Tasawwuf: Metaphysics - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

Tasawwuf: Metaphysics—Gatha with Commentary Series I
TASAWWUF: A question may arise, “Is logic logical” It should appear evident that, with the outbreak
of great disturbances ranging from local riots to a great world war, people do not have premises
and methods of reaching conclusions in common. There is some question whether any system of
analysis or dialectics can solve any problem. Yes, they can satisfy a few or many people. Such satisfaction
only demonstrates the sway of the ego (nufsaniat).
In the study of Indian philosophy—also reflected in the story of Lot, presented in The Unity of
Religious Ideals—the existence of levels of consciousness above that of the discursive mind (manas)
presents possibilities of unlimited extent. There we have Vijnana, the universe of integrative intellect
and Ananda, which is concerned with universality. Both by intellectual and spiritual means, man can
become conscious of both these levels and operate accordingly.
GATHA: In one sense, logic may be said to be concrete and realistic knowledge, and yet in another
sense it is most limited and poor knowledge. It is limited to names and forms that are forever changing;
it is poor because it is founded on a substance that is subject to destruction.
TASAWWUF: It should be a matter of simple observation that if logic were so potent there would be
more agreement. Even the conquest of space has not produced harmonious outlooks. Indeed, there
is a question of whether there may not be two or more completely different cultures existing in a
world which, using the word “logic,” has such varying outlooks.
Psychology is a science which studies the mind in action. It is only gradually that an accommodation
has been made to observe the mind at rest, or in meditation. If there were a great validity in
logic, there could not be so many schools of either philosophy or psychology. Something is evidently
wrong.
Mystics of many schools practice meditation, i.e., utilizing the mind at rest. This seems to bring a
greater efficiency, and sometimes, the faculty of penetrating into the hitherto unseen. Meditation is
not practiced for such a purpose, but sometimes it leads to the awakening of latent faculties.
While it may be possible to find the unifying logic, the development of the faculty of Insight produces
far more harmony and agreement. Insight is not either anti-logical or superlogical. It leads to a
logic independent of ego.
GATHA: When logic helps to strengthen the knowledge of names and forms and of conditions it is
a great help, but when it confines the progress of the soul, which is made on a different path, it is a
great hindrance.
TASAWWUF: The descriptive sciences such as petrology, botany, and zoology, need the formal logic.
It also dominated in the chemical sciences prior to the discovery of radioactivity and elemental
transformation. Even such a great philosopher as Russell said, “These phenomena required a revaluation
of Aristotelian principles.”
Western logic proposed that, “a thing is a thing and nothing else.” Certain Indian logics such as
those of Buddha and the Jains question the existence of things and thingness. This has left many
problems not only unsolved, but sometimes unresolved. And as man has gone deeper into Oriental
teachings, he finds logical premises and methods totally at variance with the traditions of the West.
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