Judge Humiliated During Tsarnaev Hearing

TMO 

On April 16, 2014 TMO attended a status hearing for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, who faces a 30-count federal indictment for his alleged role in the Boston marathon bombings. Tsarnaev was not present in the courtroom, nor were his family members. The 1½-hour hearing took place before Judge George O’Toole. The US government was represented by Aloke Chakravarty, Nadine Pellegrini, and William Weinreb while only two of Tsarnaev’s lawyers were present: Miriam Conrad and David Bruck, the death penalty specialist recently appointed to the team. US District Attorney Carmen Ortiz was in the courtroom.

“Judge O’Toole wasted no time announcing his decisions on two of the motions before the court. Without hearing any arguments, he matter-of-factly denied the government’s motion for a protective order barring Tsarnaev from viewing the autopsy photos of the four people killed in the bombing and its aftermath. He also denied, without prejudice, a defense motion to dismiss several counts of the indictment. The defense team had argued that the charges were redundant and duplicative. ‘I think it’s premature,’ Judge O’Toole explained, adding that the motion could be revisited at the time of the trial,” reports Victoria Liberty of the Freedom Bulletin.

The first discussion topic was Tsarnaev’s visitation rights under SAMs (Special Administrative Measures).

Attorney Bruck requested SAMs be vacated. He complained that  Tsarnaev’s legal team is not allowed to speak with him without an FBI officer present, which creates a problem since the FBI is on the prosecution team. This results in “fearful conversation” with family members and denies lawyers the ability to see the “story of the family.”

US Attorney Pelligrini countered that the SAMs have already been modified. There are now 12 people who have permission to visit Tsarnaev, including lawyers, paralegals and investigators. Pelligrini said the defense is “unable to control what the defendant says.”

“What’s quite clear is the defendant felt clear to say whatever he wanted, despite the presence of the FBI investigator.”

Bruck said there is no national security reason to allow an FBI agent to listen in on family conversations. The FBI will spin anything said.

They were both referring to a recent incident when Tsarnaev joked to his sister about the SAMs restrictions, making light of the uncomfortable situation. The FBI leaked to the media that he was making inappropriate statements that demonstrated his lack of remorse for his crime.

“At least we want the FBI agent who’s listening in on these conversations not to pass information to the prosecution,” argued Bruck.

The prosecution argued that Tsarnaev can always talk to lawyers freely, but when his sisters are there it is a social visit that warrants FBI monitoring. This makes very little sense from an investigative standpoint. The FBI presence can only make the Tsarnaevs nervous about talking. If the FBI wanted information they would leave them alone with a recording device.

The government insisted that Tsarnaev will “pass messages” to the public if they let him talk. “Information is being transmitted!” Pelligrini warned.

Tsarnaev had been imprisoned without incident until Attorney General Eric Holder, alarmed by the thousands of letters Tsarnaev received supporting his innocence, called for restrictions on Tsarnaev, claiming there was “substantial risk” that his “communications or contacts with persons could result in death or serious bodily injury” to others, insinuating that he had “followers” that would commit violence at his command.

Judge O’Toole sided with the defense. He said the normal prison visitor screening and security measures were sufficient for public safety. He felt the defense is being limited in their ability to defend their client by the FBI presence during their meetings. He ruled that since family visits are only allowed with a lawyer present, they should be considered legal visits exempt from monitoring and not as social visits, since understanding family dynamics is relevant to the defense.

“If the security interest is higher than the investigative interest, then a party other than the prosecution should be present,” said O’Toole. “The defense team ought to have an opportunity to have a 2 or 3 way conversation among siblings. I don’t think the safety, security issue looms very large.”

The government rather insolently retorted that the Warden is able to restrict visits even without SAMs.

“Is the court ordering the BOP to not impose restrictions?” Weinreb seemed to dare the judge.

Weinreb openly undermined the judge’s authority, telling him if you order this, we will go around you. The prosecution seemed to be talking to the judge like an employee!

Judge O’Toole submitted to government pressure, conceding to allow in a BOP lawyer to argue against reducing prison restrictions before he made a decision in two weeks.

Next, the lawyers moved on to discovery disputes.

Defense Attorney Miriam Conrad stated that “as a result of government failure to meet discovery deadlines, we are now at a disadvantage.”

Conrad said the government is not following normal protocol to respond within two weeks to discovery requests and the defense had not received certain long requested documents until Friday last week.

“We have had no opportunity to submit a response,” she said.

Conrad stated that the defense still does not have the Todashev interview materials, and insisted that they are entitled to know what he said during the FBI interview.

The government says the information should not be public.

“But they have leaked so much to the public already,” Conrad argued.

Weinreb said the government has no legal obligation to produce the requested materials, although they agreed to voluntarily provide some information.

The defense wants information on how Tamerlan “slit the neck of 3 helpless people,” Bruck explained, because, “This case is very much a story about a family and the relationships between them.”
“Todashev implicated himself and Tamerlan in the Waltham murders, not our client. It’s not clear if Dzhokhar knew of the crime,” stated Conrad.

Weinreb said Todashev’s interview is not related to this case and “has no relevance.” This is curious since it was the prosecution that added the alleged confession into the court documents in the first place.

