Find Peace, Enlightenment, and Healing thru Sufism

The Relevance of Psychological Understanding to Spirituality – Alan Godlas

Jumanah Deb — Wed, 26 May 2021 10:57:05 +0000

Some time ago a friend wondered about the relevance of psychological understanding to following a spiritual path such as Sufism. It might seem that following an Islamic Sufi path simply requires that one follow the basics of shari’a, such as doing regular prayers, doing righteous actions that help out your fellow human beings, and following the guidance of one’s spiritual guide, in particular, attempting to remember and be grateful to God (and love God) as much as possible. In addition to the basics of shari’a, an Islamic Sufi path might seem to require extra prayers (nawafil) and, as we find with some Sufis, especially today in the Arab world, their Sufism might require extra attention to law. In contrast, developing a psychological understanding might seem to be irrelevant. While it is true that certain Sufi shaykhs might not guide people in a psychological direction, traditional Sufi texts, however, have emphasized overwhelmingly two interrelated psychological principles: the ability of the untransformed “al-nafs al-ammara bi-s-su” (commanding-compelling self) to distort unconsciously one’s perceptions and actions and also the principle that by knowing one’s self one can come to know God. These two interrelated principles, in brief, form the basis of the significance of developing psychological awareness on the Sufi path. One reason why psychological work might seem to be irrelevant to spiritual work–aside from the fact that one’s spiritual teachers and friends may not have emphasized it– is that certain emotional experiences may seem to be counter-productive to spiritual experiences (or “tasting”/dhawq as the latter are called by some Sufis in certain contexts). It is indeed true that one can certainly get carried away by an emotion in a decidedly non-spiritual, dysfunctional, maladaptive, and unwise direction. Hence Sufism does not adhere to one of the psychological and “new age” mantras of the late 1960’s and 1970s: if it feels good, do it! Nevertheless, there can be a connection between emotional experience and spiritual tasting.To understand this connection, it helps to understand the concept of a “theophany” (tajalli), a Divine self-manifestation, which is a bridge from the Divine to the human and psychological realm. A different tajalli of the Divine attributes or a particular appearance of the “face of God” (wajh Allah) occurs at each moment. Nevertheless, our normal, ordinary, “forgetful” human consciousness–whose perceptions are distorted, constrained, and compelled by the conditioning and genetic programing of our egoistic “commanding self” (al-nafs al-ammarah)– does not register (when we are aware of something) that both the “we” that is the agent of feeling, thinking, and perception is a tajalli as well as whatever it is that is the object of our awareness. Instead of comprehending that whatever is in our consciousness is a theophanic projection of Divine attributes into three dimensions, what we imagine is that we are simply perceiving, thinking, or feeling something. So, Sufi poets use the concept of a wave emerging in the Divine Ocean as a metaphor for our awareness at each moment, with the caveat that we have forgotten and are unaware of the ocean and the wave and, instead, are only aware of the drops of water on the beach.In contrast to the emotional experience of feeling stranded on the beach of Divine Love and Unity like a fish out of water (and its many emotional variations), with no recourse except to flop around, yearning for a new wave to take us back; whenever we are given the grace of being able to make the effort to taste spiritually , we remember (even if only mentally, like what has been called a “mind trip”) to sip with unconditional gratitude whatever emotions, thoughts, and perceptions we are having while stranded. Even if only mental, like a kind of hypothesis that our experience is the tip of a theophanic wave, this is the beginning of spiritual tasting, as we begin to imagine, and then, with grace, to feel the connectedness between our three-dimensional existence, being stranded on the beach of separation, on the one hand, with the oceanic and theophanic source in the Unity and Sea of Divine Love, on the other hand. One of the most merciful and beautiful aspects of this is that even when experiencing the despair