get out of that darkness in the 14th valley.
It is not the first time that the word valley is used. I mean, I saw the word valley later, I didn't know it (when I was writing them). I saw the word valley in the writings of Attar, the great philosopher, and scientist who exactly used seven valleys. There, the chickens pass through many valleys when going to a mountain or somewhere else.
Well, it reads that “all structures begin with contemplation; without contemplation, all that exists will decline.” Thinking is a mental movement, it is an inner movement and we still don't understand it properly, we don't know how this inner movement is done. It's true that we have found some things scientifically, however, we haven’t been able to figure out the exact root and basis yet.
This is a mental movement or concentrating on a subject. We move from one point to another point, we may move from a complicated point to a known one, we may move from an incomplete known point to a complete known one, or move from a known point, and sometimes to an unknown one. We can maneuver on this matter and do this mental movement with different titles. The word “structure” means a construction; it is what we want to create.
Everything we want to do is considered a structure, eating lunch at noon is a structure, brushing our teeth is a structure, going to a party is a structure, being accepted into a university is a structure, and every operational work we want to do is a structure. It always arises from thinking.
In this valley, it is better to know how everything is found or how everything is created. Well, it is said in the valley: Everything is created by contemplating, contemplating, and concentrating. If we don't contemplate, we will lose everything we have.
For a start, it is stated in the first valley that it is better to see how everything is found, and how something is created. Everything that is going to be created needs a thought first, from this chair, table, microphone, to the tape recorder, etc. All of them were a thought that came to fruition. If there were no thoughts, that object couldn’t be created.
It is the same both in minor and major issues. When God says, “Be, and it will be”, He should have had something to say that is, he should have already thought about it, He should have visualized something, and then say, “Be”. He doesn’t say it gratuitously. He doesn’t say “Be” and suddenly a bear or a frog appears. It should have been drawn before. Therefore, the first step in order to be found, to arise, or to be created is a thought and the thought is the beginning of creating.
Therefore, in order for all human beings to find themselves, they need to ponder deeply and forces of inspiration, revival, and motion also exist. All human beings should think about subjects, or any actions and work to be created. When we want to think, some things must help us.
Therefore, in order for all human beings to find themselves, they need to ponder deeply and forces of inspiration, revival, and motion also exist. When you want to think, you get help from the outside. The force of induction is a force that comes to you from the outside. We can say, for example, that the force of induction refers to God’s words saying: “and by the soul and He who proportioned it and inspired it with discernment of its wickedness and its righteousness.” It means that when the “self” grew to the middle stage and the human stage, then it is inspired. So you can be inspired by many things. If the thought is a positive one, it will inspire you positively; if the thinking is negative, it will inspire you negatively.
Induction means that something is transferred from one thing to another. For example, if there is electricity in a wire, there may be an alternating current in the other wire, and the electricity is transmitted in the other wire, too.
This is somehow technical, you have to be an electrical engineer to know what I'm talking about, but in general, it's the same as this poem: (One day, a sweet-smelling mud in the bathroom came to me from the hands of a lover. I was an insignificant mud, but I sat with the flower for a while, the perfection of living together had an effect on me, otherwise, I am the same soil that I am.)
So, when a flower sits next to another flower, it is induced to it, so what is that induction? Metaphysically and transcendentally, when you sit with your good friends in Congress 60 who have had successful travel (treatment period) and are good people, they will inspire you to be positive. There is no need to talk to you, just sitting close to you is enough to induce lots of energy.
But if they are distressed people, they will sit beside you and say nothing, but they will take all your energy. So, the negative feelings of a distressed person can be instilled into you without speaking, and a positive person can be beside you and his/her positive feelings can be instilled into you. It is okay for you to inspire your positive content without talking.
You have all experienced this. A person who is not in a good mood will make you feel bad just by his/her presence in the room, even if s/he doesn't say anything to you at all, he will make you feel bad and vice versa. So, there is the force of induction. If you tend to the positive side, the force will work positively and if you tend to the negative side, it works negatively.
The force of revivification means to be built, the power that builds, gives life, and is constructive, for example, it is said that a broken factory is revived. What does that mean? It means we fixed it. There must be something that we revive. Revival comes from having a life which means being alive. The human body builds itself as long as it is alive.
So the human body is capable of reviving itself. If you prepare the conditions, the body will revive itself, a broken tree can revive itself, and a plant, an animal, or a human can revive itself. This revival exists.