Now he says Tamerlan’s influence on Dzhokhar “relates to what he knew, not what happened.”

In court papers, Dzhokhar’s lawyers argued that Tamerlan “was an all-powerful force who could not be ignored or disobeyed.”

Weinreb responded that there is no indication that Dzhokhar knew of Tamerlan’s murderousness, and that is all that is relevant.

O’Toole had denied the request in November for Todashev documents on the grounds that law enforcement privilege protects disclosure of files in an ongoing investigation. Now that the FBI has issued a report clearing itself of any wrongdoing regarding the killing of a potential witness, O’Toole said he would ponder the defense request for the Todashev statement after viewing it privately, “in camera.”

The ACLU is currently suing the FBI and US District Attorney Carmen Ortiz over the FBI murder of Todashev. The ACLU of Massachusetts is calling for state Attorney General Martha Coakley to conduct her own independent investigation into Massachusetts law enforcement’s involvement in the Todashev shooting in the name of transparency and accountability.

The defense has argued that the FBI had pressured Tamerlan to become an informant. Could Todashev have had damaging information about links between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the FBI? A genuine investigation would reveal information about the FBI that could hurt the case for the prosecution.

“While some of this circle of friends in Florida, like Todashev, faced pressure to confess to participating in or having knowledge of the Waltham crime, others, according to CAIR’s Shibly, have been told that if they want to be left alone and not deported, they need to become informants. He says several of those harassed have opted to return to Russia rather than become spies for the FBI in Florida’s Muslim community,” reports firedoglake.

I have to assume the defense is aware that Tamerlan probably didn’t commit the triple murder in Waltham – one of the victims was his best friend. An investigative journalist for WBUR told TMO she suspects the crime was related to a local drug ring.

However, for the sake of argument involving requesting documents related to Todashev, the defense appears to accept the government story. They’ve also suggested that Tamerlan suffered from mental illness, saying his “paranoia and distress” were fueled by an FBI attempt to recruit him as an informant to report on the Chechen and Muslim communities in Boston.

“We base this on information from our client’s family and other sources that the FBI made more than one visit to talk with (Tamerlan’s parents) and Tamerlan, questioned Tamerlan about his internet searches, and asked him to be an informant,” the defense motion states.

The government denies the allegation.

Defense lawyers want to see FBI documents to confirm their allegation. Naturally, the government is not cooperating.

Next, the defense argued for access to lab reports and other materials. The government is delaying or refusing to provide information about its mental/physical examinations of Tsarnaev and other investigations including computer searches.

“How can prosecutors argue with a straight face that computer or phone searches aren’t material to the Tsarnaev case? I don’t know how a search of a computer and what they revealed is anything other than an examination under rules of discovery!” Conrad argued.

“They thought it was material to search 12 computers. If we have to conduct our own studies of hard drives it will take longer and be very expensive.”

Obviously whoever has Tsarnaev’s debit card, computer and cell phone information can easily figure out where he was and what he was doing before, after and during the marathon.

Aloke Chakravarty, who was the lead prosecutor in the case against Tarek Mehanna, whose trial was also overseen by O’Toole, now argues that evidence from government computer searches isn’t relevant to Tsarnaev. But at Mehanna’s trial he heavily relied on chat messages and computer files to make the case for the prosecution. If the government doesn’t want to reveal computer and chat records now, this would imply that the information obtained from Tsarnaev’s computer/phone might be more useful for the defense than for the prosecution.

When the defense asked for any information obtained under secret surveillance programs, the prosecution said they will not reveal this information, unless they plan to use it at trial.

As she asked for FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) information, such as intelligence that the Russian government had shared about Tamerlan and his radical leanings, Conrad commented, “I have been puzzled all along by the government’s rather opaque responses to our requests for FISA notice, and I continue to be puzzled.”

Conrad argued, mentioning the Patriot Act: “First the government says they do not intend to use FISA obtained evidence, but there are indications of Homeland Security surveillance. Then the government takes the position that we are not entitled to notice their data mining. The defense has a right to challenge how information was obtained and to challenge admissibility.”

The defense may move to suppress evidence gleaned from computer searches on the grounds that the searches exceeded the scope of the warrant. Any such motions are due on May 7th.

Chakravarty stated, “The government doesn’t want to be in a position of foreclosure just because the defense provoked a response. We can put to rest right now whether there is any secret evidence. There isn’t.”

O’Toole said that because the government said it doesn’t plan to use any surveillance material at trial, there is nothing for him to rule on. He denied the defense motion to obtain this information. Prosecutors will have to give proper notice if they plan to use any evidence, and if they don’t, they can’t.

O’Toole says he plans to discuss expert witness disclosures at the next hearing on June 18. He chuckled aloud to himself that this is no ordinary case.

Dzokhar Tsarnaev is scheduled to be tried on November 3.

Conrad expressed doubts that the defense could be ready by that date, given the government stalling to avoid handing over documents.

“I’ll make you a believer,” said O’Toole, who intends to stick to the schedule no matter what.

I sincerely hope this trial will proceed with a fact-based format rather than the tactics that Miriam Ortiz and her employees have previously used, basically overwhelming the jury with irrelevant, unsubstantial, prejudicial, and downright false evidence.

