Sufism 101 Lesson 15

Sufism 101

Lesson 15

Love's Journey – Stages

From the International Sufi Movement Website:
http://www.sufimovement.org/lessons_in_the_inner_school.htm

“SUFI MYSTICISM (3)

The method by which a mystic prepares his heart to tread the spiritual path

In the first place one asks, "What is the heart? Where is the heart?" And man is accustomed to say that the heart is in the breast. Yes, that is true. There is a nerve centre in the breast of man which has so much to do with the feelings that always the heart is pictured in the breast; that centre which is the most sensitive to our feelings. When a person feels a great joy, it is in that centre that one feels something lighted up, and by the lighting up of that centre, the whole person seems light. The person feels as if he flew, there is a great joy in his life. And again, if depression or despair has come into his life, this has an affect upon the centre. Man feels his throat choked and his breath is laden heavily with a load; it again means that it is that centre that feels.

But it is not that only which is the heart. It is like a mirror standing before the heart, focused to the heart, and everything, every feeling is reflected in this mirror, in the physical being of man. A man is ignorant of his soul, so he knows not where his heart is, nor where the centre is where his feelings are reflected. This is a fact which is known by the scientists, as well as that it is the heart which is the beginning of the formation of a child. But if one comes to a mystic's conception, one sees that it is in the heart, which is the beginning of form, which is also the beginning of the spirit, which makes man an individual. The depth of that spirit is in reality what we call the heart. By this we understand that there is such a thing as a heart, which is the deepest depth of man's being, and if one knows something of it first, it is from the impression which he receives in this nerve centre, which is in the breast of man, and therefore man calls it the heart.

In these days people give less importance to sentiment. They rely more upon the intellect. The reason is that when they meet two sorts of people, the intellectual and the sentimental people, they find in an intellectual man greater balance than in the one with sentiment. This is no doubt true. But the lack of balance is the very reason that there is a greater power than the intellect which is sentiment. The earth is fruitful, but not so living and powerful as the water. The intellect is creative, yet not so powerful as the heart and the sentiment. In reality the intellectual man in the end will prove unbalanced too if he has no sentimental side attached to it.

Are there not many people of whom their surroundings say, "I like him, love him, admire him, but he closes his heart?" The one who closes his heart neither fully loves others nor allows others to love him fully. Besides, the person who is only intellectual in time becomes sceptical, doubting, unbelieving, destructive, as there is no power of the heart to balance it. The Sufi considers the devotion of the heart as the best thing to cultivate for spiritual realization. It might seem quite different from what many think, but the one who closes his heart to man, closes his heart to God. Jesus Christ did not say, "God is the intellect." He said, "God is Love." And if therefore, there is a piece of God that can be found anywhere, it is not in any church on the earth, nor in heaven above, it is in the heart of man. The best place where you are sure to find God is the loving heart of a kind man. It may be said that by the help of reason man will act according to a certain standard of morals, but that does not make a person good. If they are good or righteous, they are artificially made good. All the prisoners in the gaol can be righteous.

But if a natural goodness or righteousness can be found anywhere, it is to be found in the spring of the heart from which life rises, a springing virtue and every drop of this is a living virtue. That proves that goodness is not man-made; it is his very being. And if he lacks goodness, it is not the lack of training, nor training which is very often wanted most; it is because he has not yet found his self.

Goodness is natural. For a normal person it is necessary to be good. No one needs teaching to live a good and righteous life. If love is the torch on his path, it shows him what fairness means, the honour of the word, charity of heart, righteousness. Do we not see sometimes a young man, who with his boisterous tendencies finds a girl whom he begins to love, and if he really loves her, he begins to show a difference in his life, he becomes gentle for he must train for her sake, he leaves off things he was never before willing to leave off. And in the same way forgiveness, where there is love, it is not a very difficult thing. A child coming before his mother, having offended her a thousand times asks her forgiveness. There is no other to go to. It does not take a moment for the heart of the mother to forgive. Forgiveness was waiting there to be manifested. One cannot help being kind when there is feeling. That person whose feeling goes to another person, or who sees in his child the want of his feeling, he strikes a note of sympathy in every person, because he finds that point of contact in every soul he meets, because he has love.

There are people who say, "But is it not unwise to give oneself in an outgoing tenderness to everyone, because people are not trustworthy?" But I should say, "If a person is good and kind, this goodness ought to be manifested to everyone, the doors of the heart should not be closed." A mystic like Jesus Christ said, "Love your friend", and he went as far as to say, "Love your enemy." It is the same path a Sufi treads. In his charity of heart towards his fellowmen he considers it is the love of God and in showing love to everyone, he considers this as giving love to God. In this method the Sufi and the Yogi differ. The Yogi is not unkind. He says, "I love you all, but I had better stay away from you, for your souls are groping in darkness, and my soul is in the light. With your friendship I shall spoil my soul. So I had better keep away and love you from afar, from a distance." The Sufi says, "It is a trial, but it is to be tried. I shall take up my everyday duties as they come to me." Although knowing how little important the things of the world are, and not giving too much value to these things, he is attentive to his duties towards those who love him, like him, depend on him, follow him.

For those who dislike, despise him, he tries for the best way to meet them all. He lives in the world and yet he is not for the world. In this way the Sufi considers loving man as the main principle in the fulfilment of the purpose of his life. How true it is that those who love their enemies and yet lack the patience, remind one of this picture of their life, which is like a burning lantern with little oil. It cannot endure. In the end the flame becomes faded. The oil in love is patience. Besides this, in the path of love, what is the oil? From beginning to end unselfishness, self-sacrifice from beginning to end. And he who says 'give and take' does not know love, he knows business.

One says I have loved dearly once, but I was disappointed, as if a man would say, I dug in the earth, but when the mud came I was disappointed. It was true that mud came. But with patience he would have reached the water one day. Only patience can endure. Only endurance makes great. The only way of greatness is endurance. It is endurance which makes things valuable and man great.

The imitation of gold can be as beautiful as real gold, the imitation of the diamond as bright as a real diamond. The difference is that one fails in the test of endurance, and the other can stand it. Yet man must not be compared to objects. Man has something divine in himself, and he can prove this by his endurance in the path of love.

And the idea is now whom should one love, how should one love? Whatever one loves, whether duty, human beings, art, friends, an ideal, his fellow-creatures, he has certainly opened the door through which to pass, in order to reach that love which is God. The beginning of love is an excuse, it leads to that ideal of love which is God alone. Many say, "I can love God, but not the human beings." It would be the same if we said to God, "I love you, but not your image." Can one hate the human creatures in which God's image is to be found and yet claim love of God? If one is not tolerant, not willing to sacrifice, can he claim the love of the Lord?

The first thing to teach is the broadness of the heart, and the awakening of the heart is the inner feeling. If there is a sign for saintliness, it is not the power of words, not the high position, either spiritual or intellectual, not magnetism that can prove that saintly spirit which only expresses itself in the love of their creatures. It is the continuous spring of love from that divine fountain situated in the heart of man. Once that fountain is open, it purifies the heart, it makes the heart transparent to see the outer and the inner world. The heart becomes the vehicle for the soul to see all within and without; man not only communicates with another person, but also with God.

Commentary:

You find your spiritual center by centering.

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