The force of mobility, the power of movement is present everywhere. It can make us move. In other words, everything is like a blank page of a painting. When a structure is going to be created, there is nothing at first, just like the sheet of a painting, the image appears bit by bit, and from its meaning, both ugly and beautiful, good and bad appear.
So, to create the structures, first, there is a blank sheet of drawing paper, then the master takes a pen and starts to draw progressively. Now if the picture is beautiful or bad, it is the picture of Dracula or for example a flower, it all depends on the master of the painting. It depends on what we do.
Some people draw a picture that shows they are miserable, sick, broken, or ruined. They believe they had lost their life and youth. They don’t know how to behave with their wife, husbands, and child. They may constantly draw disappointment and hopelessness which is serious.
It's not a joke that I say there is a blank page first and then the drawing appears on it. We should clear the path by thinking. You want to go to the north, and all at once, you begin to depart. It doesn't matter to you whether you choose Chalus road, Rasht road, or Haraz road...
It is important for you to go to the north. You begin to go and it is winter. You move, and you get to Haraz road (that is a mountain road). You have traveled 50 km and suddenly you notice that the road is blocked and you have to come back. Or you go 50 km on the Chalus road, it is said the road is one way, you come back. It is said, “Sir/ Madam the road has been blocked for one month.”
That’s because you haven’t contemplated. Somebody who thinks will pick up the phone, calls the weather forecasting office, or asks the road transport office which road is open and which one is closed. It is enough to search for it for 5 minutes and then move.
Within the path of life, if we don't have the 5-minute search, we will be in the soup. It is always necessary for us to contemplate when we want to do anything, for instance, to find an address, to go somewhere, etc. we need to contemplate because everything appears little by little. Moreover, the picture which appears has been drawn by us and we ourselves have created it.
I want to say that we are whatever we think. If we think that we are inept, we will become inept. That is undoubtedly true. If we think that we are depressed, we will become depressed people. If we say that we are sick, we will be sick. Some people basically make themselves sick!
You may not believe there are many people, men or women, who try to draw others’ pity to feel sorry for them, saying, "My heart hurts, my stomach hurts, my kidney hurts, just to carry affectation." I don’t mean all of them are like this, God forbid, I don't have such an intention, I'm saying that we have such cases, and in order to draw the pity and attention of others, they always talk about the diseases.
And interestingly they get these diseases. They get diseases. They might say repeatedly that they would get leukemia so much that they would finally get it. What we think about will eventually happen. If we don't believe in the cure for our disease, and in solving our problems, they will never be cured and solved. The rule “Be, then it will be” is a secret in the universe. Both God and man have this power but man gains it at a certain time and under certain circumstances.
So whatever we say will happen. If we say that our problem will not be solved, it will never be solved. If we say that our disease will not be cured, it will never be cured. We must be hopeful. Therefore, it depends on what we draw. If I say I will not be accepted in the university entrance exam, I will never be accepted into it.
It's the same for any issues. What you think about will happen. If you say you can’t find a husband, you won't. If you say you won't find a wife, you won't. If you say, “I will marry but I am sure I can’t bear and I will get a divorce”, you will certainly get a divorce.
I mean, the same thing that we think about will happen. Therefore, in order for the image to be created, you must ponder deeply first.
Now let's go to the main topic, we may have been involved in problems and issues for years. Whether these conflicts happened knowingly or not, it makes no difference anyway, what is important is that: “We want to solve our problems and get rid of the monster of problems that have led or are leading our lives to destruction or unrest.
We are currently facing a series of problems and issues. You see, there is something that has made all of us have a rough time, and that is the question “why this problem has happened to me?” and we spend all our energy on it. 90%-95% of their energy is spent on why the problem occurred.
I believe that it is important why the problem arose, but it is more important to find out how to solve it. When the roof of this room has been ruined, you have to fix it, then, you will check why it was ruined so that it won’t get damaged again or you won’t experience the issue anymore.
When you get sick, you go to a specialist. However, nowadays specialists don't talk to patients anymore, they don't have time to talk anymore, because they want to examine 40 patients and there is not enough time to speak with them.
When I go to my cardiologist, I see 30 people sitting there. My heart goes out to him. It takes 2 or 3 minutes for each of them just to greet. It is clear what the result will be. There are some physicians who don’t have any patients and are not busy at all. Well, those who have time want to do their best, whether they are specialists or not, they let you speak with them.