of feeling the utter absence of God or the anger of our rejection of God, religion, and/or spirituality or our confusion, exhaustion, apathy, or any thoughts or feelings; from the theophanic perspective, all of these states are the three dimensional tip of theophanic wave that extends from our world back into the Sea of God’s Unity.Another issue related to the psychological dimension of Sufism concerns the choices and courses of action that we can take in our lives, given that it is possible that our emotions, thoughts, and perceptions can, in spite of our best intentions, be influenced if not completely dominated by our genetically programmed fight/flight instinct and the conditioning of our egos (i.e., by our commanding-compelling self that I mentioned at the outset). In other words, in contrast to the the popular psychological and spiritual adage “Trust your gut!” “Follow your heart and you can’t go wrong,” gut feelings often feel good and straightforward because, generation after generation, following such feelings enabled our ancestors to survive and reproduce. In other words, our ancestors 10,000 years ago consistently survived because when strangers encountered them, our ancestors shot (or fled) first and asked questions later; or they instinctively pursued pleasure first and then took care of babies and families later. Or, what we imagine to be our heart urging us to take one course of action or not take another may in fact simply be the product of our early childhood conditioning or genetic, instinctual programming, which can produce strong feelings about what we should or should not do when we face situations now that even vaguely and unconsciously resemble situations that we experienced during the first few years of our lives. Hence, from this Sufi perspective, we cannot necessarily trust our gut or our heart to guide us, because they do not necessarily reflect deep wisdom but may in fact be the product of very primitive genetic programming or early childhood conditioning. In addition–even though every thought, feeling, and perception is a theophany, a wave-like connection to the Ocean of Unity–the theophanic nature of our consciousness does not mean that we should follow and act upon every feeling or even the deep feelings that we have. Deprived of feelings as a source of guidance, some religiously oriented people (similar to rationalists in the modern era who promote reason as a guide to living) promote following religious law or scripture (such as fundamentalist Christians, Hindus, Orthodox Jews, and non-Sufi Muslims) as a source of guidance through the maze of life’s twists and turns. The problem here too is that in spite of one’s best intentions, unconsciously the choices one makes– in deciding the particular scriptural verses to follow, in interpreting whatever scripture or law one is applying to one’s life, or in deciding what lines of reasoning to pursue–will in the very least be influenced if not completely dominated by one’s genetic programming or early childhood conditioning (namely by one’s commanding-compelling ego-self). Recognizing the unreliability of their feelings or rational faculties as guides, many followers of spiritual paths will consult authorities such spiritual teachers, life coaches, counselors, spirit guides on subtle planes or in other worlds, or forms of guidance that they consider to be authoritative such as astrological charts, forms of augury such as the I-Ching, Tarot cards, or special prayers that as a consequence (they hope) will guide them to making the best choices in their lives. Irrespective of the merits or flaws of such seemingly authoritative forms of guidance–the interpretation and applicability of which (like with one’s feelings and reason) is always subject, unconsciously, to the influence of one’s ego–the psychological aspect of Sufism offers a different kind of solution to the problem of choice in life and to the fact that some courses of action may in fact be far superior and wiser than others.In spite of being unable to rely on our feelings (even ones that feel profoundly deep-seated) as sources of guidance when faced with real choices in our lives, the psychological aspect of Sufism offers a solution (grounded in Islam but inherently if not explicitly present in many other forms of spirituality and also in humanistic psychology) that increases the likelihood that one’s choices will be less distorted by our primitive genetic programming and less dominated by our