Autonomy
The struggle to establish control over our lives is a theme
which is intimately woven into the fabric of our existence. In
one way or another, we all seek to carve out a place on
which we can stand and defend ourselves against intrusions
into, and possible threats to, our space, our privacy, our
movements, our choices, our time, our possessions, and our
identities.
From the very earliest days of our developmental odyssey,
the story of our growth is influenced greatly by skirmishes
and battles concerning the perceived locus of control in our
lives. Our relationship with parents, siblings, relatives, play
mates, neighbors, religious figures, school mates, teachers,
adolescent friends, bosses, work mates, clients, romantic
liaisons, in-laws and children frequently revolve around
problems of whom gets to set the agenda for how, or if, the
relationship will proceed and under what set of conditions.
We tend to define whom we are and aren't according
to the character and outcome of all the different kind of
locus-of-control issues which run through our lives. How
serious were they? How intense? Were they protracted?
What tactics were used?
How important was control in any given instance? Was it an
atmosphere of take no prisoners or were there civil
negotiations? How long were the periods of relative peace
between significant differences of opinion concerning locus of
control problems? Were there peaceful alternatives available
to hostile encounters? Did the confrontations do lasting
damage or were they no big deal?
The answer to all the above questions, and many others of a
similar nature that might be asked, will have a profound
impact on us. They will affect our sense of: identity, integrity,
self-esteem, and ability to function effectively in a variety of
social settings.
If we are lucky, we come out of all this with, perhaps, a few
bruises and a couple of scars. However, our basic feeling
about ourselves as, in some non-trivial sense, worthwhile
human beings is still intact.
One might even argue our sense of self has been enhanced by
the rigors of, and lessons learned from, that developmental
process. Moreover, we have " war" stories to swap with
other people - stories that both link us to, as well as
differentiate us from, other people who have gone through
their own operational theater of developmental conflicts.
If we are unlucky, we end up as casualties. Even worse, we
may end up creating other casualties.
We may survive these wars, but we do not always do so free
of the horrendous ramifications which may ensue from the
seemingly unending years of conflicts. Emotional trauma,
arrested psychological development, inability to form
intimate relationships with others, poor self-esteem, various
kinds of stress syndrome, under-achievement,
over-achievement, ambivalence, confusion, inability to
commit oneself, debilitating anxiety, and a free-floating
malaise, are but a few of the dysfunctional possibilities which
we may carry with us as mementos of the 'campaigns'
marking different stages of our formative years.
There is a very fundamental sense in which much of what
goes on in politics, economics, marriage and other social
institutions is dominated by contentious forays into
battlefields strewn with bunkers of resistance involving locus
of control, perceived or actual. Such battlefields are disasters
waiting to happen because they bring together a highly
volatile mixture of unresolved or problematically resolved
locus of control issues from our collective developmental
processes.
Issues of: right or wrong; just or unjust; democratic or
undemocratic; equitable or inequitable; legal or illegal; and,
reasonable or unreasonable often form only the playing field
in which locus of control issues become the game within the
game. We talk in terms of values, rights, freedoms, truth and
the 'good' as being the reasons for struggling in, say, the
political or economic arena. Yet, in reality, we frequently use
such language in order to shift attention away from the fact
that, more often than not, the issue which actually is being
contended is a matter of locus of control in and of itself.
We want to do whatever appeals to us, and we want to do it
whenever it appeals to us to do so. Moreover, what appeals
to us may not be a function of what is, ultimately, actually
true or good or right or just; rather, what appeals to us tends
to be a function of our own desires, independent of
considerations of truth, justice and so on.
Indeed, we often try to argue that our desires necessarily
reflect what is true or good or just or right. As a result, we
convince ourselves that the alleged equivalence between our
desires and all that is good and true justifies the locus of
control being under our tender, fiduciary care.
From the Sufi perspective, true autonomy is not primarily a
question of how we fare in conflicts involving locus of control
issues vis a vis other people, whether in the past or the
present. A Sufi is only free when she or he has realized the
essential self and acts in accordance with that nature.
For the Sufi, an individual could be in prison or in chains or
limited by the constraints imposed by others. Yet, the
individual still could have autonomy if the person were to
respond to those conditions in terms of the individual's
essential nature and true self.
On the other hand, a person might, seemingly, possesses the
locus of control concerning the lives of other people.
Nevertheless, this individual might have no substantive
autonomy because the person's essential nature was in
bondage to, and imprisoned by, the person's own desires - the
entity which actually is setting the agenda.
Such an individual may be " free" to desire. However, this
person does not have autonomy over those desires.
The Sufi does not seek control over the lives of other people.
The Sufi does not enter into conflict with others over matters
of locus of control.
The true locus of control is with God. The Sufi attempts to
discern how that locus of control is being manifested in any
given set of circumstances. Once this has been determined,
then, the individual, according to the person's capacity and
God's support, will merge horizons with the structural
character of that locus of control as it unfolds over time.
The locus of control is a manifestation of God's will and
gives expression to the passion play of existence. The more
attuned one is to God's will, the greater will be one's ability
to detect, and adapt to, the shifting currents of the
manifestation which are being expressed through the passion
play as it reflects the will of God.
We adapt ourselves to the will of God, not by trying to
change or control others, but by changing, and having
autonomy over, our desires and intentions and attitudes. In
fact, the great tragedy of so much of the developmental
process is that very few people involved in the struggle over
issues of locus of control have any understanding of, or
insight into, what the real issues of locus of control are.
More specifically, the issue is not about which of the people
engaged in a conflict is able to win the battle of dominance in
any given set of circumstances. The issue is how do we
collectively realize our essential autonomy so we can find
harmonious and creative ways to align ourselves with the will
of God as it manifests itself through the currents and eddies
of the passion play of existence in which we are participant
observers.
There is something deeply, intrinsically attractive about those
people who are able, by the Grace of God, to accomplish this
kind of transformation. In fact, it is deliciously ironic that
such people, who do not seek, or wish, to have control over
others, end up influencing the desires of so many people who
are inspired by their example and want to follow in their
footsteps and seek the same sort of transformative essential
autonomy exemplified in the lives of individuals such as the
Sufi masters.
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