With the absolute power of God, we begin the session.
Hello, friends, I am Hossein, a traveler.
Hello, Hossein.
Please, for our liberation from our most powerful enemy, which is our own ignorance and unawareness, let's observe a 14-second silence and seek refuge in the Almighty.
Thank you, friends.
I kindly request the honorable secretary to summarize the previous session's performance and announce the agenda for today's session.
Hello, friends, I am Soheila, a traveler.
Hello, Soheila.
In the name of God, the fifteenth session of the nineteenth round of Congress 60’s meetings is held with the agenda of the Fifth Valley, under the supervision of Mr. Hossein Dezhakam and Ms. Soheil as the secretary on September, 11, 2012. The session commenced at 9 a.m. Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello, friends, I am Hossein, a traveler."
The Fifth Valley asserts that “in our world, contemplating is not the absolute power of solution; it becomes complete with departure and arrival”. I repeat, in our world, meaning the physical world, the absolute contemplation does not solve the problems of life.
As we start our departure, it will be complete. Overall, from the First Valley to the Fourth Valley, we worked on thinking. We explored thinking from various and different states, we stated that all structures come into existence through thought. In the second valley, it was mentioned no being has left a step for futility in life. Then, we must know that no being thinks about us as much as we ourselves do.
In the Fourth Valley, the issue of what God was addressed. Well, it teaches us that everything begins with thought. Then, it showed us the field, framework, and lines of thinking and even the Fourth Valley raises the issue of responsibility. And we determined the distinctions between our own responsibilities and God’s. So that we cannot find a refuge between these lines to give our responsibilities to God. He closes and blocks the way, this valley blocks all our refuges, until we reach the Fourth Valley, where we have only one way. We had various paths in front of us, like blaming everything on our parents.
If my parents were rich, my situation wouldn't be like this. If my parents, for example, were born in Switzerland, my life would be different. If my parents were Italians, I would be able to speak Italian now. If, for instance, I had been born in Massachusetts, I would have a green card and residency; and I wouldn't suffer so much. This person’s life is full of "ifs" and "buts". One of my friends once said: if these “ifs” and “buts” get married, a child called “wish” would come into the world. I heard this statement from a man talking on TV. Now we have to throw all these “buts” out. In this valley, all the paths (of refuge) are closed. We have only one way, and that is to work on ourselves
Certainly, we do not deny the help of others, society, community, or family. However, the important thing is that the major responsibility lies on us. The sons of the minister, because of their ignorance and lack of wisdom, went begging in the villages (a part of a poem by Persian poet, Sa’adi). The village children came to the cities and became ministers. They became Ministers, lawyers, and such – the rural children of the county who had neither educated parents nor enough food to eat – are now working in NASA or teaching in prestigious universities around the world. The children of ministers and wealthy lawyers are now begging, either on the streets or in different parts of the city. Some of them are begging here and there. I mean, not all of them, but the majority of them. So, it is not a reason to ask why this or why that (happened to me). All of these are important, our viewpoint is important. Until we take account of ourselves, we cannot reach anywhere (anything). Otherwise, like the beggars of Samarra (a city in Iraq), we have to stretch out our hands and ask for help from others. Even for love, we have to beg. We must beg even for affection.
Sometimes, others show kindness to us. This valley asserts even if we know all the thoughts, coming from valleys one, two, three, and four; even if we know all the information in this regard, if we do not apply them in our life, these words and thoughts are not worth a penny [A thought that doesn't turn into action is worthless]. We had so many individuals in Congress 60 who had studied various texts, like Sardar series, and Eagle series; they were number one in terms of information and awareness. They memorized ten pages of a book, but they couldn't figure out how to use a single line of that information. A line in a Persian poem reads, "If something is left after you, it does not matter whether it is a stone or gold, it doesn't make a difference."
What is a difference between a kilogram of gold and a kilogram of mud buried in the earth? I have a wealth of information, but I don't know how to use it. What is it good for? It's possible that we know a lot of things, but it is not useful. They come to the media, and say Mawlana (Rumi) says this, Hafez says that, Nizami Ganjavi says this, Descartes says that, Shakespeare says this, Spinoza says this, Mulla Sadra says this, and also Imam Mohammad Ghazali says this. Well, what do YOU say? Well, they have already said it. Now, what do you say? Now, can we act based on this collection of sayings or not? The fifth valley says that knowing is valuable only if we can use it. If we can't use it, it's worthless.
