82 - Heaven and Earth Interspersed - Part 1

            We are at a stage in the Sufi Order where the need for illumination has become imperative. One can say that ultimately illumination is the only thing that makes sense of life and for many there is an almost desperate need to obtain it.

            Illumination is associated with awakening and awakening may be described in terms of experience such as suddenly seeing things from a different perspective. An example would be walking in the woods and having a sense of being in a transfigured world, one that is absolutely magical. Or being convinced that your assessment of a problem is the way you thought it was and all of a sudden something switches in you and you see it in another way. Or walking in a street and instead of seeing a lot of people, you see that it's all One Being, ourselves being the fractions, although ultimately the total Being can never be fractionated. So we see that our usual representation of the world is the result of the commonplace focus of our consciousness which is rather limited. One's vantage point can change, and the consequence is that one's perspective on what one means by reality switches over, clicks into a totally different perspective.

            We say that we are in pursuit of spirituality but there is no way in which we can define it or have a clear idea of what we mean by spirituality. We would like to make it a little more real, however, otherwise it becomes like lip service to a belief system. One way of doing this would be to think that what one is trying to do is to introduce another dimension into our commonplace lives which brings in an element that has a transforming effect. And this idea is substantiated by the thought 'bring heaven to earth'. But when we say bring heaven to earth we are thinking in terms of duality; we are thinking heaven up there is to be brought down to earth. There is some contradiction in this. The reason for this is that our picture of ourselves is usually limited and so the heavens would be other than what we think is ourselves, like angelic beings. We need to realize that there are no boundaries to our being and the heavenly realms are part of ourselves just like for example the people you love become part of you and are continually present in you. So if we think of the heavens as other than ourselves then we will not discover the features of the heavens within us. To know the heaven in us we have to unfurl the potentialities of the celestial features of ourselves, so it's a knowing that results from doing instead of just knowing. Of course we would like to simply try to define those features we could ascribe to the celestial dimension of our being as compared to those we call human. But then again we're thinking in terms of duality because in fact they are interspersed.

            So if our thinking stands in the way of our experience then we have to embellish our thinking with greater wisdom so that we are able to overcome the limitation of our mind that is standing in the way of not only our experience but our unfoldment. An example could be illustrated by a loaf of bread which you could slice and then you could select any slice. Or if think of yourself as being made of different components you could call on a certain component to try to unfurl it.

            Likewise, the usual way of thinking is that we have all kinds of qualities like compassion and truth and joy and peace and so on but the holistic paradigm in our time presents us with a much richer understanding. This could be illustrated by a hologram which incorporates several images which are superimposed and interspersed, it's not like a slice of bread that you can separate. So you can toggle between the focus that brings out the perspective on one image from the focus of consciousness which brings out another image.

            As with a hologram, somehow our brain has the capacity to extrapolate between those two images and the consequence is that we see three-dimensionally otherwise we would not recognize three dimensions. And the same thing is true in what we call spirituality. Instead of thinking of the heavens up there and the earth down here or even thinking that there are features in us down here that are of the nature of the heavens we need to see that in fact they are interspersed with our humanness. For example in India it was believed that the Sannyasin was different from the householder but now we're trying to see in which way they relate.

            We could of course highlight certain features in us that would typify the angelic in us as a guideline. This is in accordance with the teaching of Christ of being in the world but not of the world. What Christ is saying is precisely what I'm trying to clarify in our minds. We see people who are typically of the world in their way of thinking and of doing, we are surrounded by them, suffocated by them. If we follow the prescriptions of Christ, which are crucial to our objective, we need to see what it is in us that is not typically of the world but which we could actualize in our behavior so that we are not pulled between two different objectives or motivations. Any such attempt to define them is bound to be perfunctory but still one needs to start doing this.

            The thing that strikes me particularly is innocence. There is a kind of cleanliness about innocence as opposed to the kind of psychological pollution which we see around us which I think is sacrilege and where the dividing line is very difficult. So it is or natural innate sense of the sacred which gives us the ability to ascertain what is inappropriate for us because it violates our sense of the sacred. The consequence of this is that one becomes very sensitive to any manipulative tendencies in one, any guile, or lack of truthfulness. So the beauty of the child is that the child will come out with the way he or she thinks without any concern for what it does to another. But the consequence is that the child is extremely vulnerable and fragile and can so easily be hurt.

            Of course the celestial dimension of our being is very vulnerable and in order to defend itself it creates a defense system which unfortunately takes over covering the most essential aspect of our being which is the celestial in order to protect oneself. The consequence is that one is drawn into guile, manipulation, being divisive, being ruthless, availing ourselves of the kind of support system that gives us a sense of security against our vulnerability So the whole western civilization is clearly a support system with all kinds of amenities which aim at being comfortable but protect us from the storms of life and the precarious nature of our lives. The one thing that it can't really do is to protect ourselves against pain, somehow, so that our vulnerability is still there. Therefore the support system tends to take over so that one has little time to care for one's soul.

            As Pir-o-Murshid says one's spirit is very vulnerable and just a little disappointment or dishonor or anger will harm it. Caring for the soul is something that the support system just cannot do. In fact we must be careful that the support system does not harm the soul. As Christ said, 'what point is there in gaining the whole world if you lose your soul'. That is our concern in life. If we protect ourselves then we can't experience life in all its fullness so it means taking the good with the bad and accepting one's vulnerability and trying to make a dream come true and being prepared to find that one's ideal can never totally jell in the nitty-gritty of the situation because that's not what life is about. Life is an opportunity so that we may become better people, wiser, more loving and illumined as we progress in evolution.

            Every moment in life has its mission, every moment in life is an opportunity.

            Why should this opportunity be lost? Why not use every moment of one's life towards the accomplishment of that purpose for which we are here? It is the question of bestirring ourselves to make the best use of every moment of life.

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
