Mystical reality is to the waking state, as the waking state is to the dream state. More specifically, just as the waking state is considered by most of us to be, somehow, more real than the dream state, so, too, do the Sufi masters consider mystical realization to be more real than the events of the normal, waking state.
Similarly, life after death is to life in the physical/material world, as the post-natal world is to the pre-natal world. In other words, just as most of us would judge the condition of awareness of the post-natal state to be far more acute, intense and nuanced than our state of awareness in the womb, so, too, do the Sufi masters consider the condition of awareness in the next life to be more acute, intense and nuanced than is the case, for most of us, in our earthly life.
From the perspective of the practitioners of the Sufi path, we are living in a dream-like state. When we die, we will come to realize this. The experience of mystical reality affords us the opportunity to gain insight into the truth of the foregoing realization prior to our physical death.
Dream states, waking reality, pre-natal experience, post-natal experience, life after physical death and mystical states, all give expression to different facets of reality. They form a broad spectrum of possibilities.
Each of the aforementioned categories could be further sub-divided to reflect the richness of experiential potential inherent in this spectrum. Moreover, just as visible light constitutes but a small portion of the total spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, so, too, according to the Sufi masters, does normal waking reality represent but a very small fraction of the total spectrum of possibilities inherent in reality.
Until the great discoveries of X-rays, ultraviolet light, radio waves, infrared radiation, microwaves and so on, our understanding concerning the parameters of electromagnetic radiation were limited. Similarly, until the announcements of the great mystics, across the ages, with respect to the many different kinds of mystical states and conditions, the grasp of the average individual concerning the possibilities available to us was very restricted.
To be sure, even now, the understanding of most of us vis-a-vis mystical states is very superficial. In fact, many people are, probably, relatively skeptical about the existence or reality of the mystical realm.
Nonetheless, on the basis of their experiences, various mystics from a wide-variety of spiritual traditions have repeatedly tried to draw our attention to the substantive nature of these states and conditions. Of course, we could dismiss or explain away all of these reports as the proclamations of: crazy people; victims of some organic dysfunction; liars; con artists; attention seekers and so on.
Undoubtedly, some of the people reporting such mystical experiences may be subsumable in one or more of the foregoing categories of dismissal. Whether or not all of them can be so subsumed is an entirely different matter. This is especially the case given that the tendency to dismiss is not based on a direct, rigorous examination of the evidence or the people making the claims. In fact, for the vast majority of those who reject the reality of the mystical realm, the dismissal is categorical and out-of-hand.
From the perspective of the mystics, such people continue on in their waking state of dream. The latter people treat the mystics like individuals who are trying to wake the former people from a very intense and pleasant dream. The people who are dreaming tend to get irritated and annoyed with the disturbers of their dreams.
Sufi masters indicate that not only are we living in a waking dream, the dream is a nightmare. Notwithstanding the character of some aspects of our waking dream experiences, our waking dream is not the pleasant affair we have allowed ourselves to be deluded into believing is the case.
We are being manipulated in our waking dream, and our situation is extremely precarious. We are not who most people in the dream say we are. Our identity is quite different, and everything depends on our coming to know our true identity.
When the alarm of death goes off, we will be brought rudely to our senses and recognize the truth in what the practitioners of the mystical path have been saying. When that happens, however, it will be too late, and we shall realize we have overslept and missed the bus of opportunity.
Some people have the capacity to experience what is known as lucid dreaming. In this condition one is able to exercise a degree of conscious control over what goes on in the dream. Such people are able to act, within limits, on the character, contents and direction of the dream rather than be merely passive witnesses to it.
Sufi masters are those individuals who, by the grace of God, have acquired the mystical counterpart to lucid dreaming in relation to the dream of waking life. In a sense, they are able to wake up within the dream state of waking life and become active participants rather than passive witnesses.
To be awake within the dream of waking life, is to be aware of the nature of the dream which constitutes waking life. Such a person has knowledge and insight into the possibilities of that dream state. Such an individual can take advantage of this understanding in order to act within the waking dream in a way that generates benefits for the individual.
Some of these benefits are as follows. One can come to know one's true identity. One can realize one's essential capacity. One can come to know the purpose of the dream. One can fulfil the conditions of that purpose. One can come to know God in a direct fashion, unmediated by concepts, theories, language, or rational limitations.
When most people dream, their muscles become paralyzed. There are restrictions imposed on what they can and can't do.
In the dream, of course, we usually feel like we have full use of our muscles. Yet, these are only our "dream muscles". In point of fact, most of us do not have access to use of our "real world" muscles during the course of the dream.
In the dream of waking life, we believe we have full use of our muscles. These, however, are only the muscles of the waking dream. Our spiritual muscles are paralyzed.
When one learns, if God wishes, how to wake up within the dream of waking life, one's spiritual muscles are no longer paralyzed. Consequently, one can use them to fulfil various kinds of tasks, as well as to journey to various realms within the spectrum of possibility of reality which are not possible to do as long as one is asleep in the dream of life.
Anab
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Narcissistic Spirituality - Part Two
All of the foregoing qualities or properties of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder have been observed in the so-called shaykh to whom I have been alluding in the earlier comments. What makes his case somewhat intriguing -- if one puts aside, for a moment, the horror of the damage he is inflicting on people -- is the many techniques he has for re-framing and misdirecting attention away from such characteristics.
This man feels entitled, big time, to be served by others, and, in fact, fully expects this to be done but uses other 'veterans' of the group to train people with respect to proper 'adab' in this regard rather than give people the impression, through his own actions, that he does expect from others what he claims not to expect. He says he is here to serve, but, the reality of the matter is that everyone occupies their time serving him and providing different means for satisfying his constant thirst and hunger in relation to different forms of narcissistic supply.
He constantly needs to be at the center of attention, as well as the focus of praise, admiration, and awe so that he has a steady flow of narcissistic supply to keep him going. Although he frequently speaks in a vocabulary of kindness, compassion, love, and empathy, nonetheless, if one is sufficiently 'fortunate' (there are two edges to this sort of fortune), to get a peak behind the Wizard's curtain, one begins to see that the man is virtually devoid of any real love, empathy, compassion, or caring for others -- everything is always, ultimately, sooner or later, about him and that to which he feels entitled.
He is firmly convinced that he is extremely unique, special, and a rare species of being. He tells (and only recently have I come to learn of such 'tales') select people he is the Qutb, spiritual pole, of the times, or that he is the king of a little country near Iran who has been forced into exile, or that there is a white light coming from his forehead which, in the past, only has been manifested in a select few spiritual luminaries, or that he has performed a fast for six months, during which he had neither food nor water (there are such fasts that have been observed by some of God's servants and such people are 'fed' by God and even have been known to gain weight during such fasts), or that he has been elevated to an extremely rare spiritual station in an august company of saints and awliya of God, or that he has been granted the authority to make qutbs and special saints of certain people -- although, naturally, of a lesser sort than, and under the auspices of, his own exalted status as the supreme qutb of the age, or that he has taken an 'oath of poverty', yet, roams about with big wads of money in his wallet and stashed in various places.
Often times he never seems to tell the same story twice to different people. The story which is selected appears to be the one which is most likely to elicit the greatest amount of narcissistic supply from a given individual or which is most likely to induce obedience, compliance and submission in another person with respect to this so-called 'teacher's program of entitlement and special status. And, naturally, these stories are 'secrets' and confidences which need to be kept and are only being told to such and such a person because of the latter's elect status in the cosmic scheme of things.
He masks his arrogance and haughtiness in the disguise of an outward cloak of humility and gratitude concerning the many Divine favors which have been bestowed upon him -- favors which he talks about in terms that, superficially, appear to be directed at praising God but which, in truth, are merely opportunities for him to talk about himself. Yet, he also is quite disdainful of other 'shaykhs' or run-of-the-mill Muslims -- constantly telling people how he is not like 'those' Muslims, while simultaneously saying that he does not speak ill of others ... unless, of course, the establishment of truth requires that certain unpleasant realities be discussed ... sometimes in considerable detail.
He relates how his shaykh permitted him (with a knowing wink, nod and smile) to be the 'bad boy' of the mystical realms, and thereby, disclose many of the 'secrets' which, heretofore, had been kept hidden behind closely guarded doors. He speaks of the permissions which he has been given by the spiritual hierarchy that have not been vouchsafed to other, less fortunate individuals.
Superficially, he credits his teacher for being the conduit of Divine gifts which have been bestowed on him (the object of the present foray into Narcissistic Personality Disorder) and for all that this alleged shaykh has spiritually achieved. However, if one watches carefully -- and the movements are very deft and subtle -- beneath this sincere surface is an undertow of self-praise and self-adulation.
He manipulates and exploits people in order to arrange ways to maximize his potential for realizing his constant search for high quality narcissistic supply. He confers favors, or encourages others to grant services, so that people who are the recipients of such 'kindnesses' will feel indebted to him and, consequently, be a ready source of narcissistic supply for him and not because such people might actually be in need or in difficulty.
He claims to never compel anyone to do anything, but he has a myriad of gambits which induce people to do what he wants -- even as such people believe their decisions are their own and arrived at freely. He prides himself on never interfering in people's lives but is constantly engaged in precisely that.
When his agenda is threatened or frustrated in some fashion, he goes into angry tirades, and, then, explains that he doesn't enjoy such outbursts but, sometimes, they are necessary for people's spiritual progress and growth. He is not upset with such individuals and he forgives them for their mistakes, but, occasionally, people need a good kick in the rear end to get them headed in the 'right' direction.
He favors those who serve as his mirror -- people who will reflect back to him his own, high opinion of himself. He is envious of anyone who steals his thunder or who might be a rival to the affections of others, and, consequently, begins to scheme for ways to undermine and compromise such threats to the security of his narcissistic supply.
He isolates, ostracizes, and distances himself (and those in his inner circle) from anyone who is not compliant with his wishes. Although he maintains that people are free, without any prejudice on his part, to make their own choices, nevertheless, those who take him at his word soon find themselves on the outside looking in, even as he denies that such is the case or that the individual is just imagining these sorts of scenarios or harboring unfounded resentments toward others.
He uses the technique of triangulation to near perfection. Others are prompted by him to pressure, influence, induce, cajole, persuade, or make suggestions to certain third-party 'targets' in order to render the latter more compliant and obedient, and, yet, tracing such pressure back to the original source -- namely, the so-called shaykh -- becomes very difficult because the mediating perpetrators have been told -- for reasons of a special, mystical nature -- to remain silent about the reality of why what is going on is going on.
Consequently, the so-called shaykh can maneuver, manipulate, exploit, influence, and control people, while remaining in the shadows, seemingly innocent of any unseemly 'spiritual' machinations or intrigues. On the public stage he can assume the role of a shaykh complete with a bevy of counterfeit qualities to display in order to demonstrate his 'authenticity', but behind the scenes, the pathology of the Narcissistic Personality Disorder is busily engaged.
According to the clinical literature, there are four broad categories of narcissism. On the one hand, an individual is said to be either 'Somatic' or 'Cerebral', and, on the other hand, such a person is described as being of either a 'Classic' or 'Inverted' type.
I will leave discussion of the latter two possibilities for another time since it will involve going into a considerable amount of detail about various psycho- dynamic theories of development -- from: Freud and Jung, to: Horney, Sullivan, Kohut, and others. Therefore, I will concentrate, for the time being, on exploring, a little, the nature of Cerebral and Somatic types of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
A Somatic Narcissist is someone who derives her or his narcissistic supply in relation to claimed beauty, impressive physique, and/or sexual attractiveness, potency, or prowess. A Cerebral Narcissist seeks her or his narcissistic supply through the acclaim of others concerning alleged intellectual achievement, talent, and genius.
I propose that a third category should be added to the foregoing -- that is, Spiritual Narcissist. This is an individual who acquires the sought for narcissistic supply of adulation, praise, infamy, or the like, from others, in conjunction with claims concerning spiritual insight, knowledge, status, station, wisdom, and accomplishment.
A fundamental difference between, on the one hand, Cerebral and Somatic Narcissism, and, on the other hand, a Spiritual Narcissist is that the latter is a lot more difficult to detect under even the best of circumstances. For instance, if someone suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder of either a Cerebral or Somatic variety, but, is not particularly bright or attractive or sexually potent, then, the difference between claim and reality is readily divulged.
However, in the case of a Spiritual Narcissist, even if one is dealing with a fraud, differentiating between the speciousness of a claim and the reality of things may not be all that easy to accomplish simply because of the inherent complexity, ineffability, and unprovable nature of many of these claims. They may or may not be true, but, more often than not, all one has to go on is the word of the individual, and if, for whatever reason, one extends the benefit of a doubt to such a person and presumes that truth is being spoken, then, that extended degree of freedom can be used to leverage a great many other beliefs, values, priorities, commitments, assumptions, sacrifices, and actions within a teacher-student context -- and, quite frequently, all a skilled Spiritual Narcissist needs is just enough room to place her or his foot in the doorway to a person's heart, and, before, long, that seeker will 'belong' - and I don't use this term lightly or advisedly - to the fraudulent spiritual guide.
The terribly insidious and seductive facet of Spiritual Narcissism is the ease with which all of the negative qualities or characteristics of a narcissist (e.g., self-serving entitlement, grandiosity, arrogance, boastfulness, envy, lack of empathy, demand or expectation of compliance, anger, and manipulative tendencies) can be re-framed in a much more appealing way. After all, 'if' one is a true mystic who has insight into the unseen, 'if' one is an 'awlilya' or friend of God, 'if' one has bee authorized by the mystical elect to assist people to the highest spiritual truths, and, thereby, realize the 'holy longing', then, all of the foregoing negative properties can be spun as necessary components in the Divine passion play which is designed to help people die to themselves by subduing their carnal soul. Moreover, any resistance to such a program can be re-framed as manifestations of the rebellious nafs, or the whisperings of Satan, or the influence of dunya , or the seditious overtures of the unbelievers within and without one.
Since submission is the goal, submitting to the alleged shaykh becomes but a preliminary step in the journey toward complete submission to Divinity. God has jalali attributes, and, sometimes, these are given expression in the shaykh. God works in mysterious ways to induce us to deepen our faith, and shaykhs do the same. Sometimes the shaykh is painted as the agent for Divine trickery, or our being maneuvered, in order to exploit our all-too-human vulnerabilities for our own spiritual benefit and well-being.
Sometimes God, on the surface, appears to be without empathy and compassion for the human condition, but such appearances are illusory, and, in truth, God loves us deeply, so, it becomes 'understandable' when the alleged shaykh appears indifferent to our sufferings and sacrifices. And, surely, 'if' God has showered blessings on an individual, what is wrong with - of course, in a humble, indirect manner - proclaiming such bestowals, in order to engender love in the heart of the mureed for the one who will guide them to Divinity, and why shouldn't we serve one who has been entitled by Divinity to expect such compliance?
What might easily be seen in a Cerebral or Somatic Narcissist for what it is -- namely, vanity, arrogance, and so on - becomes (to borrow a form of expression from Winston Churchill that has been, somewhat altered in the present rendering): an enigma wrapped in a riddle within a paradox of ambiguity in relation to Spiritual Narcissism. Are we being scammed or are we being told the truth? Will we lose if we reject such claims, or will be freed from spiritual treachery? Will we find our essential selves through such a person, or will we become alienated from our essential identity and Self?
The promise is great. But, verifiable answers are difficult to come by.
If we feel we are not making spiritual progress in conjunction with a given teacher, well, the problem lies with our lack of commitment to, and sincerity with, the mystical way. On the other hand, if a teacher informs us that we are making great spiritual advances even though this is not evident in the form of altered states of consciousness or in other tangible ways, how are we to prove or disprove what is being said.
No matter what happens to an individual on the spiritual path, a clever Spiritual Narcissist can re-frame the situation in a way that keeps people enthralled with continuing to serve as an on-going source of narcissistic supply for such a fraudulent spiritual guide. 'Pleasant' events are re-framed as the beneficence of Divinity that is being channeled through the 'shaykh'. Difficult or unpleasant events can be re-framed as Divine trials, tests, and tribulations which are a necessary part of the Path and have nothing to do with the possibility that the shaykh is a Spiritual Narcissist and the problems one is encountering are a Divine prod to point one's holy longing in another direction.
When Narcissistic Supply (in the form of adulation, praise, and so on) is available in quantity, if not quality (or perceived to be by the one who is under the influence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder), this might be comparable to a manic-like state. When, on the other hand, the quality or quantity of such Narcissistic Supply is perceived to be drying up (or actually is drying up), this might be the depressed side of the condition. During the manic phase, a Narcissistic Personality disordered individual may be easy-going, affable, happy, generous, expansive, joyful, and ecstatic. During the depressed phase, such an individual may be pensive, silent, reflective, anxious, unhappy, cranky, angry, hyper-critical, down, withdrawn, given to rage, and so on.
Since the Sufi path is actually characterized by interspersed episodes of jazb (Divine attraction) and qabd (Divine contraction), confusing mania for jazb and depression for qabd might be quite easy to do among the followers of a person under the influence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. After all, who among that individual's mureeds would have sufficient spiritual wherewithal to know otherwise? This is especially so if the fraudulent individual suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder re-frames the situation in a manner that is consistent with the nature of mystical theory.
