The Origins of Evil
All the great shaykhs of the way of tasawwuf -
that is, the mystical science of love, truth,
and Self-realization, have taught there is a
huge difference in understanding between those
who have, by the grace of Allah, attained to a
station of Divine intimacy and those who,
unfortunately, have not. This difference in
knowledge, wisdom, and insight has a great many
ramifications in the nature and quality of life,
but, perhaps, one of the most critical differences
revolves around the consequences of ignorance.
Individuals who have been blessed by unveiling
know - in a profound, intense, intimate, varied,
and on-going manner - that all of creation is
woven together as a set of manifestations giving
expression to an underlying Divine Purpose which
is complex, yet, unified. The nature of this unity
is such that whatever we do affects the rest of
Creation ... for better or worse.
Our actions cannot alter or undermine the Divine
Purpose being manifested through creation, but
we serve as loci through which certain kinds of
Divine transactions enter into the world of
appearances. And, the sort of transactions for
which we are the cosmic doorway can be affected,
within certain degrees of freedom, by the way we
filter what is being transmitted through us.
The 'Divine transactions' mentioned above have to
do, in part, with the realm of 'rizq' which
determines, from birth to the grave, what will be
provided to us, as well as whether we will
have to: (a) satisfy certain conditions in order
to draw from the Divine storehouse, or (b) merely
be given certain things independently of effort.
Whatever comes to us - through efforts, or not -
in the way of material goods, possessions, career
achievement, health, family, monetary wealth,
fame, physical qualities, intellectual abilities,
talents, friends, and spirituality is pre-set, so
to speak.
There are many things that we all receive quite
apart from any efforts on our part. Existence, air,
oceans, sun, mountains, the moon, earth, stars,
rain, consciousness, seasons, weather, night,
day, and a soul, are just a few examples of this.
Furthermore, each of us receives certain 'gifts' in
life which find their way to us even if we do not
seek them or try to acquire them. These sorts of
things vary from person to person.
On the other hand, there are other facets of life
for which conditions have been laid down. For these,
aspects of life, efforts must be made.
Looked at from the foregoing perspective, life
consists of an extremely large collection of rizq
transactions, and you and I serve as so many loci
of manifestation through which many, but not all,
of these sorts of transaction are conducted.
However, our intentions, attitudes, understanding,
and spiritual condition can lend 'color' to these
events.
More specifically, while Divinity establishes
the parameters of conditions, gifts, and assigned
portions which are destined for us in relation to
every dimension of our lives, and while fundamental
aspects of these parameters are entangled in struggle,
you and I tend to filter the character of what is
being transmitted through us in positive and negative
ways. These positive and negative qualities are the
ways in which we lend color to those facets of
rizq transactions with which we are associated -
facets, one might add, that give expression to part
of our assigned rizq even as we are serving as loci
of manifestation for rizq transactions that are
being directed to others.
For example, if we are charitable - the positive
way in which we serve as a loci for giving, is
part of our rizq destiny, just as the giving that
flows through us to someone else is part of the
other individual's rizq destiny. At the same time,
our charitable nature may be a gift of God for
which little, or no, effort needed to be expended
in order to be acquired, or we may have had to
struggle long and hard to be able to act in a
charitable fashion.
Alternatively, if we are selfish, resentful,
and/or hateful with respect to various rizq
transactions that are manifested through us
and in which something we have (possessions,
money, time, talents, and so on) is transferred
to someone else to whom it has been assigned by
God - at least on a temporary basis - then,
although we serve as a locus of transference, we
have colored the transaction with various sorts
of negative attitudes, feelings, and intentions.
In short, we have added a certain degree of
malevolence, negativity, destructiveness, or
evil, if you will, to the transaction.
The person who has been assigned, by Divinity,
to be the recipient in the foregoing transaction
is acquiring at least three portions of rizq.
