The Seekers Dilemma
There is no form of the Sufi path which is
capable of being traversed in isolation from
a relationship with a spiritual teacher, guide,
master, shaykh, mentor, or elder. Through
this relationship one is initiated into the
essential teachings of the Divine revelation
the Prophetic tradition, and, ultimately, one's
true identity and unique, spiritual capacity for
knowing, loving, and serving God, and, thereby,
realizing the purpose of one's life.
Yet, for reasons best known to God, locating
and identifying an authentic spiritual guide is
not, necessarily, a straight-forward issue. The
logistics of this search are rendered more
problematic since not everyone who professes to
be a true teacher, necessarily, is.
Thus, on the one hand, a spiritual mentor who is
an authentic locus of manifestation for Divine
assistance with respect to the spiritual struggle
toward Self-realization is considered essential
to anyone who wishes to journey along the mystical
path - at least, until such time as the primary
means of spiritual transmission comes through one's
essential Self, as opposed to through the essential
Self of one's teacher ... which, in truth, are just
variations on the same, underlying reality. On the
other hand, not all that glitters is spiritual
gold, and, as a result, one has to be on the look
out for the spiritual counterpart to 'fool's gold'.
The foregoing matter is further complicated by the
fact that the seeker is surrounded by 'associates'
who do not have the seeker's best spiritual
interests at heart. Among these associates are
those who do not believe in the reality of the
mystical way, and, therefore, try to dissuade one
from either stepping onto, or continuing with,
the spiritual path - or both. In addition - and,
perhaps, surprisingly to some - among the
associates who do not have one's best spiritual
interests at heart are certain, unredeemed dimensions
of the seeker, herself or himself - namely, the lower
soul which houses a human beings tendency toward
rebellion against Divine purpose.
A further member of the associates who seek to
hinder one's movement toward, or along, the
mystical path is Satan, or Iblis - who, from a
Sufi perspective is not a fallen angel (since
angels are, by nature, incapable of doing other
than what God commands), but one of the species
of beings known as jinn that, like human beings,
have the capacity to struggle between good and
evil and, as a result, become spiritually
transformed. Today, of course, many people,
under the tutelage of modern pyschology, are
much too 'sophisticated' to believe in the Devil,
and, indeed, as has been said, one of Satan's
greatest accomplishments is, through various means,
to induce people to believe he doesn't exist and,
consequently, is not a force with which one must
reckon.
There is much that could be said concerning
the adverse impact which Satan, as well as those
who disbelieve in the reality of mystical possibilities,
can have on a person's spiritual seeking. Nevertheless,
today, the focus of this essay will be on the problematic
effect that the individual, himself or herself, might have
on the process of seeking to find an authentic,
spiritual guide.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is
reported to have said that "the movements of nafs
[the lower, unredeemed, carnal soul] are more
difficult to detect than the movements of a black
ant on a smooth rock in the dead of night." Often
times, the nafs seeks to cloak its hidden agenda
(which is, decidedly, non-spiritual) through an
array of manipulative devices that give plausible
denial to the fact that one's spiritual intentions
are being corrupted by the hidden agenda which is
seeping in to one's understanding, motivations,
and intentions through the lobbying activity of
the nafs.
Hazrat Ra'bia of Basra - who is not just a great
woman saint, but, by the grace of Allah, one of
the great saints of the Sufi path - was once in
the company of a man who had been initiated into
the mystical tradition. They were reported to have
been on a hillside, overlooking the town below.
The man was indicating how many of the people in
the town sinned by not observing their daily
prayers, and by not fasting during the month of
Ramazan, and so on. These comments concerning
the towns people were followed by statments
in which the individual indicated how he had
never missed any of the daily prayers, and that
he not only fasted during Ramazan but did so
many additional, non-obligatory fasts.
The man was about to go on when Hazrat Ra'bia
stopped him with an intense look. Then, she is
reported to have said: "Your existence is a sin
with which none other can compare."
This 'existence' to which Hazrat Ra'bia was
alluding is the sense of 'selfhood' that the
nafs helps cultivate - a sense of self which is
in opposition to God because this is the doorway
through which, among other things, the individual
becomes entangled with purely sensory, material,
wordly, and selfish matters, and, in the process,
forgets all about one's relationship with Divinity
and the purpose for which one was given the gift
of life. Oddly enough, and as the foregoing story
of Ra'bia and the would-be Sufi illustrates, one
can be fortunate enough to find an authentic
teacher, become initiated, and start the mystical
journey, yet, still be vulnerable to the
machinations or secret workings of the nafs as it
tries to take control of the individual's life -
whether directly, or through proxy.
