Monday 31 March 2014

A talk given at the ASK March 2014 conference in South Africa

Not a blog but a talk... about time I posted something!


The Narrow Path to the Vastness of Truth – Sufism

ASK conference  World religions & Spiritual Illumination held at the Rasooli Centre in South Africa 6-9th March 2014

“Sufism has been defined, outlined and explained in over two thousand ways. The sum of all of these definitions goes back to: truthfulness in turning to Allah. Every definition goes back to this.”~ Shaykh Ahmad az-Zarruq (d.1493)

"Sufism is that you should be with God, without any attachment." ~ Imam Junayd Al-Baghdadi (d.910)
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"Sufism is that you should be with God, without any attachment”…

To unpack this means to answer the following: You – who are you? God – what is ‘He’? Without attachment -  what is the nature of attachment and how to abandon it? Hopefully some of the answers will be alluded to through this talk which is not about the historical reality of Sufism but reflects something of the experienced reality.

We all use the terminology of journeying when we refer to our spiritual progress or realizing aspirations of any kind. The allegory of a road or path to be travelled on in pursuit of our spiritual needs is tremendously useful but also misleading. Useful in that we live in time - we grow physically, our eyes and feet face forward, we make progress in learning skills, behaviours, sciences. Useful in that we live in space and much of our sensory perception is dictated by us in relation to other points in the space we perceive around us. We can relate to the idea of following a spiritual way of life as following a path, as a linear journey from point to point. We anticipate that the journey has a beginning and an end. It is finite in its promise. Awakening, enlightenment, inner illumination all sound as if they will set us free. 

But it is also misleading precisely because it engenders a notion of accumulative merit, of progress that can be charted, mapped and also acknowledged or rewarded and of destinies reached. It is misleading because it keeps us referring to time and space, and therefore to achievement of goals and acquisition and the limitations of these dimensions. It is misleading – almost treacherously so for those who aspire to spiritual awakening – because it affirms duality rather than unity. There is the path. There I am journeying on it. Me and it. Two. Not one.

And for anyone who has spent time in the company of the Sufis or their literature, particularly of Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri, or any of the tawhidi  traditions in other religions, will already know that the dimensions of space and time exist as convenient frameworks in which we can experience ‘life as we know it’; that our cognition is imbued by the faculty of the khayaal (and indeed other inner senses) to engage with the universe around us in ways that both collectively and individually make sense. We do experience space and time very much as coherent realities.

Sufism the Science of Unified Being

Sufism or the science of tasawwuf is therefore the practice and knowledge of calling the self’s bluff off the notion that we exist in separation, tucked away in space and time, away from our happiness, our salvation, our freedom, cut off or ‘far away’ from God. And of the idea that to get to it we must endure arduous and grueling journeys. Or that only the best, most pious or assiduous will attain or achieve their goal. The great Shadhili Master Ibn ‘Ata Allah wrote that a mistake that takes you to the carpet of humility is better than a righteous one that makes you smug and self-satisfied.

What tasawawuf debunks is separation from our Source, from the lode-stone of all power, life, love, glory, splendor, majesty and beauty; from the vastness of creation and beyond. What tasawwuf teaches is that there is no atom of which Allah is unaware, no space or place or moment or nanosecond. Indeed all is embedded in His consciousness, His beingness, His love. In some unfathomable way we are folded into layers of something beyond our ken.

The Sufi mission, as it were, it to heed the call from Allah to witness His presence around and in us. La ilāha illa’Llah. To unite outer and inner, to stress the inner as the key to the outer. Some spiritually perceptive contemporary scholars identify that the work of Sufism is to cultivate the soul. This brings it in synch with many ancient and New Age philosophies and practices. But we can discern a differentiated focus in our teachings.

As a student of Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri I have been shown a more evolved and refined understanding of this idea, namely, that the soul in essentia cannot be cultivated, for it is from the command of the Lord, and the Lord is perfect. As a beam of light from the source of all perfection, of Light itself, the nature of the soul is perfect and therefore not in need of cultivation. What does need cultivation is the way this soul manifests, through the refining the dross of the self into the gold of higher consciousness. 