early childhood conditioning. This solution, while not guaranteeing that a Sufi’s choices will be the best or wisest ones, stacks the deck in the Sufi’s favor. Being grounded in Islam (like with all of the worlds major religions), there are certain broad outlines to follow for a Sufi in making his or her choices, such as not killing or stealing. Beyond that, however, for many of the situations in which we find ourselves, uncertainties and gray areas can appear quickly. For the Sufi who recognizes the potential of his or her ego, unconsciously, to distort his or her feelings and thoughts, the key to navigating the forks on our lives’ paths is the concept of the simultaneous but disparate importance of the greater and lesser forms of effort (al-jihad al-akbar wa-asghar).While, on the one hand, the lesser form of effort is any effort one may or may not need to make or any choice with which one is faced in one’s life; the greater form of effort, on the other hand, is effort that one makes to diminish the unconscious and distorting effect of one’s own ego (i.e., ones genetic programming and early childhood conditioning). In principle, the greater form of effort involves the attempt to remember, to be aware of, and to embrace with gratitude, unconditionally, the all-encompassing and all-pervading reality of God. Sufis refer to this reality by the name “Allah,” traditionally called al-ism al-jami’ (the all-inclusive name, inclusive of all of God’s qualities). With such a remembrance, the key is that a Sufi responds to whatever he/she has just thought, felt, and perceived (i.e., his/her consciousness) with the unconditionally grateful awareness that his/her consciousness has come into being and is all embraced in a wave-like theophany of the Divine Ocean. With such a remembrance, the Sufi moves toward actualizing his/her original nature as a mirror image of God and all of God’s qualities, one quality, one moment, at a time. With such a remembrance, in other words, a Sufi comes to know his/her self, in the sense of actualizing and realizing its potential as an all-inclusive microcosmic image of God. Such an unconditional embrace contrasts with the conditional nature of one’s genetic programming and psychological conditioning, which urges individuals to cut off their awareness from unpleasant states and avoid or change the circumstances (i.e., conditions) associated with unpleasantness and impels them to gravitate toward pleasure and to control circumstances or conditions in which they will attain pleasure. Consequently, at any moment and to whatever degree that the Sufi pursues the primary and greater form of effort, remembering (dhikr) God, the all-inclusive Reality, with unconditional gratitude (and eventually with love), the Sufi will be moving in the direction of deconditioning his/her self and freeing it from habitual and unconscious dependence on conditioned responses to which he or she was habituated in childhood. Furthermore, by adopting such an unconditionally grateful stance toward God and each of God’s theophanic manifestations in his/her own consciousness, the Sufi even starts to undermine the deep-seated fear of not surviving that is at the root much of our genetic programming. Hence by focusing on the greater form of effort, first and foremost, the distorting effect that one’s conditioned ego has on one’s perceptions, thoughts, and feelings will diminish. Correspondingly, to whatever degree that one is freed from the conditioned prison of one’s ego, this will increase the likelihood that one will be able to see reality with less distortions and hence make wiser choices in the secondary and lesser form of effort in one’s life (which, even though it is secondary in importance to the greater form of effort, is still of critical importance).In sum, Sufis attempt to cultivate awareness of God, primarily by the practice of remembering gratefully God’s inclusiveness, which helps them both to actualize their true natures (and know their selves) as microcosmic mirror images of God as well as to free them from being confined within conditioned habits of their egos. As a consequence of such a greater form of effort, to whatever degree that Sufis are able to liberate themselves from the perceptual veils that are the conditioned habits of their egos, their ability to see reality as it is will increase; and hence they will be able to make better and wiser choices in the lesser but still important form of effort that is their lives.