Witnessing Yourself in Everyday Life

 TMO 

The Path Towards Self-Realization: Part V

Witnessing yourself during meditation is important, but putting the focus on witnessing ourselves is also a wonderful way to deal with problems in everyday life. For instance: Instead of getting all depressed and wailing, “I’m ugly, worthless, and unloveable!,” be a witness of yourself and observe: “I’ve been going through a lot of problems lately, and when Joseph broke up with me, I overreacted. I don’t even care about being with him that much, I just didn’t like my ego being damaged.”

It is up to you to face up to yourself, challenge those defenses covering up the truth, and say, “I will look at you! I will listen to what my Psyche is trying to tell me!” You must bring your repressed fears and desires into your consciousness and into the light, in order to view them objectively. Otherwise, if pushed into the subconscious, they will haunt you in dreams; a pervading feeling of emptiness and longing; anxiety which follows you throughout every moment; or a constant driving anger, which causes you to rebel against your own true nature as well as against others.

If you are open and honest with yourself, you can know and realize what your hangups are. Think back to your childhood – What has made you fear the most? What motivates you more than anything else? Is it one and the same thing? Often, I find that the thing one fears the most is the same thing one longs for above all else. What angers you? What is it you really want? And who or what have you been fighting all your life? Why?

Through understanding, self-awareness, and acceptance, you can shed light on the monster which controls you – your fear of dealing with your imperfections. Once you can view the monster objectively, you will find that it is not a monster after all, but a great potential of your being, which has as of yet been unrealized! Once you get at the root of your anger, you will be able to channel that great energy into creative and productive purposes, rather than destroying yourself by letting it eat away at you.

Accepting Your Limitations

The same voices, which nag you about the imperfections of others are the same voices that remind you of your own imperfections. In other words, finding fault in others is merely a projection of your own guilt. Instead of accepting your own self-criticism for your weaknesses, you project the blame towards others, whom you resent for some reason or another – often the reason being for pointing out your imperfections to you!

Teachers

The strongest resentment is usually aimed at authority figures who censor you, take away your freedom, make you feel powerless, punish you, and in many cases, love you.  Often there is one person who represents to you everything you hate, envy, or fear in the world. All this person’s good points are invisible to you. You hardly think of this person as a human being, but as a symbol. In many cases, it is the parent of the same sex.

What you fail to realize, though, is that your bitterness against this person is more harmful to you than anything that this person could ever do to you. Even when you’re away from him, the bitterness fills you. You hate anything that reminds you of him, and when you are with this person, deep communication is impossible. Your anger is keeping you prisoner; stifling your personal evolution and maturation process. If you could find the strength within yourself to forgive this person for the crimes he has committed and commits against you, you will have taken a big step towards freeing yourself of the anger, fear, and guilt that controls you more than any person ever could!

Accepting those who limit you, control and frustrate you, is one of the most important steps in accepting the limitations you hate yourself for.

A teacher is not there to tell you what you already know. He is there to point out what you are doing wrong! The only way to figure out the right way is to know what the wrong ways are. Swallowing your pride and forgiving your teachers for mistakes they have made themselves in trying to help you is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. But it is also one of the most beautiful and beneficial steps you can take in your journey towards self-acceptance and contentedness.

Getting along with authority figures also makes life a lot easier for you. When you realize that most limitations are meant for your own good, you will often find yourself better able to convince the authority figure that you are trustworthy enough to have fewer limits. And even if that doesn’t work, you’ll be able to deal with limitations in a better way.

An analogy I like to use is this: Water needs to be channelled through the riverbank in order to flow anywhere. If there were no limits, the water would just turn into a swamp that doesn’t go anywhere, and where little but algae and weeds can grow.

Inner emotional turmoil is the root cause of almost all sickness. There can be a point in spiritual development where one stops being habitually plagued by colds and viruses. By breaking down the barriers that hide one’s inner light, your physical body gains a great deal of vitality and endurance!

People find other things besides the older generation at which to project the blame for their unhappiness: the place they live, their financial situation, their government, their school…

Unhappiness is a personal thing, which has less to do with outer circumstances than it seems. It is up to you to be happy in spite of difficulties. As they say, “Living well is the best revenge.”

Either change it now, or accept it. You can waste your life away being miserable, but that does no one any good. If you want to change a situation, but can’t, at least not in the present moment, then it’s best to accept it and stop blaming it for all your problems.

Find the good in all things unpleasant. Know that every difficult situation is a lesson, to teach you inner strength or to give you life experience; or it is a test of your adaptability and ability to overcome obstacles. If you look at it this way, you will not only be able to endure hard lessons, but you may even welcome them. If you can find something good in the things you detest, you are far wiser and nobler than those who fight against their supposed enemies.

Now, sometimes a situation is really bad. A parent is abusively cruel, or a government is unfairly harsh. These situations need to be dealt with. But it is much better to deal with them peacefully and with objectivity and understanding than to rebel and lash out, because that almost always makes the situation worse. Try to change “I hate you!” into “I accept that you are a person with weaknesses, not unlike myself – but what you are doing to me hurts a lot.”

It’s YOUR attitude you need to change first. Then, with understanding and awareness, patience and determination; with no need to protect your pride and ego but only a humble self-dignity, you can effectively deal with human beings, not monsters.

