Journey within ones self, to the sea of reality
I ran across these beliefs the other day and have now spent some time contemplating what they have to say.
Sufism is referred to the path and methods in relation to self knowledge, self-purification, and God Consciousness. Humans' have two realities esoteric and exoteric, inner and outer, known and hidden.
The exoteric is easy, its our physical dimensions, our bodily functions, our senses and perceptions.
The esoteric is the mind, the heart and the soul, in that order rising . The lowest level is the mind, this is the thing which communicates between heart and body. The mind speaks to the body, so the normal intended function of the mind, is to dominate the body. The mind is where we locate our attraction to logic, reason, comprehension, intelligence.
Above this, and dominated by it, is the heart .The heart speaks truth, if it is filled with evil it will reveal it, regardless of what the mind says. If it is filled with good it will reveal it regardless of what the mind says. The heart, the Sufis say, is revealed by the tongue, speech is often the thing which betrays the hearts nature (good or bad) .The heart is meant to dominate the mind for useful things such as realizing peace, self, and God-consciousness.
The third part of the self is the soul. The soul dominates the heart, if the soul has been corrupted due to the evil in one's heart, then it becomes hidden, so the Sufis say one must polish the heart, purify it, so a person can know his/her own soul .A bad heart hides from us the true power of the soul. The soul is what gives light to the heart, which gives it to the mind, which is then manifested in what we call beautiful conduct
When the mind is dominated by the body (ego), then the natural process is reversed, and since weaker things cannot comprehend greater things, the mind, dominated by body instead of heart becomes confused, the heart becomes hidden, the soul becomes unknown and we have what we call the materialization of truth The materialization of truth means that the mind, unable to see the heart's light, replaces it with material explanations (of human nature).
Therefore, the materialization of truth is nothing more than the reduction of truth, to only the mind, where life is dominated by reason, instead of spirituality (heart and soul).
With the enlightenment came the reduction of life to its material zones. This cuts off the self from itself, (the mind cuts off from the heart and soul) and what results is a reality that only accepts senses and their perception, hence, empirical truth.
Empirical truth,this unfortunate condition of humans today, is what we call the movement from quality to quantity .Instead of seeking the quality (heart and soul) in reality we seek the quantity of it (mind and matter) . Therefore, today, religions are understood from the minds point of view instead of the hearts, dogmas, once the doors to inner reality are now doors to self-righteousness.
Many people know there is something wrong, but not many expound upon it because our languages have been altered to accommodate things which seek to negate our esoteric reality.
We believe everyone, deep down, knows this truth, but we conceal it from our minds as to practice what the ego wishes.
One example is the word intellect: it used to mean the minds relation to the heart's wisdom, but today is solely the mind's ability to use reason. We call intellectuals, people who are worldly scholars, whereas before, intellectuals were those who were connected to their hearts.
The lowest aspect is what denies higher aspects, thus theories like evolution, can dominate because the proof against it is not only within ourselves, but also in the material world itself.
However, since the materialization of truth denies higher realities than itself, it mocks the evidences against it by people of esoterism
This brings me to the second part of this writing :the practical aspects of Sufism.
Sufis believe that knowledge of self is attained through two main ways.
The first or lower way is reading the book we call the universe, the physical parts of creation, the outer reality of life, so everything created is not just material phenomena but also symbols of the hidden reality. One who knows self, is connected to the soul and heart, seeing the world as a map, through symbolism, the reality of the Divine source, from which it came.
So, for example, a tree is the symbol of a person's growth, from seed, planted, grown, nurtured, and fruitful in the end, producing things for which it was created. Trees need water. Water is then the symbol of the trees means to grow and live. It is no coincidence that tress need water and water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen can be said to be our part, fulfilling the tree symbol as humans, the hydrogen being independent, but when combined with oxygen is the trees source of growth.
The Qur'an reminds us that when humans were primarily souls, and the souls were gathered to one place, they had all this knowledge. God addressed the souls and said, "Am I not your Lord?" the souls, all in unison, said, "yes" Now I have to explain the translation because it has flaws. God is the "I" The souls are the subordinates of the I. There is a deep and certain relationship between the I and the souls, which is love and mercy.
We call this the journey without ones self, into the sea of reality.