The Power of Poetry

We need to be reminded every once in a while, of the power of poetry to move our lives.

When I posted the poem "Palestine" on July 16 some people were kindly appreciative, and some (on another blog, were not :)

Yet few, outside the Arab World, noted the subsequent passing away on August 9, 2008, of Palestinian National Poet Mahmud Darwish, of whom it was said "In his work, Palestine became a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile. The poet Naomi Shihab Nye has commented about Darwish's work, "Darwish is the Essential Breath of the Palestinian people, the eloquent witness of exile and belonging...."

and I hope my poem in some way reflected that..

I want to let people know that without poetry ( a dance of words) or music (of sound) or art (of the senses) or healing (energy) we would not have a soul, because we could not even express, nor could we be moved to go beyond, ourselves. Each of you has a voice, and it deserves to be heard!

Many people are moved by the sonnets of Shakespeare, or the savage verse of Ezra Pound. Some have now come to appreciate the Sufi poetry of Rumi and Hafez, and I would like to encourage you to discover the Persian poetry of Indian poets Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ghalib. Above all, read Sappho, who distills worlds of longing into just one phrase.

But this post is a continuation of the previous, "Miracle in Toronto", and here I am literally warning you about the loss of soul.

These are the first poems I wrote, The Beginning, and The Man, from my book. Written in 1974, published 1990. I look at the rough, unpolished, writings of a young man and yet, it is what it is. The remembrance of lives past, and, seeing his future laid out for him...

The Beginning

There is a planet called Atlan. Thousands of years ago, people from the planet Atlan came to Earth. The story, however, begins at the beginning, where all beings are created. I was in God, in His peace and love. Then He told me that it was time to leave, to be born in a place called Atlan. I didn't really want to go, but He said it was the destiny of all his children to be born. To live and die, and to live again. For no man really dies, He said. There is a reason for your existing, and you cannot fulfill it in a mortal lifetime. Therefore, you are Immortal. Need you then fear anything? I'm afraid of being alone, I cried. You need not be afraid, He said, in his infinite kindness. There will always be Love....

Hurtling through space infinite
Countless stars flashing by
From the farthest galaxy
Thus came the spacemen

Man, infinitely small, alone
This was his god
Hunger of the flesh
We showed a way

Gods were we, priests,
This our purpose was
To come to mankind
And touch their souls

Atlantis, cradle of science
Time, space, mortality transcended
Forces controlled for man
One day destroyed Atlantis

Mu, birthplace of religion
In simple rustic life
Calm peaceful joyous meditation
God in our selves

Ah Crete! Beautiful jewel
In emerald undulating sea
Art, beauty, music, darkness
A flame was kindled

Nineveh looked at stars
From whence came men
And deep momentous knowledge
Of events to come

I remember my Egypt
I was a god
Who flew with eagles
Worshipped by all Egypt

The people adored us
Made offerings at altars
Our godhood condemned us
To lonely loveless existence

Yet Egypt was where
Love touched a god
For one fleeting instant
Made him man again

All through these lives
Have I searched for Egypt
Now I see pyramids
Sense your presence here

Do you remember when
We soared like eagles
Mystic moments of passion
Forbidden, unforgivable tragic love?

The Man
1974 A.D.

The day I met you
Magical moment in time
I saw many many
Lives of my past

In many of them
Were worlds of loneliness
With oases of calm
That I drank from

You, love, were there
Mystic everlasting woman
With eyes that shone
With warming soft flame

So was I lost
There were no defenses
Against a love ordained
Two halves together again

Long have I searched
For your soft caress
Love in your eyes
Ecstasy in our souls

What can I give
But mind, body, soul
If such is loving
Love me in turn

Your face haunts me
Would that I could
Capture it, even fleetingly
In painting, poem, song!

Wandering as we are
Through the desert of
Time, let us give
Shelter to each other

Love comes but rarely
Soul mates just once
Let me find her,
God, here and now!

We are all vulnerable
We live and die
When we are loved
Give me love again

Let me take you
Away on my carpet
And show you gods,
Kings, beautiful, wondrous things!