A person may believe she or he is seeking God,
but, in reality, under the influence of the
nafs, may be seeking fame, or an enhanced
self-image, or an ability to perform 'wondrous
deeds', or to feel superior to others, or even
to achieve paradise (heaven). The fact that the
latter prospect - namely, seeking paradise - might
be considered as being something quite apart from
seeking God, may, initially, appear to be somewhat
odd, but consider the following.
Again, using the teachings of Ra'bia as a point
of reference, one of her payers runs along the
following lines. 'Oh Allah, if I worship Thee out
of desire for paradise, then, deny me paradise,
and if I worship Thee out of fear of hell, then,
throw me into hell. But, if I worship Thee for
Thee and Thee alone, then, grant me Thy vision.'
The focus of her prayer is clearly on God and on
nothing else. To desire heaven, or to seek to
avoid hell, is to seek for something other than Divinity.
In the West, one of the character traits which is
extolled and encouraged is independent thought or
to be an individual who is the captain of one's
ship. Now, within certain limits and in certain
contexts, individuality and independence of
thought can be positive qualities, but, from a
Sufi perspecitve, one cannot say this without
appropriate qualifications.
A person who believes that she or he knows more
than, or better than, an authentic spiritual guide
with respect to the proper way to pursue the mystical
way will not long be on that path - assuming, of
course, such an individual even gets as far as
becoming initiated into a Sufi Order. True
individuality is when the person becomes
spiritually realized, and, thereby, becomes
capable, God willing, of giving expression
to the unique spiritual potential which Divinity
has bequeathed to that person.
There is a story told by Sufi masters about a seeker
who has spent many years on the Path and, at some
juncture in the individual's life, learns there is
a certain, spiritual teacher who knows, and can
teach, a deep secret of the mystical way. After
much struggle and many years of austerities, the
seeker discovers the location of the aforementioned
master and travels to the indicated place.
Knocking on the door, a voice, from within, asks:
"Who is there?", and the seeker answers: "It is me,
so-and-so", and this is followed by the command;
"Leave".
The seeker goes away in accordance with the
directive and begins to reflect on various,
personal shortcomings that might have interfered
with the door being opened. So, many more years
of hard spiritual work follow, and, then, once
again, the seeker approaches the hallowed door.
Once more, the knock is made, and a voice from
within asks: "Who is there?" The seeker replies:
"It is I, so and so, of such and such a location."
Once more, the seeker is commanded to leave.
Further years of meditation, contemplation,
austerities and struggle follow for the seeker.
Finally, after a time, the individual returns to
the same door and knocks, yet, again.
The same voice asks the same question: "Who is
there?", to which the seeker responds: "It is
Thou," and the door is opened.
One must learn to give up the self, to attain to
true Selfhood, and, unfortunately, many people
have quite the wrong idea about this. They think
the purpose of the path is to enhance the 'self'.
When the activities of the nafs dominate a person's
consciousness, understanding, and intentions, one
is not receptive to spritual guidance. Indeed, one
is not even in a position to recognize whether a
given person is an authentic guide or not, which,
under the best of circumstances, is not an easy
issue to navigate.
In order to, God willing, have the best chance of
finding one's way to a true spiritual guide, one
needs to realize that one needs God's help to do
this. One needs to realize how precarious one's
predicament is, and how vulnerable one is, and
that there is much which one does not know -
including who is, and who is not, an authentic
teacher.
W.C. Fields once made a movie called: 'You Can't
Cheat An Honest Man' that consisted in a series
of episodes which indicated how dishonest many
people were, and, therefore, how easy it was to
cheat them through their own quality of dishonesty.
If a person's spiritual seeking is sincere, then,
such an individual has, by the Grace of God,
placed herself or himself in a position to benefit from
Divine help in the matter of finding a suitable, authentic,
spiritual guide, but, if a person's spiritual seeking is
dishonest, then, that person is at great risk unless Divine
Mercy takes the individual by the hand and does not allow
nafs to befog the person's vision when the opportunity for
meeting an authentic teacher appears during the
course of events.
The dilemma of a seeker is this. How spiritually
honest is the seeking?
This is a question that echoes along the corridors
of one's heart and mind far beyond the matter of
needing to find a true spiritual guide. Many times
our tendency is to answer from the perspective of
the self, rather than the Self, and, as many times,
the door of essential spirituality may remain
closed to one.
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