by new team member T.L. James of Mars Blog and Man of Two Worlds. Part of our weekly Sufi Wisdom series.
As militant 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. As a part of Joe's Good News Saturdays, we spend some time each week with the Sufis and their "wisdom of idiots".
In his collection Tales of the Dervishes, Idries Shah relates a teaching story from Suhrawardi which reads (superficially) like a twist on The Ugly Duckling:
Once upon a time there was a bird which did not have the power of flight. Like a chicken, he walked about on the ground, although he knew that some birds did fly.
It so happened that, through a combination of circumstances, the egg of a flying bird was incubated by this flightless one. In due time the chick came forth, still with the potentiality for flight which he had always had, even from the time he was in the egg. It spoke to its foster parent, saying: "When will I fly?" And the landbound bird said: "Persist in your attempts to fly, just like the others." For he did not know how to take the fledgling for its lesson in flying: even how to topple it from the nest so that it might learn. And it is curious, in a way, that the young bird did not see this. His recognition of the situation was confused by the fact that he felt gratitude to the bird which had hatched him. "Without this service," he said to himself, "surely I would still be in the egg?" And, again, sometimes he said to himself: "Anyone who can hatch me, surely he can teach me to fly. It must be just a matter of time, or of my own unaided efforts, or of some great wisdom: yes, that is it. Suddenly one day I will be carried to the next stage by him who has brought me thus far."Who are the birds, and what is flight? And what is the young bird missing?
I suppose one function of Sufi stories is that they sometimes illuminate one's personal circumstances at a given time. To me, currently thinking of Shah's role in relation to Sufism, this one says that preparation for an activity and participation in an activity are two very different things.
Also perhaps that the person capable of 'hatching' (through the medium of the stories) is in fact a specialist concentrating on one area - for progress to be made one must next graduate to the class of a specialist in 'flying'. Gratitude to the hatcher may hold you back, why should one think that a specialist in one area is also a specialist in another just because he describes it ?
Why wait for even the guidance of a beloved teacher when the map for the rest of the journey lies within us?
One's own truth can only be revealed by one's own efforts.
Our enviornment cannot lead us to see our true nature or our own path. We cannot rely on institutions, parents or social process to understand our own place in the world or our own path. While these may aid us in our growing understanding it will never substitute for our own individual efforts.
Subordinating our own effort to that by which past wisdom was gained is limiting. We should respect the path we have taken up til now but realize that each subsequent step must be our own choice, our own exploration.
We must seek the truth as individuals, recognizing that our truth may be different than that of our peers our teachers or our students.
Kevin has a number of excellent points. There is no substitute for individual effort, sincere seeking of truth may indeed require stepping outside of conventions, and the teacher may point the way but it is the student who must take the steps in the end.
To build on Owen's ideas... The Sufis are very big on the concept of having a teacher who can guide a student to the next level. Indeed, they see it as mandatory. Judaism has a related concept, as explained here by Rabbi Lazar Brody:
"The Mishna therefore dictates, "Asse lecho rav", you must have a high caliber scholar of a lofty spiritual stature as your guide in this world, to help translate your learning into the right mode of action."
One's parents, environment, or early stage moral/religious teachers are often depended on in this respect. If one truly wishes to fly, however, one must find a teacher who can teach at this level. As proof, they must also be able to "fly" themselves. In short, I see Suhrawardi explaining both the need to find a teacher and one of the key tests for weeding out pretenders and "faker fakirs".
So KevinG's answer probably isn't one the Sufis themselves would give, at least not without significant reservations and caveats that individual effort alone (just like teaching and environment alone) is a dead-end path.
It seems to me that there is a little bit more to this discussion of the story. The birds are creatures (living under the sun) with differing natures, abilities, aptitudes, and so forth. Through a particular "combination of circumstances" a bird with the ability to fly was raised by a bird without that ability, in a nest on the ground, a 'flightless' environment.
But this young bird looked at others of its 'circumstantial' family and saw that it was different in shape. And this young bird also looked at other birds, which could fly, and saw that they were similar to itself in shape and, maybe, so the young bird thought, in aptitude and ability.
So the idea that it, too, could fly entered the heart and mind of the young bird, who then sought help and advice from the only 'authority' it knew, the one "who has brought me thus far." But the young bird's parent (and teacher) did not know the first lesson of flying: "even how to topple it from the nest so that it might learn."
And the young bird could not, for gratitude, see beyond its teacher-"the bird which had hatched him." Or maybe the young bird would not, for fear or lack of curiosity, see beyond the 'nest' of its youth, the nest from which it could not learn to fly.
Finally the young bird concluded, "Anyone who can hatch me, surely he can teach me to fly. It must be just a matter of time, or of my own unaided efforts, or of some great wisdom: yes, that is it. Suddenly one day I will be carried to the next stage by him who has brought me thus far."
In this the young bird showed a fledgling's awareness of "him who has brought me thus far," the "combination of circumstances" that marked its life to that point. And so it is: our life is marked by 'him who has brought us thus far' in our respective journeys. The ability to fly is not so new or special if it is part of one's nature. But for the grace of 'circumstances', of strength and courage, each of us may find a teacher and that nest from which to topple, and then fulfill the nature with which each was blessed.
"Be strong and very courageous."
Joshua 1:7, NIV
"Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear G-d and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man."
Ecclesiastes 12:13, NIV