Sahibzada Asim Maharvi, Chairman Chishtiya Ribbat, Pakistan The Role Sufism Can Play in Global Spirituality The moment of truth has arrived. The assumption that there is nothing beyond or behind material reality is false. The moment of truth has arrived because the culture we have built on this assumption is not working. On an individual scale it is not working. On a national scale it is not working. On a global scale it is not working. This is in fact a matter of great honor to attend and celebrate the wonderful event of World Forum of Spiritual Culture, to celebrate the emergence and the growth of the Global Spirituality Based upon and limited by the knowledge and experience of the people who form it, a culture arises and develops within a specific enviornment. A culture has many unifying factors: the cohesiveness of the people who form it, their values, the cultures in proximity to them. By its very nature, a culture itself provides an important factor in unifying and harmonizing. As a culture develops, progresses and matures, it becomes more static, more homebound, for a man seeks stability.
Because it is the nature of human beings to seek that which is ever stable ( Reality itself) we reflect this search in other activites in our lives. From initially being nomadic, a culture progresses to cultivation, to agriculture, to development of a town, a locale. But at the same time when we seek the stability, we also desire diversity of experience. So, as soon as we have put down the roots, established a home base, we start to develop mobility.
The major movements of developmets of cultures can be traced to aspects inherent in the nature of human beings. Man is mobile because he wants to be everywhere and know everything. Therefore we have invented stea engines, jet engines. We have maximum physical mobility, but we do not have the contentment we long for. There is a little inner or spiritual mibility. The west , as a society, is now outwardly mobile but inwardly immobile. The next step is to become inwardly mobile. The negative aspects of Western development are goading us towards the next step of development. Western culture now enjoys a higher degree of physical gratification than any other culture in history. Once we have reached the outer limits of materialismand mobility, it is only natural for us to turn toward exploring inner world, inner mobility.
If we believe in the innate goodness of creation , of man and of the earth, then we believe that we will evolve both physically and spiritually. Physically we have already evelved. We are now on two legs and suffer from backaches. But inwardly, we will also evolve; there will ultimately be a spiritual flowering on a large scale for everyone.
Just as a child must develop physical motor skills before he develops mental and intellectual faculties, so as society first grows in gross and material ways, becomming more and more sensitive as it develops. But after it has experienced maximum growth, it starts to decline, unless the goal shifts towards the Real.
There are two types of truth or knowledge. One is capable of proof; it is biological, physiological, existential, mathematical, material. I can prove to someone that if he steps out of a window into the open air, he will fall. It is obvious, natural and provable. It is an undeniable truth that we can demonstrate.
But there is also the truth that contains and unifies with what is called the unseen. The unseen is made up of the forces and powers that we have access to but cannot see or perceive with our outer human senses, like cosmic rays, sound waves, radio transmissions, radar and so on. These are within the unseen.
So there is one type of truth within human grasp and another type that we can tap into by means of other media or connecting systems.
The prophets has access to the second type of truth. What we see of revealed truth is only the tip of the iceberg. Judaism, Christianity, Islam or whatever other religion we may hav been brought up in has reached us in altered form and through different cultural perspectives.
Thus the paradigm we know could be partly true and partly false. Whether the distortions were intended or not, there are certain things that are not coherent in our religious heritage. SO what has happened is that these religions, which were complete in their original environment, for those people, at that time, reach us with distortions. Sometime these distortions are so fundamental that they cannot be corrected.
Thus we find certain elements that do not make sense. We do not connect with them and thus cannot be unified with that religion. As a result we may reject all other revealed truths and deprive ourselves of the proven way of surrender and freedom.
What we have found throughout this world over the last few centuries is a continuing rebellion against dogma and despotism, imposition and inquisition. If the heart and the head do not agree, one cannot accept a religion and live by it wholeheartedly . Man wants to believe, but he needs to use both his intellect and his heart to question and accept it.
So science became the refuge for men of imagination and higher intellect, a refuge from the dogmatism and despotism of the churches. They simply by-passed its authority. As a result power has ultimately shifted from the Church to science, technology, economy and finance. The churches' real power has vanished and many are empty.
Man needs to believe , so he believes in science, which is causality, and cause and effect represent half of the truth. There is nothing wrong with this form of truth, but it is mundane; it is at a lower level. That is why the higher the level the scientist, the more quickly he reaches a point, described by Einstein as being at the edge of the ocean of knowledge.
There many scientists recieve signals, sparks of inspiration from the ocean, and this is basically the state of the man of Unity. He is in that constant state of inspiration. The inspiration comes if you are at the ocean, at that edge, empty-headed, empty-handed, in unison , in resonance
Ever since the birth of the modern science, all other areas of man’s culture have taken back seat, and this is particularly true of philosophy and theology. Unfortunately the split between the two types of knowledge—revealed and demonstrable—has led to a split in the lives of people into what we might call the secular and the sacred. All is originally sacred.
