THE ELEMENTS OF SUFISM By Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri
(Available from Amazon)
A Book Review
My exploration of the esoteric has taken me through Esoteric Buddhism and Taoism, Judaism through study of the Kabbalah, esoteric Christianity, and even elements of authentic Voodoo practice which when you get past all the claptrap and clutter of public perception is quite fascinating.
One major area of esoteric study had eluded me, and I have Albert Pike and the Scottish Rite to thank for finally providing the impetus to do some work on Islam, and on Sufism, which can be considered the esoteric element of Islam.
In the practice of Freemasonry, we are tolerant and supportive of all different kinds of faiths that acknowledge a supreme being. To this reviewer’s mind simple ignorance does not qualify as a form of tolerance, one cannot be said to be “tolerant” of a faith simply by virtue of knowing nothing about it beyond bits and pieces one picks up from popular and social media.
The book itself is a very clear and focused elementary introduction to Sufism. The word Islam, as we also see in the Scottish rite degrees, can be roughly translated as “submission to God,” and Sufism, the author explains, arises as a response or “course correction” for the practice of Islam when it is perceived that Islam has strayed from its original purpose of attaining that state of submission. When Islam is “correctly” practiced, there is no need for Sufism.
What is remarkable about the content is how obviously it is drawing from the same well as Freemasonry. There are many parts of the book where one could substitute the word “Freemasonry” for “Sufism” and everything would make perfect sense. In the many places in the book where Islam is stated to be a fundamental requirement for attaining wisdom and enlightenment, it is helpful to remember the definition of Islam given above. There are also places where Freemasonry comes under some harsh criticism, but a.) we are used to that and b.) it just goes to show that no one person has all the answers, which includes practitioners of both Sufism and Freemasonry.
A second remarkable feature of this book is just how much of it comes across as practical and common (well ok, uncommon) sense. Different forms of Sufism are shown as having arisen due to the different needs of the cultures in which they arose, just as the spiritual master must tailor the recommendations for practice to the needs of the individual student. Also fascinating is the author’s insight on the role of nightmares in human destiny.
My major takeaway from reading this book is how much can be gained by delving into even the most elementary books on unfamiliar practices and belief systems. Read the Dao de Jing or the Tao of Pooh, Waite’s or MacNulty’s introduction to the Kabbalah or Rudolf Steiner’s “Christianity as Mystical Fact” – or the book reviewed here!
…respectfully submitted
THE GUARDIAN ANGEL
Aloha brethren,
instead of the usual book review, today these columns will have a meditation regarding the role of the guardian angel. Many of you may have had a conscious experience of the activity of your guardian. The little delay you had in leaving the house, only to hear of a terrible accident just up ahead on the road. Could have been you. Or the intuition to go to a certain place, and there “randomly” meeting someone who greatly influences the course of your life.
Your guardian is an active agent in bringing to you your karma, or as the senior warden says in masonic ritual, “to pay the craft their wages, should any be due.” They are always due, and it is your senior warden who brings them to you. Everything that happens to you is a wage without which, however painful it might be to accept, you would go away dissatisfied. These events that shape your life are brought to you by a world direction full of purpose.
Part of the secret doctrine which can now be shared is that the destiny of the human being and the direction of his (her) development is that they will in the distant future be able to take on this role, to serve as the worshipful master in the life of a sentient being, not as an order-giver or task master (please do not elect such masters!) but rather as a servant-king after the model of the greatest servant-king of all whom I surely do not need to name.
Imagine the responsibilities, the awesome weight that rests upon the shoulders of one who takes on such a role. Yes it will be you who will be directing the events that shape another’s life, that bring to them the heroic successes and necessary dismal failures that will guide them towards their true destiny. This is what our current experiences are bringing us, the capacities to bear upon our own shoulders the wings that our guardians carry.
So as you survey your life’s daily course, keep in mind the incredibly hard work being done that is behind all of those shifting events, that brings to you the wages that are actually due. I will readily confess that I do not do this being justice, that I often feel hard done by when what I am collecting is precisely the wages due me. These are the lessons for which we are brought to this earth. These are the lessons which will raise us to the sublime, where we can enter into our true roles as the Knight Servants of Destiny.
Respectfully submitted,