Quest for a Spiritual Teacher - Part One
The
following comments are in response to a number of people who have inquired about how to go
about finding a spiritual teacher and what are some of the factors which ought to shape an
individual’s decision to take initiation with a given guide.
Asking a
person to be one's teacher is, relatively speaking, easy to do. However, the issue is
anything but straight-forward.
For
instance, there are many kinds of teacher. From one point of view, for example, anyone
from whom we learn is our teacher.
The learning
which we gain from this interchange does not necessarily entail any kind of reciprocal
responsibility, except, maybe, a certain amount of courtesy, civility and respect. In
addition, we ought to have gratitude toward both God as well as the physical/material
locus of manifestation through whom the blessing of learning comes - whether this be
another human being, a non-human life form, so-called 'inanimate' nature, or whatever.
If an
individual feels he or she is learning, by the Grace of God, various things through the
Web Page, then I am happy this is the case. And, if this is so, then, in a sense, I
already am such a person's teacher and no additional request has to be made for what is
going on.
This
relationship can continue. Whatever questions this person may have, I will do my best, God
willing, to provide her or him with an answer to them - that is, an answer construed in
terms of how I look at, or understand, such things from a Sufi perspective, but not
necessarily something which should be considered as providing this individual with
"the" answer to his or her questions.
My original
offer of friendship is just that. It is an offer of friendship without any strings
attached.
My
responsibilities to other human beings do not begin and end with whether or not I am their
spiritual guide. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has counseled us to help any
human being who may be in need of assistance, irrespective of whether that person is, or
is not, a Muslim.
However,
when someone asks another person to be one's teacher and the context is a spiritual one,
then the arrangement can no longer be governed by just or only informal considerations of
everyday etiquette involving the sort of politeness and civility which gets most of us
through the day with respect to our interactions with others. The spiritual journey is a
difficult one, and, consequently, if a person wishes to acquire the services of a
"professional", so to speak, in order to help guide one through the unknown
countryside through which the mystical quest takes an individual, then one needs to have a
fundamental trust in the guide's abilities to do, God willing, his or her job - and, this
sort of trust is rooted in something more than merely politeness and/or civility.
If one is
traveling through a swamp filled with alligators, poisonous snakes and spiders, as well as
quicksand and all manner of other life-threatening possibilities, an individual would be
foolish to seek out someone who is capable of guiding one safely, God willing, through
such dangerous territory, and, then, not heeding a guidance which is rooted in many years
of experience with the region through which they are venturing. Similarly, an individual
would be a fool to retain the assistance of a mystical guide and, then, proceed to follow
the dictates of one's own likes and dislikes rather than the counsel of the spiritual
guide.
In reality
there is only one spiritual teacher and that is God or Allah. However, for reasons best
known to Divinity, and as Divinity has indicated in the Qur'an, God does not deal with
human beings except through veils.
Thus, the
importance of the two facets of the Shahada or the attestation of faith in becoming
Muslim. Not only are we invited to bear witness to the reality of God's Oneness, but in a,
seemingly, contradictory move, we are asked to bear witness that Muhammad (peace be upon
him) is the Rasul or Messenger of Allah.
The latter
invitation is only apparently contradictory to the initial statement of exclusive tawhid
because the Prophet, as is true of the other 124,000 prophets and the community of
companions, disciples, followers and so on who follow them, are but so many loci of
manifestation of the Names and Attributes of Allah. This is not pantheism, since the Sufi
masters are very clear that although in essence, we humans are Divine, we are not Divinity
in Essence, and, thus, a distinction of mystery is made between the Creator and the
created.
In any
event, sometimes the aforementioned veils which give expression to "Guidance" or
the "Teacher" come in the form of powerful dreams, states or spiritual
experiences of one sort or another. Sometimes these veils come in the form of the special
relationship one enjoys with, or the deep spiritual link one has to, and feels for (i.e.,
nisbath), a spiritual guide.
Ultimately,
all guidance - whether in the form of revelation, veridical (true) dreams, kashf
(spiritual unveilings), hal (transitory spiritual states) or maqam (more or less permanent
spiritual stations), or a spiritual master- gives expression to the truth of the Shahada.
