Thomas Merton—a monk at Gethsemani Cistercian Abbey in Kentucky in the 1940s through 60s—gave a series of lectures to his monastic brothers on the tenets of Sufism. He was struck by the many similarities between the mystical qualities of his Catholic faith and those of Sufis, the mystical branch of Islam. Nearly three decades ago I sojourned for a month at the Holy Cross Cistercian Abbey in Virginia and had an opportunity to listen to those talks of Merton on tapes. They made a deep impression on me. In this and the next two posts I will offer some highlights of Merton's Sufi lectures, that especially spoke to me.
Sufis stress the importance of union with God. It is their central practice. They have no specific doctrine or answers... no formal institutional structure or hierarchy. Sufis see that God is both above all and in all. Since God is above all, there is no end to our spiritual growth, and if we ever think we've arrived, we're really just stuck.
If God is in everything, then that includes every one of us. As long as I keep that in mind, I am OK. So a major Sufi tenet is: don’t fret over there being good or bad in the world—it's all God. And don't try to explain the world or don't complain about it... it is what it is, and it's God-infused. Any problems or evil we detect come mostly from ourselves. Any imperfections we perceive are in us.
Sufis say that we have very little ability to comprehend God's way—even if we get occasional mystical glimpses, we must recognize that it is far beyond us to understand, let alone be able to describe it. The closest we can come is to appreciate the beauty of the universe. It's the closest we'll ever get to God; and that closeness comes from the heart—not the mind.
Sufis say that God's compassion is exhibited by God's manifestation in everything. I have struggled with that belief. How may I comprehend God's compassion as being caused by God's presence in everything? I have tentatively concluded that, because Sufis say that God is in everything—thus nothing is excluded—therefore God must love all; must have compassion for all. Thus, our concept of evil (usually personified in the West as Satan) is an exclusive concept, is a dualistic notion... in that it implies something lies outside God, while Sufis say God is not only above all, but in all. Thus nothing can be outside God... even evil.
At times, Sufis say, we get a message that we've screwed up. It's primarily a message that tells us we must redouble our efforts for seeking union with God. I have also pondered that idea, and have tried to perceive it from my Western perspective. It occurs to me that I may interpret that message as being my conscience speaking to me. It also sounds to me as something similar to Socrates' daemon—which he believed to be an inner voice that alerted him when he was about to make a spiritual mistake. Whatever the source of this inner message is, pausing to pay attention to it is a crucial part of the discipline of working toward the Sufi union with God.
The journey never ends, but is a slow, relentless, and progressive process. We go through many stations—each of which is a stepwise progression. From time to time, one may pause at a particular station for a while, to soak up the lessons recently learned, but the journey must soon continue. We must let go of the current station and its possible comforts and enjoyment, and step off into the unknown, towards the next station. It calls for courage and faith. It can be frightening. It is a kind of rebirth... we die to the previous station and become reborn on the next level.
Next time: How we block our own progress.
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