I see many things
And have countless gifts
This I know not
When will she appear

Mountains are lonely places
Yet we must climb
I take your hand
Will you take mine

I felt your body
Nestling, close to mine
And as we caressed
Our fears melted away

As we made love
Ancient magic, universal rhythm
We were whole again
We died innumerable times

I have eyes that
Mirror my soul
But I must know
What you see there

He looked into the night sky, remembering. This was how it had been from that time when they flew through the stars. So many memories coming back from the darkness, now a part of him. He looked into the sky again, beyond the darkness beyond the stars. To Atlan, where his life had begun. Now the years of searching were over, for he had found the Way. And it was this, above all, that had come back to him."I love you."

And I was the Man from Atlan...

And just one more, which was the only other poem I ever wrote before "Palestine".

I Dread the Morning

I dread the morning
that comes,
uninvited,
into my room of dreams

I miss the days
of my youth
that flew on wings
of possibilities and imaginings

Yet now,
in the twilight, I say:
Grim Reaper, I have defeated you,
Weeper, I have beaten you.

Naseer Ahmad

Miracle in Toronto

For those who predicted a disaster in Toronto: I said, "not while I live here".

I'll offer this to the world; make of it what you will.

In the early morning hours this Sunday August 10th, a propane facility in Toronto blew up. The blast could be heard for miles, and the fireball lit up the city. Witnesses described it as a "nuclear blast". Miraculously, even though it was in the middle of a residential area, only two people were killed, and other damage was minimal. Still, 12,500 people in a 1.6 km radius were evacuated for safety reasons.

By an interesting coincidence, I was talking to my disciple Isis on Saturday about this very prediction I'd made more than 30 years ago. And my statement to her was that all I could ever promise was those close to me would be protected. The rest of the world would have to find its way back to God, and inner peace, on its own. This is said lovingly. There is only so much that I can do for people who knowingly go about their paths of delusion and self-destruction, and I have grown weary of warning death and destruction to people who would not listen. The blast next morning was very close to her home but she didn't have to evacuate, the perimeter was set just two streets away.

Every once in a while I hold a special meditation service with my inner group of disciples. They've been trained in the Way of Atlan and therefore have realised many of their gifts. They still need feedback, connection with the community and myself to continue learning; it's a life-long path. The last one was held on August 2, 2008 when I said: the solar eclipse of August 1, the day before, would herald great change. On August 7 Georgia attacked a breakaway province, and in response, Russia invaded it. Thousands have been killed. There may be other wars, elsewhere.. I have long said that those who make war are possessed by demons, but I really want to talk about individual people; my message today is for them.

The theme for the world is, What is our next step? You all have only one purpose in life, and that is to find God. How you do it, and how you conduct your life, is up to you, but without God, you will not know peace. We had family over recently. How could they move forward if they didn't understand or believe in God? So many of their close friends were dying of cancer, and they were asking why, but didn't like the answer. And until you find that, you will be reminded over and over again.

I also talked about the dilemma of healers. At what point do you stop trying to save a drowning person? If in doing so you will lose your own life? So, do the best you can, but if you can't help, move on.

I keep being asked, what does this or that dream mean? Well, dreams are shallow superficial things relating to some psychological itch or past life artifact.. But disasters, weather changes, earthquakes are attempts by the Universe to bring about balance, and also, to warn us: wake up!

Exactly 3 years ago, on August 2, 2005, Air France Flight 358 crashed on landing in Toronto, and burst into flames. All 309 people on board survived, without serious injury. This was the e-mail I sent then:

Miracle in Toronto

I'd mentioned to you many times before how I felt disasters happening in Toronto, and also that while I was here I would try to help prevent them, for as long as I could. I also felt that Toronto was a special place, as long as it was my home, and a lot of spiritual people have been drawn to Toronto for that very reason.
It's all about energy; when you create a space of energy then people are drawn to it, whether that is to you, or your living room, or your city. It hasn't been easy. I've struggled between the necessities of earning a living, wanting to finish my books, and helping people in need. And when you pick up on people in need, you drop everything to attend to that, which I myself have said isn't always the best thing to do.

