[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
differing demands of the members from the group prevent its
members - individually and collectively - from understanding and
concentrating upon important and quite subtle concepts which
need much attention and few distractions.
Husri, quoted by Hujwiri, says: 'The Sufi's existence is devoid
of non-existence, and his non-existence lacks existence.' Such an
207
idea needs concentration. Even a single individual finds it hard to
hold it in the mind, mainly because of himself being so filled with
thoughts and ideas. With a group it is even more difficult.
SPECIAL HARMONY
The group must be able to develop a perception of the meaning
of the following condition, again from Hujwiri: 'The condition of
mortality of the Sufi should be in abeyance, and his sensations
should vanish, and his relationship with anything should cease, so
that the secret of his existence may emerge, and his separate parts
be unified with his essence, his real self, and that he should persist
in being.'
In practice, let alone in theory, groups of people are not usually
interested in arriving at such states, even though they may imagine
themselves to be mystics or esotericists.
There are many people going around, nowadays they can easily
be found, who have tried to live in randomly-collected groups,
and have failed. They then look for other groups, or try to further
their spiritual or psychological development in some other way.
It is, however, easy to see why they have failed: they have not
been prepared to prepare for such an experience. They either felt
that they were ready for the experience; or else that membership
of such a group would give them what they needed.
Such an attitude is quite understandable, and exists in any
situation where there is a shortfall of information, however much
goodwill there may be. They have perhaps forgotten the second
line of the proverb:
Put your dough into the oven when it is hot:
After making sure that it is in fact dough.
208
The Value of Question and
Answer Sessions
Q: Can you say something about the special needs of 'Time,
Place and People', and the value of question-and-answer sessions
and their limitations ?
A: If you place great reliance upon the technique of group-
meetings with question-and-answer periods, you may make pro-
gress, but at a certain point it will stop.
This is because any teaching which does not use all kinds of
procedures (exercises, study-tasks, theory and practice and so on)
in due proportion will inevitably arrive at a point where some
people have obtained as much as they can from each procedure
and thereafter will go 'downhill' as far as their development is
concerned.
Neither can this question of due proportion be understood by
people (teachers or pupils) who are not on a stabilized higher level
of consciousness. There is no intuition, no delegation of authority,
no painstaking research, no seniority in years, no other factor,
which can substitute for the knowledge of what procedure to apply,
with whom, in what manner, unless that special attunement is
there.
To carry on in defiance of this fact produces social or imitative-
academic groupings. They can call themselves what they like: they
will not progress except socially.
The same is true of bodies of people stabilised upon the per-
formance of ritual, commemorative procedures or stereotyped
phraseology, however hallowed by tradition.
The existence of so many bodies of teaching, in so many cultures
and epochs, with so many different outward forms is a manifesta-
tion of original groups which were tailored for the community of
that place, that time, that teacher.
Of all human activities the one involving studies beyond ordin-
209
ary perceptions must above all be projected in accordance with
time, place and people: the last includes the direction of the effort,
as is well illustrated by this story:
IF YOUR HANDS ARE FULL
Terribly afraid one dark night, Mulla Nasrudin travelled with a
sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. He had been told
that these were a sure means of protection.
On the way he was met by a robber, who took his donkey and
saddlebags full of valuable books.
The next day, as he was bemoaning his fate in the teahouse,
someone asked:
'But why did you let him get away with your possessions,
Mulla? Did you not have the means to deter him?'
'IF my hands had not been full' said the Mulla, 'it would have
been a different story.'
The use of the story, of course, is to indicate that people may
have a transmitted formula ('weapons are a defence') without the
ability to understand how to employ it.
Like Nasrudin, they go through the motions, merely carrying
the instruments . . .
The unusual tenacity of replication of mere form which is to be
observed in religious transmission is evidence of human determina-
tion, not of effective content.
The ancient Chinese, Babylonian and Egyptian civilisations, as
social examples, for instance, endured for thousands of years not
because they were especially good and true and necessary: but
because they were promoted and maintained by determined men
and women, and because there was in addition a quota of inertia
in them which prevented laudable change. They did not develop
beyond a certain stage.
