Sølvregel nr. 7

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Pir Zias kommentar:

One of the essential principles of Sufism is the insight that nothing is really random, arbitrary, and meaningless. On the contrary, everything—all of our actions, words, and thoughts—spring from the divine source. And yet in the process of manifestation divine currents working within our personality become distorted and narrowed down, so that in some cases the original impulse is seemingly lost. But it is consoling and encouraging to know that buried deep down even in our worst habits and tendencies of mind there is a pure and good intention.

Consider generosity. We are generous by nature because we belong to the divine, and divine light is essentially generous and providential; it is the wellspring from which all has sprung. But in us it has become, oftentimes, mixed up with other intentions that have to do with our concern about how we are seen in the world. We wish to maximize our good name in the eyes of everyone. Which means that we expend considerable energy speculating about other people’s opinions of us and trying to improve these perceptions. And this vein of thought mixes itself up in our simple, pure, divinely-rooted generosity. The result is that the sincerity of our original generosity is compromised.

To redeem the original purity of our generous nature requires that we hold lightly our concern about other people’s impressions of us. One is able to do this when one, more and more, “lives for God alone.” God beholds us in the inner depths of our own being; we need only live in that witness. Recognize that the world is filled with many vantage points—that we and everyone else are seen from various perspectives—and be at ease with this. No other person on earth sees the whole of you. Still there is a glance, radiating out of eternity that perceives all.

We have a wonderful example of this kind of generosity in our life and that is the example of the Earth itself, and the divine source of the Earth. How abundantly we are nourished, sustained, and continuously provided for with unstinting generosity. And yet the Giver makes no self-assertion, no imposition upon us. The Giver remains so hidden that we live in a world in which it has become commonplace to doubt the existence of the Giver. So thoroughly has the Giver hidden itself in the gift! This is a state of generosity that we must aspire to.

Murshid uses the expression “quiet working.” Without fanfare, render simple quiet service. Murshid uses a remarkable image in speaking about what it is to share the divine message – one must be like a person who wishes to feed the birds when the birds are timid and will not come close. You have to hide yourself and throw the crumbs. This is the opposite of making a show of one’s generosity.

My conscientious self, do not make a show of your generosity.