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Judgmentalism vs Making Judgements by Dr. Alan Godlas

Jumanah Deb — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 18:03:45 +0000

Judgementalism vs. Making judgements in Islamic Sufism and Christianity

Given the clear importance of making judgements and discernment in Islam in general and Sufi Islam in particular, on the one hand, and the rise of moral relativism, the clash of global cultures, and the danger of violence aganst others, on the other hand, one often encounters the contemporary criticism that one should avoid passing judgement or being judgemental. This really needs to be thoroughly discussed. Sadly, right now, I will only touch on a few aspects of this important and controversial issue.

There are many things at stake here. On one end of the spectrum, judgementalism can easily leads to unjust acts of violence and oppression and stifling of creativity and individuality, and, when applied to oneself, it can lead to debilitating guilt and shame. On the other end of the spectrum, the avoidance of making judgements can lead to an inability to function wisely and optimally in one’s life (or even the inability to make rational decisions or function even marginally well in one’s relationships), the inability to take responsibility for and understand the consequences of one’s actions and words, and to magical thinking. Politically, it can lead to a collapse of democracy and ceding power to demagogues and sociopaths who are all too happy to make judgements and decisions for us, while spiritually it can lead to cultic spiritual abuse.

At the outset, however, three misconceptions need to be addressed:

First misconception: if one makes judgements of oneself or others, this means that one is necessarily being judgemental. In other words a criterion for being judgemental is simply making a judgement (or passing judgement on oneself or others). While some folks may indeed equate the two, in my thinking making a judgement does not necessarily mean that one is being judgemental. Rather, as I use the terms, “being judgemental” involves making judgements with egoism or a relatively high degree of ego involvement.. Hence, in principle, since one can make judgements with a relatively reduced involvement of one’s ego, one can make judgements without being judgemental.

Second misconception: being judgemental or making judgements is necessarily at odds with loving. While this deserves an extensive discussion, for now, all I will state is that, although it is not always easy to do, it is possible to love and make judgements at the same time. One example is today commony called “tough love” in parenting. This involves a parent setting boundaries and limits and even giving negative feedback, out of love, for the health and well-being of the child. Of course, while abuse can occur in the name of tough love, that does not negate the fact that one can love and at the same time set boundaries non-egoistically.

Third misconception: only God has the right to judge someone’s actions: if one judges anyone’s actions, one is “playing God.” While of course, this is true concerning one’s fate in the hereafter (although religious exclusivists persist in their judging people as worthy of damnation, as if they know that someone is deserving of the wrath of God in the hereafter), God’s judgement and our making judgements about ourselves and others in the this material world are completely different matters. In Islam, God’s judgement of a person, which is in reference to his/her fate in the hereafter, is indeed up to God alone, as the hadith I posted earlier this week about the sinnner and the devoted worshipper makes crystal clear. Nevertheless, in traditional Islamic Sufism, following the example of the Prophet and the Companions (sahaba), people must make assessments and judgements about themselves and others in their lives in the material world.

So I want to turn now to understanding the necessity of making judgements in one’s worldly life in both Islam and, to a lesser extent, in Christianity. Making judgements in our worldly lives is a central feature of Islam and traditional Sufism, especially in the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). Rather than avoiding making judgements, the thrust of Islam and Sufism is how to decrease the likelihood that one’s judgements will be influenced and distorted by Shaytan and one’s egoism. In brief the method for doing this is to make one’s greater form of effort (greater jihad) striving to free oneself from egoism. The more successful one is at this, the less one’s judgements in the world (the lesser jihad) will be distorted by one’s egoism. In other words, the two jihads are complementary. Furthermore, the more effort one puts into the greater jihad, the more likely one’s lesser jihad judgements (concerning one’s life in the world) will be wiser, more compassionate, and less egoistic. A key word here, however, is “likelihood.” Hence, traditionally, one must always spike the drink of one’s judgements with a hefty dose of the humility inherent in “And Allah is most knowledgable” (wallahu a’lam).

In contrast to Muslims and Sufism, from a Christian perspective, it is commonly (though not necessarily) argued that, vis a vis the world, not only is there no necessity to make worldly judgements (or at least political judgements) but that one should avoid being judgemental and making such judgements. “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1 KJV). Together with this, in Christian discussions, we can find “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21); and “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Nevertheless an absolute avoidance of making judgements seems to be a kind of “new age” Christian viewpoint. For a contemporary Christian critique of non-judgementalism that argues for the necessity of making judgements, see https://www.printandaudio.org.uk/…/judgements-and-judgement…

Ultimately, I would argue that it is possible for a Christian method of discernment and judgement in the world to converge (or at least approach) the Islamic Sufi understanding of worldly discernment and judgement, which understanding (as I have noted) is based on the complementarity of the greater and lesser jihads and which complementarity is based on the necessary priority of the greater jihad against one’s own egoism. Such a Christian method of discernment and judgement could be based not on the beginning of Matthew 7 but on the end of that section of Matthew 7, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam [of wood] out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5).

