and the self
The doctrine of essence, and its connection with the personality
and the self, is a most important part of dervish
study. There are, for illustrative purposes, two kinds of essence:
The first is the essence of a thing, which is the inner essence
(dhat) and the truth (hakikat) of that thing. Truth
here means objective reality, the inner meaning . People normally
see or perceive only the outward use of a thing, are
ignorant of any ultimate function of that thing. A lamp,
for example, gives light. It may be used for heating, or for
decoration. But other functions of its true reality are imperceptible
to the ordinary man . If, by a stretch of imagination,
it were found through delicate scientific measurement that
the lamp was giving off certain communication rays, this
activity might be the expression of the true reality or essence
of that lamp.
Then there is the human essence, called the rational essence
(the human spirit) which is known as the "luminosity."
This is the sum total of the grace (baraka, impalpable
qualities) of the individual.
The perceiving of the operation and being of these elements
is an extremely sensitive one . True, inner knowledge
of the essence is hinted at in the religious life. Hence: "Hints
as to the knowledge of essence are found in the links and
conditions of the knowledge of God."
This assertion shows how all dervish teaching is based not
on the concept of God, but on the concept of essence . There
is a slogan which summarizes this, and which clearly establishes
that the religious context of dervish thinking is merely
the vehicle for the self-realization which is aimed at: "He
who knows his essential self, knows his God." Knowledge of
the essential self is the first step, before which there is no
real knowledge of religion . Sufis are accused of paganism
because they first apply themselves to this problem, retaining
the religious context as a practical working shape, rather
than as any indication of final and objective truth.
The means of appreciating the various stages and conditions
of the essence and its progressive refinement are themselves
an essential part of dervish activity . It is here that the
dervish parts company with the mere theoretician . The latter
says: "I will think this out ;" the dervish : "I will prepare
myself to perceive this, without using limited, obstructive
thought, a childish process."
The "veiling" or interruption of the correct use of the
human spirit (essence) is caused by an unbalanced indulgence
in certain coarse sentiments which together constitute
a pattern of imprisonment (conditioning) characteristic
of most people . These "veils" or `blameable qualities" are
listed as ten:
1. Desire. Desires based on ignorance of what should be,
and on assumptions as to what is good for the individual .
Austerity, correctly used, is the antidote to irrational desire .
This is the stage of "I want a lollipop ."
2. Separation . This is a type of hypocrisy, when the person
uses rationalization to justify thoughts and actions
which are centered upon himself, not upon an ultimate
reality. The antidote is the practice of sincerity .
3. Hypocrisy. Characterized by self-pride, glorying in possessions,
pseudoindependence, violence . This is overcome
only by the practice of qualities which are reprehensible in
the eyes of the people, but laudable in God's sight. They
include submission of the right kind, humility and the
poverty of the Fakir. These qualities are recognized only
by correct assessment of the true worth of their opposites .
4. Desire for Praise and Love . Narcissism, which precludes
objective assessment of oneself ; lack of a balancing
factor which amounts almost to self-contempt.
5. Illusions of almost divine importance. Countered only
by the glory of the qualities of God.
6. Avarice and Parsimony. Give rise to envy, the worst of
all characteristics. This can be dissolved only when the
power of certainty (yakina) comes.
7. Greed and the desire for more. This is dangerous
because it causes the person to be like the moth, insensately
dashing itself against the candle flame . It is countered only
by austerity and piety .
8. Irresponsibility. This is manifested by the desire to
attain something which has been conceived in the mind.
It is always in motion, like a globe continually turning. It
can be made to depart only by patience.
9. Haste to Fatigue. This is lack of constancy of purpose,
in its usual manifestation. This is what prevents people
from realizing that there is a succession of objectives which
will replace present, crude ones . "From this calamity it is
impossible to escape save by the establishing of the ordered
thanks ." Exercises are employed to overcome this tendency.
10. Negligence. Slothfulness of a deep kind is shown
by lack of awareness of the needs of a situation or an individual.
Alertness is cultivated through remedies applied
by the "Physicians of the Essence"-the dervishes .
It will be noted that ordinary, contemporary psychotherapy
attempts the treatment of some of these conditions, but
only in order to guide the mind into a pattern which the
psychological doctrine assumes is normal. According to the
dervish, the conditions which have to be treated are due to
an unharmonious state of the mind, groping for balance
and evolution. It is impossible, from this point of view, to
attempt to restore a mere equilibrium without a dynamic
forward movement. The psychologist tries to make a warped
wheel turn smoothly. The dervish is trying to make the
wheel turn in order that it may propel a carriage ...
If there is any standard dervish textbook it is the "Gifts of
(Deep) Knowledge"-the Awarif el-Maarif-written in the
thirteenth century and studied by members of all Orders.
Its author, Sheikh Shahabudin Suhrawardi (1145-c. 1235)
presided over the coalescing of theory, ritual and practice
which took place in his time, established teaching
schools close to the courts of Persia and India, and
was Chief of the Chiefs of Sufis in Baghdad .
The book is of interest to us both because it shows the
outward and early stages of attraction into the dervish
corpus, because it contains the basic contents of thought
and action of these mystics, and because of Lieutenant
Colonel Wilberforce Clarke . Colonel Clarke was himself a
dervish, probably of the Suhrawardi Order. He translated
more than half of the Gifts, for the first time, into English,
and published it in 1891 . Also the first English translator of
Saadi's Orchard, Nizami's Story of Alexander, and Hafiz'
Works, he was a worthy follower of the tradition of distinguished
Sufic adapters such as Raymond Lully.
Taken as a whole, Clarke's work can be seen as an attempt
to present dervish thinking to an English audience...
(From Shah's The Sufis, 1964)