I'll also mention my 2002 article "The end of the world" which is about not being afraid.
I'll mention how a week ago my wife Chloe found a 3 foot tall iron statue of a knight in armour in some one's recycling bin; it now sits in our back garden, and is a sign of fighting to protect the weak and defenceless.
I could mention how (my disciple) Eden and her husband Robbie left for England the day after. They could have been at the airport that day, or the crash could have taken place on Hwy 401, or a student's house, (her mother's under the flight path) but it didn't. 309 people walked out of the plane without major injury. Just as there were many close friends who escaped the London blasts this year.
A miracle happened in Toronto.
Look to the miracle in your own lives.

Naseer Ahmad 2005

So:

I knew there would be a great need for healing in the United States, with earthquakes and other disasters. I also knew things would only get worse. I still wanted to help, so I went with Chloe and Arune, for the 1993 Malibu fires, the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake, then again in 2000, 2001, and 2002. I had a vision of an earthquake in San Francisco, and went there to perform the ceremony that prevented that. Yes I have the power, don't you see? But if I use it endlessly to prevent things, you will never grow up. Still, I sent a disciple to New York six days before 9/11 to help people there.

Yes, I was in London, before the tube blasts. Yes, I was in Glasgow after a bomb attack. The weather changed when I got there, but I only helped the individuals who came to see me. And now I grow weary of that too.

Toronto has been my base for the last 38 years. While I lived here it was safe.

A plane crashed in 1978 at exactly the same location at Toronto Airport as the Air France flight. People were killed. I was living in London at the time. When I returned in 1979 a train carrying chemicals derailed just outside of Toronto and the resulting fireball was seen a hundred miles away. Again, the miracle was that no one was killed. Due to the possibility of a chlorine cloud the entire city of Mississauga, 218,000 people, were evacuated. No further mishap occurred.

Coincidentally, Eden and Robbie flew out of Toronto again, the day before the latest explosion.

I do not know if I will be staying in Toronto any longer. That depends.

This is a message to the people of this planet.

You have a choice now.

Believe in me

Help me

Follow me

I wish you peace, love, and joy.

A poem

The ney is a 4000 year old Middle Eastern musical instrument; the oldest extant.

With apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, Kubla Khan:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Kubla_Khan.html

Palestine

In Palestine did perfidious Zion
Descry two tribes of Abraham
Where Aleph the scarlet letter ran
Through convolutions unwitnessed by man
Down to a sunless land
So, thrice thousand miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were encircled around
And there were gravestones filed in sinuous rills
Where once blossomed children in the country
Of olive trees ancient as the hills
Now enfolding dark leafless tracery

But oh! that deep chasm filled with cant
Down the barren hill with nary a flower
A savage place! as hatred was flaunted
As e’er thing under the sun was haunted
By demon helicopter which o’er field did hover!
And from this chasm, with endless murder seething
As if this torn earth were bleeding
A bomb fell amongst picnickers to burst
From whom it came are thrice accursed
Bullets fly from the encircling jail
A boy and his father torn apart by merciless hail
And ‘mid these sacred fields of forever
Flung up once again the bloody river
Five times five thousand miles meandered the clan
Then reached purgatory measured by Man
Dead floating souls in caverns endless
Overwhelm’d by hordes of infinite fiendishness
And from afar Abraham’s people heard
God’s message: Phoenix bird

The search for the eternal treasure
Stuck athwart a schoolgirl’s grave
And sighs of mingled pleasure
Emerged from sacred Bethlehem’s nave
It was a miracle that from the furnace’s fire
Could emerge such voices of freedom’s desire!

Young woman with a Ney
A vision without flaw
‘Twas a Palestinian fey
And on her fairie instrument she played
Singing of peace long delayed
Could I wish within me

With such magic she
To such heights delivered me

That with magic and song
I would deliver up the throng
To sunny throne! From caves of fire!
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Those burning eyes, her waving hair!
Close your eyes to the dead
For on the elixir of God had he fed
And drunk the promise of Paradise.

