Humility

by Bulent Rauf, written for the intensive six-month course at the Beshara School

The necessity for patience and humility is the condition of human life and life in immanence.

How, then, does this realisation of the essential Oneness finally filter into one’s being and how is one made to realise something which the intellect seems to have accepted a long time ago?

This is not a lecture. It is a reminder. No-one is completely devoid of pride if pride in learning is not changed into dignity through humility.

The purpose of all your study is to bring you to a realisation of your ‘essential’ oneness with the One and Only Absolute Existence. Here remember that the word ‘essential’ mainly means ‘in your essence’ as well as your origin and your reality.

This realisation of ‘your essential oneness’ can only be consequent to the complete humility of your ego to accept this knowledge and make it its own belief; because this knowledge is not the mere acceptance of a ‘concept’ or ‘theory’ etc. which may be received by an adjustment of the ego to tolerate, or even to consider this theory or concept or what you will, and still continue unaffected in its (the ego’s) separate and illusory self-existence as something apart from the basic reality of your ‘essential oneness’.

As can be seen when you make of this reality your realisation, you implicitly admit the non-existence of a relationship of the ego to the One, or through the One or with the One or in the One or together with the One etc., except that this ego itself is no longer the ego you have known up to now, but the extension of the ‘ego’ of the One in a single determination, which is differentiation, and which is His individuation as you. This is what prompted Rumi to write the Mathnawî, and again, this is what constitutes the subject of the story told about Rumi’s conversation with Yunus Emre. The story goes like this: one day Rumi and Yunus Emre met. They had an intimate and very pleasant conversation where Rumi told Yunus of all he had done, reciting to both their delight some of his sublime verse. Yunus Emre was very grateful and highly pleased, but a doubt of personal ability to achieve the same overcame him in his utter humility.

He remarked aloud, “How true, how lovely; but what a lot of words you have used to say such a simple thing. I could never have done it.”
Rumi asked him: “How would you have said it?” Yunus Emre, who was what may be called a ‘Folk Poet’, replied in a couplet:
“I wrapped myself in flesh and bones and appeared as Yunus.”
(Ete kemige büründüm Yunus deyu göründüm.)

What is meant then, is that you as a separate entity do not realise, understand or know anything, or, to tell the truth, exist as such. Can your ego, your nafs, allow you to admit such a premise? Is it humble enough to admit in all humility that it does not exist as a separate entity or, apart from being an extension of His ego, exist as such? If your ego does admit this, it has died to itself, or in fact, has come to life in reality. This then is also fanâ’ and baqâ’. Again, this is death in life. However, this realisation should not remain a mere intellectual and reasonable consideration, easily acceptable in consequence to the original premise of the Unity of Existence. If it is only just this, a reasonable deduction and intellectual comprehension of a logical sequence, then a kind of schizoid existence ensues and what is known as ‘realisation’ is never attained.

In fact one does arrive at the truth through a logical and intellectual premise which makes one ‘know’ that one’s own existence is nothing but a determination in differentiation which is His individuation as yourself; but that which is accepting and admitting this truth is always you in a subjective appreciation of an intellectual argument as the truth. It can go even further if pushed, and admit it of itself as a logical consequence. But if the nafs or ego is to apply this reasonable argument to itself as an intellectual premise, it will still retain full autonomy of its separate existence as the judge of the validity of this argument. The ego will appreciate the validity of this reality as an object applicable even to itself but will not allow it to become its own reality, maintaining thereby an individuality of its own which at the same time will intellectually admit that it is an individuation of the One. Two so-called ‘realities’ conflict in the person, one this intellectual acceptance of the truth, and the other the egocentric, emotional individuality of the person denying to itself the natural consequence of its own logical acceptance. And wherever there is an overtone of emotion, there is a cloudy situation, lacking in clarity.

However, when this emotional self-preservation of the ego arrives through the action of humility, to an acceptance of a sentiment, of a feeling that the truth of the matter is inescapable, the ego finds itself obliged to give way before the clarity of the reason which now fully admits the reality of the matter. This feeling of and for the truth of the matter then takes over the position up to now occupied by the emotion and there is no more room for the continuation of the separate individuality.

The ‘loss’ of individuality is, however, illusory. The realisation of oneself being a differentiation and individuation of the One Absolute Being re-creates in one an individuality which is beyond comparison; unique; since none of His individuations or manifestations are ever alike nor ever repeated. Therefore the newly-realised ‘individuality’ is by all means and considerations more than ever distinctive, gratifying and acceptable to the pride of the ego.

In fact nothing has really happened yet. The ego by effacing itself in humility before the clarity of the reality, has now gained - by admitting the inescapable - further satisfaction and further importance; consequently the admitted truth has only intensified the ego.

Yet the admitted truth also includes a premise which relates this newly-acquired ‘individuality’ which is His individuation to the One Absolute Being. Consequently, the newly-intensified ego now has to see itself, not centrally i.e. egocentrically, but as an extension of an individuation of the Ego or Nafs of the One and Only Reality.