Knowing without application is worthless, like you knowing all the techniques of judo and karate, mastering all martial arts, knowing all the rules and commands, but not being able to perform a personal defense. What's the use of all the knowledge? Our purpose of gathering knowledge is to implement and execute it. Now, in the fifth valley, it is stated that now that we are sitting here, as humans on this earthly planet, we are living in several worlds. Okay, we may say we are living in only one world. I'll tell you about three worlds, which you will also accept.
One world is the one where we live in now. The one that we are all awake in, and we all accept it. The second world is the world of dreams; when we sleep, we exist in another dimension (world). We see some dreams, and some dreams are remembered while others are forgotten. What remains in our memory is related to the Common Sense. The internal senses give their information to the common sense, and our common sense gives it to the five external senses or animal senses. We remember a part of it (when this process is complete); the rest is unknown to us (because the circle of receiving information from the internal senses is interrupted due to some unknown issues). This is also a dualistic world. The third world is the Mental World. The mental world is an extraordinary, complex, and fundamentally important world. It is so astonishing that we don't absolutely grasp its value. One of the very great masterpieces of creation is this mental world that we have. Why don't we see it? Why don’t we understand it? Because it is so great and vast that we don't recognize its greatness, and it is very ordinary for us. When you stand in front of a very, very massive mountain, you might not be able to recognize the peak of the mountain; you don't see it at all. The mountain is so large that you don't see it. The Earth is so large that you walk on it, but you don't see the Earth at all. You don't understand what shape it is or how it is. How do you feel when you realize that the Earth is moving at a speed, for example [1,000 miles (1600 kilometers) per hour and orbits around the Sun at a speed of about 67,000 miles] or around the Milky Way galaxy? I don't know its [exact] speed, it might be a million kilometers per hour. Now, no matter how big the earth or the sun or everything is; they are so giant that we cannot feel them at all; we are not able to comprehend them.
From the first valley to fourth valley, we worked on our mental world, whatever we had in valley one, two, three and four was for our mental world. It was in our minds. Now, the fifth valley says that you must step into the operational and practical world. This means that what has come into existence in your mind; whatever you've outlined its role and executed it in your mind, now you must execute it in the outside world. You must step out of the mental world, take a step into the tangible world or the operational world. What is the use of these mental structures, if they are not executed and operationalized in the outside world? What value do they have? Some people have a very powerful mental world, meaning they know a lot, but they are unable to bring that mental world into reality.
I want to talk about the vastness and magnificence of the mental world. Perhaps it is even greater and more magnificent than the external world because the mental world works based on your order (you decree a thing and it exists in your mind). Like when God says, "Be," and it becomes, meaning when He says "Exist," it comes into existence. Human beings have this quality too and this ability exists in our mind. If you want to see how God says something and it is created, you can easily refer to your own mind. Whatever you say becomes present in your mental world. For example, right now, if I say "giraffe," all of you can immediately imagine a giraffe. Now, imagine a giraffe with two heads – you all see a giraffe with two heads. Imagine a giraffe with a head like a lion – you all see a giraffe with a lion-like head. By “shir”, I mean lion, no other meanings of it [in Persian, the word “shir” has many meanings including lion, or faucet]. You can visualize everything. You can portray a human with four hands in your mind – or you can visualize a human with six feet. Whatever you say, "Be," becomes in the mental world. But it's a different story, when we want the mental world to exist in the outside world. The problem of the parameter of time is raised here; that is why it is a different matter.