First, there is whatever money, material object,
possession, help and so on which is being
transmitted through the person who has been
assigned to serve as locus of giving. Secondly,
there is the negative coloring of the transaction
which has been added by the one through whom
the giving is manifested. Thirdly, there is the
opportunity being extended to the recipient, by
God, to deal with both the giving and the 'value
added' coloring in a spiritually appropriate
or inappropriate manner - and the choices made
concerning the form that this 'dealing' will
take becomes a locus through which further
rizq transactions are conducted.
The individual who, by the grace of God, has been
given knowledge of the Self, understands that all
of existence is a theater of Divine manifestation
which gives expression to Creation's Purpose by
means of a woven mosaic of rizq transactions in
which human beings - and, indeed, all created
being - are rooted as loci of transmission and
receipt with respect to the play of Divine Names
and Attributes - a play which is for the benefit
of all Creation. The individual who, through the
blessings of Divinity, has attained to Self-knowledge
understands her or his role in the scheme of things
and seeks to be a loci - whether of transmission or
receipt - that filters the rizq transactions through
a pure process of submission to Divine purpose and a
desire to serve all of Creation, not to rule over
Creation. The person who, by the mercy of Allah,
has had the nature of the Self unveiled, understands
that God's Purpose intends nothing but good for all
of Creation, including human kind, and such people
dedicate their lives to doing whatever they can to
share with others whatever they know concerning
this good.
The individual who has not, by the grace of his or
her own lower self, attained to knowledge of the
Self, and, as a result, knows only the 'self', has
not acquired something of the 'taste' of Divine
purpose, and, consequently, fails to grasp the
manner in which all of creation is united in the
tapestry of rizq transactions for a common Divine
Purpose. The person who, due to the ignorance in
which such an individual is entangled, does not grasp
his or her role in the scheme of things, and, therefore,
tends, in a variety of ways, to resist and rebel against
the rizq transactions which are being transmitted
through that person - ways which may not serve the
best, long-term interests of the individual but which
do not deter the Divine Purpose from being given
unfettered manifestation through a multiplicity of
dimensions entailed by the complex set of rizq
transactions that constitute Creation. The person
who, through self-absorption, tends to undermine
and sacrifice the Divinely-given opportunity to be
opened up to spiritual unveiling, does not understand
that God's intentions toward creation and human kind
are beneficent in nature.
Ignorance sees though lenses of spiritual darkness.
All events in the view of ignorance are filtered through,
and colored by, those lenses.
Ignorance seeks to usurp the role of God, because
the nature of ignorance is not to know any better
since ignorance veils, and is veiled from, the
truth of Divine Purpose. Ignorance, by 'virtue' of
the very nature of ignorance, is steeped in
impatience and wishes to place its own time table
upon God's Plan. Ignorance, due to its essential
lack of knowledge and understanding, seeks to
impose its darkness on everyone else, and will not
be content until all of creation falls beneath its
shadow.
The shaykhs of the path of tasawwuf indicate that
one must struggle toward repentance, sincerity,
tolerance, patience, forgiveness, nobility, justice,
kindness, love, compassion, and remembrance
because the way to Self-realization is lit by these
spiritual stations. Ignorance has little regard for such
qualities and believes that, somehow, a lack of
wisdom, insight, and understanding will be
triumphant.
The nature of ignorance is to not understand its
own presence. Ignorance is inclined to miss the fact
that the shapes it sees are merely ones that have
been superimposed upon reality by the character of
the ignorance involved.
Ignorance kills. Ignorance destroys. Ignorance
tortures. Ignorance distorts. Ignorance persecutes.
Ignorance oppresses. Ignorance terrorizes.
To whatever extent we permit ourselves to filter
the network of Divinely ordained rizq transactions
that give expression to the Purpose of Creation
through the lenses of ignorance, to that extent
will we be inclined to kill, destroy, torture,
distort, persecute, oppress, and terrorize -
both others and ourselves. If we wish to
understand the origins of evil, then let us
look to the spiritual ignorance within us -
for, that is where it all begins.
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