Ironically, a narcissist will often come across to others as appearing to be someone -- who on the surface, at least -- is extremely earnest and sincere. Sometimes the intensity of this earnestness and sincerity may lead some individuals to wonder if the person is somehow disconnected from reality (or, at least, as it seems to be to the 'rest' of us), or, whether that person is simply unable to appraise the state of existence properly.
However, in the case of a Spiritual Narcissist, this very question or doubt can be turned back on itself. Instead of the Narcissist being out of touch with reality, or being unable to properly judge the actual nature of events, the person harboring such questions and doubts becomes the source of the problem -- that is, this latter individual is out of touch with the 'true' Reality and does not have the requisite spiritual insight to be able to properly assess the nature of Being.
At worst , the Spiritual Narcissist can maintain that she or he is only out of contact with physical/material reality and, furthermore, this may not necessarily be such a bad thing. The reconstruction of priorities concerning the levels of 'reality' serves the agenda of the Narcissistic Personality disordered individual and confronts the skeptic with a set of issues for which there is no readily identifiable answer with which everyone will agree, and through which consensual validation can be achieved.
Once again, the complex, ineffable, hidden nature of the mystical path lends credence, plausible deniability and unresolvable ambiguity to the arsenal of tools through which a spiritual fraud can leverage people's understanding, beliefs, judgments and values. Potential weaknesses can be turned into formidable defenses in relation to a Spiritual Narcissist.
These aforementioned qualities of earnestness and apparent sincerity were, and are, two hallmark features of the individual whom, for ten years, I considered my shaykh. His sincerity and earnestness had an extremely attractive, charismatic quality to them.
As mentioned previously, the actor, Spencer Tracy, once said, when a person can fake sincerity, then, one really has it made as an actor. The spiritual fraud to whom I am alluding had learned how to fake sincerity and earnestness to a degree that has to be witnessed in order to be (grudgingly) admired.
His ability -- the spiritual fraud, not Spencer Tracy -- to induce other people to provide him with a on-going Narcissistic Supply of adulation, praise, awe, compliance, obedience, entitlement, specialness, and so on, was very much rooted in his capacity to appear immensely sincere and earnest to others. Such sincerity and earnestness were used by him to re-frame certain issues, and misdirect his audience away from many other issues, as well as to get people to not only lower their natural defenses of doubt, skepticism, and mistrust, but to practically hand over the keys to the repository of all one's essential trust -- namely, the heart -- within a very short period of time.
Some people may find the foregoing analysis of a spiritually abusive individual somewhat comforting because it is couched in terms of a modern, psychological framework. Casting the situation in such a light may appear to offer some sort of intelligible explanation for why one person might spiritually abuse another individual.
From the perspective of a modified treatment of the DSM-IV rendering of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, we now can see that some people may suffer from such a malady, and have a somewhat better idea not only of some of the dynamics involved in this disorder, but how the very properties of the disorder lend themselves naturally to becoming a chameleon within certain spiritual contexts. However, what remains unanswered is the why.
Why does someone develop this Disorder? What is its etiology? Can it be avoided? Can it be cured?
I believe there are some 'lesser' forms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder which arise through the interplay of a conjunction of various components -- some genetic, some social, some personal, some family dynamics, and one might explore the aforementioned issues of Classic and Inverted types of Narcissism to gain some insight into such issues. Nevertheless, I also believe there is a 'greater' modality of Narcissistic Personality Disorder which is possible, and this form of the pathology is deliberately chosen by an individual.
In spiritual terms -- at least in a largely Western sense -- the paradigm for such a deliberated choice is Iblis or Satan. Because Iblis had an exceedingly high opinion of his place in the scheme of the Universe, because he believed he was entitled, because he was arrogant and haughty, because he believed in his own sense of specialness and uniqueness, because he believed that the purpose of the universe was to serve as a source for his Narcissistic Supply of adulation, praise knowledge, and so on, because he was envious of human kind, because he went into a angry tirade when his Narcissistic Supply was threatened, because he was so convincing in his sincerity and earnestness concerning his love of God that he fooled himself, Iblis/Satan committed an essential error and fell from Grace.
This fall appears to be infinite and unforgivable in nature. And, given that according to the Qur'an there is one and only one sin which is, in the eyes of Divinity, totally unforgivable - and that is shirk, or associating partners with God, or relegating to oneself some form of God-hood - then, presumably, in choosing to rebel against God by choosing the path of Narcissism rather than Servitude, Iblis committed the most egregious form of shirk.
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that spiritual frauds like the person to whom I have been alluding throughout this posting bear a striking resemblance to Iblis in several respects. First, they have committed the basic error of all Narcissists - whether of the lesser or greater variety - which is this: they choose to consider themselves as superior, unique, special, rare, entitled, worthy of adulation and praise, with a special dispensation to ignore, flaunt, or bend the principles upon which the universe works, and a concomitant right to exploit and manipulate others for their own ends (the ends of the latter, not the former).
Secondly, like Iblis, they do not repent for their wrong-doing, but, instead, seek permission from God to lead others astray or to corrupt the holy longing which resides in the souls of all human beings. If a person who spiritually abuses others would sincerely repent, then, God willing, one could, in time, forgive such an individual for the incredibly destructive nature of their actions which they have imposed on people for self-serving and vainglorious purposes, even if one might never again trust such a person to be the keeper of an outhouse, let alone a guide for the aspirations of holy longing.
Thirdly, like Iblis, they use techniques of artfully-false sincerity and earnestness to seduce people and, if possible, corrupt them. Like Iblis, they disguise themselves in friendly, affable, kindly, sincere, empathetic, knowledgeable, compassionate, generous, charismatic, entertaining, enchanting packages which whisper to one amidst the shadows, ambiguities and interstitial zones of existence.
Fourthly, like Iblis, they don't really seem to care when adulation turns to infamy, as people begin to learn the true nature of their activities. As long as they can be the center of attention and the focus of people's preoccupation, then, for them, hatred is as good as adulation as far as the dynamics of Narcissistic Supply are concerned because the only principle which matters to them is that they are the object of people's attention, and if they can get someone to hate them for the rest of their lives, they will be content since something of their purpose has been achieved -- which is to lead people astray from the straight path where one must learn to overcome, move beyond and transform such emotions in spiritually constructive ways.
Finally, like Iblis, spiritual frauds, such as the one to whom I have been alluding throughout the preceding material, actually believe in God. They are not atheists or agnostics. They may, as Iblis did, and does, even love God in their own way.
The horror of Iblis and such individuals is that they have deliberately chosen to place their agenda above Divine Purpose or, alternatively, to conflate their purposes with Divine Purpose. In fact, they wish to undermine the possibility of such a Purpose ever being realized and seek to take down with them as many people as will permit such spiritual charlatans to take permanent control of their lives. The even greater horror is that there are many such predatory dajjals on the loose in the world these days ... among so-called Sufi shaykhs, among dogmatic and intolerant theologians, and among groups of terrorists - may God protect us and save us all from such truly evil intentions.
Sometimes, by the Grace of Allah, the choices we make in this regard are successful. On other occasions, we are not so fortunate.
I have had two spiritual guides in my life, one was authentic, and one was not. If I were a baseball player, going 1 for 2 is a good batting average. On the other hand, if I were a goalie in ice-hockey, a .500 save percentage would relegate me, at best, to sitting on the sidelines in pick-up games.
Life is not a game. However, if it were, I'm not sure whether going 1 for 2 in the authentic guide department is OK or not ... I guess it beats going 0 for 2.
Only Allah knows why we do what we do, when we do it, and whatever choices are made, God's purpose is served. May God guide us to the choices which, in the long run, will be best for our Deen -- whether these choices have, in the short run, pleasant or unpleasant consequences. May Allah encourage us to seek the truth in all matters. Ameen! Ameen! Ameen!
This man feels entitled, big time, to be served by others, and, in fact, fully expects this to be done but uses other 'veterans' of the group to train people with respect to proper 'adab' in this regard rather than give people the impression, through his own actions, that he does expect from others what he claims not to expect. He says he is here to serve, but, the reality of the matter is that everyone occupies their time serving him and providing different means for satisfying his constant thirst and hunger in relation to different forms of narcissistic supply.
He constantly needs to be at the center of attention, as well as the focus of praise, admiration, and awe so that he has a steady flow of narcissistic supply to keep him going. Although he frequently speaks in a vocabulary of kindness, compassion, love, and empathy, nonetheless, if one is sufficiently 'fortunate' (there are two edges to this sort of fortune), to get a peak behind the Wizard's curtain, one begins to see that the man is virtually devoid of any real love, empathy, compassion, or caring for others -- everything is always, ultimately, sooner or later, about him and that to which he feels entitled.
He is firmly convinced that he is extremely unique, special, and a rare species of being. He tells (and only recently have I come to learn of such 'tales') select people he is the Qutb, spiritual pole, of the times, or that he is the king of a little country near Iran who has been forced into exile, or that there is a white light coming from his forehead which, in the past, only has been manifested in a select few spiritual luminaries, or that he has performed a fast for six months, during which he had neither food nor water (there are such fasts that have been observed by some of God's servants and such people are 'fed' by God and even have been known to gain weight during such fasts), or that he has been elevated to an extremely rare spiritual station in an august company of saints and awliya of God, or that he has been granted the authority to make qutbs and special saints of certain people -- although, naturally, of a lesser sort than, and under the auspices of, his own exalted status as the supreme qutb of the age, or that he has taken an 'oath of poverty', yet, roams about with big wads of money in his wallet and stashed in various places.
Often times he never seems to tell the same story twice to different people. The story which is selected appears to be the one which is most likely to elicit the greatest amount of narcissistic supply from a given individual or which is most likely to induce obedience, compliance and submission in another person with respect to this so-called 'teacher's program of entitlement and special status. And, naturally, these stories are 'secrets' and confidences which need to be kept and are only being told to such and such a person because of the latter's elect status in the cosmic scheme of things.
He masks his arrogance and haughtiness in the disguise of an outward cloak of humility and gratitude concerning the many Divine favors which have been bestowed upon him -- favors which he talks about in terms that, superficially, appear to be directed at praising God but which, in truth, are merely opportunities for him to talk about himself. Yet, he also is quite disdainful of other 'shaykhs' or run-of-the-mill Muslims -- constantly telling people how he is not like 'those' Muslims, while simultaneously saying that he does not speak ill of others ... unless, of course, the establishment of truth requires that certain unpleasant realities be discussed ... sometimes in considerable detail.
He relates how his shaykh permitted him (with a knowing wink, nod and smile) to be the 'bad boy' of the mystical realms, and thereby, disclose many of the 'secrets' which, heretofore, had been kept hidden behind closely guarded doors. He speaks of the permissions which he has been given by the spiritual hierarchy that have not been vouchsafed to other, less fortunate individuals.
Superficially, he credits his teacher for being the conduit of Divine gifts which have been bestowed on him (the object of the present foray into Narcissistic Personality Disorder) and for all that this alleged shaykh has spiritually achieved. However, if one watches carefully -- and the movements are very deft and subtle -- beneath this sincere surface is an undertow of self-praise and self-adulation.
He manipulates and exploits people in order to arrange ways to maximize his potential for realizing his constant search for high quality narcissistic supply. He confers favors, or encourages others to grant services, so that people who are the recipients of such 'kindnesses' will feel indebted to him and, consequently, be a ready source of narcissistic supply for him and not because such people might actually be in need or in difficulty.
He claims to never compel anyone to do anything, but he has a myriad of gambits which induce people to do what he wants -- even as such people believe their decisions are their own and arrived at freely. He prides himself on never interfering in people's lives but is constantly engaged in precisely that.
When his agenda is threatened or frustrated in some fashion, he goes into angry tirades, and, then, explains that he doesn't enjoy such outbursts but, sometimes, they are necessary for people's spiritual progress and growth. He is not upset with such individuals and he forgives them for their mistakes, but, occasionally, people need a good kick in the rear end to get them headed in the 'right' direction.
He favors those who serve as his mirror -- people who will reflect back to him his own, high opinion of himself. He is envious of anyone who steals his thunder or who might be a rival to the affections of others, and, consequently, begins to scheme for ways to undermine and compromise such threats to the security of his narcissistic supply.
He isolates, ostracizes, and distances himself (and those in his inner circle) from anyone who is not compliant with his wishes. Although he maintains that people are free, without any prejudice on his part, to make their own choices, nevertheless, those who take him at his word soon find themselves on the outside looking in, even as he denies that such is the case or that the individual is just imagining these sorts of scenarios or harboring unfounded resentments toward others.
He uses the technique of triangulation to near perfection. Others are prompted by him to pressure, influence, induce, cajole, persuade, or make suggestions to certain third-party 'targets' in order to render the latter more compliant and obedient, and, yet, tracing such pressure back to the original source -- namely, the so-called shaykh -- becomes very difficult because the mediating perpetrators have been told -- for reasons of a special, mystical nature -- to remain silent about the reality of why what is going on is going on.
Consequently, the so-called shaykh can maneuver, manipulate, exploit, influence, and control people, while remaining in the shadows, seemingly innocent of any unseemly 'spiritual' machinations or intrigues. On the public stage he can assume the role of a shaykh complete with a bevy of counterfeit qualities to display in order to demonstrate his 'authenticity', but behind the scenes, the pathology of the Narcissistic Personality Disorder is busily engaged.
According to the clinical literature, there are four broad categories of narcissism. On the one hand, an individual is said to be either 'Somatic' or 'Cerebral', and, on the other hand, such a person is described as being of either a 'Classic' or 'Inverted' type.
I will leave discussion of the latter two possibilities for another time since it will involve going into a considerable amount of detail about various psycho- dynamic theories of development -- from: Freud and Jung, to: Horney, Sullivan, Kohut, and others. Therefore, I will concentrate, for the time being, on exploring, a little, the nature of Cerebral and Somatic types of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
A Somatic Narcissist is someone who derives her or his narcissistic supply in relation to claimed beauty, impressive physique, and/or sexual attractiveness, potency, or prowess. A Cerebral Narcissist seeks her or his narcissistic supply through the acclaim of others concerning alleged intellectual achievement, talent, and genius.
I propose that a third category should be added to the foregoing -- that is, Spiritual Narcissist. This is an individual who acquires the sought for narcissistic supply of adulation, praise, infamy, or the like, from others, in conjunction with claims concerning spiritual insight, knowledge, status, station, wisdom, and accomplishment.
A fundamental difference between, on the one hand, Cerebral and Somatic Narcissism, and, on the other hand, a Spiritual Narcissist is that the latter is a lot more difficult to detect under even the best of circumstances. For instance, if someone suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder of either a Cerebral or Somatic variety, but, is not particularly bright or attractive or sexually potent, then, the difference between claim and reality is readily divulged.
However, in the case of a Spiritual Narcissist, even if one is dealing with a fraud, differentiating between the speciousness of a claim and the reality of things may not be all that easy to accomplish simply because of the inherent complexity, ineffability, and unprovable nature of many of these claims. They may or may not be true, but, more often than not, all one has to go on is the word of the individual, and if, for whatever reason, one extends the benefit of a doubt to such a person and presumes that truth is being spoken, then, that extended degree of freedom can be used to leverage a great many other beliefs, values, priorities, commitments, assumptions, sacrifices, and actions within a teacher-student context -- and, quite frequently, all a skilled Spiritual Narcissist needs is just enough room to place her or his foot in the doorway to a person's heart, and, before, long, that seeker will 'belong' - and I don't use this term lightly or advisedly - to the fraudulent spiritual guide.
The terribly insidious and seductive facet of Spiritual Narcissism is the ease with which all of the negative qualities or characteristics of a narcissist (e.g., self-serving entitlement, grandiosity, arrogance, boastfulness, envy, lack of empathy, demand or expectation of compliance, anger, and manipulative tendencies) can be re-framed in a much more appealing way. After all, 'if' one is a true mystic who has insight into the unseen, 'if' one is an 'awlilya' or friend of God, 'if' one has bee authorized by the mystical elect to assist people to the highest spiritual truths, and, thereby, realize the 'holy longing', then, all of the foregoing negative properties can be spun as necessary components in the Divine passion play which is designed to help people die to themselves by subduing their carnal soul. Moreover, any resistance to such a program can be re-framed as manifestations of the rebellious nafs, or the whisperings of Satan, or the influence of dunya , or the seditious overtures of the unbelievers within and without one.
Since submission is the goal, submitting to the alleged shaykh becomes but a preliminary step in the journey toward complete submission to Divinity. God has jalali attributes, and, sometimes, these are given expression in the shaykh. God works in mysterious ways to induce us to deepen our faith, and shaykhs do the same. Sometimes the shaykh is painted as the agent for Divine trickery, or our being maneuvered, in order to exploit our all-too-human vulnerabilities for our own spiritual benefit and well-being.
Sometimes God, on the surface, appears to be without empathy and compassion for the human condition, but such appearances are illusory, and, in truth, God loves us deeply, so, it becomes 'understandable' when the alleged shaykh appears indifferent to our sufferings and sacrifices. And, surely, 'if' God has showered blessings on an individual, what is wrong with - of course, in a humble, indirect manner - proclaiming such bestowals, in order to engender love in the heart of the mureed for the one who will guide them to Divinity, and why shouldn't we serve one who has been entitled by Divinity to expect such compliance?