The Path Towards Self-Realization: Part IV

 TMO 

Our Defenses: Intellect

People have many reactions and defenses to keep from realizing truths about themselves. One thing we do a lot is rationalize: to twist the truth around so that we see only what we feel like looking at. Another thing we do is project the blame at another person: the age-old, “But he started it!”

With our intellect, we deny our Psyche the chance to speak. We deny the existence of anything we cannot see or touch with our hands. Intellectual reasoning is definitely necessary in order to function in this world, but because it is limited to obvious, tangible evidence, we must be able to go beyond it! There are truths which we cannot grasp with our intellect alone. The unconscious has nothing to do with rational thought. (Just take a look at your dreams!) The Psyche speaks in riddles, which can only be solved with an open mind that can accept intuition as reality. Sometimes, when you stop trying to figure it all out, and just let it be, then you will suddenly understand!

Emotions

Another thing we try to do with our intellectual defenses is to stifle our emotions. That won’t work either! When suppressed, emotions blow totally out of proportion until they become unmanageable. Being overwhelmed with emotion, be it pleasant or unpleasant, drains you of all objectivity and clarity of thought. For example: When you are in a bad mood, it is impossible to think of anything as positive, and likewise – if you are in a good mood, you have to ignore everything negative in order to stay in your bubble.

With all this struggling going on inside you – between your intellect and emotions, between your ego and the egos of others, between what you are and what you wish you were… it is very important just to sit quietly and feel what’s going on inside.

But instead of doing this, a lot of people try to drown out all these struggling voices by adding other voices on top of them! They are simply terrified to be alone with themselves. They surround themselves with company, they listen to loud music, or they watch TV constantly – violent programs to feed their aggression, or soap operas to help them ignore their own problems by worrying about the lives of fictional characters.

The best thing to do is, once in a while, turn off the TV, turn off the music, sit by yourself and listen to the birds chirping, and the wind rustling through the trees. Because underneath all of this struggling lies Psyche, your soul, and the answers to your problems. She is deep inside you, waiting patiently for all the voices to quiet so that she can speak clearly, tell you what you need to do, and give you the strength to do it.

What is Meditation?

A lot of people, when they hear the word “meditation,” think of people with shaved heads chanting “ommmmm.” Certainly this is one way to meditate, but meditation is really just finding the peace inside oneself and residing in it. Meditation is important to combat stress and mental fatigue, as well as a way to bring unrealized truths out from within you.

Like sleep is to the body, so is meditation to the mind. It rests and revitalizes the spirit, and you come out feeling stronger, calmer, and better able to handle stressful situations.  Don’t expect to have out-of-body experiences or revelations from God – though you might, but that’s not the main point of meditation – just as your dreams are not the main reason for sleeping!

A good way to meditate is to sit peacefully and listen to the rain pattering on the roof, but people find meditation through exercise, or manual labor such as gardening, shoveling snow, cooking or cleaning. Others find peace by doing artwork or chanting on beads. The best thing to do is whatever comes naturally to you, maybe something you’ve enjoyed doing as a child, such as hunting for four-leaf clovers or flying a kite. If you do most any activity with spiritual intention, with the higher purpose of cleansing and resting your spirit, the benefits from the activity will be multiplied.

Sitting Meditation

A beautiful spiritual practice is sitting meditation. In the west, it is also known as quiet contemplation. It often follows prayer and chanting exercises. Sit comfortably (with the back straight is healthiest) and listen to your breath going in and out. Your breath came with you into this life, carries you through each moment in life, and leaves you as you go out of this life. So, your breath is very important for concentration in meditation.

The goal of sitting meditation is to have complete silence in your mind, but this does not happen immediately. In fact, it may take several periods of meditation before you can attain even one moment free of thoughts. But that moment is really beautiful!

Don’t try not to think, because that is a thought in itself. Picture yourself as a mountain, and all your thoughts as clouds drifting by. Don’t cling to them, just watch them go by, and then bring your focused attention back to your breathing again. If you begin to doze or drift off into daydreams or worries, just gently bring yourself back into consciousness. One good way to help yourself to not drift off, is right before you start, make a little vow to yourself to sit quietly and focused for ten minutes or whatever amount of time you wish to meditate. In time, your thoughts will slow down automatically, gradually becoming less and less, until all you hear is the crystal silence inside yourself.

You can also practice meditation while doing chores or walking to school, or sitting on the bus. Do whatever you’re doing with focused attention on your breath, and be at one with whatever task you are performing. Not only will this give you peace of mind, but you will find that your work becomes much more pleasant this way, and gets done more carefully. Be awake at each moment. Not only when you are doing sitting meditation, but with everything you do, be aware and conscious of what you are doing.

When meditating, it is important to be a witness of yourself. Watch yourself breathing. If you are a witness to yourself, you will be less likely to be carried away by thoughts and daydreams. If you feel discomfort, just be a witness of it, don’t start getting involved with it. For instance, instead of thinking, “My leg is asleep! Oh it feels so strange! What should I do?”, just be aware that your leg is asleep, and don’t be bothered by it; or, should it become too uncomfortable to bear, simply move your leg, still with attention focused on breathing, deal with the situation calmly and purposefully until it is resolved.

Developing the strength to become a witness of yourself will positively affect every aspect of how you handle life.

