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| Thinking Like the Universe: How the Sufis Integrate the Egoic and Cosmic Levels of Reality Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
To the Sufis, transformation of
consciousness occurs as the result of a shift in perspective from the
personal to the Divine point of view--what I call "thinking like the
Universe." Plato illustrated man's ignorance by the allegory of
the men chained in the cave who can see only shadows on the wall. In
the same way, our everyday perspectives are illusory and therefore totally
inadequate to making the quantum leap into a more evolved consciousness. We think, for instance, that it is the
world that is our prison -- whereas the prison is in
our way of thinking and feeling. Caught in a vicious cycle of
negativity, we give up any hope of being able to fulfill our ideals. As we view our problems through the eyes of
the Universe, or God, we come to realize that what we think is our problem
alone is the suffering of existence that is shared by everyone. The Sufis say those commonplace thoughts
and opinions blur our innate connection to the Divine. Eventually, as we
view our problems through the eyes of the Universe, or God, we come to
realize that what we think is our problem alone is the suffering of
existence that is shared by everyone. We
begin to glimpse the reality behind the words of St. Francis of Assisi:
"I thought I was looking at the world, but the world is looking at
me." To glimpse the true nature of the Universe
is like awakening from a clouded trance. "Imagine," says Hazrat
Inayat Khan, "that you're awake and walking about amongst people who
sleep; how can you communicate with them?" But witnessing the phenomenon of life from
a transcendental overview doesn't serve just to lift one up out of the
trenches of existence. Broadening
our attunement beyond the horizons of the individual self awakens one to
the meaning encoded into existence--a kind of cognitive
"super-logic" that reveals a different purpose, a larger
pattern, than anything we might previously have imagined. That is exactly
what a spiritual awakening is--shifting from one
perspective to another, until we finally glimpse meaningfulness where our
mind could not perceive it before. Individuals who intuit the Divine intention
behind their problems do so because they have recognized that their
thinking is isomorphic--the "same as"--the thinking of the
Universe. Their thinking is cosmic; they have reconnected to the totality
in the same way one would recharge a battery by plugging it into an
electrical source. Even more significantly, this kind of
personal awakening is not isolated in its effects. As
the physicist David Bohm writes, a deep change in meaning is a catalyst
for transformation "in the deep structure of the brain. The
new meaning will produce different thoughts, and therefore an entirely
different function of the brain.... As this changes, the whole universe
changes." As individuals alter their consciousness, so too do they
effect a transformation in the surrounding environment. This represents a breathtaking breakthrough that radically
distinguishes the spirituality of the future from that of the past. The
Universe is evolving toward an even greater global destiny--and we are the
means of this global transformation! But exactly how does one go about
"thinking like the Universe" or "seeing through the eyes of
God"? It is not simply a matter of changing the nature of our
thoughts through reading, reciting affirmations, or attending lectures,
though that is a step forward. Instead, the mind of the Universe is
accessed through the meditative, non-ordinary states of consciousness --
those wordlessly profound transpersonal dimensions described by the great
mystics. It is our encounter
with this "other reality" that catalyzes a dramatic shift in
perspective, widening the lens of our individual psyches and revealing the
immense scope of the Divine point of view. Furthermore, Sufis train their consciousness to shift back and
forth between the Divine and human vantage points. This kind of creative interplay between
human and Divine has exciting implications for how we currently envision
spiritual unfoldment. Rather than seeing the Universe as a remote,
unchanging paradise that is separate from the illusory existence of the
created world, we might say instead that the Universe is discovering and
re-creating itself as it evolves through the course of our human lives. Sufism emphasizes in its teachings that in
order to evolve rather than simply continue on in the same way century
after century, humanity needs to enlist the pull of an
"attractor." This attractor lies outside what the Buddhists call
the samsaric "wheel of becoming." For though the future is not
yet here, we build it by being pulled toward a horizon that recedes
continually. This can only happen if each of us lets go of the way
we are in our "skinbound" identity and imagine instead how we
could be if we manifested even a fraction of the richness of the Universe. Every time you confront a specific
challenge or problem in life by contemplating what it is that the Universe
is asking from you in response -- whether it is cultivating the quality of
forgiveness, for example, or wisdom, truth, or courage -- it is as if you
have declared your wish to be of service to the Universe. This establishes
a connection between the two levels of being -- the Divine and the
personal. Like the lightning vajra of the Tibetans,
which strikes unexpectedly and overwhelmingly, the flare of insight
triggers a revolutionary leap in consciousness, catalyzing dormant
potentialities into realities. For
to awaken in life, we must first awaken beyond life. As
the radiation of the sun powers the unfurling of the seed into a plant, so
too does the light of spiritual realization alter modes of thinking,
dramatically restructuring the formation of the ego. As much as one might want to change one's
own personality, it can only truly be transformed under the impact of
illuminated insights into the meaningfulness of life. Then, one can begin
to see one's circumstances in the light of the Divine Being -- one's
individual intention is correlated with the Divine Intention, one's
personal understanding is illuminated with Divine Understanding, and one's
personal love is suffused with Divine Love.
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