They ask them what age their earliest memory is. They answer, for example, since they were 3 years old. They ask again if they remember their one-year-old memories, and they reply “No”. They ask them to start from the time when their parents struggled with each other and it made their soul wounded. They think about the problem from this point of view.
Then, for example, they attribute their depression, personality disorder, bipolar disorder, delusion, or so and so to their parent’s slap in the face before. It means all burden is loaded on the “why” of the problem. When asking them about the solution they refuse to answer because they believe finding the problem leads to solving it.
Once I was passing by on the street in Kerman, I was in the 4th or 5th grade of elementary school, and I saw the street was in a mess. There was a fight. I went there to see what was going on, I saw my father fighting. There was always a fight in our family.
But none of us became bipolar, nor did we get sick, nor did our souls get wounded, none of this happened at all. We witnessed many fights, arguments, and conflicts like crazy. So, this is not the case. Now at this point, we have to solve the problem.
Well, finding the cause of the problem is important to prevent it, but it is not the main issue. Suppose that a corpse is left here and stinks. The most important thing is to bury it first. The problem must be solved first. It is not important to know Why the problem arose, what the reason was, or who complained to whom. These are not important at all.
Anyway knowingly or unknowingly, we have different problems. They may be related to finance, business, physique, physiology, mind, landlord and tenant, inheritance, obesity, smoking, or anything else.
It has happened knowingly or unknowingly. You trusted your brother, your sister, your family, and your son-in-law and gave them power of attorney, and they stole your property. You shouldn’t have trusted, but you did. Now it is time to solve it. It is important for us to solve the problem.
Maybe our appearance has faded due to this disease or problem. Usually, a person who has a problem looks completely different from others. It is quite obvious that someone has a problem when they enter the class with faded faces.
People’s appearance shows if they have serious problems. Their face is faded; sadness and sorrow can be obviously felt on their face. For example, when you take a taxi or go somewhere, you see some people whose faces are faded and they are agitated. Our lives have been led to destruction and restlessness. We are all seeking peace and quiet and comfort.
Maybe our appearance has faded, or there is anarchy and chaos in our lives. Chaos is created due to problems in our life. At this point, it is enough for us to think about where we are and where we want to go from here. We should evaluate where we are standing, what our condition is, where we are, what our goal is, and where we want to go.
We shouldn’t say constantly, “whatever God wants will happen.” God created you to see what you want. God knows what to do, you should know what to do. “Whatever God wants” is nonsense.
God created you, gave you wisdom, and showed you the way. He told you to choose the wrong or right path, but if you choose the wrong one, you will experience this type of penalty, misery, destruction, and harm while the other way is the right path.
Therefore, there is chaos in our life, and we have to solve it to find out where we are, where we want to go, and what our goal is. In this valley, we don't want to decide to solve all our problems immediately. Some people want to look for a solution by which they can solve all the problems in one or two days. They really want this.
For example, some of them may have a legal case in court. It may take 2-5 years to be investigated but they can’t wait and want to pay 2-3 million Tomans to someone illegally to solve their problem in one day.
It is not possible. We should consider the fact that we cannot solve some problems in two days. We should consider enough time to solve them over a long period of time.
In this valley, we do not want to decide to solve all our problems in one or two days that is, we don’t want to solve them in a revolutionary way.
We do not make such a decision at all because we have taken this action many times and we failed. However, we may have sought help from specialists or others but they were not able to help us either.
At this point, we think about what to do. We asked the specialists, and we consulted, but we couldn't find a way. Now, what do we want to do? At first, we have to see if we want to contemplate. “I don't feel like contemplating; I don't like to contemplate.” Well, can you solve it? “Should I pay that much? Or should I do this?” Thus, first, we have to think if we want to think.
If we want to think, what should we think about? Some people think that it's not worth thinking at all. When you draw a painting, it should be worth being presented in a gallery for others to enjoy watching it. If you draw a painting that is not good to be presented in a gallery, and neither you nor others can use it, it will have no use.
You have to build a building where you can live, a building without stairs, toilets, bathrooms, or doors, just a door and a way to the back of the canvas is of no use.
This example I gave is completely true. You may think of something and that thought will not be useful at all that is, you may build a building that will completely be useless.
