Sølvregel nr. 9

Mitt samvittighetsfulle selv;
Møt dine ufullkommenheter med et sverd av selvrespekt.

Pir Zias kommentar:

Shortcomings: we all have them. We are human. We are ephemeral and imperfect. And imperfection can be uncomfortable. One tries hard to repress the awareness of one’s imperfections, trying to project a picture of perfection and infallibility, trying to push deep down the reality of our fragility and brokenness. But of course imperfection cannot be escaped, and the deception proves far more dangerous than the original limitation.

Another response is to succumb to one’s shortcomings, to wallow in them, to hopelessly confess one’s self low and ignoble. And this is just as dangerous and debilitating. But there is a third way. And this is what Murshid is pointing us to.

The third way is to address our shortcomings with clarity, understanding, compassion, hope, and faith. It means seeing that we have been created imperfect, and that our very imperfection means that there is room in us for growth, change, and movement—room for transformation. Perfection is not a far-off, icy ideal. Perfection is the process of moving toward greater depth and fullness, a process that proceeds in increments. And each forward movement is a glowing act.

A great Sufi once said that the instant of time is a sharp sword that cuts away the guilt and regret of the past and the avarice of the future. This means living fully present in the instant. A sword pierces the surface and cuts into the depth. A sword is straight, like the straightness of the spine, which is conducive to clarity. And the sword is polished steel, shimmering and bright. Can one meet one’s limitations with acute sharpness of vision, and with compassion and hope?

Pause for a moment and invoke if you will, inwardly, a limitation that you perceive in your life, an aspect of your life that does not match up with the perfect picture of who you feel that you should be. The word “should” raises a question. What is the basis of the compulsion that prompts you to be something other than what you are? Is it an unhealthy one? Is it from outside of yourself? Guilt and shame? Or is there, on the contrary, the sense of hearing the call of destiny: an urging emanating out of the fullness of one’s total being, inspiring one with the image of capacities that are as yet latent and which are stirring within, seeking fuller expression? Then consider one’s shortcomings, one’s imperfection in the light of this latent power, beauty and grace. Consider the state of an infant or egg or seedling as compared with the fully grown, fully realized adult of the species; perhaps one’s imperfection is like this. And even in the awkwardness and perhaps distortion there is already the promise of what is to emerge. One sees one’s self with the divine glance, the glance of beneficence.

My conscientious self, meet your shortcomings with a sword of self-respect.