All teaching flows to humankind, by God's leave, through the spiritual lineages, or loci
of spiritual manifestation, set in motion by God's Rasul - Muhammad (peace be upon him),
along with the rest of the spiritual lineage of the Prophets, and the subsequent heirs to
their knowledge.
Spiritual
guides or teachers continue, in part, some of the functions of the Prophets. In a sense,
just as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the paradigm for a Perfect Human Being
who mirrors or reflects, in complete harmony, all of the Names and Attributes of God, so,
too, Sufi masters are among those individuals who mirror, or who are reflections, - each
according to his or her own spiritual capacity and degree of realization - of the aspects
(i.e., the Names and Attributes) which are reflected by the Prophets (and, necessarily,
both this capacity and its degree of realization are, in the case of Sufi shaykhs,
substantially less than any of the Prophets).
The
relationship between a true teacher and a sincere seeker is of essential importance to any
mystical path - whether this refers to the Sufi way or some other way. Unfortunately,
there are many people of all different kinds of religious and spiritual affiliation who
are proclaiming to be true teachers but who are not necessarily what they proclaim
themselves to be.
This points
to a very difficult and fundamental problem for any would-be seeker of the path. In other
words, establishing a relationship of deep, abiding trust in these times of con games,
manipulation and abuse becomes something of a spiritual mine-field.
On the one
hand, an intelligent individual must be somewhat cautious and wary of such situations and
be prepared to protect himself or herself against charlatans. On the other hand, if one is
too skeptical and suspicious, then someone who is a legitimate teacher may be ignored or
passed by because of such concerns and worries.
A legitimate
spiritual guide will not ask one to engage in immoral activities, nor try to convince
someone that what is immoral is really O.K. A mystical teacher will not ask one to break
the law.
Nonetheless,
having said that, a true teacher might (but not necessarily in any direct fashion) ask one
to consider doing various things which most of us probably consider even worse than
engaging in immoral or illegal activities. This fate worse than death involves going
against the likes, dislikes, habits, prejudices, assumptions and so on of one's ego or
nafs.
Whenever
someone begins to interfere with vested interests, then irrespective of whether those
interests belong to a corporation, government official or a person stepping onto the
spiritual path, a struggle will ensue. This is always a struggle between two dimensions of
the human being: one potential within each of us seeks to live harmoniously in accordance
with, among other things, the truth of life's purpose and the nature of one's essential
identity; the other potential within each and every human being is the inclination to
rebel against the realities to which the first potential is being called through
revelation, Prophets, saints and spiritual guides.
Moses (peace
be upon him) was a man of God. Yet, there were many individuals among the Israelites who
constantly questioned the ability of such a noble and gifted Messenger of God to be their
guide.
During the
long, difficult trip to the Promised Land, these kinds of individuals frequently were
critical of his directives and counsel, and they incessantly second-guessed his way of
doing things. Such people grumbled about, and rebelled against, him because he was a
threat to their likes, dislikes and preconceptions of how things should be.
Jesus (peace
be upon him) was, and is, the Logos or Word of God made flesh. Nonetheless, there were
some, even among his close disciples who had many doubts concerning such a shining example
of spirituality - indeed, so brilliant and attractive is his spiritual light that people
are still being deeply and fundamentally influenced by his example and teachings some two
thousand years later.
In any
event, there were those who saw Jesus (peace be upon him) walk on water but were afraid to
venture out of their boat when invited to join him. Moreover, someone as close to Jesus
(peace be upon him) as Peter (may God be pleased with him) still denied him three times.
Or, consider Judas, who, despite having been with this emissary of Divinity and, and as a
result, having had extensive opportunities to be exposed to so many wonders, nevertheless,
betrayed Jesus (peace be upon him).
These
individuals who doubted Jesus (peace be upon him), or denied him, or betrayed him, did so
because the reality of Jesus (Peace be upon him) was at odds with their own ideas about how "reality" works. Or, they
found the teachings of Jesus (peace be upon him) to be at odds with some of their own
internal and external ingrained habits and/or vested interests.
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