=kit119.txt

KIT 119 - SINCERITY

We may go though a phase where we are preoccupied with an
impelling need to understand (Alim), or the need to be in control
of our life (Wali), display authority (Qaher), the need for
vastness (Basit), the need to discover one's inner being (Batin),
the need to love (Wadud), the need to have compassion (Rahman),
the need for energy (Hayy), the need for nurturing (Muqit), the
need for success (Ghani), the need for guidance (Hadi), the need
for the sacred (Quddus), the need for awakening (Khabir), the need
for light (Nur). There may come a time in one's life when the need
to face oneself becomes imperative. Then the compellingness of
truth becomes obsessive. Suddenly as though a veil had been
lifted, one can see one's real intentions behind the hoax of
justifications-one's motivations behind one's endeavors x-rayed in
the clear light of sincerity, (ikhlas).

How is it possible that one had not spotted them before? One's
ability to function in the world is so precariously suspended upon
one's self-esteem to save one from the counterproductive despair
of a bad self-image. It might materialize in sticking stubbornly
to one's point in an argument, for fear of losing face, refusing
to admit one's mistaken view even if one's unconscious is hinting
to one that one is of bad faith. This is precisely what Pir-o-
Murshid calls "the false ego," a crutch that serves the purpose of
giving one self-confidence by self validation, like a cane, or a
masque, or a costume, or a cigarette, or a title-a status. One may
well experience a stage in one's life where one has a need for a
status to bolster one's self-confidence and benefit by acceptance
from "the world", until one reaches a stage where one does not
need it anymore.

It is surprising to what extent one may fail to detect the
hypocrisy of self deception damaging one's soul - by masking one's
masquerade not just from others but even from one's own self by
denying one's personality defects - which no doubt are
devalidating to one's self-esteem - by sheer pretentiousness,
parading an ostentatious affectation.

"The hypocrite's ego is keenly affected by praise or blame." 
ABD EL QADIR GILANI

The only way to heal one's soul from this spoliation is
uncompromising sincerity, authenticity. This means first cross-
examining one's own conscience, baring justifications, admitting
any covert motivations behind one's actions if indeed one does not
feel totally happy about them. It may mean relinquishing any claim
of superiority based upon pretence. Then one is ready to admit to
people up-front those flaws in oneself that one cannot subscribe
to anymore.

"If you wish to get rid of your enemies, repent at once." 
(IBID) [ ABD EL QADIR GILANI ]

It is a common observation that a prepossessive disposition is
efficacious in order to make way in the world, by dominating
others to promote self-interest. But there is no escape from the
choice between material gain and the beauty of one's personality.

"Of what good if you win the world but lose your soul!" 
(Words of Christ)
[ "What does it profit a man if he shall gain the world and lose
his soul" -- soi_disant 'NEW TESTAMENT' ]

"The soul tuned to God becomes as beautiful as God and begins to
express God through all one does, expressing in life the Divine
manner. Why is it a kingly manner? The word kingly signifies
someone who possesses power and wealth in abundance. The soul
tuned to God, before whom all things fade away and in whose eyes
the importance of the little things of which every person thinks
so much is lessened, begins to express Divine manner." 
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

Admittedly the personal ego serves as a deterrent or a warning to
people who might abuse one by taking advantage of one's good-will
and selflessness. One's personal ego is a feature of one's defense
system and therefore its weaning needs to be operated
painstakingly to guard one from the opposite of megalomania: an
inferiority complex. This is why the Sufis always compensate fana,
commonly called the annihilation of the false self-or self
abnegation-by baqa reinstatement, shifting one's sense of identity
from the personal to the transpersonal-Divine-dimension of one's
being. Unless one knows how to enlist a noble alternative to the
soul-demeaning strategy, in order to secure profit for oneself or
for one's fellow-beings, or indeed to achieve something of
cultural value, one resorts to it.

"Man desires power, because it is natural for him to gain. But he
surrenders his kingdom to his little self, depriving himself of
the Divine power that is in his heart. Somewhere a power is hidden
in him. On coming to earth, man loses connection with that Divine
power whose instrument he is, thus keeping not only himself but
even God from helping His will to be done. Therefore the soul has
in it a potentiality, a creative power as its Divine heritage. On
the one side man is limited and imperfect; on the other side he
represents the unlimited and perfect." 
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

How then can one wean oneself from the flaws of one's personal ego
while maintaining one's self-validation? The answer is of course
in calling upon the transpersonal dimension of one's ego.

PIR-O-MURSHID declares:

"The false ego is what that ego has wrongly conceived to be its
own being. It is not that the false ego is our ego, and the true
ego is the ego of God, it is that the true ego which is the ego of
God has been reduced to a false ego in us. The only difference is
that in one aspect it is the whole, in the other aspect it is a
part; in one aspect it is almighty, in the other it has only a
certain might, or a certain power; in one aspect it is unlimited,
in the other it is limited. The difference between the Divine and
the human will is like the difference between the trunk of a tree
and its branches; and as from the boughs other branches and twigs
spring. In a tree there is a trunk, and there are some prominent
or large branches; from these there spring many smaller branches.
So there are the powerful beings, the masters of humanity. Their
will is God's, their word is God's word, and yet they are
branches, because the trunk is the will of the Almighty."
(HIK)

"To avail ourselves of this Divine power which we inherit we need
to awaken it."
(HIK, apparently)

"We inherit the Divine will as our own Divine heritage, and it is
our consciousness of it which makes it greater. The fulfillment of
this whole creation is to be found in man and this object is only
fulfilled when man has awakened that part of himself which
represents God Himself." 
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

"To avail ourselves of our inheritance, we need to conquer it."
GOETHE

The clue is in one's faulty representation of God as "other" which
stands in the way of calling upon the transpersonal dimension of
one's being. If one is encapsulated in one's ordinary
consciousness, it is admittedly difficult to include the
impersonal, transpersonal area of one's being. It requires of one
to reconcile complementary ways of identifying oneself: to grasp
that, while being unique at the more personal level of one's
being, at the highest levels of one's being one is co-extensive
with all beings (which is what we generally mean by God). Here
lies the secret of the "spiritual sovereignty" (Mughni) of the
Dervish.

The secret then is to shift one's consciousness to the antipodal
pole of one's being, trying to represent God (the Universe)
discovering Him/Herself in the infinite personalized and unique
expressions of Him/Herself as us.

"You know yourself through another knowledge, different from that
which you had of yourself, because it is through Him that you know
yourself." 
IBN'ARABI

"The purpose of the whole creation is the realization that God
Himself gains by discovering His own perfection through His
manifestation. The Divine mind becomes completed after
manifestation. The creator's mind is made of His own creation. The
experience of every soul becomes the experience of the Divine
mind." 
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN (UNITY OF RELIGIOUS IDEALS)

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