How are we veiled from reality?

What does it mean to have concrete thoughts?

Both ‘concrete’ and ‘abstract’ concepts are based on the dimension to which they are subject.

The things you perceive via your brain are concrete things, whether they are dreams or your imagination. The measure here isn’t the five senses, but rather that the brain is able to convert it into something that is recognizable and perceivable. The main criterion is that you become aware of it! As soon as you are aware of something it becomes your concrete reality, even if it’s still abstract for someone else.

On the other hand, that which you can’t really become aware of, or give form or shape to in your consciousness, is your abstract.

Sometimes you know of something, you can feel it; in fact, it is almost as though you can touch it, but you still can’t name it or define it. That is your abstract!

Most of the terms and names we use, our evaluations and interpretations are all relative and point to the concrete concepts we have pre-formed in our heads based on old ideas.

The brain processes information based on its pre-existing database before we know it!

First, data comes to the brain. Then the brain takes this data or wavelength and checks it against its predetermined database. If the incoming new data is similar to that which already exists, it immediately synthesizes the two and makes an assumption based on it. Thus, new information is evaluated based on old information. And, as a result, the general output is something along the lines of, “Oh, I already know this”…

Because the same process applies to data that is uploaded to the spirit, it is said the people in heaven will claim, “These are like the things we tasted in the world”… But in reality, they are totally different things.

So, if we evaluate new things we encounter according to our old records we will be curtained from the originality of the new, claiming “There is nothing new”!

But the truth is, “There is nothing old!”

For, He is forever manifesting Himself anew at every instance! He doesn’t revise and recreate the old!

If that were the case, reincarnation would have been true, for example, Abdulqadir al-Jilani would have come back in another form and label. Or someone else!

Rumi says, “The things of yesterday are left in yesterday,” but we don’t seem to think about the depth and comprehensiveness of this phrase.

We always take life as the continuation of the old, the things that were spoken of centuries ago, the values and conditions of yesterday… We don’t seem to think about what new or renewed creation means, and what the scope of this entails.

Because we evaluate the new in light of the old, we automatically live in the illusory world of the past while wishfully hoping to see the concept of the past in the guise of today.

And this applies not only to our religious and spiritual lives, but also to our worldly life.

The past is important for us to take lessons from and thus know the value of the new, not so we regress and relive the past. This goes against the mechanics of the system and order of Allah.

It’s one thing to evaluate the past; it’s another to live in the past.

Are you aware that you’re constricting and conditioning yourself with judgments you’ve made in the past and missing out on innumerous blessings thereby?

People of perfection will only output perfection!

If you see an inadequacy, judging by past conditionings, either that person is not a person of perfection or you lack the ability to see their perfection due to your own inadequacy.

Without knowing its wisdom, you compare the new to the old and misjudge. But remember, the one who compared fire to earth had failed in his judgment!