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Please do assist me in refining my thinking on this topic, especially those of you who have thought more deeply about this issue in Christianity.

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Bountiful Gifts of God

Jumanah Deb — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 11:03:23 +0000

Qur’an:

If you try to count the bountiful gifts of God, you will not be able to do so. God is infinitely forgiving, infinitely mercifully loving. (Surat al-Nahl 16:18)

وَإِنْ تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
Ve in teuddû ni’metallâhi lâ tuhsûhâ, innallâhe le gafûrun rahîm (Turkish transliteration and original image from https://www.ketebe.org/en/artwork/4479?ref=artist&id=521

Calligraphed by the Ottoman calligrapher, Mahmud Celâleddîn Efendi (d. 1245 AH/1829 CE). Signed: Mahmud Celâleddîn calligraphed it حرره محمود جلال الدين . Dated 1222 AH / 1807-08 CE.

Alan Godlas

I’ve gotten permission from Dr. Alan Godlas (Abdul Haqq), who is a professor at the University of Georgia for Islamic and Sufi studies, to repost his Facebook postings on Islam and Sufism. All translations are done by Abdul Haqq Godlas unless otherwise noted.

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Are you an inadvertent jihadist? by Alan Godlas

Jumanah Deb — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 18:39:29 +0000

Are you an inadvertent jihadist? You might be!

Whenever the wound you feel (personally or vicariously for the suffering of others) causes you to forget to remember to feel your heart being bathed in the ocean of God’s unconditionally merciful love (rahmah), then the pain, the depression, or the anger will distort your perceptions and focus your attention on attempting to right some wrong that is wounding you or others.

The pain will attempt to direct your consciousness away from the greater jihad of receiving your Beloved’s all-encompassing, all-sustaining, healing and loving embrace, directing you into some lesser jihad in which you will strive first and foremost to a protect some innocent, whether it be your own wounded heart or body or those of others. Then, what should have been a lesser jihad in your world–governed and directed by the relative egolessness of the greater jihad of the grateful and loving remembrance of God–instead becomes, for all intents and purposes, a pseudo-greater jihad driven and fueled by your ego’s often unconscious need to avoid your suffering, coerced by your conditioned commanding self (al-nafs al-ammara).

In other words, for both the intentional or inadvertent jihadist, a shift in priorities occurs, the jihad in the world usurps the importance of the true greater jihad against one’s own egotism. Consequently, instead of love and wisdom guiding one’s lesser jihad in the world, for the jihadist one’s perceptions and actions are distorted and dictated by one’s ego in its outraged attempt to avoid its suffering. Hence, for the jihadist, striving against injustice in the world becomes the greater jihad, while the grateful remembrance of God takes a back seat, becoming a lesser jihad, if it is not totally forgotten.

In our world, there are many possible jihads to get swept up in, many ways to become a jihadist. There are religious jihads, ecological jihads, political jihads, gender jihads,, intellectual jihads, the list is endless. Wherever there are innocents who need protecting, there are jihads and jihadists driven by their own or vicarious suffering and their self-righteous anger.

The problem, however, is that such jihadists, driven by their pain and their outrage,will have a tendency to go overboard, inadvertently attack or lynch innocents who resemble oppressors or fight and struggle in a way that is dictated by their rage not by wisdom. Hence such jihadists become the cliche of the abused and oppressed who themselves become abusers and opprressors. It does not matter how high-minded, pious, righteous, or virtuous our cause is, a jihadist driven by her/his suffering is still a thug, whether she or he is a fundamentalist thug, progressive thug, atheistic thug, or intellectual thug.