Therefore, what should I think about? And how should I think? What thoughts should be avoided? You think about some things that you should think about. You shouldn't think about some things. Sometimes we should avoid some subjects which come to our mind because they take up our time.
For example, it is none of my business what my brother-in-law or my sister-in-law did or others did so-and-so. What does it have to do with me? From morning to night, when I'm peeling eggplants, or I'm washing clothes with a washing machine, or I'm vacuuming, or I'm at work, I’m thinking about it. I think what shameless people they are, they have finally stolen money and sold their broken car to buy a new Peugeot.
You see, during a week, she gets up in the morning at 5-6 a.m. thinking why her sister-in-law has sold their broken car and has bought a Peugeot or Galant or something else. Well, it is none of her business. What is it to you?
Physician, heal thyself. What do you have to do with others? They think about a series of issues that don't help at all, or some people talk about it all day long. We know lots of them.
From morning to night they are thinking about when the regime collapses. When will they leave? Therefore, thoughts that occupy your time and mind from morning to night do not help. For example, he has occupied his mind with a topic that does not help and has nothing to do with it at all.
Leave politics to the politicians, do your own thing, and I'll do mine, I have nothing to do with politics, I leave it to them. Mind your own business. I mean, these thoughts have no use. You get het up about your brother-in-law, politics, and so on while they’re a dime a dozen.
He tells me my way but does not know his own. If you really want to solve problems, solve your own problems, it is not necessary to solve the problems of a country or a city. Solve your own problems.
So, what thoughts should you avoid? This is a very important issue, what should we not think about? We have become ill, love it or leave it. Do not think about it all the time. Let it go. Do not get het up about it. There are some things we should never think about, and this is so important. Sometimes 90% of our thoughts have no use.
90% of our thoughts include others’ confirmation. we want them to confirm our lifestyle, our status, and our properties. For example, we like they say our properties come from the old time, Teimour or Qajar time, or we want them to say our crystal glasses come from France or our piano was bought from Petersburg, Russia. For example, our grandmother brought this piano. They are all interested in such things. They’re a dime a dozen and have no value. So what should we not think about? Let's think about things that are useful.
Maybe you imagine that you have always been contemplating, but difficulties and problems and its progress shows that we haven’t been thinking right. We may say: “No, we always think well, but the problems and difficulties in life show that we have not thought right.
As the sheep says: “I grazed very well, I eat a lot of fodder. And you ask “where is your fat then?” If you have tried hard, what is your gain? So I tell the person who says, “I thought a lot”, “if you had thought right, there must be a good result.
Maybe you imagine that you have always been contemplating, but difficulties and problems and their progress shows that you haven’t been thinking right and have continued your lives with wrong thinking or without thinking, and have lost or are
losing all material and spiritual assets that we have.
Maybe we haven’t lost anything but we are not at peace and lack of
peace is steering our lives toward destruction. Thus, we may have lost material or spiritual assets in the wrong thinking, or we may have not lost anything, but our peace and this is the result of our wrong thinking.
In this valley, we have to draw our attack plan to solve the problems. We have to devise a plan and a strategy to solve the problems in no hurry. It depends on the type of your plan. If you want your plan to be fulfilled 3 or 5 years later, you should design it from now.
You shouldn’t devise a plan that will come to fruition next month. If you want to do something, you have to save your money little by little from now on, and gradually provide the conditions. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a one-day plan by which you could start from tomorrow, it may take 1-3 years. The plan must be so precise that we don’t fail in it.
In this valley, We don’t want a sophisticated plan, just a doable plan to
solve our problem slowly to get the proper result. Let's come up with a plan to solve our own problem slowly. It is the best thing we should do. We should forget about a revolutionary and quick plan.
We need a slow and gentle one. There is nothing harder than stone and not softer than water. The water drops hit the stone one by one and eventually disintegrate the stone. Nothing is softer than water and harder than stone. No matter what the problem is, it is not worse than stone, and no matter how weak you are, you are not weaker than water, you can achieve the desired result over time.
So, we need a detailed and well-calculated plan with no turning back. In this valley, we don’t want a sophisticated plan. If we have a doable plan to solve our problem slowly, we will better get the result. When contemplating, we must consider our issues and problems realistically, and if we think right, we will find that our willpower alone cannot be enough to fight off our problems. We have to be realistic about our approach to solving our problems. It means that we think in a real and clear way to understand it well.