People appreciate and value form, and therefore do not at first
appreciate the reality of Sufis, though they may think they do, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
differing demands of the members from the group prevent its
members - individually and collectively - from understanding and
concentrating upon important and quite subtle concepts which
need much attention and few distractions.
Husri, quoted by Hujwiri, says: 'The Sufi's existence is devoid
of non-existence, and his non-existence lacks existence.' Such an
207
idea needs concentration. Even a single individual finds it hard to
hold it in the mind, mainly because of himself being so filled with
thoughts and ideas. With a group it is even more difficult.
SPECIAL HARMONY
The group must be able to develop a perception of the meaning
of the following condition, again from Hujwiri: 'The condition of
mortality of the Sufi should be in abeyance, and his sensations
should vanish, and his relationship with anything should cease, so
that the secret of his existence may emerge, and his separate parts
be unified with his essence, his real self, and that he should persist
in being.'
In practice, let alone in theory, groups of people are not usually
interested in arriving at such states, even though they may imagine
themselves to be mystics or esotericists.
There are many people going around, nowadays they can easily
be found, who have tried to live in randomly-collected groups,
and have failed. They then look for other groups, or try to further
their spiritual or psychological development in some other way.
It is, however, easy to see why they have failed: they have not
been prepared to prepare for such an experience. They either felt
that they were ready for the experience; or else that membership
of such a group would give them what they needed.
Such an attitude is quite understandable, and exists in any
situation where there is a shortfall of information, however much
goodwill there may be. They have perhaps forgotten the second
line of the proverb:
Put your dough into the oven when it is hot:
After making sure that it is in fact dough.
208
The Value of Question and
Answer Sessions
Q: Can you say something about the special needs of 'Time,
Place and People', and the value of question-and-answer sessions
and their limitations ?
A: If you place great reliance upon the technique of group-
meetings with question-and-answer periods, you may make pro-
gress, but at a certain point it will stop.
This is because any teaching which does not use all kinds of
procedures (exercises, study-tasks, theory and practice and so on)
in due proportion will inevitably arrive at a point where some
people have obtained as much as they can from each procedure
and thereafter will go 'downhill' as far as their development is
concerned.
Neither can this question of due proportion be understood by
people (teachers or pupils) who are not on a stabilized higher level
of consciousness. There is no intuition, no delegation of authority,
no painstaking research, no seniority in years, no other factor,
which can substitute for the knowledge of what procedure to apply,
with whom, in what manner, unless that special attunement is
there.
To carry on in defiance of this fact produces social or imitative-
academic groupings. They can call themselves what they like: they
will not progress except socially.
The same is true of bodies of people stabilised upon the per-
formance of ritual, commemorative procedures or stereotyped
phraseology, however hallowed by tradition.
The existence of so many bodies of teaching, in so many cultures
and epochs, with so many different outward forms is a manifesta-
tion of original groups which were tailored for the community of
that place, that time, that teacher.
Of all human activities the one involving studies beyond ordin-
209
ary perceptions must above all be projected in accordance with
time, place and people: the last includes the direction of the effort,
as is well illustrated by this story:
IF YOUR HANDS ARE FULL
Terribly afraid one dark night, Mulla Nasrudin travelled with a
sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. He had been told
that these were a sure means of protection.
On the way he was met by a robber, who took his donkey and
saddlebags full of valuable books.
The next day, as he was bemoaning his fate in the teahouse,
someone asked:
'But why did you let him get away with your possessions,
Mulla? Did you not have the means to deter him?'
'IF my hands had not been full' said the Mulla, 'it would have
been a different story.'
The use of the story, of course, is to indicate that people may
have a transmitted formula ('weapons are a defence') without the
ability to understand how to employ it.
Like Nasrudin, they go through the motions, merely carrying
the instruments . . .
The unusual tenacity of replication of mere form which is to be
observed in religious transmission is evidence of human determina-
tion, not of effective content.
The ancient Chinese, Babylonian and Egyptian civilisations, as
social examples, for instance, endured for thousands of years not
because they were especially good and true and necessary: but
because they were promoted and maintained by determined men
and women, and because there was in addition a quota of inertia
in them which prevented laudable change. They did not develop
beyond a certain stage.
People appreciate and value form, and therefore do not at first
appreciate the reality of Sufis, though they may think they do, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]