What might easily be seen in a Cerebral or Somatic Narcissist for what it is -- namely, vanity, arrogance, and so on - becomes (to borrow a form of expression from Winston Churchill that has been, somewhat altered in the present rendering): an enigma wrapped in a riddle within a paradox of ambiguity in relation to Spiritual Narcissism. Are we being scammed or are we being told the truth? Will we lose if we reject such claims, or will be freed from spiritual treachery? Will we find our essential selves through such a person, or will we become alienated from our essential identity and Self?
The promise is great. But, verifiable answers are difficult to come by.
If we feel we are not making spiritual progress in conjunction with a given teacher, well, the problem lies with our lack of commitment to, and sincerity with, the mystical way. On the other hand, if a teacher informs us that we are making great spiritual advances even though this is not evident in the form of altered states of consciousness or in other tangible ways, how are we to prove or disprove what is being said.
No matter what happens to an individual on the spiritual path, a clever Spiritual Narcissist can re-frame the situation in a way that keeps people enthralled with continuing to serve as an on-going source of narcissistic supply for such a fraudulent spiritual guide. 'Pleasant' events are re-framed as the beneficence of Divinity that is being channeled through the 'shaykh'. Difficult or unpleasant events can be re-framed as Divine trials, tests, and tribulations which are a necessary part of the Path and have nothing to do with the possibility that the shaykh is a Spiritual Narcissist and the problems one is encountering are a Divine prod to point one's holy longing in another direction.
When Narcissistic Supply (in the form of adulation, praise, and so on) is available in quantity, if not quality (or perceived to be by the one who is under the influence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder), this might be comparable to a manic-like state. When, on the other hand, the quality or quantity of such Narcissistic Supply is perceived to be drying up (or actually is drying up), this might be the depressed side of the condition. During the manic phase, a Narcissistic Personality disordered individual may be easy-going, affable, happy, generous, expansive, joyful, and ecstatic. During the depressed phase, such an individual may be pensive, silent, reflective, anxious, unhappy, cranky, angry, hyper-critical, down, withdrawn, given to rage, and so on.
Since the Sufi path is actually characterized by interspersed episodes of jazb (Divine attraction) and qabd (Divine contraction), confusing mania for jazb and depression for qabd might be quite easy to do among the followers of a person under the influence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. After all, who among that individual's mureeds would have sufficient spiritual wherewithal to know otherwise? This is especially so if the fraudulent individual suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder re-frames the situation in a manner that is consistent with the nature of mystical theory.
Ironically, a narcissist will often come across to others as appearing to be someone -- who on the surface, at least -- is extremely earnest and sincere. Sometimes the intensity of this earnestness and sincerity may lead some individuals to wonder if the person is somehow disconnected from reality (or, at least, as it seems to be to the 'rest' of us), or, whether that person is simply unable to appraise the state of existence properly.
However, in the case of a Spiritual Narcissist, this very question or doubt can be turned back on itself. Instead of the Narcissist being out of touch with reality, or being unable to properly judge the actual nature of events, the person harboring such questions and doubts becomes the source of the problem -- that is, this latter individual is out of touch with the 'true' Reality and does not have the requisite spiritual insight to be able to properly assess the nature of Being.
At worst , the Spiritual Narcissist can maintain that she or he is only out of contact with physical/material reality and, furthermore, this may not necessarily be such a bad thing. The reconstruction of priorities concerning the levels of 'reality' serves the agenda of the Narcissistic Personality disordered individual and confronts the skeptic with a set of issues for which there is no readily identifiable answer with which everyone will agree, and through which consensual validation can be achieved.
Once again, the complex, ineffable, hidden nature of the mystical path lends credence, plausible deniability and unresolvable ambiguity to the arsenal of tools through which a spiritual fraud can leverage people's understanding, beliefs, judgments and values. Potential weaknesses can be turned into formidable defenses in relation to a Spiritual Narcissist.
These aforementioned qualities of earnestness and apparent sincerity were, and are, two hallmark features of the individual whom, for ten years, I considered my shaykh. His sincerity and earnestness had an extremely attractive, charismatic quality to them.
As mentioned previously, the actor, Spencer Tracy, once said, when a person can fake sincerity, then, one really has it made as an actor. The spiritual fraud to whom I am alluding had learned how to fake sincerity and earnestness to a degree that has to be witnessed in order to be (grudgingly) admired.
His ability -- the spiritual fraud, not Spencer Tracy -- to induce other people to provide him with a on-going Narcissistic Supply of adulation, praise, awe, compliance, obedience, entitlement, specialness, and so on, was very much rooted in his capacity to appear immensely sincere and earnest to others. Such sincerity and earnestness were used by him to re-frame certain issues, and misdirect his audience away from many other issues, as well as to get people to not only lower their natural defenses of doubt, skepticism, and mistrust, but to practically hand over the keys to the repository of all one's essential trust -- namely, the heart -- within a very short period of time.
Some people may find the foregoing analysis of a spiritually abusive individual somewhat comforting because it is couched in terms of a modern, psychological framework. Casting the situation in such a light may appear to offer some sort of intelligible explanation for why one person might spiritually abuse another individual.
From the perspective of a modified treatment of the DSM-IV rendering of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, we now can see that some people may suffer from such a malady, and have a somewhat better idea not only of some of the dynamics involved in this disorder, but how the very properties of the disorder lend themselves naturally to becoming a chameleon within certain spiritual contexts. However, what remains unanswered is the why.
Why does someone develop this Disorder? What is its etiology? Can it be avoided? Can it be cured?
I believe there are some 'lesser' forms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder which arise through the interplay of a conjunction of various components -- some genetic, some social, some personal, some family dynamics, and one might explore the aforementioned issues of Classic and Inverted types of Narcissism to gain some insight into such issues. Nevertheless, I also believe there is a 'greater' modality of Narcissistic Personality Disorder which is possible, and this form of the pathology is deliberately chosen by an individual.
In spiritual terms -- at least in a largely Western sense -- the paradigm for such a deliberated choice is Iblis or Satan. Because Iblis had an exceedingly high opinion of his place in the scheme of the Universe, because he believed he was entitled, because he was arrogant and haughty, because he believed in his own sense of specialness and uniqueness, because he believed that the purpose of the universe was to serve as a source for his Narcissistic Supply of adulation, praise knowledge, and so on, because he was envious of human kind, because he went into a angry tirade when his Narcissistic Supply was threatened, because he was so convincing in his sincerity and earnestness concerning his love of God that he fooled himself, Iblis/Satan committed an essential error and fell from Grace.
This fall appears to be infinite and unforgivable in nature. And, given that according to the Qur'an there is one and only one sin which is, in the eyes of Divinity, totally unforgivable - and that is shirk, or associating partners with God, or relegating to oneself some form of God-hood - then, presumably, in choosing to rebel against God by choosing the path of Narcissism rather than Servitude, Iblis committed the most egregious form of shirk.
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that spiritual frauds like the person to whom I have been alluding throughout this posting bear a striking resemblance to Iblis in several respects. First, they have committed the basic error of all Narcissists - whether of the lesser or greater variety - which is this: they choose to consider themselves as superior, unique, special, rare, entitled, worthy of adulation and praise, with a special dispensation to ignore, flaunt, or bend the principles upon which the universe works, and a concomitant right to exploit and manipulate others for their own ends (the ends of the latter, not the former).
Secondly, like Iblis, they do not repent for their wrong-doing, but, instead, seek permission from God to lead others astray or to corrupt the holy longing which resides in the souls of all human beings. If a person who spiritually abuses others would sincerely repent, then, God willing, one could, in time, forgive such an individual for the incredibly destructive nature of their actions which they have imposed on people for self-serving and vainglorious purposes, even if one might never again trust such a person to be the keeper of an outhouse, let alone a guide for the aspirations of holy longing.
Thirdly, like Iblis, they use techniques of artfully-false sincerity and earnestness to seduce people and, if possible, corrupt them. Like Iblis, they disguise themselves in friendly, affable, kindly, sincere, empathetic, knowledgeable, compassionate, generous, charismatic, entertaining, enchanting packages which whisper to one amidst the shadows, ambiguities and interstitial zones of existence.
Fourthly, like Iblis, they don't really seem to care when adulation turns to infamy, as people begin to learn the true nature of their activities. As long as they can be the center of attention and the focus of people's preoccupation, then, for them, hatred is as good as adulation as far as the dynamics of Narcissistic Supply are concerned because the only principle which matters to them is that they are the object of people's attention, and if they can get someone to hate them for the rest of their lives, they will be content since something of their purpose has been achieved -- which is to lead people astray from the straight path where one must learn to overcome, move beyond and transform such emotions in spiritually constructive ways.
Finally, like Iblis, spiritual frauds, such as the one to whom I have been alluding throughout the preceding material, actually believe in God. They are not atheists or agnostics. They may, as Iblis did, and does, even love God in their own way.
The horror of Iblis and such individuals is that they have deliberately chosen to place their agenda above Divine Purpose or, alternatively, to conflate their purposes with Divine Purpose. In fact, they wish to undermine the possibility of such a Purpose ever being realized and seek to take down with them as many people as will permit such spiritual charlatans to take permanent control of their lives. The even greater horror is that there are many such predatory dajjals on the loose in the world these days ... among so-called Sufi shaykhs, among dogmatic and intolerant theologians, and among groups of terrorists - may God protect us and save us all from such truly evil intentions.
Sometimes, by the Grace of Allah, the choices we make in this regard are successful. On other occasions, we are not so fortunate.
I have had two spiritual guides in my life, one was authentic, and one was not. If I were a baseball player, going 1 for 2 is a good batting average. On the other hand, if I were a goalie in ice-hockey, a .500 save percentage would relegate me, at best, to sitting on the sidelines in pick-up games.
Life is not a game. However, if it were, I'm not sure whether going 1 for 2 in the authentic guide department is OK or not ... I guess it beats going 0 for 2.
Only Allah knows why we do what we do, when we do it, and whatever choices are made, God's purpose is served. May God guide us to the choices which, in the long run, will be best for our Deen -- whether these choices have, in the short run, pleasant or unpleasant consequences. May Allah encourage us to seek the truth in all matters. Ameen! Ameen! Ameen!
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Narcissistic Spirituality - Part One
There have been many different facets of the issue of spiritual abuse which have been explored in preceding essays. Most of this material has limited itself to the context of the Sufi tradition.
One dimension of this topic which has been touched upon somewhat, although not in great detail, revolves around the nature of the perpetrator of spiritual abuse. What makes such a person tick? What are the motivations underlying his or her behavior? What is the nature of the pathology?
There are a number of proposals which might be offered in response to such questions. Some spiritual frauds are merely run-of-the-mill con artists who, through one means or another, have come to the realization that operating spiritual scams constitutes a fruitful realm with almost unlimited horizons of potential for an enterprising individual.
Other charlatans may see the realm of spirituality as a fertile medium through which to identify individuals who are vulnerable to being sexually exploited. Or, perhaps, a person’s struggle with his or her nafs or carnal soul went awry, and a desire for fame and/or power began to take control of things, and spiritual seekers merely became a means to satisfy such a person’s corrupted ends.
Some individuals may have started out on the Path with appropriate intentions, but, somewhere along the journey, took a detour into the darker, shadowy side of human potential, and not only became lost, but decided to entangle other people, as well. Historically, there are a number of movements and groups which began when someone who had been associated, in some fashion, with the Sufi tradition, had certain experiences, and, then, as a result of their own interpretation of such events, invented a philosophy, theology, or mystical path which, in turn, was offered and introduced to other people.
Some spiritually abusive people may be socio-pathic. History, circumstances, and personal inclination come together in unhappy alliance and manifest themselves in the form of a wolf who preys on and/or devours her or his flock over a period of time.
I have known, to varying degrees, different people who probably fit into one, or another, of the foregoing, categories. However, when I began to reflect on my own personal situation vis-a-vis the spiritual fraud with whom I became entangled, none of the aforementioned possibilities seemed to really resonate with my experiences, or the experiences of others who were spiritually abused by this individual.
Why did he do what he did? What was really going on?
After giving considerable thought and attention to this matter over the last 8-9 months, there are some tentative conclusions which have begun to surface which feel right – at least to me. Therefore, I thought I would share these reflections with others and let the chips fall where they may.
From one perspective, evil might be construed as anything that deviates, on one level or another, from the truth, and, therefore, in this sense, we all contribute to the introduction of evil into the world through the way in which we resist, rebel against, distort, hide, ignore, obstruct, and seek to undermine truth by means of our behaviors – both individual and collective. This sort of evil arises due to human weakness, short-sightedness, ignorance, error, selfishness, and the like.
There is another form of evil, however, which is more malevolent and pernicious. It exists for the sole purpose of leading people astray from the truth and commits acts intentionally with that goal in mind.
This kind of evil is very cunning, clever, perceptive, and duplicitous. It is always looking for ways to bring misery into the lives of people – not primarily for whatever sexual gratification, money, fame, or power which may be the collateral gain from such ventures – but in order to use the generation of misery as a means to leverage people away from seeking the truth.
There is, within most human beings, a longing for the truth. Some refer to this himma or aspiration as a holy longing – a deep, abiding, intense longing to come in contact with essential, ultimate Reality in an intimate, knowing way.
Human beings have come up with many ways to try to assuage this holy longing. Philosophy, psychology, theology, mythology, science, religion, and mysticism have all arisen in conjunction with this holy longing. Different people have pursued diverse roads in the hope of finding the legendary ‘holy grail’, ‘philosopher’s stone’, ‘alchemical elixir’, ‘golden fleece’ occult secrets, the ‘theory of everything’, a universal set of equations, and altered states of consciousness which would open the doors of perception into the sanctum sanctorum, the holy of holies, of Being.
There exists a force, or set of forces, however, which is (are) actively dedicated to corrupting the aforementioned holy longing. This is the malignant form of evil alluded to earlier.
Some people, such as Scott Peck, refer to this reality through phrases such as “people of the lie”. Others use the term Satan or Iblis. Some individuals talk in terms of a force of dissolution and chaos which flows through existence, tugging at the fabric of being, seeking to unravel life so that acting upon the holy longing becomes difficult, problematic, bogged down, compromised, co-opted, or re-framed in unethical and unjust directions.
The term or name which is used to give expression to this dimension of existence is relatively unimportant, and different perspectives will be inclined to use that term or name which is most compatible with the world-view which is inherent in that perspective. What is important are the themes underlying, swirling about, and being given expression through those forces and phenomena which seek to obstruct or rebel against the seeking of truth.
Many people who have been touched by such evil, abandon the holy longing altogether, and when this occurs, this mode of evil has achieved its purpose. Among other things, the impact of this kind of evil on their lives renders such people incapable of ever trusting anyone sufficiently to seek the kind of help and co-operation which seems vital to achieving progress with respect to struggling toward realizing one’s holy longing.
The man who, for ten years, I referred to as my shaykh or spiritual guide was, and is, a manifestation of the more malignant manner of evil which has been outlined above. He enjoys – indeed, revels – in leading people astray from the truth, and he often accomplishes this in very clever, elaborate, and ‘artful’ ways (this is called: ‘giving the Devil his due’).
There is something about his manner which just makes you want to trust, believe, and accept what he says. The lies are so effortlessly delivered, in such a soft, gentle, re-assuring, peaceful, ‘sincere’, low-key manner.
Moreover, the lies always are delivered in a context steeped in a forked-tongue spirituality which is constructed in such a fashion that the truth is used to camouflage the lies. Consequently, truth becomes like a Trojan horse which hides the army of lies hiding within.
Because he is so knowledgeable about the theory of tasawwuf or Sufi mystical science, and because he is so charismatic, entertaining and articulate, in several languages, with respect to the manner through which he weaves his lies into the truth, one rarely feels the poison enter one’s system. He is a master of misdirection.
The wonder of it is that he can keep all of his lies straight. Yet, even when he slips, he is a marvel to behold and very inventive in the way he uses additional untruths to spin the original lie into the territory of plausible deniability and ambiguity.
I have scoured DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual For Psychological Disorders), looking for possible matches between its many categories of disturbance and the behavior of my ‘once-upon-a-time’ shaykh. Although I am convinced that he serves the dark purposes of the sort of intentional evil which seeks to corrupt the holy longing inherent in human beings, nonetheless, I was interested in seeing whether their might be some less traditional, more modern way of thinking about such behavior –– something which might appeal to the sensibilities of current research.
The only category in DSM-IV which resonated, to some degree, with my experiences, along with those of several other individuals with whom I have conversed in conjunction with this man, was that of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Consequently, in the remainder of this essay I would like to explore a variety of possibilities in this regard and, hopefully, make a few useful contributions along the way.
Perhaps the best way to begin this foray into psychological issues is to state that, in general, there has not been an extensive amount of study in relation to the nature and etiology of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Opinions are fractured along a number of different fault lines –– some theorists favor an approach rooted in the impact which problematic genetic programming has upon personality and development; other researchers opt for perspectives that are immersed in issues of anomic societies, faulty parenting, dysfunctional families of one kind or another, maladaptive coping strategies, and so on.
There is no consensus among the experts. Moreover, there is precious little data to substantiate one model of Narcissistic Personality Disorder over another.
