Dear Tom:
While
reading a little bit about Sufism, I found one concept that could have a very
positive impact on how we think about our daily lives. I read that when a
person enters a room clearly at peace, we might say. “Isn’t it wonderful to see
____ at such peace.” A Sufi dervish on the other hand would say, “ isn’t it
wonderful to see divine peace coming through _______, meaning that a person’s
personality has the potential to become the vehicle for God’s personality. My
reading suggests that every time we confront a problem in life by contemplating
what is God asking for in our response, whether it is forgiveness, wisdom,
truth, or courage we are declaring our desire to be of service to God, by
adopting one of his divine qualities as our own. According to Sufi tradition,
this connection between God and man reflects a pledge of one’s soul to serve
God, here on earth.
As I thought
about this, I thought about a person like Mother Theresa who people who were
around her said that they felt like they were in God’s presence when they were
hearing her speak. I have heard similar statements about people like the Dali
Llama and at times Gandhi. I am sure that Peter, Paul, and other disciples
conveyed this aura. I am not suggesting that many of us can live a total life
as a reflection or conduit of God, but I believe we see glimpses of God’s
qualities everyday in our fellow humans. So your Sufi wisdom is based on reality
of experience. Every time we confront the issues of our everyday life with a
conscious or unconscious desire to serve God, we are
channeling his qualities. ( My apologies for using a Shirley McClain analogy ).
The Sufis would say our response’s source is heavenly not of earthly origin.
Any insight dear friend? Webb
Dear Webb,
I had to think about this one for a while to respond, and I went back to notes from some of the classes we’ve taken. What seems to fit best with your theme in this entry is what the Sufis call The Art of Personality.
Paraphrasing from my notes: The Art of Personality is life’s music…it comes naturally. Major and minor chords, sharps and flats, all make life interesting. In our own actions and speech, we show the Art of Personality, bringing forth generosity, balance, beauty. Our outer manner is meaningless if it is not prompted by an inner impulse toward beauty. God is the essence of beauty. We shouldn’t try to develop beauty, but rather trust that it is the depth of our soul and its expression is the sign of the soul’s enfoldment. We love what we find beautiful in form, word, action, feeling.
I interpret this to mean that when we express ourselves in behavior, essence or words through beauty (as in your examples), we are expressing God’s essence. When we express ourselves through judgment or anger, the expression is fear-based and is coming from our lower self or ego.
Your friend
Tom