When the Qur’an repeatedly talks of the self or soul it uses mostly one word: nafs. But this has to be read with insight of inner core (lubb) to understand which part of the self is being addressed. At times what is meant is the soul or spirit, the ruh. What SFH has clarified is that individual consciousness is made up of a spectrum, at the lower end elemental, animalistic, governed by priorities of survival and therefore presenting a consciousness that is conditioned by multitudinous forces, and at the higher, more rarified end of meaning and essence, closer to pure consciousness, and therefore governed by priorities of arrival.
So the vastness in which we seem to think we exist can only be accessible from the point where we found ourselves. That is to say the narrow portal is through self-awareness. We start here and gradually, through grooming and practice and flashes of insight we realize we are not here and He is not there, but that there is no place He is not. No second that He is not.

Imam Ali famously said, ‘…You presume you are a small entity but within you is enfolded a vast world...’

And we also realize that He is not He nor She nor It but just is. It enfolds all qualities of the opposites and multiple layers of subtlety in between and is not limited by them.


Our Paradoxical World - Duality Underlying Unity

Any student of the Academy of Self Knowledge is familiar with the mapping of conditioned consciousness and pure or supreme consciousness and the powerful interplay of duality that works throughout our experiential reality. 

As such we are familiar with the precept that while pleasures are easily acquirable in this life, enduring joy is more elusive. That if our inner state is to satisfy it has to emerge from consciousness that is not tied to the ephemeral, the relative or contingent. For everything perishes. Entropy rules. Moods can darken or sour in a moment. We have been taught and seen with our own insight that we can access a state that is unperturbed by the oscillating graph of experiential life. We know that the more our happiness is anchored in that zone, the more likely it endures in this zone. The more we are aware of pure consciousness, the freer we are from our conditioned consciousness. The ultimate freedom as far as dimensionality of existence is concerned is death. For then individual consciousness emerges with pure consciousness. Everything returns whence it came. And all that remains is what has been, is and will be, what we allude to in words like Allah’s glory, His love, His beauty, His majesty.

We are compelled to practice that death now through sleep and disappearing from the weight of our conscious selves because we know deep down, or have a good suspicion, that we are not just who we think we are – role defined, role maligned. We can taste this freedom through prayer and meditation and states that come upon us when we leave our sense of limited self and disappear into the unfathomable and vast ocean of Beingness, of Truth. These tastes are intoxicating and draw you in more and more.


Gathering, Listening, Following – the Path

It has been said that tasawwuf is gathering, listening and following.

If there is a path then it is the grooming and practice (listening) and cultivation of understanding and insight into the nature of reality and our relationship to it - embedding the body in a practice, the mind in a discipline, the heart in purification.
The path also implies guidance (following) and mentorship: a realized guide or teacher is essential.
And it also implies companionship (gathering). The company of other genuine aspirants helps to reflect in us greater self-awareness, encouragement and hope.


Gathering - Companionship

Companionship has always been a recognized aspect of the path. Gathering to be with the Shaykh or refined beings on the path or for the purposes of communal worship and invocation has been a natural cornerstone of tariqah practice for centuries. Recognition that one becomes the company one keeps and therefore one should choose wisely is a sine qua non of prophetic guidance. The Prophet (S) said ‘The Mu’min is the mirror of the Mu’min.’

The prohibition on monasticism in Islam does not contradict the strong monastic or ascetic tendency among Sufis. The need for regular retreat or uzlah, in order to contemplate inner realities and disconnect from falsity, or khalwah, solitary meditation in order to empty out and meditate exclusively on Allah, has been incorporated into the practice of each silsilah. Ultimately, however, it is the very practice of Islam – of surrender (taslim) -  that acts as the vector of transformation. Each prayer can be the magic carpet of ascension which the Prophet Muhammad (S) experienced in his Mi’raj.

Gathering is above all symbolic of unity (tawhid): bringing the individuated multi-hued self into the orbit of the luminous soul. Coming together means becoming one. And One is the secret of two.