However, the existence of such a theoretical lack of settledness merely represents conceptual opportunity in another guise. And, into this breach I boldly go where no one may have gone before ... and, perhaps, with good reason – let us see.
There are a number of characteristics which need to show up in behavior in order to be able to arrive at a possible diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder in any given case. For example, individuals suffering from this malady tend to be deeply convinced that they are special, unique, rare people who only can be understood and appreciated by others (whether professionals, institutions, or ‘gifted’ people) who also are high-status and special in a similar or related way.
Such individuals have a constant, excessive need for either positive attention, praise, deference, and admiration from other people, or, alternatively, a need to be infamous, feared, or a source of notoriety of some kind. In either case – whether that which is forthcoming from others is in the form of adulation or some kind of fear or condemnation, these emotions constitute what is known as ‘narcissistic supply’, and the Narcissistic Personality disordered individual is constantly seeking to receive such a flow of emotion from others.
This sort of an individual has a very palpable sense of entitlement. In other words, this sort of person strongly feels they should be given priority, special treatment, or favored status in almost all things, and fully expects, if not demands, that everyone else should be inordinately sensitive to their need for obedience and compliance in relation to this sense of entitlement.
Although on the surface there may be remnants of a facade of compassion and empathy for others, in truth, this facade is purely for show – as one ploy, among many, to invite people to satisfy his need for a constant flow of narcissistic supply. In truth, a Narcissistic Personality disordered individual lacks any real empathy or feeling for others and is constantly exploiting them in order to derive further fixes of narcissistic supply, of one kind or another.
A person with this disorder often is arrogant and boastful concerning herself or himself, while being equally disdainful of others. Furthermore, such people tend to fly into extreme rages and angry tirades if their search for narcissistic supply either goes unfulfilled or is challenged, resisted, frustrated or ignored in some fashion.
On the one hand, a Narcissistic Personality disordered individual may believe, in a deep fashion, that the manner in which others feel about that person merely reflects the way in which such an individual feels about herself or himself. Ironically, however, the same individual may be intensely envious of others who may be receiving the sort of attention and adulation which that individual feels ought to be directed to her or him.
Not every person who suffers from this disorder may do so to the same degree. In some people, the foregoing symptoms may be sporadic, transient, relatively mild, or only arise in certain circumstances to which the person is currently reacting and, then, disappear when the nature of events changes. In other individuals, the full array of symptoms may be present in an intense, permanent fashion, and such individuals are extremely resistant to palliative treatment.
One dimension of this topic which has been touched upon somewhat, although not in great detail, revolves around the nature of the perpetrator of spiritual abuse. What makes such a person tick? What are the motivations underlying his or her behavior? What is the nature of the pathology?
There are a number of proposals which might be offered in response to such questions. Some spiritual frauds are merely run-of-the-mill con artists who, through one means or another, have come to the realization that operating spiritual scams constitutes a fruitful realm with almost unlimited horizons of potential for an enterprising individual.
Other charlatans may see the realm of spirituality as a fertile medium through which to identify individuals who are vulnerable to being sexually exploited. Or, perhaps, a person’s struggle with his or her nafs or carnal soul went awry, and a desire for fame and/or power began to take control of things, and spiritual seekers merely became a means to satisfy such a person’s corrupted ends.
Some individuals may have started out on the Path with appropriate intentions, but, somewhere along the journey, took a detour into the darker, shadowy side of human potential, and not only became lost, but decided to entangle other people, as well. Historically, there are a number of movements and groups which began when someone who had been associated, in some fashion, with the Sufi tradition, had certain experiences, and, then, as a result of their own interpretation of such events, invented a philosophy, theology, or mystical path which, in turn, was offered and introduced to other people.
Some spiritually abusive people may be socio-pathic. History, circumstances, and personal inclination come together in unhappy alliance and manifest themselves in the form of a wolf who preys on and/or devours her or his flock over a period of time.
I have known, to varying degrees, different people who probably fit into one, or another, of the foregoing, categories. However, when I began to reflect on my own personal situation vis-a-vis the spiritual fraud with whom I became entangled, none of the aforementioned possibilities seemed to really resonate with my experiences, or the experiences of others who were spiritually abused by this individual.
Why did he do what he did? What was really going on?
After giving considerable thought and attention to this matter over the last 8-9 months, there are some tentative conclusions which have begun to surface which feel right – at least to me. Therefore, I thought I would share these reflections with others and let the chips fall where they may.
From one perspective, evil might be construed as anything that deviates, on one level or another, from the truth, and, therefore, in this sense, we all contribute to the introduction of evil into the world through the way in which we resist, rebel against, distort, hide, ignore, obstruct, and seek to undermine truth by means of our behaviors – both individual and collective. This sort of evil arises due to human weakness, short-sightedness, ignorance, error, selfishness, and the like.
There is another form of evil, however, which is more malevolent and pernicious. It exists for the sole purpose of leading people astray from the truth and commits acts intentionally with that goal in mind.
This kind of evil is very cunning, clever, perceptive, and duplicitous. It is always looking for ways to bring misery into the lives of people – not primarily for whatever sexual gratification, money, fame, or power which may be the collateral gain from such ventures – but in order to use the generation of misery as a means to leverage people away from seeking the truth.
There is, within most human beings, a longing for the truth. Some refer to this himma or aspiration as a holy longing – a deep, abiding, intense longing to come in contact with essential, ultimate Reality in an intimate, knowing way.
Human beings have come up with many ways to try to assuage this holy longing. Philosophy, psychology, theology, mythology, science, religion, and mysticism have all arisen in conjunction with this holy longing. Different people have pursued diverse roads in the hope of finding the legendary ‘holy grail’, ‘philosopher’s stone’, ‘alchemical elixir’, ‘golden fleece’ occult secrets, the ‘theory of everything’, a universal set of equations, and altered states of consciousness which would open the doors of perception into the sanctum sanctorum, the holy of holies, of Being.
There exists a force, or set of forces, however, which is (are) actively dedicated to corrupting the aforementioned holy longing. This is the malignant form of evil alluded to earlier.
Some people, such as Scott Peck, refer to this reality through phrases such as “people of the lie”. Others use the term Satan or Iblis. Some individuals talk in terms of a force of dissolution and chaos which flows through existence, tugging at the fabric of being, seeking to unravel life so that acting upon the holy longing becomes difficult, problematic, bogged down, compromised, co-opted, or re-framed in unethical and unjust directions.
The term or name which is used to give expression to this dimension of existence is relatively unimportant, and different perspectives will be inclined to use that term or name which is most compatible with the world-view which is inherent in that perspective. What is important are the themes underlying, swirling about, and being given expression through those forces and phenomena which seek to obstruct or rebel against the seeking of truth.
Many people who have been touched by such evil, abandon the holy longing altogether, and when this occurs, this mode of evil has achieved its purpose. Among other things, the impact of this kind of evil on their lives renders such people incapable of ever trusting anyone sufficiently to seek the kind of help and co-operation which seems vital to achieving progress with respect to struggling toward realizing one’s holy longing.
The man who, for ten years, I referred to as my shaykh or spiritual guide was, and is, a manifestation of the more malignant manner of evil which has been outlined above. He enjoys – indeed, revels – in leading people astray from the truth, and he often accomplishes this in very clever, elaborate, and ‘artful’ ways (this is called: ‘giving the Devil his due’).
There is something about his manner which just makes you want to trust, believe, and accept what he says. The lies are so effortlessly delivered, in such a soft, gentle, re-assuring, peaceful, ‘sincere’, low-key manner.
Moreover, the lies always are delivered in a context steeped in a forked-tongue spirituality which is constructed in such a fashion that the truth is used to camouflage the lies. Consequently, truth becomes like a Trojan horse which hides the army of lies hiding within.
Because he is so knowledgeable about the theory of tasawwuf or Sufi mystical science, and because he is so charismatic, entertaining and articulate, in several languages, with respect to the manner through which he weaves his lies into the truth, one rarely feels the poison enter one’s system. He is a master of misdirection.
The wonder of it is that he can keep all of his lies straight. Yet, even when he slips, he is a marvel to behold and very inventive in the way he uses additional untruths to spin the original lie into the territory of plausible deniability and ambiguity.
I have scoured DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual For Psychological Disorders), looking for possible matches between its many categories of disturbance and the behavior of my ‘once-upon-a-time’ shaykh. Although I am convinced that he serves the dark purposes of the sort of intentional evil which seeks to corrupt the holy longing inherent in human beings, nonetheless, I was interested in seeing whether their might be some less traditional, more modern way of thinking about such behavior –– something which might appeal to the sensibilities of current research.
The only category in DSM-IV which resonated, to some degree, with my experiences, along with those of several other individuals with whom I have conversed in conjunction with this man, was that of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Consequently, in the remainder of this essay I would like to explore a variety of possibilities in this regard and, hopefully, make a few useful contributions along the way.
Perhaps the best way to begin this foray into psychological issues is to state that, in general, there has not been an extensive amount of study in relation to the nature and etiology of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Opinions are fractured along a number of different fault lines –– some theorists favor an approach rooted in the impact which problematic genetic programming has upon personality and development; other researchers opt for perspectives that are immersed in issues of anomic societies, faulty parenting, dysfunctional families of one kind or another, maladaptive coping strategies, and so on.
There is no consensus among the experts. Moreover, there is precious little data to substantiate one model of Narcissistic Personality Disorder over another.
However, the existence of such a theoretical lack of settledness merely represents conceptual opportunity in another guise. And, into this breach I boldly go where no one may have gone before ... and, perhaps, with good reason – let us see.
There are a number of characteristics which need to show up in behavior in order to be able to arrive at a possible diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder in any given case. For example, individuals suffering from this malady tend to be deeply convinced that they are special, unique, rare people who only can be understood and appreciated by others (whether professionals, institutions, or ‘gifted’ people) who also are high-status and special in a similar or related way.
Such individuals have a constant, excessive need for either positive attention, praise, deference, and admiration from other people, or, alternatively, a need to be infamous, feared, or a source of notoriety of some kind. In either case – whether that which is forthcoming from others is in the form of adulation or some kind of fear or condemnation, these emotions constitute what is known as ‘narcissistic supply’, and the Narcissistic Personality disordered individual is constantly seeking to receive such a flow of emotion from others.
This sort of an individual has a very palpable sense of entitlement. In other words, this sort of person strongly feels they should be given priority, special treatment, or favored status in almost all things, and fully expects, if not demands, that everyone else should be inordinately sensitive to their need for obedience and compliance in relation to this sense of entitlement.
Although on the surface there may be remnants of a facade of compassion and empathy for others, in truth, this facade is purely for show – as one ploy, among many, to invite people to satisfy his need for a constant flow of narcissistic supply. In truth, a Narcissistic Personality disordered individual lacks any real empathy or feeling for others and is constantly exploiting them in order to derive further fixes of narcissistic supply, of one kind or another.
A person with this disorder often is arrogant and boastful concerning herself or himself, while being equally disdainful of others. Furthermore, such people tend to fly into extreme rages and angry tirades if their search for narcissistic supply either goes unfulfilled or is challenged, resisted, frustrated or ignored in some fashion.
On the one hand, a Narcissistic Personality disordered individual may believe, in a deep fashion, that the manner in which others feel about that person merely reflects the way in which such an individual feels about herself or himself. Ironically, however, the same individual may be intensely envious of others who may be receiving the sort of attention and adulation which that individual feels ought to be directed to her or him.
Not every person who suffers from this disorder may do so to the same degree. In some people, the foregoing symptoms may be sporadic, transient, relatively mild, or only arise in certain circumstances to which the person is currently reacting and, then, disappear when the nature of events changes. In other individuals, the full array of symptoms may be present in an intense, permanent fashion, and such individuals are extremely resistant to palliative treatment.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Covenant
Many people believe our covenant with God is forged exclusively in this world. From the Sufi perspective, this belief is not completely accurate.
According to practitioners of the Sufi path, our covenant with God first took place prior to our coming into the present physical/material realm of being. What transpires in this world is about whether or not we will honor our original, pre-creational covenant.
Undergoing initiation into a given Sufi Order or taking exoteric religious vows is not a first-time contract between us and God. In a sense, these processes are re-creations of events which, as suggested above, already have occurred.
Initiation is an example of just one of the many things we must do in order to abide by, or to honor, the conditions of the pre-creational undertaking. Such activities both serve to confirm the original covenant as well as help us to work our way toward remembering what we have forgotten.
Sufi masters indicate the original agreement was somewhat like a challenge to our spirits. More specifically, prior to coming into this world, our spirits were asked, in effect, whether we always would recognize God.
Our spirits were asked whether we always would submit to God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would love and cherish God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would obey God.
Our spirits were asked whether we always would remember God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would worship and praise God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would be thankful to God.
According to Sufi masters, everyone who was brought into existence in this world answered: "Yes!", to all of the above. In fact, God only gave physical/material existence to those spirits who answered the challenge in an affirmative fashion.
However, when our spirits were brought into association with our bodies and placed in this world through birth, we became mesmerized by the intense effects of worldly existence on sensation, emotions, and thinking. As a result we quickly forgot: who we are; or, from where we had come; or, to what we had agreed in our original covenant.
As outlined previously, when we become initiated or we take religious vows, supposedly, this constitutes a first step along the path to regaining our spiritual identities and memories. The deep and tragic irony of this step, however, is that no sooner do many of us confirm our original covenant through the process of initiation or the taking of vows, then we start to forget again as we continue to be dominated and preoccupied by the addictive impact of the world on our systems.
Many of us may be skeptical of the idea we have made a covenant with God prior to created existence which we, subsequently, have forgotten. Nevertheless, we should reflect on the fact that the very same thing happens all over again, before our very eyes, in the present world.
In each case, the story is the same. Our addictions to sensations, worldly gratification and the false self have led us to forget our true selves and our covenant with God.
One of the most fundamental struggles confronting our life in this world is to remember not only what we promised to God but to remember the act of promising itself. One of the most basic tasks we must fulfil in the life of this world is to honor our pre-creational covenant.
Like someone who has suffered a massive cerebral stroke, we must undergo a program of rehabilitation in order to regain our spiritual memories and faculties. We must seek out those, such as the Sufi masters, who specialize in the requisite therapeutic procedures.
Slowly, we must be brought to the point where we can recognize God in all things. We must be trained to overcome our spiritual aphasia, as well as to regain the use of our tongues so that, once again, we may praise God continuously.
We must be helped to reactivate our atrophied capacity to love and cherish God. We must be shown how to exercise our muscles so that we may have control over our locomotor system in order to be able to obey God in all things.
We must be given treatment which induces our amnesia to lift so that our remembrance of God may be clear and steady under all circumstances. Our faculties for eternal gratitude and submission to God must be re-educated. We must be given remedial programs which will help bring us up to speed with respect to how we ought to worship God in an unceasing fashion.
We are not doing God any favors by seeking out, and entering into, these kinds of rehabilitation program. God, in fact, is doing us the favor by subsidizing such free clinics and staffing them with individuals who are not only skilled, knowledgeable experts, but who are individuals possessing, by the grace of God, tremendous compassion, patience and love. They have unbelievable bedside manners.
In any event, entering into spiritual rehabilitation programs of the foregoing sort is a matter of personal integrity. We made a covenant with God. We made promises to God. The issue is straightforward: will we honor our word?
God challenged us prior to our coming into material existence. We accepted that challenge. We were given physical existence.
Now, we are being asked by God to put our money, so to speak, where our mouth is. Were we bluffing or were we sincere when we made the original covenant with God? Time will tell.
According to practitioners of the Sufi path, our covenant with God first took place prior to our coming into the present physical/material realm of being. What transpires in this world is about whether or not we will honor our original, pre-creational covenant.
Undergoing initiation into a given Sufi Order or taking exoteric religious vows is not a first-time contract between us and God. In a sense, these processes are re-creations of events which, as suggested above, already have occurred.
Initiation is an example of just one of the many things we must do in order to abide by, or to honor, the conditions of the pre-creational undertaking. Such activities both serve to confirm the original covenant as well as help us to work our way toward remembering what we have forgotten.
Sufi masters indicate the original agreement was somewhat like a challenge to our spirits. More specifically, prior to coming into this world, our spirits were asked, in effect, whether we always would recognize God.
Our spirits were asked whether we always would submit to God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would love and cherish God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would obey God.
Our spirits were asked whether we always would remember God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would worship and praise God. Our spirits were asked whether we always would be thankful to God.
According to Sufi masters, everyone who was brought into existence in this world answered: "Yes!", to all of the above. In fact, God only gave physical/material existence to those spirits who answered the challenge in an affirmative fashion.
However, when our spirits were brought into association with our bodies and placed in this world through birth, we became mesmerized by the intense effects of worldly existence on sensation, emotions, and thinking. As a result we quickly forgot: who we are; or, from where we had come; or, to what we had agreed in our original covenant.
As outlined previously, when we become initiated or we take religious vows, supposedly, this constitutes a first step along the path to regaining our spiritual identities and memories. The deep and tragic irony of this step, however, is that no sooner do many of us confirm our original covenant through the process of initiation or the taking of vows, then we start to forget again as we continue to be dominated and preoccupied by the addictive impact of the world on our systems.
Many of us may be skeptical of the idea we have made a covenant with God prior to created existence which we, subsequently, have forgotten. Nevertheless, we should reflect on the fact that the very same thing happens all over again, before our very eyes, in the present world.