Now, I am reading from the valley because this valley is extremely important for us. The first four valleys are the prelude to the fifth valley and I have rewritten this valley on September first 2012. I have rewritten this valley because now the valleys include two sections: 2012 for non-travelers and before 2012 for travelers. Texts in these two can be very different from each other. The fifth valley reads
“In our world, contemplation is not the only power of solution; it becomes complete with going and reaching”. When we look at the sea, we see water and waves. Or when we look at the sky, we see a blue sky and the sun, sometimes with clouds. And when the sun hides behind the mountain for the creatures to rest, we observe the sky full of stars. When we look, we see all these: water, sea, sky. But if we penetrate into them, what do we see? We normally see the sea, we see the blue sky. But if we penetrate into the water, what do we see? If we penetrate into the sky, what do we see? We see grandeur and greatness. Inside the water, various creatures live, such as sharks, whales, fish, corals, and more. Or in the sky, we only see stars. Stars are for lovers or the moon is for lovers. The star is also for lovers. However, if we see the stars up close, and the moon up close, we get terrified. From afar, it's beautiful, but up close, it's like a dry desert – no water, no grass, nothing at all. Or the stars are all fire and flame, heat and cold. There is something else inside or [consider] a black hole that swallows everything into itself. The sky is very frightening, truly terrifying with all its beauty. But if we penetrate into them, what do we see? Humans are the same. When we look at them, we sometimes see a few tens of kilograms of flesh and bones walking – a few tens of kilograms of flesh and bones. You see fifteen, fifty, sixty, seventy kilogram- creature walking, talking. They are fat or slim? They are white or black, yellow or red? However, if we can penetrate into them, then we will see a greatness that is NOT less than the external world, and when we go inside this creature (human), we see that it has not less greatness than the external world, and the greatness we see is beyond imagination.
To be continued
Now, let's consider a simple question, in this brief glance at human being. If we take a brief look at human, in how many worlds humans do live? You probably say, in one world. However, if you pay a little attention, you will realize:
1. The first world we are living in is the physical earthly world that is entirely tangible to all of us, and we are consciously living in it. So the first world, is this earthy world.
2. Second is the world of sleep (dreams), as I explained, where we unconsciously live. I provided a brief explanation of this.
3. Third is the world of Mind (Mental World), many people live in the world of the mind. They live so much in the mental world that they become depressed and sometimes, they commit suicide. These people must first commit suicide in the mental world, then it happens in the external world. If they are depressed, this depression intensifies itself. How does it intensify itself?
Inside themselves, it acts just like a laser. The mental world is very dangerous in its place, just like a laser. How does it work? Imagine a tube, a mirror at one end, and another mirror at the other end. Consider it as a cylinder. A beam of light is radiated under specific conditions to the mirror, and hits it, then it is reflected to the other mirror in front of it, hits that mirror, and goes back and forth until each time it gains more speed. It gains more speed until it is fired. It is so speedy that it pierces through anything. The mental world works the same. The mental world nurtures a subject so much within itself in the mental world that, in the end, it may lead to suicide or generate such intense hatred towards someone and it amplifies this hatred so much that the hatred reaches its highest level. Anything in the mental world can come into existence, even depressions. The mental world intensifies the depression, it can intensify despair as well. Now, the opposite can also be true, being sincere.
An optimist intensifies a hope in their mental world. If this person wants to be fit, they do sports, and constantly intensify this exercise. If they want to study, or anything else; they keep repeating these positive desires. If they want to distance themselves from the negative values, they keep repeating it until they reach the values.
So, this exists in all aspects of life. The mental world is very important. Therefore, the third world we are living in is the world of the mind. Of course, there are other lives (worlds) that are not currently visible to us, such as the Seven Bodies in the seven layers of the Heaven, and so on. Now, just take these three, the rest is not to be discussed in here; what other Bodies or other Organs are like and how they are, is not discussed in here. You can almost say these Seven Bodies are the same as the Seven Heavens. It can be said that in those individuals who reach a stage of mysticism, theosophy, and so on, as they are sitting in a place, they can enter the Fifth World, acquire some information, and return back [to their physical body]. Few people can go and return, but for others, it is impossible. These topics are complicated, and are not useful for you. Now let’s talk about one of these worlds.
The first world that we discuss is the mental world, the mental world is the prelude to planning, action, or practice to live in the earthly world and other worlds. So, what is the mental world? It is a prelude, a prelude to what? It is a prelude to planning, action, or practice to live in the earthly world or other worlds. The mental world is a place of exercise for living in the earthly world or other worlds, by other worlds we mean “the worlds after death”. Whatever you practice now will continue after your death.
