My Introduction to Nabir
From the “Interview With My Masters” series of stories
I believe that in life, it is important to be mentored if one hopes to become more successful, and move forward in those areas that are of greatest importance. When I speak of moving forward, I am speaking of what I have come to call PEEPPASA — that which is Practical, Effective, Efficient, Productive, Precise, Accurate, and Self-aware.
In addition, when people speak of success, they usually speak in terms of cash- money. We all need to survive and prosper, yet I knew that there must be a way to create a minimalist, meaningful life, built on barter and reciprocal altruism.
I eventually learned all this and more from a teacher and mentor named Nabir.
Here is an introduction to my journey as a spiritual seeker, and how I met him.
I was told by by a friend about he teacher Nabir.
Every Friday evening in Downtown Brooklyn, Nabir would give a talk in an old movie theater rented for that purpose. There, in the lobby we would have a wonderful pot-luck dinner, generally lacto-ovo vegetarian dinner (no booze-please).
The crowd often would reach 1,500 to 2,000 people, at this event, which came to be known as Friday Night Class. The attendees, would eat, talk, and create a vibe of unofficial fellowship. At about 7:50 PM the slightly musty room would fill, and at 8:00 PM Nabir would walk on stage. He would begin with a moment of silence. Then he would speak. He first commented that the moment of silence was not specifically a prayer. It was just a moment of silence, and that each of us could use that communal and introspective time in any way we wished.
He usually spoke for maybe five or ten minutes. Seldom speaking about sex, politics, or religion, he might stray into those subjects, if something important had happened in world affairs, yet if he did, he did so with deep thought and clear intention. He never said anything particularly controversial, though he did, once say, that he sympathized with stand-up comedians who needed to speak at college campuses, in this age of cancel culture.
He drew a wide range of people from different religions and cultures to his talks (that’s what he called them), and seemed to be well-versed in the sacred texts, as well as the rites, rituals, and ceremonies of the major religions.
One of the first things I noticed was that there were no collection boxes, nor anyway to make a donation, even if I wanted to. I asked someone about this, and they told me that donations weren’t accepted. Either Nabir was footing the bill for all of this, or there were anonymous sponsors of some type involved. I tended to be skeptical of these kinds of events, or gatherings, and was looking for any signs of culty stuff, secret hussle, or anything sinister, or strange that might slip into the game. I watched and listened carefully for that moment where I might say to myself about him “aha, caught you”. I looked for anything that might catch my attention. There was nothing.
After the talk, during the Q & A session that always followed he was asked about his religious beliefs. He mentioned that he was deeply committed to a spiritual life, yet gave no clue of what that even meant. He also mentioned that his purpose in organizing these “classes” was to inform, motivate, inspire, and create a space for a few hours, where people, of positive common interest might connect. Nothing more or less.
The rumor was that he had been very wealthy and given it all away. Other’s said that he had married into money, or that he had wealthy patrons. The environment at Friday Night Class itself, kept the rumors in a positive vein, and they seldom slipped into nastiness, the petty, or gossip. If they did, the very vibe in the place shut that down, kindly, and quickly.
Nabir, seemed to know something about everything, and I can’t recall anyone asking him a question that he couldn’t answer. When he prepared to answer a question he would think for a moment or two, seemingly going into a trance, and then he would answer the question as if speaking to a 12 year old. It didn’t matter whether the question related to any particular subject. He was well versed in any of the sciences (formal, natural, social, or computer), the humanities, or the arts (fine or conceptual). Many of us wondered if he had been a mathematician, statistician, a neuro-biologist, a trivia expert, or possibly an engineer or a physicist? That’s what the rumors implied. One of us joked, “Maybe he’s an advisor for “Jeopardy”.
When asked about his past he would just laugh, and wave his hand to indicate that none of that was important. Someone once asked him if he was Enlightened or God realized. He replied with a chuckle, “of course not.” When asked how did he know that”, he added again with a chuckle, “Because I said so.”
The next time that question came up about Enlightenment, he stated “There is no such thing as Enlightenment” and added in a serious, but fatherly tone, “Please don’t start that deification, demonization crap here please. Especially, those of you who are ready to run home and put my picture on some alter you have set up in your little sacred space. If you do it, I’ll invade you’re lucid dreams.” The room got deathly quiet after he said this. Then he looked over the room, laughed and added “Just kidding.” Then he added to that, “You know there is truth in all humor.” Then he took questions.
