Quest for a Spiritual Teacher - Part Two
A Sufi
teacher is neither Moses nor Jesus - nor any of the Prophets (peace be upon them all), but
she or he gives expression to, and with the grace and support of God, helps to keep alive
the spirit of the same spiritual tradition. As such, the guide is in the business of,
among other things, interfering with, or calling into question, the likes, dislikes,
habits, biases, expectations, illusions, delusions and preconceptions of those who claim
to seek after the truth concerning matters of essential and fundamental importance.
One can
minister to the suffering of humanity through acts of compassion, zakat, kindness and love
by helping out with the needs of the needy throughout the world. One also can minister to
the suffering of humanity through helping people, in Buddha-like fashion, to come to
understand what the real source of their suffering is - namely, themselves, or, more
exactly, the influence which the nafs - one's own and that of others - has on our lives.
After all, the miseries of the world are merely the life of the nafs writ large on the
scale of history.
Sufi shaykhs
often are engaged in both kinds of ministerial activity. However, one of their fundamental
tasks is to help individuals to come to truly understand their own internal spiritual
nature.
As Sufi
shaykhs are fond of saying, the one who knows oneself knows one's Lord, and in knowing
one's Lord, one sees the reflection of the Muslim heart. The Muslim heart is not just the
heart of someone who acknowledges the exoteric aspects of a specific spiritual tradition
(i.e., Islam), The Muslim heart is the heart of anyone who is prepared to acknowledge, and
prostrate wholeheartedly before, the powerful gravitational attraction that vibrates
within the call of Allah to our internal fitr or nature and which resonates in such
Quranic verses as: Alastu bi-rubikm, Am I not your Lord?
I remember
something my first spiritual guide told me. There was a conversation about miraculous
deeds and how different awliya (friends or saints) of God could, by God's leave, heal the
sick and even raise the dead as Jesus (peace be upon him) had done with Lazarus.
My first
shaykh listened to the conversation for a while. Finally, he said words similar to the
following: 'Tell me, what good is it to the raise the dead, if one does not raise their
spiritual condition as well? What is the worth of an extended life if it does not achieve
the spiritual purpose for which it was created in the first place?'
In saying
this, he was not being critical of Jesus (peace be upon him). Rather, he was trying to
direct people's attention away from that which is superficially miraculous (the raising of
people from the dead or the healing of people's physical maladies) to that which is truly
miraculous and this is the healing of a diseased heart.
The Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) is - as is the case with all of God's emissaries, including
Jesus (peace be upon him) - someone who specializes in curing, by God's leave, the
diseases of the mind, soul, heart, and sirr, as well as the maladies of the body. The
shaykhs of the Sufi way continue to carry on this work according to their capacity to do
so - and, while these Sufi masters are not Prophets of God, they do enjoy the spiritual
support of all the Prophets - most particularly, of course, that of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him).
Without
nisbath (the link of spiritual reciprocity and sincere commitment between a shaykh and a
seeker which is nourished and shaped by the Prophetic tradition)- and, trust is but one
component of this complex and multi-layered relationship between a shaykh and spiritual
seeker - nothing is possible on the Sufi path. The Sufi path begins and ends with nisbath,
for this nisbath is but a reflection of the relationship between, on the one hand, the
individual and Divinity, and, on the other hand, the individual and the Prophetic
tradition which begins with Adam (peace be upon him) and ends with the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) and includes some 124,000 other Prophets between the two who have been
sent to humankind by God.
There are a
lot of sources of doubts and misgivings, both within us as well as without us, which will
attempt to disrupt, undermine and corrupt the relationship of nisbath between a seeker and
teacher. This is but one of the reasons why, however important this path may be,
nevertheless, the mystical quest is not an easy journey
When an
individual takes an oath of allegiance with a spiritual guide, that individual is putting
her or his spiritual life in the care of that teacher. If the spiritual "elder"
is a true guide and, therefore, enjoys the support and blessings of God, then, all, God
willing, is well. If, on the other hand, the guide is a false- or, pseudo-, guide, then
the initiate may be in deep trouble unless God intervenes and saves the seeker from such a
charlatan.
Even when a
guide is authentic, there are forces at work - within and without the seeker- which will
attempt to sway the initiate away from keeping faith with the oath of allegiance which
binds a teacher and the one seeking guidance. Although the oath of allegiance is not a
license for the guide to do anything she or he pleases, and while the nature of the oath
is such that, as previously indicated, can never call the seeker to do that which is
immoral or spiritually harmful, nevertheless - and this is the voice of experience
speaking - the oath of allegiance can be, if God wishes, a very hot coal to handle.