Listening - Practice

Practice begins with the fara’id, dhikr, withdrawal, study, reciting and listening to the Qur’an. Early Sufis emphasized practising asceticism, doing without, hunger, simple dress, wandering; then onto deeper levels of charting the topography of the inner journey, adab and service. Contemporary Sufis now focus on awareness, consciousness, mindfulness.

The practices of Islam are all designed to render us sensible to  - to listen to or heed –  the call of the soul. Yet, we see that what Deen and Sunna have become a minefield of confusion and bitterness as various groups or firqas stake claim to the real version of Islam, to various triumphalist, reactionary and politicized agendas that have forgotten to address the world of the unseen, the hidden depths within the human heart or soul, and merely focused on form and technique. In this regard Shaykh Fadhlalla has been steadfast in his guidance: Go back to the Qur’an always - ‘That is the book, no doubt in it…’ [3:2].
Piety and asceticism indeed characterized the early Sufis. The Prophet (S) had said, ‘I came to perfect character’. Noble conduct, moral behavior and ethical practice is the default setting of the Sufi.
"Sufism consists of noble behavior (akhlaq karima) that is made manifest at a noble time on the part of a noble person in the presence of a noble people."  ~ Muhammad ibn Ali al-Qassab (d.888), Junayd’s master.


Following - Guidance

‘If you have no guide Shaytan is your guide.’ Sufi precept
The role of the teacher has always been central. Connected with this has been the formal commitment (bay‘ah), which implied loyalty and service. One might serve one master for a lifetime, as many as did, or several, as several did. This loyalty is symbolic of loyalty to Allah, to the covenant – the convenant of ‘Alastu’ – ‘Am I not your Lord?’ (7:71). The allegiance is to Allah. The guide is the reflector, the protector from your self. As a realized being he has cast aside his vain passions and taken a firm foothold in service to Allah. He echoes the Prophetic guidance. [1]

The guide must have several distinguishing features, but perhaps above all what Sura YaSin describes as ‘Follow him who asks of you no reward’. He must be established in the practice of Islam, expert and observant of the Shari'a.

Nonetheless the traditions of tasawwuf recognize the reality of the Owaysi, after the Yemeni Oways al-Qarani who reportedly followed the Prophet without having met him. Nowadays we can all benefit from being Owaysi through digital technology.

There is however no substitute for the quality of transmission from being in the physical presence of a realized master. I believe the vibrational signature of the ‘arif or shaykh easily penetrates the falsity of the aspirant’s persona so the light of truth can shine into the darkness of the self’s shadows. This truth also explains the ongoing effect, post-death, of the awliya’. The imprint of their presence resides and radiates not only from the physical place where they are buried, but also from the etheric plane, in so much as one attunes oneself to their flavor and light.

But the ultimate Guide is Allah Himself, in His manifestation of al-Rashid, al-Hadi and other attributes. We have been called and unto Him we return.


Delighting the Soul – ma'rifa

The goal of the practice of the Deen, dhikr, and of following the guide is ma‘rifa or ‘irfan (from ‘arafa to know), or gnosis - God consciousness.

Only by escaping the contingent reality of the limited self and its animalistic tendencies, can the aspirant escape to the realm of lights, the soul’s reflection of Divine Perfection. There, beyond space and time and the confusions of duality, lies a profound harmony, peace and stillness which deifies even these descriptions. We can only allude to them. The more this state is accessed, the stronger its echo becomes and what remained deeply almost unconsciously internalized, gradually extrudes, imperceptibly, into the very substance of life. Here it is that baraka is experienced - serendipity, and perfect sustenance.
When asked about tasawwuf Junayd replied: "Our madhhab is the singling out of the pre-eternal from the contingent, the desertion of human brotherhood and homes, and obliviousness to past and future.”

It can be a struggle. It is not easy. Holding oneself to account means practicing ever-deepening self-awareness. How can one ever be satisfied with anything of this world, when it is ephemeral and unreliable? At times it can feel like a battle. Junayd also said of Sufism, "It is a war in which there is no peace."


