Jacques de Villiers – writing quest: Article 43/365

I’m spending a month at Zawia Ebrahim, a spiritual retreat nestled in Walker Fruit Farms on the way to Vereeniging.

I practised prayer, meditation, and journaling at the retreat from 2015 to 2017 and still visit it regularly. It is my spiritual home.

It never changes, it is like an immovable lighthouse of vibration. At any given time there are 10+ people praying five times a day (Ṣalāh صلاة). It’s been around for close to 30 years. By my calculation, that’s more than 547 500 prayers coming from one location.

If we extrapolate that further, there are 1.9-billion Muslims in the world (25% of the population). For the sake of argument, let’s say that they all pray five times a day. That’s a whopping 9.5-billion prayers a day.

Assuming that Christians and Jews pray twice a day, there are approximately 2.8-billion Christians (31% of the population) and 15.7-million Jews (0.2% of the population) who do so. That’s a lot of prayer at a tad over 5,6-billion prayers a day. 

There are just over 1,1-billion Hindus (15.2% of the population). If they were to pray twice a day, that’d be 3.2-billion. 

And, of course, let’s not forget the Buddhists at around 520-million followers. They’re like in prayer all day, so I don’t know how to tally that one up.

That’s an astounding 18,3-billion prayers a day.

I haven’t accounted for other spiritual practices, but they no doubt add a whack of good to the collective.

There are many spiritual places like Zawia Ebrahim, including convents, monasteries, hermitages, ashrams, viharas and the like. Our spiritual homes lie within these sacred spaces. Before my shamanic and aboriginal friends react, I get that nature is the main home and everything else is a subset of that.

Why then, with all these high frequencies going out every day, are we in the shit? 

According to David R. Hawkins’s Map of Consciousness, enlightenment (1000) begins at 200 (courage). The Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) have a high level of resonance, but their implementation falls short because of human fallibilities. My interpretation is that they use force and not power to achieve enlightenment. It is indisputable that they are all violence-prone. These religions have been distorted by their followers to serve their own interests, rather than spiritual ones.

According to Hawkins, Buddhism resonates higher than the others because it is not a religion based on violence (force) but one based on non-violence (power). If you don’t think that works, remember in 1948 how Ghandi (power) single-handedly dismantled the violent British Empire (force) with his non-violence philosophy.

This is not a competition to see which spiritual practice is best. Every practice and philosophy should be based on love, kindness, and doing what benefits everyone and everything. Their intent is benevolent; the application is often malevolent. 

I don’t feel that this is a war between philosophies but rather between light and dark. Hawkins states that our resonance is currently at 204, slightly above the level of courage. In the 90s it was under 200. Light is getting a foothold, but only just.

What’s the answer? I’ve no idea.

But, I do have a notion that we can’t rely on institutions to dictate how we behave. Make your spiritual home in your heart. Let’s take responsibility for our own spiritual welfare and how we show up in the world. And, then give everything its due courtesy and respond appropriately every time – with love and kindness.