This planning is done through thinking and its structures. We discussed the details of contemplation in the first four valleys. So, the mental world is a prelude to the exercise of how to live, and its tool is thinking. This planning is created by the structures of thinking. Contemplation shapes the structure of the mental world. We previously talked about the first four valleys. Now, it gives an example of how it works. For example, it uses very simple and ordinary examples. When we decide to eat a sandwich, when we want to take a sandwich, first, we must plan all the stages from preparation to eating the sandwich in our minds. When we want to go out and eat a sandwich, we have to plan all its stages. Do we want to eat it outside? Do you want to eat it at home? Do you want to buy the sandwich from outside, bring it home, and eat it? Or do you want to buy cold cuts, sausages, and hamburgers from outside, bring them home, prepare them, and eat them with baguette bread? Do you want to eat it with lavash bread or with your Taftoon bread? You see, there are thousands of possibilities. If you want to eat this, you must first plan its mental structures, specify it, and then enter the stage of operationalizing. Eating a simple sandwich or having a cup of tea is the same. First, we must plan all the stages from preparation to eating the sandwich in our mind.
Sometimes, in the execution of our mental stages, we realize that we don't have money. We construct a mental framework that we want to eat a sandwich; we do everything, and then realize, oh, we don't have any money. It's just an illusion that has led us to think about eating a sandwich or that there is no sandwich shop where we are. For example, sometimes we plan, and then we see that we don't have money or we are in a desert where there is no sandwich shop, or we are in a place where there is no sandwich shop. Immediately, we cancel this structure and plan another structure, we examine the possibility of other foods. When we build this new structure, and we see we don't have money or there is no sandwich shop, immediately, we change the structure.
This change of structure sometimes happens. I once told you a funny story: Someone went abroad. He did not know English, he went to a restaurant, saw people ordering food. He looked at the next table, and they were ordering a hamburger. Well, this person ordered a hamburger too, which in Iran we also call it “hamburger”. The waiter put a hamburger in front of him and he ate, it became his everyday routine. Every day, he ordered a hamburger because he did not know any other foods; therefore, he had no other choice. His mental structure was merely “hamburger” since he had no other choice.
Eventually, he gets fed up with hamburgers. He thinks to himself, let’s see what the next table orders and I try another food today. He realizes the next table orders “hot dog”. He thinks this is good. He awaits and sees that the hot dog seems delicious. Immediately, he orders one. The waiter comes and asks, how do you want hot dog with sauce or without sauce? He only says, hot dog. The waiter repeats, with sauce or without sauce? He keeps saying, hot dog, not understanding what the waiter is saying about different sauces. The waiter gets angry and shouts, with sauce or without sauce? He keeps saying, hot dog. In the end, he says, nothing, just a hamburger, a hamburger! Now, sometimes in our mental structures, we want something, but the prerequisite is not ready yet. In any case, two essential points are necessary for eating a sandwich or any other food. The simple point is:
1. Think and form appropriate mental structures for eating a sandwich. Here you can see how simply the author is speaking; he doesn't want to be too philosophical or use fancy words. The examples are straightforward and ordinary so that all of us understand.
For any task, two factors are required: one is the thinking and formation of a suitable mental structure for eating a sandwich, is it reasonable to eat a sandwich? What sandwich do we want to eat? Do we have money or not? The other factor is the execution of the mental structure of having a sandwich, preferably with a drink. So, the first item is to plan it (in our mind) and the other is to execute it. If we do not execute it, we will not have a sandwich. When we do not apply what we think about and prepare in mind, it will be useless and unimportant, this is just like planning to eat a sandwich with a drink, but not eating it.
Therefore, two elements are required:
1) Contemplation and forming appropriate structures (to eat a sandwich). We have to plan all the required [mental] structures.
2) The execution of the mental structures; to do all the procedures to eat a sandwich preferably with a drink.
Therefore, in this valley, if we cannot turn our mental structures and thoughts into operational structures, we will never achieve results.
It is useless if we cannot operationalize our mental structure, in other words, we permanently created the mental structure of eating a sandwich; however, we have never reached its operationalized and enjoyable part, which is eating that sandwich. We have always planned to eat, but we did not eat any sandwiches.