In each case, the story is the same. Our addictions to sensations, worldly gratification and the false self have led us to forget our true selves and our covenant with God.
One of the most fundamental struggles confronting our life in this world is to remember not only what we promised to God but to remember the act of promising itself. One of the most basic tasks we must fulfil in the life of this world is to honor our pre-creational covenant.
Like someone who has suffered a massive cerebral stroke, we must undergo a program of rehabilitation in order to regain our spiritual memories and faculties. We must seek out those, such as the Sufi masters, who specialize in the requisite therapeutic procedures.
Slowly, we must be brought to the point where we can recognize God in all things. We must be trained to overcome our spiritual aphasia, as well as to regain the use of our tongues so that, once again, we may praise God continuously.
We must be helped to reactivate our atrophied capacity to love and cherish God. We must be shown how to exercise our muscles so that we may have control over our locomotor system in order to be able to obey God in all things.
We must be given treatment which induces our amnesia to lift so that our remembrance of God may be clear and steady under all circumstances. Our faculties for eternal gratitude and submission to God must be re-educated. We must be given remedial programs which will help bring us up to speed with respect to how we ought to worship God in an unceasing fashion.
We are not doing God any favors by seeking out, and entering into, these kinds of rehabilitation program. God, in fact, is doing us the favor by subsidizing such free clinics and staffing them with individuals who are not only skilled, knowledgeable experts, but who are individuals possessing, by the grace of God, tremendous compassion, patience and love. They have unbelievable bedside manners.
In any event, entering into spiritual rehabilitation programs of the foregoing sort is a matter of personal integrity. We made a covenant with God. We made promises to God. The issue is straightforward: will we honor our word?
God challenged us prior to our coming into material existence. We accepted that challenge. We were given physical existence.
Now, we are being asked by God to put our money, so to speak, where our mouth is. Were we bluffing or were we sincere when we made the original covenant with God? Time will tell.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Sufi Lighthouse Illuminated . . . Finally!
The Sufi Lighthouse: Illuminating Spiritual Abuse has FINALLY arrived. To those who have preordered, you will be contacted in the next few days to confirm your orders. Thank you for your patience and understanding this fall while we waited for the book to be printed.
To order the book, click on this link: ORDER SUFI LIGHTHOUSE
To order the book, click on this link: ORDER SUFI LIGHTHOUSE
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Ten Differences Between Spirituality and Religion
1.) Religion tends to be heavily preoccupied with the world of concepts. These concepts- whether in the form of theology, dogma, philosophy, or personal interpretation, play fundamental roles in mediating and coloring an individual's understanding of Reality or Divinity.
Spirituality, on the other hand, is preoccupied with the different levels and dimensions of the experience of Reality or Divinity. In other words, spirituality is advocating that one's spiritual experience, at some point, should not be mediated by concepts, theories or interpretations.
Concepts may be acceptable up to a certain point, but the general consensus of the perspective of spirituality is that, ultimately, concepts lead one away from the truth, not toward it. This raises the problem of how one is to go about differentiating between, on the one hand, imagination or fantasy, and, on the other hand, truth or reality, but this is another matter.
2.) Religion often gives emphasis to issues of salvation. As such, one of the key motivations underlying many religious acts involves doing something because that action will help one gain heaven, while simultaneously helping one to avoid projected negative ramifications which come from sins of commission or omission.
Spirituality doesn't deny the metaphysical realities or issues of salvation which are associated with the positive or negative consequences of our actions. The motivational orientation of spirituality, however, is entirely different.
In spirituality, one's motivation should be to do things because of the intimate nature of our essential relationship with Reality or Divinity, and not because of what we might receive as reward or avoid in the way of negative consequences. The emphasis should be on doing things out of love, service, sincere worship and gratitude, rather than as a means to some further, personal end or desire.
In short, religion is about what human beings seek from God. Spirituality is about what God seeks from human beings.
3.) Generally speaking, religion operates on the basis of trying to change people from the outside in. Spirituality concentrates on helping people to change from the inside out.
More specifically, religion is concerned with imposing a doctrinal framework onto the individual. This framework must be internalized in order for the individual to be considered a properly functioning member of the religious collective.
Spirituality is concerned with the realization of one's true identity and essential capacity. Proper intention, thinking, understanding, awareness and activity all flow from a realized inner nature, not internalized external doctrines.
4.) Religion tends to place great emphasis on the exoteric. In other words, one usually is required to perform rituals, irrespective of whether one understands the nature and purpose of those rituals. The important feature is to comply with the ritual and, therefore, conform to the letter of what is perceived to be religious law.
In spirituality, the emphasis is much more on the esoteric dimension of whatever forms of practice one may pursue. One should try to be receptive to the spirit of a practice. One should seek to understand the nature and purpose of such practices, not just conceptually, but experientially.
5.) In religion, faith is, all too frequently, a matter of a blind, static, rigid, narrow acceptance of some belief, value or practice. In spirituality, on the other hand, faith is intended to be a dynamic, living, flexible, continuous growth of one's understanding of the nature of one's relationship with Reality or Divinity.
Religion often equates faith with an emotional or conceptual commitment to a belief system. Spirituality treats faith as a species of knowledge rooted in realizations drawn from personal experience.
6.) Religion often becomes entangled in politics. This is so both within a religious collective as well as in the manner in which a given religion relates to the surrounding world.
Spirituality, by and large, seeks to avoid the political sphere, preferring to contribute to society directly, and, where possible, anonymously. These contributions come through the beneficial effects of moral qualities such as compassion, patience, charitableness, tolerance, kindness, honesty, integrity, forgiveness and so on.
7.) Religion tends to gravitate toward a authoritarian modus operandi in which submission is demanded of individuals. Spirituality, on the other hand, is centered around the command and respect which a person's recognition of the authoritative nature of Truth brings. Submission is freely given.
8.) Generally speaking, religion is governed by rules, whereas, spirituality is governed by principles. In religion, one needs to know what the rules are before one can act, and in the absence of specific rules, one tends to become disoriented. In spirituality, once one understands the principles, one is able to deal appropriately with any situation even if none of the available rules seems to be relevant to the present situation.
9.) In religion, the participation of the individual often revolves primarily around interaction with an institution such as a church, temple, mosque or synagogue. Personal interaction with the leader of that institution tends to be of a secondary nature, if it takes place at all.
In spirituality, on the other hand, participation primarily revolves around one's personal relationship with a teacher or guide. Participation in some kind of institutional activity is of secondary importance, if it occurs at all.
10.) The term "deen" in Islam does not mean religion. Deen refers to those experiential processes which are directed toward helping the individual to realize various dimensions of the essential nature, or fitra, of human spiritual potential.
When Muslims are informed in the Qur'an about God having brought to completion their Deen, it is not a religion which has been completed. Rather, what has been completed is the establilshing of the Divine means, method or way which, God willing, can assist human beings to work toward fulfilling and realizing the purpose and nature of created existence.
Spirituality, on the other hand, is preoccupied with the different levels and dimensions of the experience of Reality or Divinity. In other words, spirituality is advocating that one's spiritual experience, at some point, should not be mediated by concepts, theories or interpretations.
Concepts may be acceptable up to a certain point, but the general consensus of the perspective of spirituality is that, ultimately, concepts lead one away from the truth, not toward it. This raises the problem of how one is to go about differentiating between, on the one hand, imagination or fantasy, and, on the other hand, truth or reality, but this is another matter.
2.) Religion often gives emphasis to issues of salvation. As such, one of the key motivations underlying many religious acts involves doing something because that action will help one gain heaven, while simultaneously helping one to avoid projected negative ramifications which come from sins of commission or omission.
Spirituality doesn't deny the metaphysical realities or issues of salvation which are associated with the positive or negative consequences of our actions. The motivational orientation of spirituality, however, is entirely different.
In spirituality, one's motivation should be to do things because of the intimate nature of our essential relationship with Reality or Divinity, and not because of what we might receive as reward or avoid in the way of negative consequences. The emphasis should be on doing things out of love, service, sincere worship and gratitude, rather than as a means to some further, personal end or desire.
In short, religion is about what human beings seek from God. Spirituality is about what God seeks from human beings.
3.) Generally speaking, religion operates on the basis of trying to change people from the outside in. Spirituality concentrates on helping people to change from the inside out.
More specifically, religion is concerned with imposing a doctrinal framework onto the individual. This framework must be internalized in order for the individual to be considered a properly functioning member of the religious collective.
Spirituality is concerned with the realization of one's true identity and essential capacity. Proper intention, thinking, understanding, awareness and activity all flow from a realized inner nature, not internalized external doctrines.
4.) Religion tends to place great emphasis on the exoteric. In other words, one usually is required to perform rituals, irrespective of whether one understands the nature and purpose of those rituals. The important feature is to comply with the ritual and, therefore, conform to the letter of what is perceived to be religious law.
In spirituality, the emphasis is much more on the esoteric dimension of whatever forms of practice one may pursue. One should try to be receptive to the spirit of a practice. One should seek to understand the nature and purpose of such practices, not just conceptually, but experientially.
5.) In religion, faith is, all too frequently, a matter of a blind, static, rigid, narrow acceptance of some belief, value or practice. In spirituality, on the other hand, faith is intended to be a dynamic, living, flexible, continuous growth of one's understanding of the nature of one's relationship with Reality or Divinity.
Religion often equates faith with an emotional or conceptual commitment to a belief system. Spirituality treats faith as a species of knowledge rooted in realizations drawn from personal experience.
6.) Religion often becomes entangled in politics. This is so both within a religious collective as well as in the manner in which a given religion relates to the surrounding world.
Spirituality, by and large, seeks to avoid the political sphere, preferring to contribute to society directly, and, where possible, anonymously. These contributions come through the beneficial effects of moral qualities such as compassion, patience, charitableness, tolerance, kindness, honesty, integrity, forgiveness and so on.
7.) Religion tends to gravitate toward a authoritarian modus operandi in which submission is demanded of individuals. Spirituality, on the other hand, is centered around the command and respect which a person's recognition of the authoritative nature of Truth brings. Submission is freely given.
8.) Generally speaking, religion is governed by rules, whereas, spirituality is governed by principles. In religion, one needs to know what the rules are before one can act, and in the absence of specific rules, one tends to become disoriented. In spirituality, once one understands the principles, one is able to deal appropriately with any situation even if none of the available rules seems to be relevant to the present situation.
9.) In religion, the participation of the individual often revolves primarily around interaction with an institution such as a church, temple, mosque or synagogue. Personal interaction with the leader of that institution tends to be of a secondary nature, if it takes place at all.
In spirituality, on the other hand, participation primarily revolves around one's personal relationship with a teacher or guide. Participation in some kind of institutional activity is of secondary importance, if it occurs at all.
10.) The term "deen" in Islam does not mean religion. Deen refers to those experiential processes which are directed toward helping the individual to realize various dimensions of the essential nature, or fitra, of human spiritual potential.
When Muslims are informed in the Qur'an about God having brought to completion their Deen, it is not a religion which has been completed. Rather, what has been completed is the establilshing of the Divine means, method or way which, God willing, can assist human beings to work toward fulfilling and realizing the purpose and nature of created existence.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Becoming an Artisan (A Story)
There once lived a person who was sincere skeptic concerning the mystical path. In other words, although this individual was willing to allow for the possibility of truths and realities beyond the sensory, material realms, nevertheless, there were a lot of things concerning spirituality which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him, and over which he puzzled.
For example, he questioned why mysticism seemed to be couched in so much secrecy. Moreover, he didn’t understand why there appeared to be such a hide-and-seek quality to the whole process –- that is, he didn’t understand why the truths of the mystical path just couldn’t be laid out for everyone to see so that those who were interested could obtain what they needed. In addition, he didn’t really see the need for a teacher, or, stated in an alternative way, he wondered why Divinity just didn’t approach people directly through either their rational and/or their spiritual faculties rather than seeming to channel things through a mystical guide.
This man also had a variety of questions about philosophy, government, and science. However, the questions to which he kept returning were the ones he had concerning the mystical path, and these sort of questions seemed, for him, at least, more important than the other questions which preoccupied him from time to time.
Life being what it is, such questions often had to be put aside as he went about trying to earn a living and support his family. In fact, although this person was a hard worker, he had been encountering considerable difficulty finding a steady job because of the condition of the economy.
This person had a college degree, but he preferred working with his hands. Over the years, he had become fairly proficient in a wide variety of skills -– from light carpentry, to electrical work, and, as well, he had a smattering of mechanical abilities.
Since he was a resourceful person, he often was able to scramble sufficiently well to earn enough money to pay rent, purchase food, and buy clothes for his family, but not much more. Nonetheless, through a combination of factors -– among which was the lack of a union card -– he always seemed to be engaged in a financial high wire balancing act in which he worked without a net, and, quite frequently, wondered if the would be able to stretch what little money he had to reach the end of the month.
He had learned to be flexible and adaptable with respect to the jobs he took. Furthermore, he always was looking out for new opportunities -– things that either would allow him to develop additional skills or which might open up new career possibilities that offered more permanent job status.
Currently, he was in between jobs and was scouring the Internet, the newspaper classifieds, and job agencies, looking for work. The only thing which was available involved using his hands -- an apprenticeship position in a pottery shop. The job was located within a reasonable distance from his house.
He called the indicated number, and after several tries, got through to the owner of the shop. She was an elderly woman who was getting too old for certain aspects of her business and was looking for someone who would help her out.
She couldn’t afford to pay much more than minimum wage, but the work would be steady for the foreseeable future, and, as a sort of compensation for the low wages, she was prepared to train the person she hired to become a potter. She even indicated that if she found the right person, she would consider selling the business.
Due, among other things, to an increase in relatively wealthy clientele who, on the one hand, were looking for original works of art, and, who, on the other hand, were searching for certain kinds of pots to use in cooking and baking, the woman’s business was more thriving than it had ever been. People were looking for products of
durability and quality, and they were quite ready to pay good prices for the right sort of pots.
The woman specialized in cooking pots. However, she was an expert craftsperson in all manner of pottery.
After talking with the woman, the man discussed the situation with his wife. He went over the pros and cons of the possibility, and, eventually, they both decided that the job seemed to have considerable potential -- both short-term and long-term.
He phoned the owner of the shop again and said he would like to apply for the job. They arranged to meet the next afternoon, and by the end of the day, he was hired as the woman’s apprentice.
The woman was very meticulous in her training methods, and there was far more to learn than the man originally had suspected. The woman wanted to impress on her newly hired apprentice that there were significant differences between pots which were mass-produced and those which were done in the traditional way. And, so, at the end of the first week, after he had been given enough information which would enable him to make a pot that would be similar in quality to the ones which were mass-produced, she had him fashion several baking pots. The process only took a short time, and when he completed the assignment, she had him set the pots aside, on a storage shelf, as a reminder of his first efforts.
The next day she continued on with his apprenticeship program. After a number of years, he had become quite adept in all facets of making pots, and the owner was quite pleased with his progress.
One day she informed her apprentice that she wanted to retire and, with certain reservations, might be willing to turn the whole business over to him. She knew he was not a wealthy person and said she was prepared to take regular payments for the business until such time as it was completely paid for.
However, before she retired, she wanted to make sure the man really had mastered everything he needed to know about the making of pots. Her shop had developed a considerable reputation, and she didn’t want to see all that hard work go to waste as a result of a decline in the quality of the pots which were sold through the store.
Consequently, she informed him that she wanted to be his first customer, and she commissioned him to make a special cooking pot -– one that was particularly difficult to make because, among other things, it had to impart a certain, precise taste to the foods which were cooked in it. This aspect of taste was very subtle, and if the pot was not made in just the right way, that taste would not be imparted,
even though the pot might be perfectly serviceable in every other respect.
The process for producing such a pot was very complicated and time-consuming. Among other things, not just any kind of clay could be used in making the pot. Furthermore, there were certain natural ingredients that had to be prepared in an exacting manner and which had to be added at precisely the right time during the process, and, finally, the pot had to kept in a kiln for an extended period at a
carefully regulated temperature.
She had taught him everything he needed to know to accomplish the task. Now, however, she wanted to determine if the appropriate lessons had been learned. If he was able to produce the desired pot, then, whatever reservations the woman had about turning the shop over to him would disappear, and she would be able to retire with a
clear conscience.
The man set about making the pot, and nearly six week later, the pot was completed. Now, the quality of the pot had to be tested.
The woman prepared some food to put in the pot. Since she had made more food than the pot could hold, she took several more pots down from the shelf, and filled them, as well. All three pots were covered and placed in the cooking oven.
An hour later, the oven was opened, and the woman set about removing the cooked food. Unfortunately, one of the pots had shattered, although the other two were intact.
After cleaning up the mess from the shattered container, the woman turned her attention to the other two pots. She took several wooden spoons and dipped each spoon into a different pot.
She tasted from the first spoon, and her nose wrinkled. She shook her head in a disapproving manner.
She tasted from the second spoon. A gleam came into her eyes, and her countenance radiated with approval.
Then, she invited her apprentice to dip the two spoons into the respective pots and taste the contents of the spoons as she had done. Upon tasting, the apprentice’s reactions were much as the shop’s owner had been.