The Path Towards Self-Realization: Part III

TMO 

Stop Outward Searching

Once you have made a commitment to yourself to consciously search for the true meaning of life, and you know at least mentally, that the only way to find yourself is to look within yourself; now it is time to look at all the places you have been searching unsuccessfully for fulfillment, and examine the reasons why. On my journey, I have met many people who travel the world searching for their souls. Some of them will find it, I am certain, but they won’t find it in a pub, or on a train, or in the sunset. The moment they stop looking for happiness, is when they are sure to find it.

Many people think of love as the highest joy and fulfillment. But love as paradise is an illusion! People try time and time again to find completion in another human being. Time and time again, they are hurt because the other showed himself or herself to be imperfect. When you love someone’s good points and ignore their bad points, you are in love with a myth, which you have created. This is wonderful for a while; you are filled with passion and energy, like a divine madness. But you are looking through him, not at him. This is unfair to both of you. One day, you are forced to look at him as an imperfect human being with human weaknesses. The love you felt instantly vanishes. Instead of blaming yourself for having expected too much from him, you reject him and search for another person to give meaning and happiness to your life.

A long-lasting, happy relationship between two people who are trying to find perfect fulfillment in the other person is impossible. It is only when you are secure and happy within yourself that you can find harmony with another person. If you are balanced inside yourself, you have the strength to see others truly – to be able to look at their faults, but also beyond all their imperfections and see their magnificence! You can appreciate their whole being, and such a relationship will be meaningful, because you are not expecting the impossible. Not only does this type of love last, but it grows more beautiful with time.

Wanting to Save the World

Many people have aspirations and desires to save the world from corruption and misery.  This is quite natural, because the world is imperfect, and people do suffer. But I suggest that the struggles between nations and societies are nothing more than a reflection of all the personal struggles of individuals. If people were at peace with themselves, there would be no need to gain wealth and power at the expense of other people’s freedom and well-being.

There are so many people who have tried, and are still trying to unify the world, and all of them have failed. They say, “Forget your ego and join our cause.” But they are only chopping at the branches, not at the root of the problem. For as long as people are at war with themselves, they will never be able to be at peace with others for any length of time. As long as people are feeling unfulfilled, they will keep trying to gain as much power or as many possessions as they possibly can, in order to feel more secure about themselves.

I am suggesting that often, in trying to organize and change others for the good of humanity, you are conveniently avoiding having to look at the problems inside yourself. 

How can you hope to save society if you can’t even save yourself? Society is made up of individuals like yourself, all struggling to find happiness and completeness. As long as you are not at peace with yourself, you are acting out of fear and anger, the root of all evil. You want to save the world, but it is only because you are afraid to die, or because you are angry at what others have taken from you. Obviously, the world is imperfect. But fighting out of anger has never brought about peace, and it never will.

The important thing to do is first to rid yourself of your fears and your anger, by going inside and finding the root of your individual problems. Then you will have the wisdom and courage to truly help others. “It is better to conquer the self than to win a thousand battles, for then, the triumph is yours.”

Go Inside

The way to come to terms with yourself is to look at yourself. This seems fairly obvious, but people really have problems listening to what their inner voices are saying to them. I personally have this problem especially when it comes to knowing when to rest. I wear myself out, always working too hard, and then wanting to go out and have fun – while my whole inner self is screaming at me: “This is too much stress for me to handle! Please just go home and do nothing for a while!” But I am driven by guilt, or anger, or perhaps a desire to prove something, and so I push myself beyond physical and mental capacity until my body reacts against my will with headaches, illness, and complete exhaustion. Then my mind starts feeling like it’s going bananas, and my emotions act up so I get hysterical over silly incidents, or I get totally depressed and I can no longer function: all because I didn’t listen to my inner voices – my own intuition about what’s best for me. That’s one problem I am working to overcome, through meditation and relaxation, and just learning to live sensibly!

When I say “voices,” I am referring to feelings coming from the Psyche deep within. These voices are also known as intuition, or ESP, or commonly as guilt, anxiety, or a vague longing. When responded to properly, these voices will guide you through every step of your personal evolution. By listening to them, you can learn a great deal about yourself and others. Don’t repress these feelings! Lack of attention to these voices will result in dissatisfaction, depression, and mental instability. One has to develop the ability to perceive these voices and decode their messages. The best way is to practice! So start listening!

For example, if you are feeling a vague sense of guilt, the thing to do is figure out why you are feeling guilty, and what you can do to relieve yourself of it. This will vary. You may need to repent and make amends, or you may need to realize that you are being neurotic and simply forgive yourself. In order to respond to your inner voices appropriately, you first have to be able to separate yourself from the situation and be able to look at it objectively. This is the only way to overcome the natural defenses, which keep you from hearing the voices clearly and receiving internal guidance.

[to be continued...]

The Path to Self-Realization: Part II

March 20, 2014 by TMO 

Why Can’t We Find Ourselves?

If Psyche, or our true, inner self, resides within each one of us, WHY do we still feel unsure, afraid, incomplete? All the secrets of the universe lie in our unconscious, so why don’t we know all the answers? Only by breaking through the false ego can we liberate Psyche and awaken dormant truths.

