Traditional Quotes and Symbols
Countless souls in traditional societies have observed evil and misery surrounding them, but such experiences have hardly ever drawn Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists (to name just a few examples) away from religion and the world of faith.
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THE REALITY OF EVIL AND THE NEED FOR GUIDANCE
With all the debate now raging in America between the Christian view of original sin and fallen humanity and the goodness of human nature according to what some call a modern version of Gnosticism, it is imperative, in discussing the truth according to Sufism, to deal with the question of evil and the necessity for Divine Guidance.
It must be emphasized that Sufi treatises are not simply "self-realization kits" to be handed out to those who wish to realize the Supreme Self within on the basis of their own efforts and without Divine Succor. Islam does not believe in original sin, but it does emphasize our fall from our primordial state, that primordial nature we still bear deep within ourselves.
We are separated from this nature by layers of forgetfulness and imperfection, by veils that can be removed only with God's Help. And it is precisely these veils, or ontological separation from our Source, that result in what theologically is called evil.
It is to these veils with which we usually associate ourselves and our existence that the Sufi saint of Basra, Rabi'ah, was referring when she said, "Alas my son, thine existence is a sin wherewith no other sin can be compared.”
Metaphysically one can explain the reality of evil as separation from the absolute Good. Let us remember the saying of that supreme Christian poet, Dante, who said that hell is separation from God: As mentioned above, the Divine is at once the Absolute, the Infinite, and the All-Good. And let us not forget that infinite means containing all possibilities, including that of self-negation; as mentioned already, it is in the nature of the good to give of itself as it is in the nature of light to irradiate. This emanation, which constitutes all the levels of existence below the Absolute Being, also implies distancing and separation, gradual dimming of the light and appearance of shadows. Positively, the reality of the world issues from the One Reality, but to use the very term world implies already separation from God. As the Kabbalists have said, the Divine had to "withdraw" from Its full Plenitude to create a "space" for creation.
What we call evil is the result of this withdrawal and separation. That is why evil does not have the same ontological status as the good in the same way that darkness does not have the same ontological status as light.
The so-called problem of theodicy (that is, how could a good God create a world in which there is evil?) is the result of ignorance of the nature of God and the world and lack of knowledge of the doctrine of veil or maya. This so-called problem, which has driven many a modern Westerner away from Christianity and in some cases from Judaism, has been discussed in depth by many non-Western philosophers, theologians, and mystics belonging to other religions. Countless souls in traditional societies have observed evil and misery surrounding them, but such experiences have hardly ever drawn Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists, to name just a few examples, away from religion and the world of faith. Observing evil in a world created by God who is good has not had the same religious consequences for them as it has had for many in the modern West and of course did not have the same consequences for those in the traditional West, whose reactions to this problem were similar in many ways to those of people today in most non-Western cultures.
From the point of view of the Divine Reality, there is no evil because there is nothing to be separated from the Source of the Good, but for human beings living in the domain of relativity, evil is as real as that domain, although creation in its ontological reality is good since it comes from God. This is demonstrated by the overwhelming beauty of the natural order. That is why both the Bible and the Quran assert the goodness of His creation and the fact that goodness always predominates ultimately over evil. Furthermore, the infernal, purgatorial, and paradisal states are real although located in the domain of relativity but each with very different characteristics.
The problem of evil becomes intractable when we absolutize the relative and fail to distinguish between the existential reality of a thing, which comes from the Act of Being, and its "apparent" separative existence. To speak of a world without evil is to fail to understand what the world is and to confuse the Absolute and the relative, the Essence and its veils, or to use the language of Hinduism, Atman and maya.
Some Sufis have said that there is no evil but only goodness and beauty. Such statements must be understood in the context of the state of consciousness from which they were speaking, the state that allowed them to see the Face of God everywhere. Everything has a face turned inward to God beyond all blemish and evil and a face turned outward. The Sufis who have denied evil have gazed upon that face of inwardness and have seen the outward face of things in light of that inner reality.
Otherwise, if Sufism had denied evil, there would be no need for Sufism itself because the role of Sufism is to overcome the imperfections and evil tendencies of the soul, called "nafs inciting to evil" in the Quran and subsequently by the Sufis. On the existential level of the ordinary soul, they are as real as the soul itself.
To transcend evil and to behold only the good and the beautiful, one must transcend one's own ego or this nafs. The overwhelming beauty of God's creation and the ultimate triumph of the good, whatever transient phenomena of an evil nature may hold sway in the short run, is itself proof of the existential inequality between good and evil, the beautiful and the ugly.
Sufis seek to cling to the good and the beautiful even amid what appears sometimes in life as predominance of the evil and the ugly. They hold fast to the Truth even when surrounded by error and falsehood, being anchored in the certainty that the Truth, which is always good and beautiful in the metaphysical sense, shall finally prevail. The Sufis would be the first to agree with the medieval Latin adage vincit omnia veritas, the Truth shall always triumph.
To overcome the imperfections of the soul and the abode of evil cannot be accomplished by fallen humanity without help. If there are exceptions, they only prove the rule, and one must never forget that "The Spirit bloweth where it listeth." Putting such exceptions aside, the rule and principle is that human beings are in need of Divine Guidance to remember who they are, to be able to slay the dragon within. Through His Mercy God has therefore sent prophets throughout history to guide human beings to the One.
