Hijackers of the Mind

📆 Date: 1403/05/04 – 19 Muharram 1446
📌 Meshkat-e Noor session
👤 Lecture by Master Ali Saei

🗒 Some points raised in the session:
📌 Please note that the hadith cited in this text are paraphrased. For the full wording, be sure to consult the lecture.
🌼 O God, immerse us so completely in righteous guidance that we never emerge from its depths. Set us on the path of truth so firmly that we never stray from it, and grant us the intention to grow.
🌼 A person needs a lamp for the spiritual journey—a light by which to be guided. We ask God to grant us such a light.
🌼 Once we have found the light, we need a path for our spiritual journey: earthly paths as well as heavenly and celestial ones. After becoming firmly established on the path of truth, we need the intention to grow; in a sense, we need a plan. The intention to grow guides us to our destination.
🌼 Righteous guidance, steadfastness on the path of truth, and the intention to grow: if any one of these three is missing, we will stumble.
🌼 The points raised here form one aspect of the spiritual journey.
🌼 In a word, these three aspects are encompassed by the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt.
🌼 We must not take our religious beliefs from anywhere other than the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt. Many are mind-thieves who present themselves as followers of the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt, yet lead us into error.
🌼 We must bring our outlook into line with the horizon of the End Times.
We must abide by several principles.
First, we should not trust someone whose foundations in monotheism are unsound, even if they are a teacher of ethics. You cannot impart ethics by burning away its roots.
Second, we should flee from anyone who weakens our steps on the virtuous spiritual path.
🌼 Mind-thieves may appear in the guise of prose, poetry, logic, philosophy, and other disciplines, and through their carefully crafted personas they try to steal righteous guidance from our hearts.
🌼 Truth can be verified only through the Two Weighty Things, by trusting in them and by means of a pure nature.
🌼 Each of the Imams (AS) was unknown in his own time. But in this age, we must recognize the Imam of our time so that he may turn his gaze toward us.
If we saw the Imam (AS) among people in this age, would we be able to recognize him?
🌼 How can we return to our innate nature?
🌼 If today we struggle to discern whether people are grounded in monotheism, we will likewise struggle to recognize the Imam of our time.
🌼 How can I attain a station at which I am no longer liable to stumble?
🌼 The passages discussed point to a connection with the Imam of our time.
🌼 If we ask wholeheartedly for the Supplication of Noble Character, and it is answered on our behalf, we will attain all our aspirations.
🌼 We should not trust those who cling to anything other than the Two Weighty Things. The Messenger of God is the excellent exemplar, a beautiful model.
🌼 We must rely only on God’s staff.
🌼 Clinging to the cord of the Two Weighty Things means holding fast to God. Whoever pledges allegiance to the Messenger of God has pledged allegiance to God.
🌼 God forbid that we trust those who rely on anything other than the Two Weighty Things. Those who board their ship will drown.
🌼 Those aboard the ship of falsehood move so swiftly that no ship can overtake them. But we must remember that our Master said: whoever boards any ship other than ours will drown.
🌼 The Ahl al-Bayt (AS) are like Noah’s Ark; whoever boarded it was saved.
🌼 How can someone whose pillar of monotheism has fallen build the foundations of human ethics?
🌼 A teacher either fosters growth or brings about decline.
🌼 Teachers of ethics must be assessed by the standard of monotheism.
🌼 Covert fabricators
🌼 Examples of fabricating verses and narrations:
translating, interpreting, and construing them according to personal opinion
🌼 Fabricators with a respectable appearance
Those who merely appear to be mystics or devout
🌼 Surrendering one’s reason through imitation in matters of belief
Mind-thieves
🌼 Recommended acts fuel obligatory ones.
🌼 Recommended acts strengthen kindness toward people; they do not stand in its way.
🌼 Why do some people try to lead us toward the bare minimum in serving God? (They are mind-thieves.) Their invitation begins here and eventually turns into an invitation to sin.
🌼 Our spiritual journey should not be motivated merely by escaping Hell; we should seek God’s good pleasure.