Language

A few words on language and the term. Sufis found their literary expression through a rich tradition of treatises, lexicons, collections of aphorisms, commentaries on the Qur’an, and above all poetry.  Over time the terminology of Sufism has developed, for it is a living tradition that reflects time, place and circumstance. In its earliest manifestations it wasn’t even known by the name or ‘ism’ of Sufism. Terms like ‘irfan and ma’rifa were more common in certain geographical areas. The term tasawwuf eventually became the catch all term to denote the phenomenon of those who would focus on the inner worlds as the direct and necessary complement of outer worlds.

Over time a technical lexicon has grown to help identify states and stations and realities of the journey, which benefits from being revisited and rehoused into present times. Society has changed. Lifestyles have altered. Priorities differ and the global stranglehold of materialism has altered how we think. How does one apply zuhd, for example, in a time where living without insurance or stuff is almost impracticable? The inner reality of what these terms signify never changes, but how our consciousness connects does. We need to read the sickness of the times in order to apply the appropriate remedies.[2]

The power of the word - the goodly word - is dyed into the spiritual fabric of Islam through the divine revelation of the Qur’an. From the beginning its recitation – the word of God - was the main avenue to connecting to a higher state. The word as command – KUN! – preceded form. The word is energy. The word transmits. And then we have to go beyond mere words.

The Qur’an is the fundamental directional point for the path of tasawwuf, for the Sufi seeks to realize the pre-creational covenant of ‘Alastu’ in his waking consciousness. Before being self aware, each of our souls had submitted and agreed to Allah’s Lordship over us. Once born into self-differentiated beingness, tasawwuf calls us to honour that covenant by our own volition and bending ourselves into submission or alignment with that reality.


The Organ of Gnosis

Gnosis or ma’rifa, deep inner knowing, is not a by-product of mere intellection, of exercising the faculty of reason. It is a higher order of intuitive knowing which we can relate to consciousness. The Sufis, especially luminaries like Ibn ‘Arabi, emphasized that it is the heart (qalb) which is the organ which produces gnosis of Allah. It is the interface whereby we can connect to ‘ilm al-Batin, the science of inner beingness. As long as the qalb is free of attachment, turning on its unitary axis (qalb derives from the verb to turn or revolve), its radar will pick up all the signs on the horizon and within ourselves.

The business of tasawwuf therefore is the polishing of the heart. Emptying the heart from its attachments and idols is the daily work and the cause of our vigilance.

Concluding Remarks

I feel there is no narrowness, no path, no dimensions in the approach or awakening to Truth. Truth is. It encompasses everything, vast beyond measure.

At most the Sufi stops being a self.

The self cannot comprehend the Truth unless through the light of the soul. Less self = more soul = more vision, certainty and witnessing perfection.

From shamanistic times through the growth of religions until the post-industrial Cartesian times, human civilization has been largely compliant to a notion of Godhead or higher authority. Now, however, it is no longer God or the Supernatural that we feel we must obey but other imperatives like social order, progress, and self fulfilment, etc. Pleasing God is now pleasing the self.

Yet the self will never be pleased – appeased maybe, but only if it submits to and serves the soul’s purpose, which is to resonate harmoniously with its qualities of light, harmony, generosity and all the other virtues that reflect infinite Divine Attributes. All else is aberration and waste within the realms of time and space.

Once life-experience cease the truth is self-evident. The veils of existence are finally torn and in that pure light everything vanishes.

The goal of tasawwuf, of this ‘path’, is to render your form and substance unto your Essence through the free turning of the heart, the locus of consciousness.

You die to yourself, to your evil attributes. You die to creation, to even good attributes. You die to attachments to attributes and principles. A series of deaths befalls you so you come alive to your soul, in small tastes, in larger ones, through practice, company, guidance and reflection.
 "Tasawwuf means that Allah causes you to die to your self and gives you life in Him."                     



[1] After I gave this talk, I was asked why I hadn’t emphasized following the Prophet Muhammad, so I have added this sentence here. Love of Allah goes hand in hand with love of the Prophet (S). Doubtless this is but one of many shortcomings of this general talk. I hope, however, that the idea of following and loving the example of the Prophet (S) is implicit overall.
[2] The last few sentences have been added subsequent to delivering the talk as I had skipped this part from my notes.