Naseer Ahmad 2008

Morgentaler and me

In the summer of 1974 I made another of my leaps of faith: I would write "Man From Atlan" , the story of my past lives that had begun with 'Search for the Soul's Mate' http://manfromatlan.blogspot.com/2007/12/search-for-souls-mate-i-didnt-use-to.html
First, we had to find a new place, so I did, a flat on the 3rd floor of 85 Harbord Street, Toronto. The landlord, an Irish Canadian, was tickled I was writing a book there, and even threw in a chest of drawers for a bottle of Jim Beam.
So I threw myself into writing; getting up early to go jogging, then, fuelled by peanut butter and rolls from the local bakery, would write for 10-12 hours straight. The writing process is straightforward for me. Get in the space, write. Once you start, don't stop till you've finished. That took 3 months. The same happened when we moved to London, and, filled with the memories and spiritual experiences that flowed through, wrote my second book The Way of Atlan.
But for now, I'm writing about Dr. Henry Morgentaler, who's just received the Order of Canada, our highest civil honour. Dr. Morgentaler single-handedly assailed the legal system which made abortions in Canada illegal. Even though he was imprisoned in Quebec and then tried again in Ontario for performing abortions, in 1988 the Supreme Court ruled in his favour that abortions could not be denied by Canada's Health Care system. And this happened in the house where I wrote my book.
Around about the time I finished writing Man From Atlan in 1974, 85 Harbord St. was taken over by the mortgage holder, a lawyer called Morris Manning, who courteously allowed us to stay until we moved to England in 1975. He then leased the 2nd and 3rd floors to his client Dr. Morgentaler, who set up his first abortion clinic in Toronto. The previous owner, angry at this turn of events, then leased his next door property, 87 Harbord St. to a Christian Evangelist, Ken Campbell, who proceeded to harangue women coming to Morgentaler's clinic next door, which made it interesting because both properties shared the same entrance, and demonstrations and counter demonstrations roiled outside those doors for quite a while.
I believe that women have the right to have an abortion. I also know it is the killing of an unborn child, and that there is a karmic price to pay. Over and over in my healing I have seen the karmic consequences and pain carried by women and men by the decision to have a child or not, to be responsible for the love and welfare of a child or not. This is not to blame anyone, neither the woman nor the doctor who carries out the abortion. But in my long spiritual and healing practice I have seen many things concerning Birth and Abortion and have a duty to share what I learned with everyone who wants to know.
I have 5 children and from the time they were conceived, knowing their spirits, it never was an option for us to abort, even though we had to go through a lot of karma with that choice. I respect that many women make that choice out of necessity and it is never an easy one. But the fact is that they were not informed that it put at risk their chances of having subsequent children or might have problem pregnancies or children with a higher degree of cerebral palsy or other illnesses. That the hormonal disruption would increase the chances of cancer (Statisticians on both sides argue this point, but my own observations support this) And spiritually, subsequent children often turned out to have incredible karma with the mother. The karma was almost non-existent when there was a miscarriage, but extremely heavy when it was an abortion.
The Way of Atlan teaches the sacredness of birth, the life lived from the time of conception, and the karmic responsibility that entails. It also accepts that there might be a time when abortion is necessary, and that while there should not be any impediment to it, it could not be just a clinical procedure without any sense of the pain that was being caused, or felt. That I could place my hand on a woman's root chakra and ask if she had been pregnant before, or had an abortion, was a reflection of the energy loss I felt there. So, I could heal that pain, and release the woman and the spirit of the unborn child.
I could also not judge Henry Morgentaler. In an interview at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/series/morgentaler/ he revealed that his mother, who died at Auschwitz, was distant from him and he never felt that she had loved him at all or as she loved her other children. And I could only feel compassion, knowing that this is exactly the way that children of abortion feel when their spirits are torn from their bodies, and how much pain is being carried forward into the future.
I could also feel the irony; the home which was such an important part of my spiritual journey, was now an abortion clinic. The raccoon with whom I would share my peanut butter and rolls on the balcony, was probably being fed fetuses by Dr. Morgentaler, who after all said they were just 'clumps of tissue' (My savage sense of humour, sorry)
In 1984, The Toronto Women's book store was burned down. It was believed that the target was the clinic above it.
In 1992, the building was destroyed by an arsonist.
That was the year our daughter Arune was conceived, and I decided to move on to the next stage, our Spiritual Journey to the United States http://manfromatlan.blogspot.com/2007/12/spiritual-journey-to-u.html
We choose the direction of our lives, and the journey. And now, our journey moves on again.

