by T.L. James of MarsBlog. Part of our weekly Sufi Wisdom series. As terrorist Islam does its best to discredit the religion, it is important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, a branch of Islamic mystics with roots in many religious traditions. The lessons of Sufism are often communicated through humorous stories and mystical or romantic poetry.
There was once a Dervish who had divinatory powers, having arrived at the Fourth Stage of Understanding. A certain woman who had four young sons and was anxious for their future, approached him and begged him to take them under his protection.
The Dervish pondered, and then said:
'Ask me not why; but make sure that the first boy becomes a shopkeeper, the second a priest and the third a soldier. If they do not take up these occupations it will not go well for them: but if they do, they will be protected.'
The four youths grew up and followed the careers indicated by the Dervish, with the fourth becoming his disciple.
Every year the men visited the Dervish, grateful for the success which attended them in life and convinced that it came from the benediction of the sage.
After many years the fourth lad, now himself a respected teacher, asked the Dervish why people placed so much reliance on the Fourth Stage of Understanding. He himself, after all, was widely revered, and he had not received this illumination.
'I can illustrate something of its use,' replied the ancient, 'by referring to the day when your mother brought you boys to see me. I perceived by my inner powers, from the Fourht Stage, that the first lad would become a thief, the second a liar and the third a killer. Their occupations licensed or protected them in these tendencies...'
'And I?'
'You were the only one who sought Truth without desire for gain or protection.'
-- Idries Shah, The Commanding Self
This is pretty funny ... if you view values as only attached to the contemplative life. Thief = merchant, liar = priest, killer = soldier?! If they'd had lawyers in that era, I'm sure slime would have had an equal sign beside it, as well. If Sufi wisdom only values itself, maybe it's better being generally ignored??
Read it again. The story is not actually making the moral equivalencies you argue it does -- the dervish steered the three boys into their respective professions because he saw certain tendencies in them from which they needed to be protected (per their mother's request). Those professions were chosen to direct to positive outlets tendencies that otherwise might have led the boys down destructive paths -- for themselves and others.
Its a good interpretation, but the story gives the boys' characters rather uncomplimentary coloration. That their choices channeled their described tendencies constructively appears not to be complimentary toward those choices.
Odd, Ruth, I saw the value of those choices in exactly the opposite way.
You are all seeing the recommended occupations as being a deterent to unfortunate tendencies, and the Dervish's advice deterring the sons from lives of crime. Which is indeed the opposite of my view, that their unfortunate tendencies are at home in their careers.
Maybe I've seen more theft by merchants, lies by priests, and killing by soldiers?
Note the sage's exact words, Ruth:
So it's both. But (and we're dealing on an 'ordinary' level here) be careful of being too literal. Is it that the professions help give expression to cheating, lying, and killing? Or that they license and make use of some of the underlying traits that might otherwise drive the brothers to those things (for instance, driving values that could be very strong competitiveness and seeking advantage, a desire to tell good stories at all times and be the center of attention, and aggressiveness in response to any threat)?
Something that any viable system of improving the human condition needs to do, by the way. Ponder the concept that the systems which have succeeded have consistently been those that made use of negative aspects of human nature or motivations toward same, to beneficial ends. That's one reason your country's revolution produced America, while France's produced The Great Terror.
Nice to see that the Sufis got that concept a long time ago.
The other thing to consider is that each of the mentioned professions has its dark side, as indeed all do (question for the day: what's the dark side of the social work profession?). Part of the reason these professions can be helpful is because they've had to deal with their own dark sides.
The most proficient businesspeople are competitive, and may be tempted to steal or chisel. But competition punishes those who do, and one who cheats his fellows can find himself ostraciszed and out of business. It doesn't always work, but it often does; the market dispenses justice every day, and that adds up. Societies that rely solely on governments for this function tend to be failed societies.
Clerics of all sorts must deal with faith in the unseen as a matter of course. This can produce a disdain for The Habit of Truth. In an Islamic context (and this is a Sufi story), truth is one of Allah's cardinal attributes, and in order to tell and share this wonderful story, one must preach and understand that aspect. It doesn't always work, but it often does in ways that add up. Societies that abandon all religion have a record, and it's a much worse record re: the Habit of Truth.
Warriors must deal with death. Their own, and others'. I know know exactly what you meant by "seen more.... killing by soldiers," but I strongly suspect you haven't been around many. If you had, you'd have shown much better understanding of their approach to this. Indeed, killers motivated by the desire to kill are considered actively dangerous to their fellows. That isn't the warrior ethos, or the soldier's ethos, which are designed to strip that element away while preserving focus and aggression.
That Dervish's mama didn't raise no fools.
You know guys, it's just a metaphor, like the whole loaves and fishes thing, it's not really... oh never mind.