People think they want to know the Truth, but they are (with good reason) terrified of letting go of their preconceived notions and their ideas of self-worth. Because to show Psyche to our consciousness is to shed light on all our imperfections. It would force us to see how small we really are in comparison to the universe. It would destroy our sense of security based on the world as we perceive it to be. We would profoundly have to realize that all we trust to be fact, and all that we hold to be true is changeable as the weather. We would either have to seek life on a spiritual plane (and that means giving up a lot of things!), or be driven over the brink of insanity.

Most people would rather not be inconvenienced by these realizations. They prefer to live and not be bothered by divine truths and ideas incomprehensible to normal thought and understanding. Some people can live quite happily without discovering “the meaning of life.” That is fine for them. But others struggle in despair, longing and clutching at air, lost in dreams because they need so much to be fulfilled, but they are unable to find what they are in search of. These are the people for whom this essay is written. This essay is a meant as a guide for those who sincerely want to find themselves; to set Psyche free from the darkness which envelopes her.

You must be prepared to delve deep into the unconscious, and to go through a great deal of suffering, due not only to the realizations you make, but other people who do not understand what you are going through. People who you thought of as friends may reject you, but perhaps this is just as well. You will find out who your true friends are, because they will love you in spite of the changes you are going through, and they will give you strength and support.

Maybe you will find that you have no true friends at all. Now is your chance to find the strength to stand on your own; to quote Buddha: “Be ye a lamp unto thyself.” Once you have this light, you will be able to relate to others on a non-superficial basis. You’ll be able to give and receive honest love, and not feel as if you are losing something when you share yourself with others.

Where is Psyche Hiding?

The first thing you have to do is realize that no one is keeping the truth from you but yourself. Psyche is the perfection within all the imperfections. She is the motivating force which guides all our actions. Once in a while we feel her, when we let go of ourselves enough to be moved by a scriptural passage, a beautiful song, or gaze in pure bliss at the rising sun.

Psyche is always there, yet in order to protect ourselves from the terror and chaos a sudden revelation would bring, we cover her up with all sorts of natural defenses – unconscious drives and reactions, emotions which blind us to the true cause of our emotions (example: getting angry at your sister because your fiancé hung up on you), intellect which causes us to rationalize and project the blame for our unhappiness (example: thinking you’d be truly happy if only you didn’t live in a capitalistic society, or if only Amy would fall in love with you, etc.).

Rational thought is a great wall which you must find your way around. The intellect is very useful in this world, but in order to realize universal truths, you must open your heart and mind to feelings and profound knowledge which are beyond intellectual grasp, simply because they deal with that which cannot be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears.

“I Am a Seeker”

After you realize that it’s your own defenses keeping you from the perfect fulfillment you seek, it’s time to take the first step on to the path towards finding your true self. That means admitting to yourself and to God that you are a seeker. Everybody is searching for happiness, but most people aren’t admitting it, and that is why they aren’t finding it!

Instead of saying, “I am searching for my soul,” they say, “If I can live in New York, I will be happy,” or “If I am rich,” or “If I fall in love with the perfect mate, I will be fulfilled.” But it never works out that way! Maybe they will have a decent life. Maybe they’ll get to own a DVD player and have a nice husband and three kids, but there will always be something missing, until they find unity and peace within themselves.

When a person has peace within himself, he is not bothered by the fact that he isn’t rich,  or he hasn’t accomplished anything that people have taken great notice of. Such a person has accomplished more than any of his peers who have big cars and fancy houses because he has the courage to look at himself and accept his faults or change them, instead of trying to hide them by putting down others, or having lots of friends to build up the ego (which usually just makes it more obvious that the person is insecure).

A person who knows and respects his true self has nothing to prove. A person who has found the true worth inside him knows that it has nothing to do with ego. A person who is at peace with himself loves and respects himself, and such a person loves and respects others also, because he knows that they are fundamentally no different than himself.

Such a person can love others without clinging to them. He doesn’t need others’ attention in order to feel good about himself. But at the same time, he doesn’t push away those who need him and cling to him because they sense his honesty and integrity, his love of all life. Such a person tries to help others find themselves, and encourages them to stand on their own two feet.

You want to be such a person, but you hold back. Why? In order to find yourself, to “set Psyche free,” you have to really want to. It is never easy, in fact it is a terrifyingly lonely task to undertake, because the journey must be made alone. There can be people who give you support and encouragement, they can point to the road and tell you where to go, but YOU must do the walking. YOU must make the commitment.

It is a hard journey no matter how long or short it takes, but you will find that, after you overcome your fears, the joy and bliss and the multitudes of treasures you find are infinite and precious. Once you find your true self, you never have to be miserable again, no matter what the circumstances! Enlightenment is not a one-time occurrence, but a constant process of growth and evolution, which goes on within you as long as you live, and beyond.

Inside you will blossom wisdom, compassion, joy – a pure radiance and immense love for the universe and the universal spirit, which guides and protects you along every step of the journey. You will discover and develop an inner strength, which cannot be destroyed; it will help you overcome every hardship and light up the darkness. You will find that nothing is impossible, that every dream can be realized.

[to be continued...]