In other words, creating mental structures for a sandwich is like saying sweet words about Halva (a type of Iranian confectionary); but saying Halva doesn't sweeten the mouth. Therefore, we practice in this valley to put our thought structures from potential into action. Potential means there is something in existence; for example, when we say this mountain is made of gold, that is a mountain is potentially made up of gold; however, in action, we must extract the gold from it. "Action" here means “performance”. Therefore, we practice in this valley to transform our thought structures from potential to action and let logical thoughts enter the stage of execution and operation. To make the transition from mental to operational structures, we need to do certain things. We must execute the logical and operational structures in our minds and turn them into practical actions.
To be continued
We may create numerous structures and have worked hard on them, or we are working on them, but they are not executable or operational. Therefore, we should operationalize structures that are logical and practical, to do so, we have to take some steps.
When transforming a mental and thought structure into an operational structure, certain conditions must be met. We need to create a conducive environment, otherwise, we will never succeed in doing them. How can we make that environment? We should get rid of anxiety, fear, lack of self-confidence, hopelessness, and other negative factors, to step into a state of calmness and peace.
When we want to enter the operational phase, if we have anxiety, fear, lack of self-confidence, and hopelessness, we will not be able to execute the plan or we do it incompletely, we shall do it gradually. Again, we come to purification and refining. In reality, these negative emotions need to be gradually eliminated or reduced so that we can comfortably perform our tasks.
For example, when we want to participate in a track and field contest and feel a lot of anxiety, fear, and worry, even we can't take a step. Similarly, someone attempting an exam with anxiety, fear, and hopelessness will fail the exam and forget even what they know.
To transform thought structures into practical ones, we must eliminate anxiety, fear, lack of self-confidence, hopelessness, and other negative elements to step into a state of peace and calmness. Achieving this calm state is essential for making our desires practical, and to reach tranquility, we must initiate self-purification and self-construction. To correct behavior, ethics, and character, we need to consistently consider three principles: healthy thinking, healthy words, and healthy deeds.
Well, we shall see our efficiency in actualizing our rational wants, here we are dealing with what percentages of our logical desires we can put into action. We have to see how much of our logical thoughts we can execute, and what conditions are necessary for this transformation, it is not accidental, we must take action.
To overcome fear, anxiety, lack of self-confidence, and hopelessness, purification is essential. What is purification? It means we have to change our behavior, our morals and our characters. To change all these items, we have to consider three principles: healthy thinking, healthy words, and healthy deeds. Healthy thoughts mean our contemplation and thinking must be healthy, our words must be healthy, and then healthy deeds. Instead of good thinking, good words, and good deeds (mentioned by Zoroaster), I have used healthy thinking, healthy words, and healthy deeds, because this is more important to us.
Always remember when our thoughts and contemplation are healthy, our speech automatically becomes healthy; when our contemplation is healthy, our words will get healthy too, and as our words get healthy, we are led towards righteous and peaceful actions.
It's essential to understand that knowledge alone, without practical application, is worthless. I have emphasized this point from the very beginning of Congress 60. Many individuals have vast knowledge, quoting verses, stories, and facts from the greats, knowing various cultures, religions, and schools of mysticism. For any discussion, immediately they consider themselves as erudite; however, unfortunately, they are not able to use their knowledge. They are like people with thousands of gold coins who is dying of hunger, unable to part with even one coin to buy bread and survive.
Their story is just like a person dying of hunger, although he has thousands of gold coins. They are not able to give up one gold coin and buy bread and stop dying of hunger. They know thousands of stories, fables, science, and information; however, they are not able to use even one of them, alright let’s continue.
As we already know, to transform polluted and dirty water into clean and clear water, there is only one way: purification. We have mentioned this point multiple times – just as a bowl of muddy water has only one method of becoming clean, which is through purification – similarly, to convert an unbalanced and completely disordered individual into a balanced and rational person, there is only one way: purification and refinement. This means distancing oneself from anti-values and moving towards values. As mentioned before, consider a bowl filled with muddy, dirty, and black water. If we leave it there from morning till night and recite prayers or read all the holy books to it, read all the heavenly knowledge into that bowl, practice asceticism, and say prayers, the muddy water will not turn into clear water.
Translated by Elahe
TO BE CONTINUED