The shop owner turned to her former apprentice and said: “The pot which shattered was one of the two you had made when you first came here. It was made in haste and, as a result, was not able to withstand the heat of the oven.
“The pot which yielded the distasteful food was the other pot you made shortly after you first arrived. Although it managed to survive the heat intact, nonetheless, it spoiled the taste of the food because of its poor quality. The average person might not have been able to notice the problem, but a true artisan would have detected the defect and its effect upon the food.
“The pot which contained the very tasty food was the one you just completed, and, I am happy to say it was made perfectly. So, you, obviously, have mastered everything which I tried to teach you, and you are no longer an apprentice, but, now you are an artisan. Furthermore, I see no reason why we can’t go ahead and draw up the
papers for transferring the shop to you.”
The man was very happy with the outcome of things and thanked her for all her help, knowledge, and patience across the years. He was excited and wanted to call his wife and tell her the good news.
The man was about to make the call when the woman stopped him, and said: “There is something more which I have to say to you.” The man put the phone down and waited for her to speak.
She said: “You not only know how to make pots, you also have the answer to some of your questions about the mystical path which you had when you first started working with me.”
The man was rather startled because he had never talked to the woman about such matters. While he was trying to figure out how she knew, she continued on.
“Many of the techniques which I have taught you are secret because if they were to fall into the hands of the wrong people who had little, or no, appreciation for the artistry of pot-making, they would exploit such knowledge by trying to cut corners and, in the process, produce pots which either were not able to withstand the
heat or which imparted an offensive taste to the food. The same is true in mysticism.
“Secondly, just as it took time for you to learn the intricacies of pottery through combining knowledge and an appropriate set of experiences, so, too, it takes time to learn the intricacies of the mystical path. One needs more than information in order to be able to accomplish this -- one also needs the right set of experiences, and,
as well, one needs to work with someone who knows how to utilize those experiences in order to help an apprentice develop a deeper understanding of what is needed to become an artisan.
“And, the former point leads into my final comment. There are many books on pottery which are available in trade stores. You could have read all of those books and still not have understood what you have learned by interacting with me over an extended time. The learning which takes place between an artisan and her or his
apprentice is much different than the learning that occurs when someone reads a book.
“You could not have made the pot you just did merely by reading books. There has been a special chemistry between the two of us which has developed over the years, and it is that chemistry which has found its way into this pot you recently made, and it is that chemistry which an artisan passes on to an apprentice and which transforms the apprentice into an artisan.”
The woman, paused for a moment, and, then, said: “The questions you have had about the realm of spirituality were sincere ones, and Divinity responded to that sincerity by sending you to me. If you are ready and interested, perhaps, I could use my retirement to help you learn about the real purpose of life -– which, by the way, is not to make pots ... even ones of quality. Rather, the making of
quality pots merely represents a worthwhile point of departure.”
For example, he questioned why mysticism seemed to be couched in so much secrecy. Moreover, he didn’t understand why there appeared to be such a hide-and-seek quality to the whole process –- that is, he didn’t understand why the truths of the mystical path just couldn’t be laid out for everyone to see so that those who were interested could obtain what they needed. In addition, he didn’t really see the need for a teacher, or, stated in an alternative way, he wondered why Divinity just didn’t approach people directly through either their rational and/or their spiritual faculties rather than seeming to channel things through a mystical guide.
This man also had a variety of questions about philosophy, government, and science. However, the questions to which he kept returning were the ones he had concerning the mystical path, and these sort of questions seemed, for him, at least, more important than the other questions which preoccupied him from time to time.
Life being what it is, such questions often had to be put aside as he went about trying to earn a living and support his family. In fact, although this person was a hard worker, he had been encountering considerable difficulty finding a steady job because of the condition of the economy.
This person had a college degree, but he preferred working with his hands. Over the years, he had become fairly proficient in a wide variety of skills -– from light carpentry, to electrical work, and, as well, he had a smattering of mechanical abilities.
Since he was a resourceful person, he often was able to scramble sufficiently well to earn enough money to pay rent, purchase food, and buy clothes for his family, but not much more. Nonetheless, through a combination of factors -– among which was the lack of a union card -– he always seemed to be engaged in a financial high wire balancing act in which he worked without a net, and, quite frequently, wondered if the would be able to stretch what little money he had to reach the end of the month.
He had learned to be flexible and adaptable with respect to the jobs he took. Furthermore, he always was looking out for new opportunities -– things that either would allow him to develop additional skills or which might open up new career possibilities that offered more permanent job status.
Currently, he was in between jobs and was scouring the Internet, the newspaper classifieds, and job agencies, looking for work. The only thing which was available involved using his hands -- an apprenticeship position in a pottery shop. The job was located within a reasonable distance from his house.
He called the indicated number, and after several tries, got through to the owner of the shop. She was an elderly woman who was getting too old for certain aspects of her business and was looking for someone who would help her out.
She couldn’t afford to pay much more than minimum wage, but the work would be steady for the foreseeable future, and, as a sort of compensation for the low wages, she was prepared to train the person she hired to become a potter. She even indicated that if she found the right person, she would consider selling the business.
Due, among other things, to an increase in relatively wealthy clientele who, on the one hand, were looking for original works of art, and, who, on the other hand, were searching for certain kinds of pots to use in cooking and baking, the woman’s business was more thriving than it had ever been. People were looking for products of
durability and quality, and they were quite ready to pay good prices for the right sort of pots.
The woman specialized in cooking pots. However, she was an expert craftsperson in all manner of pottery.
After talking with the woman, the man discussed the situation with his wife. He went over the pros and cons of the possibility, and, eventually, they both decided that the job seemed to have considerable potential -- both short-term and long-term.
He phoned the owner of the shop again and said he would like to apply for the job. They arranged to meet the next afternoon, and by the end of the day, he was hired as the woman’s apprentice.
The woman was very meticulous in her training methods, and there was far more to learn than the man originally had suspected. The woman wanted to impress on her newly hired apprentice that there were significant differences between pots which were mass-produced and those which were done in the traditional way. And, so, at the end of the first week, after he had been given enough information which would enable him to make a pot that would be similar in quality to the ones which were mass-produced, she had him fashion several baking pots. The process only took a short time, and when he completed the assignment, she had him set the pots aside, on a storage shelf, as a reminder of his first efforts.
The next day she continued on with his apprenticeship program. After a number of years, he had become quite adept in all facets of making pots, and the owner was quite pleased with his progress.
One day she informed her apprentice that she wanted to retire and, with certain reservations, might be willing to turn the whole business over to him. She knew he was not a wealthy person and said she was prepared to take regular payments for the business until such time as it was completely paid for.
However, before she retired, she wanted to make sure the man really had mastered everything he needed to know about the making of pots. Her shop had developed a considerable reputation, and she didn’t want to see all that hard work go to waste as a result of a decline in the quality of the pots which were sold through the store.
Consequently, she informed him that she wanted to be his first customer, and she commissioned him to make a special cooking pot -– one that was particularly difficult to make because, among other things, it had to impart a certain, precise taste to the foods which were cooked in it. This aspect of taste was very subtle, and if the pot was not made in just the right way, that taste would not be imparted,
even though the pot might be perfectly serviceable in every other respect.
The process for producing such a pot was very complicated and time-consuming. Among other things, not just any kind of clay could be used in making the pot. Furthermore, there were certain natural ingredients that had to be prepared in an exacting manner and which had to be added at precisely the right time during the process, and, finally, the pot had to kept in a kiln for an extended period at a
carefully regulated temperature.
She had taught him everything he needed to know to accomplish the task. Now, however, she wanted to determine if the appropriate lessons had been learned. If he was able to produce the desired pot, then, whatever reservations the woman had about turning the shop over to him would disappear, and she would be able to retire with a
clear conscience.
The man set about making the pot, and nearly six week later, the pot was completed. Now, the quality of the pot had to be tested.
The woman prepared some food to put in the pot. Since she had made more food than the pot could hold, she took several more pots down from the shelf, and filled them, as well. All three pots were covered and placed in the cooking oven.
An hour later, the oven was opened, and the woman set about removing the cooked food. Unfortunately, one of the pots had shattered, although the other two were intact.
After cleaning up the mess from the shattered container, the woman turned her attention to the other two pots. She took several wooden spoons and dipped each spoon into a different pot.
She tasted from the first spoon, and her nose wrinkled. She shook her head in a disapproving manner.
She tasted from the second spoon. A gleam came into her eyes, and her countenance radiated with approval.
Then, she invited her apprentice to dip the two spoons into the respective pots and taste the contents of the spoons as she had done. Upon tasting, the apprentice’s reactions were much as the shop’s owner had been.
The shop owner turned to her former apprentice and said: “The pot which shattered was one of the two you had made when you first came here. It was made in haste and, as a result, was not able to withstand the heat of the oven.
“The pot which yielded the distasteful food was the other pot you made shortly after you first arrived. Although it managed to survive the heat intact, nonetheless, it spoiled the taste of the food because of its poor quality. The average person might not have been able to notice the problem, but a true artisan would have detected the defect and its effect upon the food.
“The pot which contained the very tasty food was the one you just completed, and, I am happy to say it was made perfectly. So, you, obviously, have mastered everything which I tried to teach you, and you are no longer an apprentice, but, now you are an artisan. Furthermore, I see no reason why we can’t go ahead and draw up the
papers for transferring the shop to you.”
The man was very happy with the outcome of things and thanked her for all her help, knowledge, and patience across the years. He was excited and wanted to call his wife and tell her the good news.
The man was about to make the call when the woman stopped him, and said: “There is something more which I have to say to you.” The man put the phone down and waited for her to speak.
She said: “You not only know how to make pots, you also have the answer to some of your questions about the mystical path which you had when you first started working with me.”
The man was rather startled because he had never talked to the woman about such matters. While he was trying to figure out how she knew, she continued on.
“Many of the techniques which I have taught you are secret because if they were to fall into the hands of the wrong people who had little, or no, appreciation for the artistry of pot-making, they would exploit such knowledge by trying to cut corners and, in the process, produce pots which either were not able to withstand the
heat or which imparted an offensive taste to the food. The same is true in mysticism.
“Secondly, just as it took time for you to learn the intricacies of pottery through combining knowledge and an appropriate set of experiences, so, too, it takes time to learn the intricacies of the mystical path. One needs more than information in order to be able to accomplish this -- one also needs the right set of experiences, and,
as well, one needs to work with someone who knows how to utilize those experiences in order to help an apprentice develop a deeper understanding of what is needed to become an artisan.
“And, the former point leads into my final comment. There are many books on pottery which are available in trade stores. You could have read all of those books and still not have understood what you have learned by interacting with me over an extended time. The learning which takes place between an artisan and her or his
apprentice is much different than the learning that occurs when someone reads a book.
“You could not have made the pot you just did merely by reading books. There has been a special chemistry between the two of us which has developed over the years, and it is that chemistry which has found its way into this pot you recently made, and it is that chemistry which an artisan passes on to an apprentice and which transforms the apprentice into an artisan.”
The woman, paused for a moment, and, then, said: “The questions you have had about the realm of spirituality were sincere ones, and Divinity responded to that sincerity by sending you to me. If you are ready and interested, perhaps, I could use my retirement to help you learn about the real purpose of life -– which, by the way, is not to make pots ... even ones of quality. Rather, the making of
quality pots merely represents a worthwhile point of departure.”
Friday, November 11, 2005
Prayer
Prayer has its roots in pre-eternity when the fixed forms of non-existence called out to God to be given created existence. Prayer permeates the realm of spirits in pre-eternity when they responded positively to God's inquiry as to whether or not the spirits acknowledged God as their Lord.
The sound of prayers praising God comes from every corner of created existence - from the smallest sub-atomic particle and even smaller, to the universe and beyond. Every manner of created being has its own unique mode of prayer.
Angels were engaged in prayer before human beings came into created existence. Indeed, there are some angels so engrossed in prayers of praise and glorification of God they are not aware human beings have been created.
Prayer was on the lips of Adam (peace be upon him) when he sought God's forgiveness for his transgression. Prayers seeking Divine guidance, support, deliverance, protection, favor, mercy and compassion have issued forth from the lips of all one hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets and their communities who followed after Adam (peace be upon him).
Saints and ordinary people alike engage in prayer. Each praises God, or seeks from Divinity, according to her or his spiritual understanding, condition, intention and circumstances.
If one sincerely has faith in the reality of prayer, every manner of prayer raises one up to God. If one is absent to oneself in prayer, one becomes present to God.
Some prayers petition God for the satisfaction of material desires. Other prayers seek intercession on behalf of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the lost, the abused, and the wayward.
There are prayers for forgiveness and prayers of thanksgiving. There are prayers of loneliness and prayers of desperation.
Some people pray and ask: "Why?". Others pray and submit without knowing why.
There are prayers of separation. There are prayers of union.
Some people pray with certainty. Others pray with doubts and questions.
There are prayers of the true self. There are prayers of the false self.
Some individuals pray frequently. Others may pray only a few times in their lives.
Prayers are silent and voiced, hymned and chanted. Prayers come standing, sitting, kneeling, lying down and in prostration.
On the Sufi path, different prayers may emerge from different spiritual stations. For example, the prayers of those whom are going through the station of patience may be different from the prayers of those whom are in the station of patience. Alternatively, the prayers of those whom are wayfaring through the station of longing may be different from those who are in the station of gratitude.
The mind prays in one way. The heart prays in, yet, another way. The spirit prays in still another way. and so on.
Each aspect of our being has its own modality of praying. However, the best prayer is when all of these are combined together in a harmonious and united manner. In other words, one's prayer should be with one's whole, body, mind, soul, heart, spirit and essential capacity.
According to practitioners of the Sufi path, we should seek to pray with sincerity and for sincerity. Moreover, we should pray out of humility.
We should pray with the realization we are impoverished and have no resources of our own. We are dependent totally on God's mercy.
We should pray with the understanding there is no power or protection except through God. If we lack such an understanding, we should pray to God to remove our pride and arrogance.
Sufi masters indicate an individual should pray with tears of longing and gratitude and joy and repentance. If we cannot pray in this way, then we should seek this blessing from God.
In addition, we should pray out of renunciation of the world. In other words, all of our prayers should be out of love for, service to, and the pleasure of God.
From the perspective of the Sufi masters, we should pray without ceasing. Our lives should become prayer.
Our prayers should be done with the understanding that God is the trustee of all our affairs. Furthermore, God is the One Who, again and again and again, gives to us independently of whether we have done anything to earn or merit that for which we pray.
Sufi masters maintain we should be constantly seeking the welfare of our parents. Moreover, we should pray for others to receive what we are seeking for ourselves.
We should pray for both believers and non-believers. We should pray to be free of passing judgment on others.
Practitioners of the Sufi path indicate we should pray for the spirits of those who have passed before us. Furthermore, we should pray for the spirits of those who will come after us.
We should pray for the spiritual and material well-being of our families and the members of the community. We should pray for the well-being of the people of all nations and for the well-being of all creation.
Sufi masters indicate we should pray for God to enable us not to waste the precious gift of time. We should pray that, God willing, we do not squander our opportunity to realize our true identity. We should pray to fulfil the purpose of our life.
We should pray for God to show us things as they really are. We should seek release from all our illusions, delusions and spiritual veils.
According to practitioners of the Sufi path, we should pray that whatever enemies we may have become the friends of God. For, if they become the friends of God, then, God willing, they may become a source of blessings for all of humanity, including us.
We should pray our hearts become purified. We should pray our spirits become perfected.
Sufi masters advocate we pray that God permit us to overcome our spiritual weakness, rebelliousness, forgetfulness, and heedlessness. Furthermore, we should pray for God to forgive us our transgressions of omission and commission, both in relation to those transgressions of which we are aware as well as to those of which we are not aware.
We should pray for God to increase us in remembrance of Divinity. Moreover, we should pray for God to color us with the lights of Divinity.
The masters of the Sufi way urge us to never stop praying to God. We should never despair of God's mercy and generosity.
On the other hand, we should pray to God for patience while our affairs are being arranged in accordance with Divine will. We also should pray to God for submission and acceptance with respect to the Divine disposition of our affairs.
According to Sufi masters, we should pray that God fills our being with love of Divinity. Furthermore, we should pray that God permits us to express our love by, among other things, fulfilling our duties of care in relation to creation.
We should pray to God for us to become instruments of justice and not injustice. In addition, we should pray to God that we live a life of spiritual nobility and not ignominy.
Sufi masters encourage us to pray for God to increase us in levels of faith and spiritual understanding. Also, we should pray to God to be permitted to learn how to embrace sacrifice as a way of life so that we may, God willing, act in accordance with our spiritual understanding.
We should pray for God to teach us how to derive spiritual benefit from the trials and difficulties of our lives. Moreover, we should pray to God with gratitude for the countless blessings which have been conferred on us throughout our lives.
We should pray we come to worship and cherish God with every dimension of our being. In addition, we should pray that we return to our spiritual origins, both pleased with, and pleasing to, God.
The Sufi master of all Sufi masters has said we should pray to God as if we could see the Divine. However, even if we are not able to achieve this level of prayer, nonetheless, we should pray with the certainty that God sees us.
The sound of prayers praising God comes from every corner of created existence - from the smallest sub-atomic particle and even smaller, to the universe and beyond. Every manner of created being has its own unique mode of prayer.