When a student said something as if it was true (when it obviously wasn’t), Nabir would gently smile and say “You are confusing, causation and correlation, My friend”, or “your just grabbing low hanging fruit-facts, and then connecting dots, to come to a conclusion that fits you cognitive biases, and logical fallacies.” He would say it slowly so you would hear specifically what he was saying, and then would sit in silence as you had to process what he was actually saying.
He would also say now and then, “You are using inductive reasoning here, when it isn’t necessary. There are enough verifiable facts here for deductive reasoning to come into play!”
When a person claimed to have deep mystical powers, to channel or, have a profound intuition, Nabir might playfully respond with “Spirit may be guiding your intuition, but consider that what you believe to be intuition, may actually be indigestion!”
He was never rude, and it wasn’t that he was particularly secretive. It was more about the manners you might expect at a party, where it might be considered a poor social skill to ask someone a personal question. Those most interested in who he was, and what he was about, could pick up tidbits here and there, from things he might say in passing, or as an aside. For instance he never seemed to sleep, ever. Still, during group meditation sessions, which might last as long as 45 minutes, it might be guessed that while the rest of us were attempting to focus our wandering minds he was in some kind of altered state, somewhere between waking and sleeping. Every now and then, he might make a slight snoring sound, and begin to fall over. “Aha” we would think. “He’s sleeping”. However, just as he did this he would playfully open one eye and watch us watching him. He would then wink, smile, and sit right back up again, but with that one eye open and watching us. One of us proposed that he was asleep, even with one eye open, “some kind of Jedi-Yogi mind trick?”
Once when a new student, not concerned with social propriety, asked him directly about how he avoided sleep, Nabir answered in a professorial style, that if this student was seriously interested in practicing no-sleep/sleep, he might want to Google Edmund Jacobson, Annie Payson Call, Dennis Boyes, Satyananda Saraswati, Swami Rama, or Richard Miller.
At one meeting someone claimed to recognize Nabir as having been a psychologist in the U.S. special forces, and another person claimed that Nabir, using a different name, had used this no-sleep/sleep technique to assist soldiers to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder.
During Q & A, both of these individuals got up and greeted him with familiarity. He responded with a smile and simply said, “it is so nice to see you again.”
Once someone asked him if he had a defining spiritual philosophy? Replied, “I’m not spiritual enough to have specific philosophy. Of course, we all live in the world don’t we. In that sense, I treat life is a game and when things get complicated I often turn to game theory for answers.”
Of course, at that moment everyone looked at their cell phones to look up game theory. As they did this, he added “game theory is a type of strategic thinking concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with situations, often competitive, where the outcome of one person’s choice of action depends critically on the actions of others. I believe that most people are competitive, status oriented, territorial, and emotionally motivated, though they all try to appear as rational.” He let that sink and added, “What I believe we all need to do is be as loving, kind, compassionate, empathetic, wise, good, appreciative, competent at some level, filled with gratitude, and understanding of the difference between resignation, and surrender.”
The evening ended at 9:00 PM sharp and then Nabir and a dozen or so people went to the local diner. The general unspoken rule was to do whatever you need to do, and go do it. “No groupie shit, please.”
And that was my first encounter with Nabir.
This story is a Module from my course, Spiritual, Not Religious
Here is a Medium story on this subject @zewalston
Here is one from the archives @LewisCoaches
Learn more about my philosophy and extensive teachings from this book and course.
To learn more about studying directly with me, just email me at [email protected]. I will respond personally.
Author: Lewis Harrison is a Manifestation Coach, professional futurist (forecaster), and a philanthropy consultant. He is the creator of the Ask Lewis Mentoring Method as well as HAGT — Harrison’s Applied Game Theory. He is the Executive Director of the International Association of Healing Professionals an educational organization that offers programs around the world in Intentional Living. He is also Independent Scholar, with a passion for knowledge, personal development, self-improvement, creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. You can read all of his Medium stories at [email protected].
For a decade, Lewis was the host of a humor-based Q & A talk show on NPR (National Public Radio) affiliated WIOX FM in NY.
To learn more about studying with me, email me at [email protected]
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