---
The Garden of Truth by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Countless souls in traditional societies have observed evil and misery surrounding them, but such experiences have hardly ever drawn Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists (to name just a few examples) away from religion and the world of faith.
---
THE REALITY OF EVIL AND THE NEED FOR GUIDANCE
With all the debate now raging in America between the Christian view of original sin and fallen humanity and the goodness of human nature according to what some call a modern version of Gnosticism, it is imperative, in discussing the truth according to Sufism, to deal with the question of evil and the necessity for Divine Guidance.
It must be emphasized that Sufi treatises are not simply "self-realization kits" to be handed out to those who wish to realize the Supreme Self within on the basis of their own efforts and without Divine Succor. Islam does not believe in original sin, but it does emphasize our fall from our primordial state, that primordial nature we still bear deep within ourselves.
We are separated from this nature by layers of forgetfulness and imperfection, by veils that can be removed only with God's Help. And it is precisely these veils, or ontological separation from our Source, that result in what theologically is called evil.
It is to these veils with which we usually associate ourselves and our existence that the Sufi saint of Basra, Rabi'ah, was referring when she said, "Alas my son, thine existence is a sin wherewith no other sin can be compared.”
Metaphysically one can explain the reality of evil as separation from the absolute Good. Let us remember the saying of that supreme Christian poet, Dante, who said that hell is separation from God: As mentioned above, the Divine is at once the Absolute, the Infinite, and the All-Good. And let us not forget that infinite means containing all possibilities, including that of self-negation; as mentioned already, it is in the nature of the good to give of itself as it is in the nature of light to irradiate. This emanation, which constitutes all the levels of existence below the Absolute Being, also implies distancing and separation, gradual dimming of the light and appearance of shadows. Positively, the reality of the world issues from the One Reality, but to use the very term world implies already separation from God. As the Kabbalists have said, the Divine had to "withdraw" from Its full Plenitude to create a "space" for creation.
What we call evil is the result of this withdrawal and separation. That is why evil does not have the same ontological status as the good in the same way that darkness does not have the same ontological status as light.
The so-called problem of theodicy (that is, how could a good God create a world in which there is evil?) is the result of ignorance of the nature of God and the world and lack of knowledge of the doctrine of veil or maya. This so-called problem, which has driven many a modern Westerner away from Christianity and in some cases from Judaism, has been discussed in depth by many non-Western philosophers, theologians, and mystics belonging to other religions. Countless souls in traditional societies have observed evil and misery surrounding them, but such experiences have hardly ever drawn Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists, to name just a few examples, away from religion and the world of faith. Observing evil in a world created by God who is good has not had the same religious consequences for them as it has had for many in the modern West and of course did not have the same consequences for those in the traditional West, whose reactions to this problem were similar in many ways to those of people today in most non-Western cultures.
From the point of view of the Divine Reality, there is no evil because there is nothing to be separated from the Source of the Good, but for human beings living in the domain of relativity, evil is as real as that domain, although creation in its ontological reality is good since it comes from God. This is demonstrated by the overwhelming beauty of the natural order. That is why both the Bible and the Quran assert the goodness of His creation and the fact that goodness always predominates ultimately over evil. Furthermore, the infernal, purgatorial, and paradisal states are real although located in the domain of relativity but each with very different characteristics.
The problem of evil becomes intractable when we absolutize the relative and fail to distinguish between the existential reality of a thing, which comes from the Act of Being, and its "apparent" separative existence. To speak of a world without evil is to fail to understand what the world is and to confuse the Absolute and the relative, the Essence and its veils, or to use the language of Hinduism, Atman and maya.
Some Sufis have said that there is no evil but only goodness and beauty. Such statements must be understood in the context of the state of consciousness from which they were speaking, the state that allowed them to see the Face of God everywhere. Everything has a face turned inward to God beyond all blemish and evil and a face turned outward. The Sufis who have denied evil have gazed upon that face of inwardness and have seen the outward face of things in light of that inner reality.
Otherwise, if Sufism had denied evil, there would be no need for Sufism itself because the role of Sufism is to overcome the imperfections and evil tendencies of the soul, called "nafs inciting to evil" in the Quran and subsequently by the Sufis. On the existential level of the ordinary soul, they are as real as the soul itself.
To transcend evil and to behold only the good and the beautiful, one must transcend one's own ego or this nafs. The overwhelming beauty of God's creation and the ultimate triumph of the good, whatever transient phenomena of an evil nature may hold sway in the short run, is itself proof of the existential inequality between good and evil, the beautiful and the ugly.
Sufis seek to cling to the good and the beautiful even amid what appears sometimes in life as predominance of the evil and the ugly. They hold fast to the Truth even when surrounded by error and falsehood, being anchored in the certainty that the Truth, which is always good and beautiful in the metaphysical sense, shall finally prevail. The Sufis would be the first to agree with the medieval Latin adage vincit omnia veritas, the Truth shall always triumph.
To overcome the imperfections of the soul and the abode of evil cannot be accomplished by fallen humanity without help. If there are exceptions, they only prove the rule, and one must never forget that "The Spirit bloweth where it listeth." Putting such exceptions aside, the rule and principle is that human beings are in need of Divine Guidance to remember who they are, to be able to slay the dragon within. Through His Mercy God has therefore sent prophets throughout history to guide human beings to the One.
---
The Garden of Truth by Seyyed Hossein Nasr