from “Alone to Alone” by Hasan Askari published 1991
He has left his home and children. He wandered like a prodigal father in search of another family, another home. His secret was hidden from himself.
His children, now grown up, often wondered about their father. He was a mystery to them.
He would have stayed at home but it was so destined that he should leave causing so much pain and misery to himself and to his family. His children hardly knew him.
He loved them though far from them. He believed that all things were near in love.
His youngest son often visited him. There was some deep bond between them however unexpressed.
“You speak so clearly and fluently while you are in the company of your friends” his son once said to him, “Whereas when I am with you, just you and me, you become self-conscious and talk superficially which is almost non-speech.” It was that evening that all of a sudden he felt that he was renewed deep from within. His son’s remark had demolished his shyness before his son. He felt that they were now brothers.
After a couple of days he told his son an old story relating to how a son initiated his father into an esoteric order. *Once a visitor called and said to his father, “I have come to see your son. May I know where he is?” His father replied: “Do not call him my son. I am his son!”
Once his son asked him about the strange titles of Fatima. “The strangest of them all,” he said, “is Umm-e-Abi-ha” meaning, “the mother of her father!”
(* “Ismaili Initiation of Esotericism and the Word ~ Henry Corbin, 1981, page 45)
Spiritual Human 
Thanks for sharing this Musa! This post has really interesting implications about the family… how families are structured, and why they are that way.
And, of course, it offers insight into your relationship with Hasan. 🙂
I have to admit though; I’m a tad perplexed by the last sentences. Could you illuminate me? Thanks!
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Okay, it makes much more sense now! Thanks for the explanation Musa; love this post.
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Ah, this makes great sense. It seems that some us have a bond that can’t be explained by blood. Perhaps it’s many lifetimes shared, perhaps a connection through the Self. Regardless, that bond becomes a route to the heart that others are unable to travel. Thank you for sharing.
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Once again you’ve surprised me. I am always intrigued by the idea that family members are connected through an imperishable bond that survives physical death and the little dramas of the physical existence. Sometimes we’re fathers, mothers, other times we’re sons, daugthers, brothers or sisters… it doesn’t matter – a son can be a much older soul than a father as the soul’s age is measured by wisdom and not by years. Thanks for such an amazing tale 🙂 Take care.
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Dear Thais, thank you very much the comment above. I would only add one thing in reply: Hasan’s wisdom far outreaches anything I know. I travel that road, the path he told me about. I am not sure I will reach. The attainment of the Goal is and yet is not in my hands.
All Best Wishes,
Musa
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How beautiful! Through our relationships of lineage and time, eternal timelessness shines through anyway.
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Musa,
Your blog is such an amazing way of looking deeply at yourself while honoring your father and the spirituality he professed. I am glad we found each other on Twitter.
Blessings and thank you,
@anitabondi
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