Angels were engaged in prayer before human beings came into created existence. Indeed, there are some angels so engrossed in prayers of praise and glorification of God they are not aware human beings have been created.
Prayer was on the lips of Adam (peace be upon him) when he sought God's forgiveness for his transgression. Prayers seeking Divine guidance, support, deliverance, protection, favor, mercy and compassion have issued forth from the lips of all one hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets and their communities who followed after Adam (peace be upon him).
Saints and ordinary people alike engage in prayer. Each praises God, or seeks from Divinity, according to her or his spiritual understanding, condition, intention and circumstances.
If one sincerely has faith in the reality of prayer, every manner of prayer raises one up to God. If one is absent to oneself in prayer, one becomes present to God.
Some prayers petition God for the satisfaction of material desires. Other prayers seek intercession on behalf of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the lost, the abused, and the wayward.
There are prayers for forgiveness and prayers of thanksgiving. There are prayers of loneliness and prayers of desperation.
Some people pray and ask: "Why?". Others pray and submit without knowing why.
There are prayers of separation. There are prayers of union.
Some people pray with certainty. Others pray with doubts and questions.
There are prayers of the true self. There are prayers of the false self.
Some individuals pray frequently. Others may pray only a few times in their lives.
Prayers are silent and voiced, hymned and chanted. Prayers come standing, sitting, kneeling, lying down and in prostration.
On the Sufi path, different prayers may emerge from different spiritual stations. For example, the prayers of those whom are going through the station of patience may be different from the prayers of those whom are in the station of patience. Alternatively, the prayers of those whom are wayfaring through the station of longing may be different from those who are in the station of gratitude.
The mind prays in one way. The heart prays in, yet, another way. The spirit prays in still another way. and so on.
Each aspect of our being has its own modality of praying. However, the best prayer is when all of these are combined together in a harmonious and united manner. In other words, one's prayer should be with one's whole, body, mind, soul, heart, spirit and essential capacity.
According to practitioners of the Sufi path, we should seek to pray with sincerity and for sincerity. Moreover, we should pray out of humility.
We should pray with the realization we are impoverished and have no resources of our own. We are dependent totally on God's mercy.
We should pray with the understanding there is no power or protection except through God. If we lack such an understanding, we should pray to God to remove our pride and arrogance.
Sufi masters indicate an individual should pray with tears of longing and gratitude and joy and repentance. If we cannot pray in this way, then we should seek this blessing from God.
In addition, we should pray out of renunciation of the world. In other words, all of our prayers should be out of love for, service to, and the pleasure of God.
From the perspective of the Sufi masters, we should pray without ceasing. Our lives should become prayer.
Our prayers should be done with the understanding that God is the trustee of all our affairs. Furthermore, God is the One Who, again and again and again, gives to us independently of whether we have done anything to earn or merit that for which we pray.
Sufi masters maintain we should be constantly seeking the welfare of our parents. Moreover, we should pray for others to receive what we are seeking for ourselves.
We should pray for both believers and non-believers. We should pray to be free of passing judgment on others.
Practitioners of the Sufi path indicate we should pray for the spirits of those who have passed before us. Furthermore, we should pray for the spirits of those who will come after us.
We should pray for the spiritual and material well-being of our families and the members of the community. We should pray for the well-being of the people of all nations and for the well-being of all creation.
Sufi masters indicate we should pray for God to enable us not to waste the precious gift of time. We should pray that, God willing, we do not squander our opportunity to realize our true identity. We should pray to fulfil the purpose of our life.
We should pray for God to show us things as they really are. We should seek release from all our illusions, delusions and spiritual veils.
According to practitioners of the Sufi path, we should pray that whatever enemies we may have become the friends of God. For, if they become the friends of God, then, God willing, they may become a source of blessings for all of humanity, including us.
We should pray our hearts become purified. We should pray our spirits become perfected.
Sufi masters advocate we pray that God permit us to overcome our spiritual weakness, rebelliousness, forgetfulness, and heedlessness. Furthermore, we should pray for God to forgive us our transgressions of omission and commission, both in relation to those transgressions of which we are aware as well as to those of which we are not aware.
We should pray for God to increase us in remembrance of Divinity. Moreover, we should pray for God to color us with the lights of Divinity.
The masters of the Sufi way urge us to never stop praying to God. We should never despair of God's mercy and generosity.
On the other hand, we should pray to God for patience while our affairs are being arranged in accordance with Divine will. We also should pray to God for submission and acceptance with respect to the Divine disposition of our affairs.
According to Sufi masters, we should pray that God fills our being with love of Divinity. Furthermore, we should pray that God permits us to express our love by, among other things, fulfilling our duties of care in relation to creation.
We should pray to God for us to become instruments of justice and not injustice. In addition, we should pray to God that we live a life of spiritual nobility and not ignominy.
Sufi masters encourage us to pray for God to increase us in levels of faith and spiritual understanding. Also, we should pray to God to be permitted to learn how to embrace sacrifice as a way of life so that we may, God willing, act in accordance with our spiritual understanding.
We should pray for God to teach us how to derive spiritual benefit from the trials and difficulties of our lives. Moreover, we should pray to God with gratitude for the countless blessings which have been conferred on us throughout our lives.
We should pray we come to worship and cherish God with every dimension of our being. In addition, we should pray that we return to our spiritual origins, both pleased with, and pleasing to, God.
The Sufi master of all Sufi masters has said we should pray to God as if we could see the Divine. However, even if we are not able to achieve this level of prayer, nonetheless, we should pray with the certainty that God sees us.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Blessings
Which is it, of the favors of your Lord, that you and you deny? - [The Qur'an 55:13]
__________________________
Never has so much been given to so many with less gratitude and appreciation. Never has so much been owed by so many to just One.
The former statement is not about modern pro athletes. The latter statement is not about the bank of one's choice. Both declarations are about the status of our collective relationships with God.
Like some Dickensonian character, we stand before God with bowls in hand pleading: "Please, Sir, we want more." No sooner do we receive, then we forget from Whence and from Whom it came.
We may even return to our respective groups with whatever has been placed in our bowl and boast about how through our: intelligence, cleverness, artistry, strength of character and, we might add, at some risk to our person, we have succeeded where others have failed. The tendency to try to take credit for that which is not our doing is part of the nature of being human.
Even without our asking, the blessings which God is constantly bestowing on us are so numerous that they cannot be counted. Sometimes, however, we become confused and limit what is, to what we experience sensorially or to what we permit into our awareness. As a result, we impose limitations on God's generosity and kindness concerning us due to the insensitivity of our instruments of apperception.
Medical practitioners have said one of the puzzles in need of explanation is not how we become ill but, rather, how we stay healthy. Within us, and on us, at any given moment, are an armada of viruses and bacteria constantly probing our immune systems for weaknesses.
How many times a day, or how many times in an hour or minute, are these probes and attacks repelled by our biological defenses? No one in medicine knows. No one in science has even a remotely informed guess.
Some say the difference between health and illness under such conditions is a function of: a balanced diet; a sufficient amount of the right kind of exercise; limiting, if not discontinuing, our intake of alcohol and tobacco; a stable emotional life; proper periods of sleep, and regular medical check-ups. Indeed, studies have been done which show a strong correlation between all of the foregoing factors and health maintenance.
However, with all due respect to the health industry, if the above recommendations were the entire story, most of us would be dead or in chronic care units. This is so because most of us don't run our life styles in accordance with what health care providers are advocating.
Our failure to heed the warnings is neither here nor there. We pays our money, and we takes our chances.
The issue being addressed here is that in most cases neither medicine nor science has been able to show a causal relationship between the absence of good health care practices and either illness in general or particular kinds of illness. The links are all correlational and statistical in nature.
Discussions are couched in terms of risk factors, statistical trends, epidemiological patterns, morbidity tables, prognosis and so on. No one can say what will happen to any specific individual, but what does happen to any given individual often, although not always, can be made sense of in terms of medical research and clinical experience.
The reason health care findings are largely correlational in nature is because the confluence of factors which lead to illness are too complex in their permutations and combinations for us to be able to reduce them to some nice, simple causal equation or principle. Our knowledge of how everything fits together is, despite all the advances which have been made in the last several hundred years, too meager.
God works both through what we know, as well as through what we don't know. Moreover, sometimes what we know-or think we know - blinds us to what we don't know, and since what we don't know is far more than what we do know, there is a potential for considerable blindness on our parts.
Without wishing to discount anything the health sciences have discovered, Sufi masters understand, in a very direct manner, that both health and illness come from God. God can keep people healthy, despite the presence of contra-indications in that person's life style.
Similarly, God can bring about illness, despite the fact the individual may be abiding by all the appropriate health care rules. Go figure.
Every second of health is, ultimately, a blessing of God. Every time our hearts beat, every moment we breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, every second blood flows through our arteries and veins, every instance in which the billions of cells in our bodies perform their assigned functions in a problem-free manner, we receive uncountable blessings from God.
On the other hand, from the perspective of the Sufi masters, illness can be as big a blessing, if not greater, than the blessing of good health. When we experience the pain and enervation of illness, we feel vulnerable and fragile. Consequently, we may be more open to humility than might be the case when we are healthy and have convinced ourselves we are beyond the grasp of God's will.
When our health fails, we sometimes understand, more clearly than in health, how little control we actually have over the affairs of life. As a result, when we are ill, there may be more of a sense of ourselves as dependent beings rather than independent creatures.
When our bodies are subdued by disease, we sometimes become more cognizant of the emotional and spiritual illnesses which have been ravaging our lives even when our bodies were healthy. Whatever problems are created by the disease process, opportunities for reflection are generated as well through the down-time created by the debilitating character of the illness.
Sufi masters have indicated that the spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical condition of the ill is conducive to drawing closer to God. Furthermore, the practitioners of the Sufi path have affirmed that God listens even more closely to the plaintive cries of the ill than to the entreaties of the healthy.
Illness is not necessarily a punishment. However, the rigors of illness may be necessary for the spiritual development of the individual. To contend with the infirmities, weaknesses, sufferings and humiliations of illness, is a struggle because these are all affronts to the ego which has a very high opinion of itself.
Yet, every struggle is also an opportunity to overcome our arrogance, pride and hardness of heart. Illness is an opportunity to repent. This is so simply because we are too weak to continue feeding energy to the parasitic ego which, during health, has been resisting the idea we have anything for which to repent.
The Sufi masters have noted how, sometimes, illness is the modality God has chosen to confer grace and blessings on the individual. In exchange for the individual's pain, suffering, and discomfort, the person is given gifts, of one sort of another, which may come to fruition later in this life, or in the life to come, or in both. God can give wages of grace for many types of work, effort, struggle and sacrifice.
Illness can be the means of bringing people together. Illness can be a way of taking one out of action temporarily so that some even greater trial or difficulty may be avoided.
Illness may serve to push one in new, better directions with respect to family, friends or the community. Illness may be the catalytic agent which helps bring about constructive transformations in attitude, intention or behavior.
In view of the foregoing, one might mention something to the effect that illness can be a blessing in disguise. In point of fact, however, our whole life is a multifaceted blessing in disguise to which, unfortunately, we have become inured.
As a result, we have a tendency to be a thankless, graceless lot who are always seeking to renegotiate our contract with God no matter how poorly we have performed previously. Furthermore, somehow we frequently operate under the misapprehension that because we may have been associated, in some way, with one, or more, positive deeds at some point in our past, therefore, God ought to be indebted to us.
In reality, the opposite is the case. Eternally, we ought to be indebted to God for permitting us to be associated, in even a minor way, with deeds which are the future source of, as well as give present expression to, blessings from God.
__________________________
Never has so much been given to so many with less gratitude and appreciation. Never has so much been owed by so many to just One.
The former statement is not about modern pro athletes. The latter statement is not about the bank of one's choice. Both declarations are about the status of our collective relationships with God.
Like some Dickensonian character, we stand before God with bowls in hand pleading: "Please, Sir, we want more." No sooner do we receive, then we forget from Whence and from Whom it came.
We may even return to our respective groups with whatever has been placed in our bowl and boast about how through our: intelligence, cleverness, artistry, strength of character and, we might add, at some risk to our person, we have succeeded where others have failed. The tendency to try to take credit for that which is not our doing is part of the nature of being human.
Even without our asking, the blessings which God is constantly bestowing on us are so numerous that they cannot be counted. Sometimes, however, we become confused and limit what is, to what we experience sensorially or to what we permit into our awareness. As a result, we impose limitations on God's generosity and kindness concerning us due to the insensitivity of our instruments of apperception.
Medical practitioners have said one of the puzzles in need of explanation is not how we become ill but, rather, how we stay healthy. Within us, and on us, at any given moment, are an armada of viruses and bacteria constantly probing our immune systems for weaknesses.
How many times a day, or how many times in an hour or minute, are these probes and attacks repelled by our biological defenses? No one in medicine knows. No one in science has even a remotely informed guess.
Some say the difference between health and illness under such conditions is a function of: a balanced diet; a sufficient amount of the right kind of exercise; limiting, if not discontinuing, our intake of alcohol and tobacco; a stable emotional life; proper periods of sleep, and regular medical check-ups. Indeed, studies have been done which show a strong correlation between all of the foregoing factors and health maintenance.
However, with all due respect to the health industry, if the above recommendations were the entire story, most of us would be dead or in chronic care units. This is so because most of us don't run our life styles in accordance with what health care providers are advocating.
Our failure to heed the warnings is neither here nor there. We pays our money, and we takes our chances.
The issue being addressed here is that in most cases neither medicine nor science has been able to show a causal relationship between the absence of good health care practices and either illness in general or particular kinds of illness. The links are all correlational and statistical in nature.
Discussions are couched in terms of risk factors, statistical trends, epidemiological patterns, morbidity tables, prognosis and so on. No one can say what will happen to any specific individual, but what does happen to any given individual often, although not always, can be made sense of in terms of medical research and clinical experience.
The reason health care findings are largely correlational in nature is because the confluence of factors which lead to illness are too complex in their permutations and combinations for us to be able to reduce them to some nice, simple causal equation or principle. Our knowledge of how everything fits together is, despite all the advances which have been made in the last several hundred years, too meager.
God works both through what we know, as well as through what we don't know. Moreover, sometimes what we know-or think we know - blinds us to what we don't know, and since what we don't know is far more than what we do know, there is a potential for considerable blindness on our parts.
Without wishing to discount anything the health sciences have discovered, Sufi masters understand, in a very direct manner, that both health and illness come from God. God can keep people healthy, despite the presence of contra-indications in that person's life style.
Similarly, God can bring about illness, despite the fact the individual may be abiding by all the appropriate health care rules. Go figure.
Every second of health is, ultimately, a blessing of God. Every time our hearts beat, every moment we breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, every second blood flows through our arteries and veins, every instance in which the billions of cells in our bodies perform their assigned functions in a problem-free manner, we receive uncountable blessings from God.
On the other hand, from the perspective of the Sufi masters, illness can be as big a blessing, if not greater, than the blessing of good health. When we experience the pain and enervation of illness, we feel vulnerable and fragile. Consequently, we may be more open to humility than might be the case when we are healthy and have convinced ourselves we are beyond the grasp of God's will.
When our health fails, we sometimes understand, more clearly than in health, how little control we actually have over the affairs of life. As a result, when we are ill, there may be more of a sense of ourselves as dependent beings rather than independent creatures.
When our bodies are subdued by disease, we sometimes become more cognizant of the emotional and spiritual illnesses which have been ravaging our lives even when our bodies were healthy. Whatever problems are created by the disease process, opportunities for reflection are generated as well through the down-time created by the debilitating character of the illness.
Sufi masters have indicated that the spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical condition of the ill is conducive to drawing closer to God. Furthermore, the practitioners of the Sufi path have affirmed that God listens even more closely to the plaintive cries of the ill than to the entreaties of the healthy.
Illness is not necessarily a punishment. However, the rigors of illness may be necessary for the spiritual development of the individual. To contend with the infirmities, weaknesses, sufferings and humiliations of illness, is a struggle because these are all affronts to the ego which has a very high opinion of itself.
Yet, every struggle is also an opportunity to overcome our arrogance, pride and hardness of heart. Illness is an opportunity to repent. This is so simply because we are too weak to continue feeding energy to the parasitic ego which, during health, has been resisting the idea we have anything for which to repent.
The Sufi masters have noted how, sometimes, illness is the modality God has chosen to confer grace and blessings on the individual. In exchange for the individual's pain, suffering, and discomfort, the person is given gifts, of one sort of another, which may come to fruition later in this life, or in the life to come, or in both. God can give wages of grace for many types of work, effort, struggle and sacrifice.
Illness can be the means of bringing people together. Illness can be a way of taking one out of action temporarily so that some even greater trial or difficulty may be avoided.
Illness may serve to push one in new, better directions with respect to family, friends or the community. Illness may be the catalytic agent which helps bring about constructive transformations in attitude, intention or behavior.
In view of the foregoing, one might mention something to the effect that illness can be a blessing in disguise. In point of fact, however, our whole life is a multifaceted blessing in disguise to which, unfortunately, we have become inured.
