Tasawwuf: Metaphysics - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

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Tasawwuf: Metaphysics—Gatha with Commentary Series I TASAWWUF: There is action and interaction between all things, all thoughts. The universe is not sterile even when it seems to be running down hill. Faith is the reflection of the eternal purpose in man and reason is only an operation of the temporal sphere, seeking a harmony to please the ego. The great discoveries and inventions have made use of reason but they have not arisen from reason. If reason were so wonderful, it would follow that either all problems could be solved, or that there could arise no problems at all. GATHA: The belief, “My friend is faithful to me and is helping me,” by itself influences the helper. And when there is a doubting attitude—“Perhaps my friend or my agent is faithful to me, perhaps not”—then the fact is made doubtful. TASAWWUF: In other words one must hold oneself together. It is the unity of purpose and effort within and not dependence upon others. If one cannot trust another, he should not select him as friend or agent. These operations depend on trust. GATHA: Faith can bring a surer and speedier cure than medicine, and both success and failure in life depend very much upon faith. TASAWWUF: The mind has the capacity of operating as an instrument for the power-wisdom which is in the very space. Without faith there is the inability to bring this power into focus and use, to bring this wisdom into focus and use. And once the consciousness of man is unified, he can grow even to the grade of superman. GATHA: Man rides upon the elephant and controls tigers by the power of faith. The great people of the world, the greatest people, are great more by their faith than by anything else, because mostly great people have been adventurous and at the back of a venture is faith, nothing else. TASAWWUF: Faith is thus the outpouring of heart. This becomes increased when there is Faith in the existence of Divinity in Whom we live and move and have our being, who is in and out of us and around us and on all sides. Then there is nothing to fear, it is weakness which produces fear. We can see this in strong rulers. Men regarded as bad, like Hitler and Mussolini, nevertheless had faith. Tyrants have faith. Despots have faith. But those who depend upon the will of the majority do not always have a strong central faith and so do not always accomplish so much. GATHA: Reason can strengthen faith, but things that are beyond reason can be reached by faith alone. If faith is limited by reason it is held down so that it cannot rise, but when faith is independent of reason it is raised by the force of the ideal, and then reason has scope to advance and reach the ideal. TASAWWUF: Reason of itself has sometimes been called tautology, that it can not add to knowledge but can systematize it. There is something else needed for growth. The reason is innate in the mind no doubt, but it does not bring power and zest. It may be symbolized by Epimetheus, the Greek hero who was held far inferior to his brother Prometheus, which means verbally, “forethought.” It was Prometheus who brought down the fire from heaven. GATHA: Those who believe in an ideal and those who do not have both arrived at their conviction by faith; in the former it is positive, in the latter negative. 10
Tasawwuf: Metaphysics—Gatha with Commentary Series I TASAWWUF: If conclusions were reached by reason, then people would be agreeing all the time. But they do not agree on the facts as being real, or accept the same facts, or utilize facts in the same way as in what they call “reason.” The result is that reason itself may be regarded as unreasonable, which is also the subject for study among the members of the Elementary Circle. To work out one’s purpose in life there must be the positive attitude. Negation holds one in one’s place; it can protect against evils, but it is for man to change, for man to grow. GATHA: An unbeliever asked a believer, “If there were no God then would not all your prayers and expectations be in vain” The believer answered, “If there be no God, and if my prayers are vain and all that I have done for God is lost, then I am in the same case as you, but if He exists, then I have the advantage.” Faith is natural and its negative is unnatural. TASAWWUF: We can see it in the attitudes of people. The believer is open to life and the unbeliever has closed out something. He leaves no scope for that which is beyond his intelligence. He is unconsciously assuming all knowledge to be his possession but he does not know it. So it is not surprising that many scientists are believers and many non-scientists, who think they are championing something they call “science” against something they call “religion,” are mostly very confused people. GATHA: As all things in this artificial world are made by faith so the whole creation is made by the faith of the divine mind. Therefore, as the divine mind has been able to create all by faith, so man by this divine attribute can rise to the source of his being. TASAWWUF: We can see this in good cooks, that after a while they do not need the recipes. It is not only that they have remembered, it is also they have a certain feeling. That feeling brings them into harmony both with the ingredients of their food and the processes of preparation whether raw or cooked, and in turn adds to the taste and appreciation. Man is a minuscule replica of the divine. He has the potentialities. And as his faith moves in accord with harmony it follows laws of the unseen, not rules. GATHA: Thought, speech and action without faith are as body without life. All things by faith are made alive, for faith is the life of all things. Think what joy trust brings, and what a feeling of suffocation doubt brings! When a person does not trust another that means that he has no confidence in himself; he is not happy through this. It would be no exaggeration to say that material loss resulting from misplaced confidence is better than all profit resulting from unjustified suspicion. TASAWWUF: Love is the greatest of positive forces. We cannot have it through negation, we cannot have it unless there is an outpouring to another, with another. And as we feel the heart-pulse of another and trust in him, so there is an increase of our own self-assurance. Copyright Sufi Ruhaniat International 1978 These materials are given for individual study by mureeds and are not intended to be shared outside the circle except by permission. 11
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Tasawwuf: Metaphysics - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

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