Submission
I thought I’d talk about submission - in both the religious sense and in a developmental one. In fact the two senses are in essence exactly the same but in religions the emphasis on it has been misunderstood.
What is the aim of esoteric developmental systems? Quite simply to subdue the lower nature and rise to something higher. In different conceptions this practice (ie the mystical training) is given differing names and has slightly different emphasis: in Zen the practice is conceived of as achieving ‘no mind’, in Sufism it is the ‘Commanding Self’ (which is seen as a false self - ie the personality - masquerading as the real) which must be overcome.
Based on these conceptions there are widely different methods used to achieve this: stilling the body in unusual postures, contemplation on certain themes or even as in the Malamati tradition the deliberate bringing of unjustified condemnation on oneself (ie to rein in the false self). By the way, this is often why debate is not useful as a tool in this area as it is essentially a platform for the Commanding Self. Abstinence from debate - especially when one feels most like shouting ‘Prepare For the Hammer of the Righteous’ - can be useful in this regard and things like this are things we can all do as duties to ourselves (if we wish - or should I say, if our real self wishes) without having necessarily following any specific path or teaching.
But in the long run, an awakened teacher is a necessity to develop past a certain point. Each such teacher invents his or her own methods (or uses variations of existing ones adapted to the situation) which are prescribed - as a doctor would prescribe for an illness - to specific individual students. The acceptance of these (often unnecessary and perhaps ridiculous) strictures and rules constitutes ‘submission’. ‘Rebellion’ is when the Commanding Self wins the battle and, sensing an imminent threat to it’s existence, removes itself from the source of the danger. Retrospectively this false self - which still has control of the mind - then invents reasons why it’s action was correct - the teacher was mad, the teaching was wrong etc.
Submission is the opposite of this: it is the acceptance of duties and activities that may not even be justifiable in any sense other than that they are merely training this false self to relinquish control - it is a battle and submission is the sword (actually this is the true meaning of jihad but perhaps we had better not go there for now).
The forgoing would seem to militate against the contention that religion in it’s original form and Sufism (here I use Sufism to stand for the totality of historical esoteric systems as opposed to merely within the Islamic tradition where it is known by that name) are the same thing as religion has rules which must, more or less strictly, be adhered to but these are not in any sense to combat the false self - in fact they most often feed it - rather, they are diverted to something which must be done so as ‘God’ does not get angry and send you to a very bad place and conversely, you will end up somewhere extremely pleasant - ie somewhere which is the False Self’s idea of ‘heaven’.
This is what is meant by religion being (in certain senses) a corruption of the original teaching. It has happened for the same reason that all such deterioration occurs: the absence of the teaching master.
It may be objected that the original founders of religions were not teaching masters and did not teach this method but on examination, more evidence can be found that they did than that they did not.
Certainly most had disciples who were of a very different status to other people - Jesus continually preached in Galilee for example but the purpose of this was not to gain more disciples. His own Disciples received individual teaching of a different nature.
Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’
He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
The reason I speak to them in parables is because in seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.”
Matthew 13:10-17
I think the reference to ‘more shall be given’ is a clear reference to the action of the Commanding Self. It cannot fulfill itself through it’s greed and desires but it unceasingly tries to do so. The more it gains the more it tries to gain - and even in this world succeeds in many instances. Conversely, those who attempt to eradicate themselves - to have ‘nothing’ then they will continue on that path to extinction. Extinction of the false self.
The teaching is further evident in Jesus’s teaching of ‘turning the other cheek’. Here is where he instructs his Disciples in this teaching - it has echoes of the Malamati techniques (which is not surprising as it is likely the Malamati conceptions passed into the Islamic stream through Jesus who in turn had drawn on similar ideal in Diogenes and the Cynics) and is again a clear instruction to individuals on a method of causing the Commanding Self into submission and not, as is now universally perceived, an absolutist moral direction at all nor necessarily a statement of pacifism:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:39
Jesus is not saying that if someone takes you to court just ‘do not feel negative’ or ‘accept it and move on’ he is outlining a way of actually causing the Commanding Self more distress. Essentially it is adding to any problem that comes along - doubling it. He could of course have said ‘accept all these calamities and don’t resist’ in a Stoicial way and the moral teaching as we know it today would still be effective. He didn’t say that - this is dynamic developmental teaching in action.
Similar parallels exist in Islam with Muhammad and his group, the Companions but I will content myself with listing a few sayings of Muhammad that are developmental in nature and clearly show him in the light of a teacher. These saying are from Idries Shah’s Caravan of Dreams
Objects
It is your attachment to objects that makes you blind and deaf.Love
Do you think you love your Creator? Love your fellow creature first.Helping Others
I order you to help any oppressed person whether he is a Muslim or not.The Pious
My back has been broken by ‘pious’ men.Cursing
You ask me to curse unbelievers but I was not sent to curse.Death
Die before your death.Anger
You ask for a piece of advice. I tell you: ‘Do not get angry.’ He is strong who can withhold anger.Struggle
The Holy Warrior is he who struggles with himself.Contemplation
An hour’s contemplation is better than a year’s worship.
For those interested there is also a full excerpt of all these traditions from Shah’s book at this Amazon page.
The ‘Die before your death’ motif is interesting in this regard as it is not only a Sufi motif but also one which Jesus used (as did several other earlier esoteric traditions) implicitly in his teaching of being ‘born-again’. Clearly in both cases, the ‘death’ refferred to is that of the secondary self we have been discussing.
So, to sum up, ‘submission’ is not submission to some autocratic rule or whim (although choosing to submit to such whilst having a desire to revolt could well be a part of the battle against the false self were one on that path in such circumstances) but refers to bringing the false self into a state of submission to certain ‘rules’ which are designed to achieve the end of placing the false self in it’s proper place: that is not blocking the essential inner core of an individual as it is only this Essence which can perceive what is called ‘reality’.
No matter how much it pretends or ‘goes through the motions’, the Commanding Self cannot perceive this reality. It’s only aim is the basic evolutionary one of survival: it neither knows nor cares about anything else. This is why Sufi stories, other parables and teaching incidents are ‘coded’ - they are designed to be a kind of Trojan Horse which can bypass the ‘false self’ and reach the essence of a person but this is perhaps a subject for another time.
Links
Godbothering
Techieness &
Design
Mystic Mayhem
ParaPolitics
Everything Else
Archives
Recent Entries
Meta