A Canada Place to Be.

This is a love letter to Canada, and also, a note for the future.

I was finishing my studies in Pakistan. I'd not made it to flight school in the Air Force, and now University was almost over. I knew it was time to leave. Sitting on a mountain top in the foothills of the Himalayas, I meditated, and ask to know what my next step would be. Within a month, my father decided we would all move to Canada.

First he checked out the U.S. He could have been posted to the Washington Embassy earlier in 1958 but the Ambassador, a friend, just died. We applied to immigrate there, which would have required I be drafted for the Vietnam War. I didn't care one way or the other (still believed that all communists were bad) but then he called his friend in Toronto and decided to move here.

The prophecy said Maitreya would come down from the Himalayas, board a plane in Pakistan, and fly to London. I did, but went on to Toronto, because my karma was there.

First job: Street cleaner. Let go the first day, even though in typical immigrant manner, I'd knocked myself out doing a great job. Noticed the only other person let go was a black man (None of the 'pink folk' were let go :) but after that, I got great jobs, and never had to face that problem again.

That is the beauty of Canada.. It has welcomed people from a hundred different countries and become stronger as a result. People of different faiths get along. Gay people can get married if they want. Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is a national treasure. Kids for Khadr, an Ontario school group, protests the inhumane treatment given to Canadian child soldier Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Prison, while the government hides behind rhetoric.

You go to a place, and you know you've been there before.. and here I rediscovered my native, shamanistic past. Here I started meditation classes that combined Spirit and Earth energy, for Canada is strong in earth energy. Wherever the native people gather, it is strong in energy, even though the earth itself has sadly, been weakened over the years and Canada's treatment of its native peoples is a karmic shame.

Canadians see themselves as a force for good in the world. Even with the present government, there is a fundamental decency. We care and invest in social causes. Every one has health care. Education is pretty good. Yes, Canada is fighting an unjust war in Afghanistan. Yes it's got a corporate fascist government and political parties (but not as bad as the U.S. we say-they on the other hand call us 'socialists' as though that's a Bad Thing)

Why, then, do I love this country? Because it's a place of refuge. There will come a time when the world will need it, and that is why I cherish it. Its vastness. Arrive in Northern Quebec, and you see the Aurora Borealis shimmering in magical light.

Great things will happen here.

Rule, Britannia

You go to a place,

and know every part of it.

You meet someone,

whom you have loved many times.

You say to yourself,

I have done this

in many many lifetimes,

and will do so again..

(I think Shelley said that)

We moved to England right after I was born. My father was in the Foreign Service so I grew up in London, my favourite city in the world. But it was that blessed isle that felt like home to me. Islands have a sacred energy which is like no other. I have lived in two of them, Britain and Japan, and hope to one day visit Hawaii, New Zealand, and Ireland.

But it was first the spirits who thronged around when I was there, the spirit of Atlantis so strong as carried forth from Lyonesse, the Old Atlanian flame, the time of King Arthur and the time of Jesus who visited it so many times. The people are magical, yet so many don't know this, and there are so many that do, but don't know how to integrate all that within themselves.

If there was a place I would live in besides Canada, it would be the British Isles, so strong is my connection there. It is a promise made in so many lives, that I would return when needed.

It is a love of place, and of a people, that makes me feel that way, and also, of the possible future out of many possible futures that I speak of.

Walk around Stonehenge, Avebury, the White Horse of Wiltshire, Wordsworth's daffodil field, a place called Bluebell Woods, Loch Ness and the Isle of Iona where the ancient Scottish Kings were buried, and you feel the stones and the sky and the spirits speak to you.

A bus driver in Devon says "welcome, brother" and you know what he means. There is a 15 year old young man discovering his power in the Yorkshire Downs who has as much raw Psychic Energy as my own children, and that's saying a lot.