As a result, we have a tendency to be a thankless, graceless lot who are always seeking to renegotiate our contract with God no matter how poorly we have performed previously. Furthermore, somehow we frequently operate under the misapprehension that because we may have been associated, in some way, with one, or more, positive deeds at some point in our past, therefore, God ought to be indebted to us.
In reality, the opposite is the case. Eternally, we ought to be indebted to God for permitting us to be associated, in even a minor way, with deeds which are the future source of, as well as give present expression to, blessings from God.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
The Gift
Earlier, a gift was given to me.
Beautiful, fragile ... but a mystery
Whose nature and purpose I did not see.
Its delicate features gave off a strange light
As if powered deep from within - a bright
Glow that illumined the surrounding night.
Mesmerized by its possibilities,
Awareness parted like ancient Red Seas
As, suddenly, it seemed to question me.
"Do you know who I am or why I'm here?"
Embarrassed, perplexed, and beset by fear,
My soul was in chaos.... I strained to hear.
Yet, nothing was spoken - instead I heard
Thoughts thundering across my heart - like herds
Of unicorns - unique, unreal, absurd.
First, 'faith', 'love' and, then, 'generosity'
Arose within, followed by 'empathy',
'Acceptance', 'openness', and 'simplicity'.
'Forgiveness' appeared, 'humility' too;
'Friendship', 'trust, 'peace' - each second, something new;
'Honesty', 'purity'... the thoughts ran true ...
'Strength', 'nobility', and 'integrity'
Passed by - then, a quiet came that was eerie...
The thoughts had stopped, but I did not feel free.
What value should be assigned to this event?
Did the fleeting visit mark my descent
Into madness, or was something else meant?
Reflections ceased when the gift seemed to speak:
"You don't recall me? Perhaps you're too weak
From that game with yourself called hide-and-seek".
"Or, maybe memory has been dulled by
Years of worldly seduction ... just one lie
After another ... 'til its time to die."
"You have needed my help every day
Of life, but there are others you obey.
So, alas, you have lost touch with my way."
"I am the portal through which you must go
To reach the truth of your being - to know
Who, in essence, you are. I'm not your foe."
"Yet, you resist and ignore my presence.
Those thoughts heard within your heart are my scents...
Reminders from God....I'm your innocence."
Beautiful, fragile ... but a mystery
Whose nature and purpose I did not see.
Its delicate features gave off a strange light
As if powered deep from within - a bright
Glow that illumined the surrounding night.
Mesmerized by its possibilities,
Awareness parted like ancient Red Seas
As, suddenly, it seemed to question me.
"Do you know who I am or why I'm here?"
Embarrassed, perplexed, and beset by fear,
My soul was in chaos.... I strained to hear.
Yet, nothing was spoken - instead I heard
Thoughts thundering across my heart - like herds
Of unicorns - unique, unreal, absurd.
First, 'faith', 'love' and, then, 'generosity'
Arose within, followed by 'empathy',
'Acceptance', 'openness', and 'simplicity'.
'Forgiveness' appeared, 'humility' too;
'Friendship', 'trust, 'peace' - each second, something new;
'Honesty', 'purity'... the thoughts ran true ...
'Strength', 'nobility', and 'integrity'
Passed by - then, a quiet came that was eerie...
The thoughts had stopped, but I did not feel free.
What value should be assigned to this event?
Did the fleeting visit mark my descent
Into madness, or was something else meant?
Reflections ceased when the gift seemed to speak:
"You don't recall me? Perhaps you're too weak
From that game with yourself called hide-and-seek".
"Or, maybe memory has been dulled by
Years of worldly seduction ... just one lie
After another ... 'til its time to die."
"You have needed my help every day
Of life, but there are others you obey.
So, alas, you have lost touch with my way."
"I am the portal through which you must go
To reach the truth of your being - to know
Who, in essence, you are. I'm not your foe."
"Yet, you resist and ignore my presence.
Those thoughts heard within your heart are my scents...
Reminders from God....I'm your innocence."
Saturday, November 05, 2005
The Snake Charmer -- A Story
There was a certain boy living in a village who once had gone to
a carnival where one of the attractions was a snake charmer. This snake charmer showed the audience a great time by inducing the snakes in his charge to do all manner of amazing feats. In fact, the tricks were so incredible that they appeared to border on acts of magic rather than some form of animal magnetism.
The young boy was completely enthralled with the show put on by the snake charmer and from that moment on wished to become the world's greatest tamer of snakes. Consequently, after the performance was over, the boy approached the snake charmer, who was quite old, with a proposition.
The boy said: "Sir, I have greatly admired your demonstration of skills during the show, and I would like you to teach me the secrets of your profession. I mean no disrespect, but, sir, you are advanced in years, and I have inquired about you. Among other things my investigation has uncovered that you are without any family, and, when I discovered this latter fact, I thought that, perhaps, you might be willing to pass on your knowledge to me if I promised to work for you during my period of apprenticeship.
"I am an orphan who has been living in the stables, doing whatever odd jobs are available to earn my keep. So, you see, there really is nothing tying me to this town, and if I must work for someone, I would just as soon be in your employment while I learn a trade in which I am deeply interested."
The old man smiled when he heard the boys words and replied: "I long have been looking for someone to whom I might pass on whatever little I know about the charming of snakes. I always had hoped that I might have a son or daughter to whom I could bequeath this knowledge, but, unfortunately, marriage and children have passed me by, yet, now, it seems we both are in need of one another, and, therefore, I accept your proposition."
For many years, the two traveled together, sometimes putting on their shows as independent tradesmen, and sometimes doing so in conjunction with carnivals that wandered from location to location. During these years, the two became very close and developed great affection for each other, the man serving as the father the boy never knew, and the boy being the son the man never had.
The man's knowledge about the charming of snakes was extensive. Nonetheless, the boy was very astute and paid close attention to everything the older man said and did. As a result, gradually, the boy absorbed every lesson his teacher had to offer.
In fact, the boy's interest in, and aptitude for, this profession was such that he began to excel his mentor in many ways. The old man could not have been happier if the boy were his own son.
More and more, the old man gave the boy, who was now a young man, top billing and was content to just do a few snake charming tricks here and there during the show. He preferred to watch his student go about the process of charming snakes for the young man was so skillful and graceful at his trade that the older man was filled
with pride and gratitude for having had the opportunity to pass on his knowledge to someone, as well as to have had such enjoyable, devoted company for the last decade.
Eventually, the young man became known far and wide as the greatest snake charmer in the world. The boyhood wish had been realized.
Soon, thereafter, the old man passed away. This greatly saddened the young man, but he was determined to keep the promise he had made to his teacher just prior to the latter's death.
More specifically, the young man had promised his teacher that he would not rest on his own already considerable laurels, and the young man would continue to learn all he could about the charming of snakes. As a result, the young man traveled far and wide, not only putting on exciting and amazing exhibitions of snake charming, but,
also, always looking for opportunities to enhance his knowledge and skills.
In one location, where the young man was conducting a number of number of shows, he happened to hear about some man who was described as being an individual of deep knowledge and wisdom. The young man decided to seek out this man of wisdom and see whether, or not, this person, about whom he had heard such wondrous tales, might be able to add to the young man's skills and knowledge in the area of charming snakes.
After chasing down a few leads, the young man finally discovered the whereabouts of the alleged wise man's residence. Next, he sought an audience with the man and was very happy when this was granted. The young man was told to return the next day at
noontime for some lunch.
The young man was so filled with the excitement of anticipation he hardly could sleep the whole night. For some unknown reason, the young man felt he might obtain some information or understanding during his meeting with the wise man that would help bring his skills to the perfection he long had sought.
The following day, at precisely noon, the young man knocked on the door of the indicated house. The door opened and the young man was escorted into a study where he was received by a friendly looking gentleman who was, maybe, ten years, or so, older than the snake charmer.
After exchanging pleasantries and a few pieces of life history, while eating a lunch which had been prepared, the slightly older man said: "I have gathered from some of my friends that you are billed as the World's Greatest Snake Charmer. Is that correct?"
The young man was proud of his skills but he also had some humility and, therefore, replied: "Well, I don?t know about being the world's greatest snake charmer, but in all my travels I have not come across anyone or heard of anyone who surpasses the knowledge which has been given to me by my teacher and which I have been able to augment with my own studies."
The host smiled and nodded his head approvingly. He said: "Do you think you could provide me with a demonstration, for, I must admit to not having witnessed such things in my life, and I would be grateful to you for filling in one of the many holes which populate my experience."
The snake charmer was somewhat hesitant and responded: "Well, I would love to comply with your kind request, but I don't have any snakes with me, and rather than merely use the snakes which I use in my show, perhaps, I should go out into the forest and obtain some truly wild snakes. This general region is rather infamous for the many species of poisonous snakes which inhabit the area, and I am sure that with a little effort, I could supply us with some useful specimens with which to demonstrate something of the nature of my profession."
The host accepted this idea, and the two agreed to meet the next morning at nine o'clock. So, the young man went off in search of the biggest and most poisonous snakes he could find.
For whatever reason, the young man had some difficulty in finding the species and size of snakes he would have preferred. Nonetheless, he was able to get a fair variety before nightfall, and he took his catch back to his lodging and prepared for his visit the next day.
When morning arrived, the young man collected together all he would need to provide a demonstration of his skills and knowledge. He, then, proceeded to return to the older man's residence at the appointed time.
Once, again, he was warmly received. After a brief conversation, while drinking tea, the older man asked: "Are you ready to give your demonstration? Should we adjoin to the patio, or can you do things right here?"
The snake charmer indicated: "Here is fine, unless, of course, you may have fears of some of these poisonous snakes escaping into your house."
The older man laughed and replied: "If you feel safe from them, then, I also feel safe from them. So, please, proceed."
The young man began to go about his trade. He went through his whole repertoire, and even added a few, new tricks which he had been working on recently.
After he was done, he placed all the snakes in protective baskets. After completing these tasks, he sat down.
The older man began: "Well, I am quite impressed with your skills, but, you know, I couldn't help noticing that the snakes you used were not all that big, and I also noticed that some of the region's more poisonous varieties were missing from the snakes with which you were working. Does it make any difference how big the snakes
are or how poisonous they are? Could you still charm them?"
The young man apologized and agreed with the older man that, yes, the snakes which had been used were not all that big and, yes, he had been hoping to find some particularly dangerous snakes, but due to time constraints had to cut his expedition of the previous evening short. He added, however: "In answer to your questions, neither the size of a snake, nor the virulence of its poison, makes any difference.
I would be able to charm any snake you might care to show me."
The older man considered the young man's reply and, then, said in a very loving way: "Well, let me tell you about a snake whose venom is so poisonous and whose size is so large that if you are able to tame that snake, you will be a real sage, and that snake is the ego."
a carnival where one of the attractions was a snake charmer. This snake charmer showed the audience a great time by inducing the snakes in his charge to do all manner of amazing feats. In fact, the tricks were so incredible that they appeared to border on acts of magic rather than some form of animal magnetism.
The young boy was completely enthralled with the show put on by the snake charmer and from that moment on wished to become the world's greatest tamer of snakes. Consequently, after the performance was over, the boy approached the snake charmer, who was quite old, with a proposition.
The boy said: "Sir, I have greatly admired your demonstration of skills during the show, and I would like you to teach me the secrets of your profession. I mean no disrespect, but, sir, you are advanced in years, and I have inquired about you. Among other things my investigation has uncovered that you are without any family, and, when I discovered this latter fact, I thought that, perhaps, you might be willing to pass on your knowledge to me if I promised to work for you during my period of apprenticeship.
"I am an orphan who has been living in the stables, doing whatever odd jobs are available to earn my keep. So, you see, there really is nothing tying me to this town, and if I must work for someone, I would just as soon be in your employment while I learn a trade in which I am deeply interested."
The old man smiled when he heard the boys words and replied: "I long have been looking for someone to whom I might pass on whatever little I know about the charming of snakes. I always had hoped that I might have a son or daughter to whom I could bequeath this knowledge, but, unfortunately, marriage and children have passed me by, yet, now, it seems we both are in need of one another, and, therefore, I accept your proposition."
For many years, the two traveled together, sometimes putting on their shows as independent tradesmen, and sometimes doing so in conjunction with carnivals that wandered from location to location. During these years, the two became very close and developed great affection for each other, the man serving as the father the boy never knew, and the boy being the son the man never had.
The man's knowledge about the charming of snakes was extensive. Nonetheless, the boy was very astute and paid close attention to everything the older man said and did. As a result, gradually, the boy absorbed every lesson his teacher had to offer.
In fact, the boy's interest in, and aptitude for, this profession was such that he began to excel his mentor in many ways. The old man could not have been happier if the boy were his own son.
More and more, the old man gave the boy, who was now a young man, top billing and was content to just do a few snake charming tricks here and there during the show. He preferred to watch his student go about the process of charming snakes for the young man was so skillful and graceful at his trade that the older man was filled
with pride and gratitude for having had the opportunity to pass on his knowledge to someone, as well as to have had such enjoyable, devoted company for the last decade.
Eventually, the young man became known far and wide as the greatest snake charmer in the world. The boyhood wish had been realized.
Soon, thereafter, the old man passed away. This greatly saddened the young man, but he was determined to keep the promise he had made to his teacher just prior to the latter's death.
More specifically, the young man had promised his teacher that he would not rest on his own already considerable laurels, and the young man would continue to learn all he could about the charming of snakes. As a result, the young man traveled far and wide, not only putting on exciting and amazing exhibitions of snake charming, but,
also, always looking for opportunities to enhance his knowledge and skills.
In one location, where the young man was conducting a number of number of shows, he happened to hear about some man who was described as being an individual of deep knowledge and wisdom. The young man decided to seek out this man of wisdom and see whether, or not, this person, about whom he had heard such wondrous tales, might be able to add to the young man's skills and knowledge in the area of charming snakes.
After chasing down a few leads, the young man finally discovered the whereabouts of the alleged wise man's residence. Next, he sought an audience with the man and was very happy when this was granted. The young man was told to return the next day at
noontime for some lunch.
The young man was so filled with the excitement of anticipation he hardly could sleep the whole night. For some unknown reason, the young man felt he might obtain some information or understanding during his meeting with the wise man that would help bring his skills to the perfection he long had sought.
The following day, at precisely noon, the young man knocked on the door of the indicated house. The door opened and the young man was escorted into a study where he was received by a friendly looking gentleman who was, maybe, ten years, or so, older than the snake charmer.
After exchanging pleasantries and a few pieces of life history, while eating a lunch which had been prepared, the slightly older man said: "I have gathered from some of my friends that you are billed as the World's Greatest Snake Charmer. Is that correct?"
The young man was proud of his skills but he also had some humility and, therefore, replied: "Well, I don?t know about being the world's greatest snake charmer, but in all my travels I have not come across anyone or heard of anyone who surpasses the knowledge which has been given to me by my teacher and which I have been able to augment with my own studies."
The host smiled and nodded his head approvingly. He said: "Do you think you could provide me with a demonstration, for, I must admit to not having witnessed such things in my life, and I would be grateful to you for filling in one of the many holes which populate my experience."
The snake charmer was somewhat hesitant and responded: "Well, I would love to comply with your kind request, but I don't have any snakes with me, and rather than merely use the snakes which I use in my show, perhaps, I should go out into the forest and obtain some truly wild snakes. This general region is rather infamous for the many species of poisonous snakes which inhabit the area, and I am sure that with a little effort, I could supply us with some useful specimens with which to demonstrate something of the nature of my profession."
The host accepted this idea, and the two agreed to meet the next morning at nine o'clock. So, the young man went off in search of the biggest and most poisonous snakes he could find.
For whatever reason, the young man had some difficulty in finding the species and size of snakes he would have preferred. Nonetheless, he was able to get a fair variety before nightfall, and he took his catch back to his lodging and prepared for his visit the next day.
When morning arrived, the young man collected together all he would need to provide a demonstration of his skills and knowledge. He, then, proceeded to return to the older man's residence at the appointed time.
Once, again, he was warmly received. After a brief conversation, while drinking tea, the older man asked: "Are you ready to give your demonstration? Should we adjoin to the patio, or can you do things right here?"
The snake charmer indicated: "Here is fine, unless, of course, you may have fears of some of these poisonous snakes escaping into your house."
The older man laughed and replied: "If you feel safe from them, then, I also feel safe from them. So, please, proceed."
The young man began to go about his trade. He went through his whole repertoire, and even added a few, new tricks which he had been working on recently.
After he was done, he placed all the snakes in protective baskets. After completing these tasks, he sat down.
The older man began: "Well, I am quite impressed with your skills, but, you know, I couldn't help noticing that the snakes you used were not all that big, and I also noticed that some of the region's more poisonous varieties were missing from the snakes with which you were working. Does it make any difference how big the snakes
are or how poisonous they are? Could you still charm them?"
The young man apologized and agreed with the older man that, yes, the snakes which had been used were not all that big and, yes, he had been hoping to find some particularly dangerous snakes, but due to time constraints had to cut his expedition of the previous evening short. He added, however: "In answer to your questions, neither the size of a snake, nor the virulence of its poison, makes any difference.
I would be able to charm any snake you might care to show me."
The older man considered the young man's reply and, then, said in a very loving way: "Well, let me tell you about a snake whose venom is so poisonous and whose size is so large that if you are able to tame that snake, you will be a real sage, and that snake is the ego."
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