Current Sufi activity: work, literature, groups and techniques: The Sufi approach to professional, vocational and business activities resembles that of other communities, but the similarity serves also to conceal certain dramatic differences. Sufi disciples will cooperate in what seems to be almost every kind of activity, ranging from the arts, through commerce to academic and other undertakings in the world of learning. A number of seekers will associate together to pursue a project, because the successful completion of a mundane activity is often regarded as an index of the necessary harmonization of the group. In other words, if the project works, the members of the group are in a kind of alignment which will enable them to profit from the subtle, spiritual impulses which the Sufi work is offering. This kind of pattern is familiar in all groups with a common interest. Both religious and other groupings, of short or long duration, can be found working together in a wide variety of areas, throughout the world. The difference comes when one examines the theory and mechanism of the Sufi and the other groupings. In the case of the Sufis, a project is devised and an attempt is made to carry it out. If this succeeds – that is, if the shop, factory, artistic atelier and so forth – flourishes within a reasonable period of time, the group concerned is accepted with its membership as eligible for special exercises and instructions which are believed to be able to operate through this ‘organism’ with extraordinary rapidity and effectiveness. The group need not be money-oriented: some groups are charitable, others devised for entertainment, still others work in the fields of planning, design, agriculture or even certain spheres of diplomacy. But, while there need not be a financial aim in the undertaking, if it is one which ordinarily yields a profit, then the index of its success always includes profit: and the entire yield is always made available to the Sufi Path. The Sufi teacher ordinarily authorizes the experiment and may give it the time scale in which it is to succeed. If the project does not progress sufficiently well, the harmonization of the individual members is considered to be at fault, and the effort must be stopped ... This application of the doctrine that ‘the exterior is an indicator of the interior’ strikingly emphasizes the belief that harmony brings about coherent (‘organic’) growth, and, in contra-distinction, that the imposition of patterns upon groups will never succeed in developing anything. From this it can be seen why so many Sufis are on record as working so vehemently against imposed structure ... From Current Sufi activity: work, literature, groups and techniques from Sufi Thought and Action, pp55–99. Read the text at Google Books: bit.ly/1n7Mum9 The Idries Shah Foundation: idriesshahfoundation.org/
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 19:13:11 +0000
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