Two million people march against war in 2003 and you know that there is a British spirit that will never change, and magic will always exist, there.

But: There is much done in its name and there is an imbalance that requires healing.

So I go to Britain, many times. There is a ceremony called the sacred marriage which combines Earth and Sky energy to heal the planet.

The first ceremony held in 1999, on a hilltop in Dartmoor, brings two swarms of bees and wasps who crawl all over our hands. No one is bitten, but I see that as the need for healing. Next year there are floods in the South of England, yet none of them reaches Heather's door.

I visit again in 2000, 2004, 2005 and twice in 2007, and every time I arrive, the weather changes. I offer healing, but also say, your future lies in the choices you make. I warn friends of specific outcomes which come about; I help a woman hold on to a pregnancy she was afraid would not last, I meet an assassin who shows me how much Britain also does in the field of dark magic.

I feel that 2007 will bring much change, so bring my family over for the summer. The week before we arrive, there is a bombing at our airport. The rains that have poured for 3 continuous months stop. We have a glorious two weeks in Scotland and the Lake District, that is, wherever we go the sun comes out while it rains in the rest of the country. Heading south into the greatest floods in a century, we pass through a landscape of flooded fields and towns. Arriving in Devon, the sun comes out again, and we have another two wonderful weeks in Devon and Cornwall.

Chloe and I renew our vows and we have another sacred marriage ceremony. The sun is hot, drying out the floods, but a woman at our wedding dies shortly afterwards because of a cancer she picked up in India. A reminder; we cannot help everyone.

I go back in October to set up another healing center, as I did in Iran. And then, I am done.

What will happen now? I have been there so many times, my spiritual awakening has so much connection here, but, time to move on. Now the people can follow the Way of Atlan, or accept whatever comes. Their gifts are great, but so too are their responsibilities.

Do not live ordinary lives.

A Bird Came For Healing

In 2004 an American Bittern flew into my backyard during a rain storm and sat there all day in the pouring rain. It was obviously sick so I went out and did a healing on it, and it flew away. The American Bittern's natural habitat (in the spring, when this happened) is almost a thousand miles away. My wife Chloe's aunt passed away that night. A little while before that Chloe was out in the garden and saw a huge Merlin Falcon circling overhead. She and our neighbour both stared at it for a while. The neighbour's wife came out briefly to look then went back inside. She passed away from a sudden heart attack that night.

Two Canada Geese landed at my in-laws home and stayed for hours in their garden. The geese were followed by a hawk. It had striking red feathers on its front and sides, and leather tresses that indicated it had belonged to a falconer, but somehow it was either lost, or roaming at will. It came by every day and sat in a tree in her garden, and she sang to it. She identified it from National Geographics Book of Birds of North America as a Harris Hawk, which is found only in the South Western U.S. and South America. A long way from home. When it was caught they saw the owner's phone number. He was surprised to hear from her, for the Hawk had flown away 2 1/2 years ago from San Diego, California. 3000 miles away. He came up in a plane to take it home.

Margit, my mother in law, was about to throw out a tropical plant her other daughter had given to her 12 years ago. It had stubbornly refused to bloom, and she wanted to clean up. Within two hours of the birds showing up, there were buds all over, and now is in bloom. She recognises that was a miracle meant for her.Two songbirds showed up in our garden and sing all day long now. Our daughter Gebbriel started to sing to them, and her sounds are just like the birds', so they sing back to her.

We must look at the first message. Why are birds coming to us for healing? I believe, because of the imbalance of Earth's energy which has been so distorted by Man that Man himself is distorted. A reminder, then, to follow our own healing, which must go alongside with healing the Earth.

Then: We all have a passion for learning, and the freedom to follow our path. Those of you who've read my previous e-mails about birds know I see them as messengers from God, from spirit. Sometimes they signify a death (going into spirit) but really it's a letting go of your ego, which can be a death of the old you also. (Angels can appear for that reason too) The message is, follow your path, and do not let anger, fears or emotions hold you back. The message is about freedom, but know this: It is not others we need to be free of, but from ourselves that we need to free, and let go of all the things that hold us back. I wish you much love.