All of us are students of self-knowledge in varying degrees of commitment and intensity. Some of us are concerned with knowledge of physical and biological matters; others with subtler, inner realms of meaning. But whatever form our search takes, we are all seeking the ultimate knowledge that has brought about our individual destinies. Our present moment, our present situation, constitutes our momentary destiny. This momentary destiny is the result of the interaction between the laws that govern existence and our individual wills, an interaction that results in a balance of these factors. The moment is the only reality of which we can be totally certain, subjectively and objectively.
We are born into this world in order to grow in experience and wisdom and to recognize the one unifying principle of Reality. We may recognize it in a limited way—for examples, when we see ecological harmony-or we may know it in a more pervasive way when we experience the overwhelming presence of the Creator of All.
Experience is the meeting of two opposites. This meeting point is the human heart, for in it we experience love and hate, hope and fear, peace and agitation, wakefulness and sleep, security and insecurity . The heart of man contains the entire spectrum of experience; whenever we appeal to the heart, we find a common denominator in humanity. Otherwise, our interaction becomes transactional or hypocritical, based on economics, politics, and other man-made disciplines. Although these disciplines have their place, they are limited because they do not lead us to the awareness that whatever appears negative in existence is really in harmony and balance with the total ecology. Because we do not know this, we see incongruity, imbalance, confusion and division in life.
The philosophy of the Sufi spiritual model is based on the existence of a merciful Reality that transcends time, encompasses Its creation from beyond time and in time, and creates out of love in order that It may be discovered. Man’s purpose is to discover the one and only all-pervading Reality that encompasses his existence. When we are mindful of our purpose, we find a common denominator in everyone’s aspirations, hopes, disappointments and problems. All of our experiences-positive and negative-are part of the process of self-knowledge. The root of our behavior can be explained by viewing it through the binoculars of the divine unity of the one Creator.
The real purpose of Sufism is to reunify human beings, for we are composed of both a divine nature and a lower nature. The role of Sufism is to show us that these two natures are actually a part of a spectrum, and it is our decision which side we focus on and develop. Sufism is also there to give us the rules and regulations for the highway of mortal life and to make us aware that Reality consists of more than just the houses we live in and the cars we drive. There is beginning and an end to the highway and they encompass us; we cannot encapsulate them. If we start by wanting Reality, we end up on the Way; and if we start with the Way, we end up with the Reality. The two are complementary; the are the two sides of the same coin.We can not have one without the other. That is why it is said , " He who takes the Way and does not find Reality is degenerate. And he who takes the Reality and does not accept and fully live the Way is heretic. You cannot have one without the other. One is the inner, the other is outer. The two unified are full equilibrium and arrival. Sufism is all about creating that balance , equilibrium and harmony between all the three levels of Human existence; Body, mind and soul..it is the journey from the lower conscious level to the higher and the pure conscious level.
We have seen that the nature of existence is based on two opposites. We find either increase or decrease, widness or narrowness, elevation or abasement, strength or weakness, , giving or withholding, expansion or contraction, gatheredness or dispersion, happiness or sadness, life or death. Outwardly, life is experienced by duality, moving from one state to opposite.
The nature of the inward is a different from that of the outward. The basic nature of the inward follows along a singular path, rather than leading to a two-pronged outward experience. If we reflect deeply, we will find that the root of these opposites is a single source. If we trace any of these attributes to its root, we will reach a singular point. It is only through the porthole of integrated awareness that the unifying network of the outward can be seen.
We are in this world, yet our higher nature is beyond this world. Our Bodies are borrowed and will perish, but our spirit is from a source that is beyond time and, therefore, its nature is permanent.
Thus part of the perfection of the work of Allah is that He made this existence based on two. He created everything in pairs so that the knowledge od things is by their opposites. By His creating duality, we know that He is One.
This is by the uniqueness of the oneness of Allah, the One, the Unique.
Therefore the witnessing of that which is unique and has no opposite is so bewildering that it would almost render it unmanifest. Its non-manisfestation is because of its exessive clarity, and its deflection is due to its dazzling brillance.
So we praise the One Who is hidden from His creation because of His intense appearance and Who is hidden from them because of His effulgent light. There is no place or time that He is not. His existence precedes non-existence, and His foreness precedes beginning.
The future is in our hands today. The future is a combination of our will, our courage, our understanding, our knowledge and our past. We are the product of the past, traveling ten miles an hour. But if we acquire an outboard motor, the motor of real knowledge and dedication, then our speed will increase to a hundred miles per hour. Our future will differ instantly.