The Path Towards Self-Realization

March 13, 2014 by TMO 

Note: The following essay will be published in several parts. It was written in 1987 when I was 16 years old. After praying that I would find it, I recently discovered it in an old chest. I was moved to tears upon reading it, as I needed very much to be reminded of what originally inspired me to seek Truth, and eventually to embrace Islam. It explains how many people can recognize the wisdom of the Quran immediately, the first time it is read to them, like they would recognize the back of their hand. Please enjoy…

The Psyche

When asked, “Who are you?” most people respond similarly to this: “I am a man named Bob Smith, I am short and a little overweight. I am a computer technician. I am a nice guy.” These words describe Bob’s title, his physical and mental characteristics, and his occupation in society. But is that really WHO Bob Smith is?

Who are you? Are you merely the activities performed by your body, or are you something deeper than that? If you change your occupation or lose ten pounds, are you no longer the same person? Of course not! That’s ridiculous! There must be a being inside you who remains constant, no matter what mental or physical changes your body happens to go through. The identification with the body and ego instead of the soul is what leads to the fear of aging and death. It keeps us in a prison, which prevents us from knowing truths having nothing to do with our material body.

When you sleep, you are said to be your true self, for you are freed from intellectual and physical bondage. Your true self roams around in your subconscious, and you perceive this as “dreaming.” But where does this being go when you are awake? This being is you, yet is not confined to the physical realm. It perceives and experiences all that you do, yet is simultaneously a witness and judge of all your thoughts and activities. This being has the ability to wander around freely no matter what your body is doing. This being is your unconscious self. It reveals itself to your conscious mind through your conscience, your memory, your daydreams, etc.

This unconscious being is known as your soul, or “psyche.” In Greek mythology, Psyche is the daughter of sea and sky. Her form is a drop of dew upon the earth. This represents your spirit, which though residing in a physical form, is no different than the universal spirit. Each individual person has a psyche, and that is why humanity is said to be One, regardless of outer differences.

Deep inside each person is the psyche, who is a drop in the sea of what Carl Jung called the “Universal Consciousness.” This is the treasure-house of knowledge which is not confined to individual experience. Anais Nin wrote in her Diary: “The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.” This explains the similarity between religions of different cultures; the phenomena of knowing things which no one ever taught you – truths such as “I exist,” that you base your life on.

To tap into this unconscious knowledge, to bring the psyche into your consciousness is to become “enlightened.” When you bring your psyche out of the darkness of the unconscious, you awaken knowledge which has been lying dormant inside you. You become aware of ultimate realities and higher truths. Your true self is realized, and your purpose in life is revealed.
Psyche is also represented in another myth by the Holy Grail for which Parsifal searches. To find and hold onto the Holy Grail is to find perfect fulfillment of your heart’s true desires.

Balance

In order to cope with the wisdom attained by getting closer to Psyche, who resides in the center of our being, we must have strength and balance; a give and take between our conscious control and unconscious domination. The reason we are imbalanced is because we repress certain aspects of our personality. They are called “Shadow Elements” by Jung – the repressed or unlived sides of your total potentiality. A balanced personality is well-rounded; strong enough to delve deeper into the unconscious and bring out more profound realizations.

Each person has both masculine and feminine sides to their personality. The masculine side deals with the release of psychic energy by means of action, extroversion, and strength; building and leading groups. It reacts to problems with intellect and reason. Defenses are masculine traits, including the inner defenses, as well as the desire to protect others from harm.The masculine side depends on the feminine side for energy, inspiration and the meaning for all this action.

The feminine side of the personality takes in and transforms energy so that the masculine can release it or make something out of it. Feminine traits are perception, intuition, nurturing, organizing, life-giving, and endurance. It responds to problems emotionally. It is sensitive and delicate, and depends on protection from the masculine side.

In a balanced personality, action is guided by intuition. Both aspects are needed in life and for creation. For example: to draw a picture, you need to take in and transform an image in your mind, and then use action to draw what you see; combining feeling with doing.

The soul is beyond both masculine and feminine. It has no sex to speak of. However, because of its sensitive, life-giving qualities, the psyche is thought of as feminine, just as God is referred to as masculine because of His powerful, creating and ruling qualities.

Everyone is unbalanced to some extent, due to the fact that we are human and therefore imperfect. The realization of this imbalance is the first step towards balance. Although some extreme imbalances are more obvious than others, we all must work to bring our unconscious Shadow Elements into our consciousness.

One example of an extreme imbalance is the stereotypical “macho man.” Such a person concentrates totally on developing his masculine traits and ignores his gentler, feminine, emotional traits. Because he pushes his emotions into his unconscious, there they grow and transform into anger, which at times overwhelms him and leads to violent outbursts of rage. The other thing that happens when he represses his feminine, life-giving side is that he feels empty and his life devoid of meaning. He uses lots of women to try and replace his feminine side and so get a sense of well-being. Unfortunately, none of his relationships last because he isn’t accepting the woman as a human being with a personality. The inner feminine cannot be replaced by an outer feminine.

When you are balanced inside, you don’t need so much to rely on outer, unreliable means of support. You are able to break free from the life-long search for happiness, and the rebellion against one’s own true self. When you can bring your Shadow Side out of the unconscious and achieve the balance necessary for a well-rounded personality, you can then delve even deeper into the unconscious to find the psyche and the boundless wisdom she offers.