A true
spiritual teacher is the best of friends. But, friendships can, and do, get tested. If you
doubt this, then go and ask Prophet Job (peace be upon him) what he thinks about the
matter. In fact, this is part of the story of all the Prophets since they all have had
their friendship with the Friend tested in a variety of ways.
One of the
problems with much of what has been said in the foregoing with respect to warning
would-be-seekers against the existence of spiritual charlatans is that a false teacher
will tell you much the same thing as that which has been outlined above. They will do so
in an attempt to bind the would-be-seeker to them in a way that will resist any and all
attempts to dissuade the individual that he or she has taken the wrong way by accepting
initiation with such a pseudo-teacher.
Maintaining
an abiding trust without abdicating one's critical faculties or capacity for reasoning is
not an easy thing to do. It is not easy because if we knew when to trust in our reason and
when to trust in that which transcends reason, we would be an enlightened being and,
therefore, not in need of a teacher to help guide us to such a condition.
The seeker
is someone who realizes the need for trusting in something or someone that understands
spiritual matters more deeply than the individual does, but the seeker also is someone who
does not know in whom, or in relation to what, or when, or where, or how one should
exercise that trust. Our tendency is to trust in the wrong things, at the wrong time, in
the wrong way, to the wrong extent, and for the wrong purposes or reasons.
Learning
about the ups and downs, along with the ins and outs, of trust constitutes a fundamental
part of the Sufi path. Trust ties together issues of faith, reason, love, friendship,
doubt, purpose, identity, truth, rebellion, struggle, transcendence, dependence, fear,
hope and vulnerability.
In order to
find a teacher, one must find someone with whom one is prepared to enter into the rigors,
problems, difficulties, questions and struggles entailed by the issue of trust. One must
find someone in whom one is willing to trust with the matter of trust - a seemingly
circular paradox.
The first
step on the Sufi path is an act of trust. But, it is an act of trust which need not be,
indeed, should not be, devoid of critical reflection.
Interestingly
enough, much, but by no means all, of this critical reflection should be directed toward
oneself, and not just the teacher. W.C. Fields once made a movie called: "You Can't
Cheat an Honest Man" which spent much of the length of the film showing how because
many of the characters in the movie had larceny in their hearts, this very quality proved
to be their own undoing even while they busily preoccupied with scheming about how to take
undue advantage of one or more of the other characters in the film.
If an
individual comes to the mystical path with larceny, so to speak, in her or his mind,
heart, and soul, then they become very vulnerable to the sweet spiritual nothings of every
charlatan who comes along. If we are insincere with God, then God will leave us to our own
devices, and we will have to pay the consequences.
Therefore,
the seeker needs to examine his or her own motivations, sincerity and intentions before
taking the plunge and undergoing initiation with any given spiritual guide. This, of
course, is a very tricky proposition since most of us frequently are inclined to lie to
ourselves about what is actually going on within ourselves psychologically, emotionally,
and spiritually.
Nonetheless,
tricky or not, the would-be-seeker must critically reflect upon the state of his or her
own mind, heart and soul. Only she or he can make the determination of how sincere the
desire for the spiritual path is.
If the
individual's heart is truly sincere in this matter, then, in many ways, the decision
concerning a legitimate teacher becomes much easier. The heart of a such a seeker will
tell the individual much, even if not everything, of what one needs to know concerning
who, where, when, why and how in relation to a spiritual guide.
One final
consideration to lay before you is this. The decision need not be an either/or kind of
deliberation.
A person
does not necessarily have to decide right away what one wants to do vis-a-vis the mystical
path. This can be something on which one may want to mediate or reflect on over a period
of time.
One needs to
strike a balance between: (a) he/she who hesitates is lost, and (b) look before you leap.
'How long can one hesitate before one stands to lose (and just what is it that one risks
losing)', and 'how long should one look before one leaps (and at what should one be
looking)', are complex problems of judgement and evaluation in spite of their simplistic
appearance. And, when one plays one off against the other, the dynamics can become very
interesting.
In the
literature the foregoing dilemma is known as a mini-max problem. And, your mission, Mr. or
Ms. Phelps, should you decide to accept this assignment, is to find an optimal solution to
the foregoing stated problem. Naturally, if either you, or any of your IM team, should be
caught while carrying out this mission, the State Department will disavow all knowledge of
your existence. Good luck, Jim...or Jean.
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