There are certain actions, such as eating, drinking, sitting, and walking, which are not different from those of the animals. Therefore, if one, in one's actions, does not show something which is not to be found in animals, then one has not awakened to human nature. Who cannot show something of the characteristics of a human being? One might ask: what are these?

The very same actions, such as eating, drinking, sitting, and sleeping, have behind them a light to guide; the very same action can become characteristic of human nature. For instance, if one thinks one must not push another when walking or say I am sorry" one shows a tendency different from an animal. Animals must rub against one another and people show they will not do so. Animals pass before one another and, instead of bowing, show their horns and give greetings with a howl. People will be different.

The special characteristics of a human being are consideration, refinement, patience, and thoughtfulness. Once one has practiced these, that leads to the practice of self-sacrifice, which leads to divine action. When one sacrifices one's time and one's advantage in life for the sake of another one loves, respects, and adores, this sacrifice raises one higher than the standard of ordinary human beings. This is the divine nature, which is not human, because the human being begins to think as God thinks and because his or her actions become more and more divine, until they become the actions of God. That person is greater than the person who merely believes in God, for his or her own actions have become the actions of God.

The awakened soul sees all the doings of grown-up people as the doings of children of one Father and Mother. The awakened soul looks upon them as the Father/Mother would look upon all human beings on the earth, without thinking that they are Germans or English or French. They are equally dear to him or her. The awakened soul looks at all, full of forgiveness, not only for those who deserve it, but also for others. The awakened soul understands not only the deserving, but also the undeserving, because he or she understands the reason behind everything.

By seeing good in everyone and everything, one begins to develop that divine light which expands itself, throwing itself upon life, making the whole of life a scene of the divine sublimity. What the mystic develops in life is a wider outlook, and this wider outlook changes one's action. One develops in oneself a point of view which may be called a divine point of view. You cannot help calling this the divine point of view. A person rises to a state when one feels that all that is done to one is from God. The person feels that when one does right or wrong, one does the wrong to God. Once arrived at, this is true religion. There can be no better religion than that, the religion of God on earth.

This is the point of view which makes a person like God: divine. One is resigned when badly treated. But one will take oneself to task if one happens to find a shortcoming in one's own action, for that action is to God.

The mystic's conception of the deity is not only of a king or a judge or a creator. The mystical conception of God is the Beloved, the only Beloved there is. To the mystic all the love of this world is like little children playing with their dolls and loving them. Thus they learn the lesson they have to realize later in life of taking care of the home. The mystic learns the same lesson by proving sincere and devoted to all sorts of creatures. This devotion wakens the mystic to the Beloved, the only Beloved there is and to whom all love is due.

Social Gathekas

21. Sufi Mysticism, VII: Human Actions Become Divine

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Social Gathekas

21. Sufi Mysticism, VII: Human Actions Become Divine