If we come to this correct thinking, we will find that willpower alone will not be able to solve all our problems. If we look carefully, we will see that willpower alone cannot solve our problems. Well, it is better to say desire. There is desire, there is willpower, and there are other parameters as well.
For example, in order to climb a high tree or walk on a rope at height, willpower itself is not sufficient, but we know that we can become capable of climbing a tree or any other thing in a wise way provided that we learn how to do some moves simultaneously and correctly. For instance, we must strengthen our bodies, and learn the proper skills, we must be motivated with a true goal, and we must exercise. Thus, willpower alone is not sufficient.
Willpower is one of the parameters, we must have enough physical strength, for everything, for example, to climb a tree, you must do several things together. To walk on a rope, you must practice, all parts of your body should be in harmony, learn the skills, and your goal should be clear and have enough motivation.
However, at this stage, some of us may not be able to think properly and make a decision. Some of us may not be able to think properly or make decisions. If we can’t think properly, we can consult with others, but we must make the final decision ourselves. This is a very important point, in other words, we consult but we make the decision by ourselves and this would give us the necessary confidence. It is not the case that we must do whatever others tell us.
Or maybe what they say is correct, so we can put it into action, and then there is nothing wrong with doing it. However, let’s not forget the Supreme Power that observes the creation at all times. Our universe is a very sophisticated creation and a Supreme Power controls all the details at every moment.
This force automatically guides all beings toward their own intentions and desires. If individuals want to move toward darkness and vice, it guides them, and if they want to move toward purity and goodness, they will be directed and supported respectively.
Here a topic raises saying it is all very well and good but we must know that universe is a very precise organization that does its job carefully, and if you go towards noble deeds, you will be supported by the Supreme Power, and if you go towards ugliness and darkness, negative forces will support you. Maybe some of us don’t have faith in this force.
Some people say: “let it go, it's all a mess. What is the Supreme Power? What is Creation? A person is born and dies.” Maybe some people don't believe in this matter. It is said that it doesn't matter, but if you look deep within your heart, you can feel its presence.
Some people may not believe, but if we look deep, we can certainly feel and seek the power of God, the force that can have a key role in curing our disease and in our liberation.
It depends on us whether we demand it or not. If we trust in God and accept this Supreme Power, it can help us in many ways, and it is really a refuge for humans. I believe this power DOES exist and it is real and tangible. I have felt it and I know it completely.
The Supreme Power can give us a lot of help and solve our problems and difficulties, which is the same “… and inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness”. That force will help us whether we demand it or not because we are moving toward righteousness. Because if we don't want HIS help but we move towards values, this force will help us. The only difference between asking and not asking is an inner feeling of an oriflamme that we create in ourselves.
Whether we demand it or not, that force will help us, but the difference is that when we want it, it is both an oriflamme and support. It can be suitable support. The force is functioning automatically regardless of our language, race, or skin color. It makes no difference.
Because the most virtuous humans are the closest to this force. So it reads whether you demand it or not, that force will help you and it doesn’t matter what the religion or race of people is. Why?
Because it is God's own word saying that the most virtuous humans are the closest to God and the best people are the most serving people or the most virtuous people. Therefore, in this valley, the gist of the valley implies that if there are problems in our life, or if our life is either chaotic or good, this is in the light of our thought or the structure that we created.
Therefore, we have created it by ourselves and played the main role in it. We may say: “No, I didn’t have any role.”, anyway, you were involved in it. We may say it was not our fault. But now we have the ability to choose the best path by thinking and showing great tact. You must think when you want to take any action.
Even if you want to insult someone, you must think about it first. Sometimes you regret the insult. Ponder for even 5 seconds before making any promise or doing anything.
The intellect of wise people who are less likely to get into trouble comes before their tongue. They first analyze what they want to talk about. Some people, on the contrary, come up with anything that occurs to them immediately. We must ponder for a while. First, can your friends solve the problem which you are explaining to them? Second, is it possible that they will use it against you later? Third, can it cause trouble and damage?
So one word can cause a thousand of trouble. It is necessary to think. The important issue we should know is the fact that we can attain wisdom’s command, that is, “we will say be, and it will be.” We are what we think. We are what we think and what we are is what we had thought before.
Therefore, thinking is the important difference between human beings and other creatures, so (All structures begin with contemplation; without contemplation, all that exists will decline.) we gave you a chance to think about this issue yourself.
Translated by: Marjan