[to be continued...]

British Government Arrests Activist Moazzam Begg

TMO 

Moazzam Begg, who was imprisoned at Guantánamo. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Former Bagram and Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg was re-arrested on February 26, 2014. On March 1 he was charged with training and aiding terrorists in Syria, to which he pleaded “Not Guilty.” Three other persons were similarly charged.

“All four arrests are connected,” said Detective Superintendent Shaun Edwards, “They were pre-planned and intelligence-led.”

Supporters in the London courtroom tweeted: “It was great to see  #MoazzamBegg again. Even under such circumstances he was smiling and looked well.”

Protesters gathered afterwards outside the West Midlands Police Headquarters, where Begg is imprisoned.

Begg was arrested the very next day after he published an article, “The real reason behind the confiscation of my passport” on the website of the human rights organization that he founded, CagePrisoners, which states:

“In the summer of 2012 I wrote about the first of my two visits to Syria to investigate leads into cases of British and American complicity in the rendition of terrorism suspects to the regime of Bashar al-Asad. This followed on from something I learned first-hand from CIA and US military intelligence agents who threatened to send me to Egypt or Syria if I failed to co-operate with them during my time in the Bagram prison.”

After his release, Begg began campaigning for prisoners detained at Guantanamo and others held in secret detention sites or who had disappeared after being rendered to countries like Libya, Egypt, and Syria, as part of his work for CagePrisoners.

“We conducted numerous investigations into recurrent reports of extreme torture carried out by the Syrian regime and discovered the complicity of the governments of the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Britain. I was also constantly being invited to speak all over the world about issues pertaining to Guantanamo, torture, the rule of law and the war on terror… In July last year, I visited Syria where I met numerous former prisoners who had been held by the Asad regime as well as a few victims of US and UK rendition…

“A few months later, in October 2012, I was called by an MI5 officer who said they wanted to talk to me about my views on the situation in Syria after having read my article… At the end of the meeting I was assured by MI5 that my proposed return to Syria to continue my work would not be hindered, and it wasn’t. Subsequently, I travelled to Syria without incident… I am certain that the only reason I am being continually harassed – something that began long before any visit to Syria – is because CagePrisoners and I are at the forefront of investigations and assertions based on hard evidence that British governments, past and present, have been willfully complicit in torture.”

Last month, British police confiscated his iPad, which contained his report. Three weeks later the British government confiscated his passport stating that his previous visits to Syria had constituted involvement in terrorism. Cageprisoners’s media officer, Cerie Bulliyant states that “the timing [of his arrest] coincides with the planned release of a CAGE report on Syria and a major news piece that was due to be televised soon.”

Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain write: “Crucially, it appears that Begg was given explicit permission to take this trip to Syria by Britain’s MI5… That’s all independent of the bizarre spectacle of charging someone with “terrorism” offenses for allegedly helping rebels which the US government itself is aiding and for whom intervention was advocated by the US president as recently as last year.”

Ghaliyaa Haqq, editor of Free Detainees stated that she is dismayed by Begg’s arrest:

“What would bring even more dismay would be the silence of the human rights community and the Ummah itself. We can’t let that happen! Remember, this is a man who spent nightmarish years in Bagram, and Guantanamo.  He was terribly abused, yet when he was finally released – did he go off with his family and live the rest of his life in peace? NO!  He is not the sort of man who could do that – he could never ignore his brothers and sisters undergoing terrible struggle and injustice. So he didn’t.  We can’t either – we cannot let this happen to him again.”

Asim Qureshi, Research Director of CagePrisoners said: “We are disgusted that Moazzam Begg is being retraumatised with the same guilt by association accusations that resulted in his unlawful incarceration in Guantanamo Bay.  We fully support our colleague and see his arrest as politically motivated and as part of a campaign to criminalize legitimate activism.”

UK-based human rights investigator Nawaz Hanif told The Intercept: “The arrest of Moazzam Begg under British anti-terror laws is… utilizing vague terror allegations to stifle investigations into abuses of power….It is pertinent to ask British authorities why Moazzam is being arrested a day before his report on torture and rendition is to be released, and over a year since he last stepped foot in Syria.”

In a statement CAGE said, “This arrest forms a part of the general approach by the UK security agencies which considers any travel to Syria as suspicious. There has been a concerted campaign of harassment against Muslim individuals and charities who get involved in supporting the victims of the Syrian crisis. We do not accept involvement by Moazzam Begg in any form of terrorism. He is simply one of many individuals and charities involved in Syria being viewed with suspicion in an effort to send a message to the wider Muslim community that working in Syria is a no go area for them.

“Moazzam is a leading figure internationally on issues relating to due process and human rights. His advocacy on behalf of the Guantanamo Bay detainees has been recognized across the world, resulting in government’s accepting detainees who could not be returned to their countries of origin. We are also concerned that the Police and the security services are using the wide scope of terrorism laws, and applying them in Syria to set precedents that will make legitimate activity unlawful in future.”

“Everything is terrorism and for those who fear losing their jobs and government funding, terrorism is everything. It is time to change the narrative,” wrote Begg in January of 2014.

In his last Facebook update, posted just hours before his arrest, Begg wrote: “Sometimes knowing too much can be a curse.”