On the other hand, we know that the Ipseity has imposed upon Itself the Nafs-ar-Rahman, sometimes referred to as the ‘Compassionate Ipseity’, and a consequence of this adjunction and collusion of the Ipseity is the Nafs-ar-Rahman (the Breath of Compassion). This self-imposition can best be described by the fact that the Ipseity makes of rahma, - the root of compassion and mercy - a qualification of Itself, and assumes for Itself the nafs, the essential quality of the breath of rahma. It is therefore the individuation or the extension of this very same Nafs-ar-Rahman, which in its ideal state, should be the constitution of the nafs or ego of the individuated self.

Now the person, itself, of the individual, has not only found itself not annihilated by its humility, but, on the contrary, has gained in intensity, satisfaction and importance to such a degree that it thinks of itself as in the realm of the Divine and assumes pride and grandeur qualified as it essentially is, by the qualification of the Ipseity and the Ipseity of Compassion. But “Grandeur belongs only to Him in the heavens and the earth” (wa lahu-l kibriyâù fi-s samawâti wa-l ard), we are told. Now the nafs, the ego, must adjust to the correlation of this new factor of which we are reminded. The only way that an adjustment can be brought about is by recalling to mind the two factors, each of which without the other is conducive to shirk, or polytheism. These two factors, which like inseparable twins have to be taken into consideration always together, are immanence and transcendence.

In transcendence there is all the satisfaction the individual, in his ego, can possibly desire; here it finds grandeur, compassion and the eternity of the Ipseity out of which the ego has extended into his individuation; so long as it keeps in mind its essential unity; its unity in the essence with the One. And this ‘keeping in mind’ of the essential unity is the one and only condition, but also equally a condition sine qua non, for the self identification of the ego with the Nafs of the Ipseity. This ‘keeping in mind’ then, is no other than our pre-requisite on this esoteric way we are engaged upon - i.e. our ‘awareness’. The moment we lose this ‘awareness’ we can no longer be conscious of our transcendence. In fact, that is why one is often reminded of this by the saying: “The degree of evolution of a person is measurable by the constancy of his awareness”.

Admittedly, for the human being it is one of the hardest things to be constantly aware and to be constantly in transcendence, while at the same time one is plunged in the multitude of the distractive atmosphere of life in immanence. Consequently, all the time one is in immanence one must resort to the only factor we have found all through the process of arriving at transcendence and the realisation of the essential oneness of the person with the Absolute Unity. This factor we have mentioned above is the quality by and through which the ego or nafs arrives at the acceptance of a sentiment, a feeling, that the truth of the matter is inescapable and that the ego or nafs has to give way, before the clarity of the reason will fully admit to the reality of the matter - i.e. humility. Hence a peculiar situation results. It is humility which results in grandeur and grandeur requires the aid of humility to regain its transcendence. At the same time, without the consequent grandeur which must ensue if full realisation is to take place, humility is of no consequence. Humility then somehow represents the paradox of a complementary antithesis of grandeur, just like the interior and the exterior (bâtin and zâhir), etc. etc.

How, then, does this realisation of the essential Oneness finally filter into one’s being and how is one made to realise something which the intellect seems to have accepted a long time ago? It is that any knowledge is a realisation which comes much later than when the lesson is learnt; but this process, as we have said, requires constant, or as humanly near constant, awareness to be the factor of this realisation. Humanly near constancy of awareness is naturally open to many weaknesses of falling back, time and time again, into lapses. It is through this process and sequence of several or innumerable number of these lapses and returns to the requisite humility that one finally acquires a constancy. This process or sequence of lapses and returns to reality is what is known as patience. Hence, with patience, the recurrent self-imposition of humility all the while one is in a lapse, i.e. in immanence, one finally arrives at transcendence. The necessity for patience and humility is the condition of human life and life in immanence: but the person who has come to practice both these as near constantly as humanly possible, or in short, is as constantly aware as is humanly possible, has arrived at death before dying (mûtu qabla anta mûtu - die before you are dead). He has come to fanâ’: and every time he has practised fanâ’ through humility and patience in his immanent life, he has established himself in baqâ’, in transcendence.

But how can one practice humility? Humility is in its broadest terms poverty of spirit; not poverty by lack, but by esteem of individuality; it is the acceptance of one’s limitations; in other words a realistic estimation of one’s self without aggrandisement of one’s egocentrically fabricated self-illusions. In short, it is an honest appraisal of one’s being, which is tantamount to knowing oneself closely. Though in this close scrutiny of oneself is involved the fullest development of one’s possibilities in potential, which will eventually bring one to one’s fullest perfection, there is nevertheless a hideous and frightening list of one’s defects and shortcomings.