The alternative I am advocating, however, is not to abandon attempts to create a just world, not to stop trying to identify and root out all forms of abuse, oppression, and injustice.

Rather, once we see that jihadists simply perpetuate the very horrors they attempt to eradicate–the only difference being that the identities of the victims and victimizers, powerless and powerful change–then we can begin to stop being bullied, abused, and coerced by our suffering into inadvertently acting unwisely or, in a worst case scenario, committing atrocities ourselves.

Once we start making our priority the need to face the suffering inside ourselves (whether it is personal or vicarious), taking it as our greater jihad, our greater form of effort, then we will be on the road to renouncing our inadvertent jihadism.

The more we make our priority our need to face and receive the suffering we feel, at each moment, receiving it with uncondtitional gratitude to God, our Beloved–who is embracing and sustaining us beneath the surface of our suffering–the more we will become a true lover of God, empassioned by love of the Real; and the more we will become someone who has sufficient wisdom and energy to effectively combat and end the injustices that are rampant in our world.

To be an inadvertent jihadist thug or a lover of God who is striving to serve any who are in need. The choice is ours to make.

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God is One

Jumanah Deb — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 13:09:53 +0000

Fortunately, although the surface of this moment has its problems (to say the least), God invites us–even while instructing us to do the best we can to discern and change the scum at the surface– to receive the mercy and love underlying the jalali and qahri surface by embracing, one sip at a time, our painful feelings about the surface of the wave, receiving them with gratitude to God, the Lord-Sustainer of all of the worlds of experience. “In every thing there is a sign, pointing to the fact that God is one” وفي كل شيء له آية … تدل على أنه واحد (Abu l-‘Atahiya d. 828 CE). And as the Prophet (pbuh) related, “God said, ‘My mercy precedes My severity’ ” سبقت رحمتي غضبي

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Because of the Beloved

Jumanah Deb — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 17:46:05 +0000

Sa’di:
In the world, I am joyful
since the world
is joyful
because of
the Beloved.

I am in love
with the whole world
because the whole world
is from
the Beloved.

Be jehan khorram az anam keh jehan khorram azust
‘Ashiqam bar hama ‘alam keh hama ‘alam azust

به جهان خرم از آنم که جهان خرم ازوست
عاشقم بر همه عالم که همه عالم ازوست

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Describe the Beloved

Jumanah Deb — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 18:06:49 +0000

If someone
asks me
to describe
the Beloved,
what
can one
who has lost
her heart
say
about the Traceless?!
The lovers
have been slain
by the Beloved;
from the slain
no sound
can come.
(Sa’di, Rosegarden, translated by A. Godlas)
گر کسی وصف او زمن پرسد
بى دل ز بى نشان چه گوید
عاشقان كشتگان معشوق اند
بر نیآيد زكشتگان آواز

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Drunk without wine

Jumanah Deb — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 18:05:05 +0000

Rumi:
Where
is the One
Who makes
my soul drunk
without wine?

(Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, translation by A. Godlas)
آنکه بی باده کند جان مرا مست کجاست؟
An keh bi-badeh konad jan-e mara mast kojast?

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Wherever I look, I see signs of You

Jumanah Deb — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 13:25:20 +0000

I look at the desert
I see the desert to be You!
I look at the ocean,
I see the ocean to be You!
Wherever I look,
be it mountains,
valleys,
or plains,
I see there
the signs
of Your stunning stature.
(Baba Taher, Translation by A. Godlas, Oct. 2016)
به صحـرا بنگرم
صحـرا تو بينم
به دريــا بنگرم
دريــا تو بينم
بهرجا بنگرم
كوه و در و دشت
نشان از قامت رعنا تو بينم

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Die before you die!

Jumanah Deb — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 13:22:41 +0000

“Die before you die!” (Regarded by Sufis as a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and referring to the voluntary surrender of one’s ego, in love of God, over and over again during one’s life.) موتوا قبل أن تموتوا Mutu qabla an tamutu

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