Strive to become the true human being:
one who knows love, one who knows pain.
Be full, be humble, be utterly silent,
be the bowl of wine passed from hand to hand.
- Al-Ansâri
Servanthood
On the Sufi path the highest station is servanthood. We are here for our Beloved. All of our effort, our practices, our inner work, are in order to serve our Beloved better, to be more attentive to the needs of the divine. There is a simplicity and wonder in being of service that belongs to the soul’s relationship with God, with the way God looks towards us and we look towards God.
At the beginning of the path the Beloved looks into our heart and ignites the fire of longing, the pain of separation that draws the lover back to God. Through this longing we are taken into the mystery of mystical love, the way God reveals divine presence within the heart. We are taken by love to love. Through our efforts and aspirations we work to make a space empty for love. With sincerity and attention we work on our problems, confront our fears, anxieties, and the shadow, the rejected and unacknowledged part of ourself. We discover the light that is in this darkness, how the light of the Self shines in the hidden places of our psyche. Through our practices and remembrance we learn to look towards this light and bring it into our daily life.
As we walk upon the path we discover that the ego and its desires no longer hold us so tightly, that we are no longer so caught up in our conditioning and psychological dynamics. The mind with its continual thoughts no longer possesses us. Slowly, gradually, we become awake to another reality, the light of divine love. The path then opens the doors of servanthood, showing us how we can be attentive to the needs of love. The Sufi practice of “polishing the mirror of the heart” is the inner work that is needed so that we can reflect the light of the Beloved into the world.
In the West we tend to identify “service” with outer activity, and although there are many valuable ways we can be in service in the outer world, there is also a dimension of spiritual service that belongs to the inner world and the light of the divine. This divine light is everywhere, just as divine love is the substance of life. And yet this light is hidden. It is hidden within life just as it is hidden within us. The work of the lover is to reveal the light of love, through which we can see how this world is a reflection of the Beloved and a place of divine revelation - “Wheresoever you turn, there is the face of God.”
We can access this light most easily in our heart and soul. Our souls are made of a quality of light, a light that belongs to God and carries a knowing of its source. Through this light the soul sees its way, the path it needs to follow, the destiny that needs to be lived. Without this light there could be no evolution, no meaning to life.
Spiritual life is a means to bring the light of the soul into the world. Spiritual practices give us access to our light and the teachings of the path help us live it in our daily life. The more our light shines in this world the easier it is to follow a spiritual path and be guided from within. Through this light the inner meaning of the soul comes into our life, and the wonder of God becomes visible. In this light we see the oneness that belongs to God, that is a direct expression of the divine. Without this light we only see the reflections of our illusory self, the shadows of the ego - we are veiled from divine oneness.
Sadly, in the West much of our understanding of spiritual life has been subverted by the values of the ego. Only too often we see spiritual life in terms of self-development, the desire for progress or achieving spiritual states. We overlook the basic principle that the path is never about us, about our individual or spiritual well-being. Spiritual maturity is to recognize that our efforts and work upon ourself are for the sake of service, service to our Beloved and to the whole of life. In the oneness of love there is no difference.
We are living at a time of transition. Only too clearly can we see around us the debris of a decaying civilization, the pollution and ecological crisis that threatens our survival, the dominance of material values and collective greed, the lack of real meaning and the desecration of much that is sacred. The world is dying and it needs the light of His love to reawaken.
In our own journey we know that any time of crisis is also a time of opportunity. When powerful forces constellate, they carry the potential for transformation as well as destruction. What is true of our individual journey is also true for the world. The tremendous clash of opposites, of light and dark, that is threatening such destruction and seemingly polarizing the world belongs to the birth pains of a global transformation. But in order for this transformation to be successful it needs our attention. It needs the participation of those committed to service, whose consciousness can be aligned to something greater than their personal well-being.
At any time of real crisis our work is to look beyond the plane of action and reaction to where real help and grace are given. Through our prayers and devotion, we align ourself with the love and power of the divine without whose presence we are left alone with our own self-destructive conflicts. Sadly, we have tended to place prayer and devotion solely within the sphere of our personal relationship with the divine, not recognizing its larger dimension which concerns the well-being of the whole.
Only the divine that can heal and transform the world - the forces of antagonism in the world are too powerfully constellated for us to resolve on our own. But the divine needs our participation: we are the guardians of the planet. Working together with the power and light of the divine, we can help turn this moment of crisis into a time of global awakening. And what is the nature of this work? In our masculine culture we identify work with “doing” and activity. But to hold a space for the divine requires the feminine quality of “being.” Through the simplicity of living our inner connection to the divine, we link the worlds together.
Central to this transformation and awaking is the uniting of the outer and inner worlds. Much of our present predicament comes from isolating ourself in the outer physical world, to such a degree that we have almost forgotten the presence of the inner worlds. And yet it is always from within that divine grace and healing come. Those who have committed themselves to spiritual work have turned inward, and through meditation, prayer, dreamwork, and other practices, have begun to reclaim the inner world.
Sufis are known as “soldiers of the two worlds,” living in the outer world of daily activity and the inner world - “outwardly to be with the people, inwardly to be with God.” Through real attention to daily life we bring the awareness and the light of the soul into the outer world. This is described in the Naqshbandi Sufi practice of “Attentiveness” (nigah dasht) - “Be always attentive to what you are thinking and doing so you may place the imprint of your immortality on every passing incident and instance of your daily life.”
Through the simplicity of our daily life we make our contribution; through being true to our self and our lived connection to our Beloved, we bring divine presence into a world that for too long has suffered from the experience of divine absence. Bringing the worlds together we can help the heart of the world awaken and the world become transformed.
Working with the Light of the World
There is also a work that is done from the plane of pure being. The mystic who is surrendered to God is inwardly present in this dimension of light upon light. This is the light of the soul of the world, the essential inner dimension of pure light that is present within every cell of creation and yet hidden, veiled from ordinary consciousness.
Mystics are a “brotherhood of migrants who keep watch on the world and for the world.” Working in the inner world we look after its well-being, keeping it aligned with the highest principles of creation, with divine love and power. We keep the balance between the worlds, and at this time of transition are working to bring the light of the soul into the outer world so that it can act as the agent of transformation that is needed at this time. This light is the pure light of God and the simplicity of His essence. It alone can heal and transform the wasteland of our present civilization and awaken us from a sleep of more than a thousand years. Without this light we will remain in our present self-destructive cycle.Because His servants have given themselves in spiritual service they have direct access to this light and are allowed to work with it in the world. Living ordinary lives, they often pass unnoticed, but they carry this quality of pure being, this essence of love. They weave it into the fabric of their everyday life, nourishing the web of life with His essence.
At this time those in service are being linked together. Some of these connections are made in the inner worlds and some in the outer. Only when we are connected together can we support each other and effectively counter the denseness of our present material culture and its dominant power dynamics. Working together we can create a consciousness that is about unity rather than divisiveness, about “we” rather than “me.” We can celebrate the interconnectedness of life and the oneness that is its foundation and true nature. Together we can bring the light of the divine more directly to where it is needed. We can help the world to awaken from its present materialistic nightmare to an awareness of the unity and sacredness of all of creation. This is the future that is being offered.
Spiritual maturity means to stand in the midst of life holding the light of the soul in one’s heart, and living this light in one’s ordinary everyday life. Working together, each in our own way, we can participate in a real spiritual alchemy: how through our divine light the heart of the world can open and the whole of creation experience a global transformation - the rebirth for which it is waiting.
Credit: Shared via Seven Pillars House website | >> Read the article: Spiritual Maturity and Service in full.
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