One’s potential can be sublimated into a transcendent perfection, while one’s shortcomings can be dealt with in immanence through a determined and resolved effort to eliminate them. But this latter can only be done by first accepting them for what they are: a hindrance to the development of one’s potential. These hindrances may take many different forms. It may be the recurrence of old habits like taking a drug or excessive and possessive love of a parent for his or her child or a love affair dependent on an emotional bias which so intensifies itself that it flares up as a passion where compassion is completely blurred, or inordinate drinking till one is drunk, such cases resulting, although thank God only temporarily, in addling the mind and befuddling the clarity of vision of mind and reason which are essential for the constancy of awareness.

We spoke of lapses above. If one has trust in Him these lapses should be of no consequence and through this same trust surely to be overcome in time. Seeing these lapses as one’s shortcomings is Veracity. When an alcoholic sees his drinking as a shortcoming and accepts the help of the Alcoholics Anonymous for instance, he has come to an honest appraisal of that part of his inner composition which constitutes his ego. Thus this honest appraisal and acceptance of part of one’s inner composition and the consequent admission of this hindrance, is what is known as humility. When an ignorant person admits his ignorance and tries to remove it by studying, he is accepting the premise of his ignorance and submitting to the necessity of learning. This acceptance is humility. Therefore, we may conclude that the saying, “He who knows himself knows his Lord” means he who is humble enough to face his shortcomings and tries to sublimate his potential in transcendence, knows his Lord. Then, it appears, without humility there is no way one can either realise one’s essential unity or know the Lord. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” refers to these same, “for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”, this last being God’s own Kingdom, the Divine Domain: and that it may become yours, you must realise an essential oneness with that same Divine Unity.

Humility is practised by an admission of one’s dependence on Unity, so much so that at the turn of the century among those on the Way the reference to the word ‘I’ to refer to the subject was considered not only immodest but outright bad form. It was neither polite nor intelligent to use the first person singular, as it denoted a crass lack of humility, and thereby a persistence in non-evolving imperfection. This persistence in imperfection and the consequent ignorance naturally meant the attribution of the initiation of one’s own acts to oneself, the uneducated and presumptuous nafs or ego. Hence the persistence of the ego which does not evolve cannot possibly come to knowledge and thence to the realisation of one’s essential Unity. Even the mention of the phrase “I know…” is persistence in ignorance and lack of humility. This is why the esoteric orders all subscribe to what is known as the ‘passing away of oneself’ i.e. one’s ‘I’.

Again one must be reminded that ‘passing away’ does not mean complete obliteration of the ‘I’, but simply the relegation of it to its true value, its relative existence in immanence, but also its transmutation into relegation to the Oneness and Its Ipseity as Its Own I, as we see in the phrase, “I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known…”.

As you have seen in the story concerning Ibnul ’Arabi’s wife, five things are precognised by the people of the Way: trust, patience, certainty, resolution and veracity. We have already mentioned above the parts played by patience, the resolved effort; and the reality which is veracity. It is through knowledge which is received by us that we attain to certainty and knowledge, which is His gift in return for our trust in His Uniqueness and Oneness of Existence, of which we are as near constantly as possible aware. One of the major proofs of our awareness should be our rememoration of Him, which is His Zikr. The certitude is the security of the heart through which we feel the realisation of His essential Unity, and this security, and thereby satisfaction, because one does not go without the other, is what He refers to: “Ilâ bi dhikr-Allâh tutma’innq al-qulûb”, which means, “Through nothing else but His Zikr is the heart satisfied.”

Again the essential ingredient of Zikr is humility. Without the necessary relegation of the ‘I’ to Him, the Zikr can never be His Zikr by Him, through His own individuation as you. There is no other form of Zikr.

If we have spoken of humility, it is because of its deep and constant - yes, constant - importance for those who are resolved to make the effort of progressing towards their essential unity. The five qualities of Ibnul ’Arabi’s wife and of those on the Way through realisation, all depend and are founded on the practice of humility. Fanâ’ and baqâ’ are dependent on humility, and even grandeur. The ‘duonomy’ of Lord and Servant is based on humility - need one say more? Practice of humility, therefore, is the fulcrum of all possible evolution without which no manner of attainment is to be expected. But there are pitfalls, even here, and the major one and the most insidious one of which is pride - pride in one’s humility. This can take many forms, some of them blatant and some stealthy, and some seemingly quite justifiable, though completely detrimental. Such a case is the affliction by inordinate self-imposed constrictive rectitude, which invariably creates an imbalance which in itself is a heinous denial of what is known as the ‘Two Hands of God’ used in the creation of Man, His Image, His Viceregent, His Epitome of Manifestation.

There is no scope for pride, not even pride in rectitude, in a love affair; and our way is knowledge and love, which is the inverse realisation of “I loved to be known…”. In all humility therefore, we pray that He guides us in our way; He who is the Hâdî (Guide) and the Hakîm (Wise).