Social Gatheka Number 9

There are two different points of view open to one, in all things in the world, liberal and conservative. And each of these points of view gives a person a sense of satisfaction because in both there is a certain amount of virtue. When someone looks from the conservative point of view at his family he becomes conscious of family pride and acts in every way so as to keep up the honor and dignity of his ancestors. He follows the chivalry of his forefathers and by looking at the family from this point of view he defends and protects those who belong to his family, whether worthy or unworthy. In this way he helps to keep up a flame which has been lighted perhaps for years, by holding it in his hand through life as a torch to guide his way.

When one looks at one's nation from a conservative point of view it gives one the feeling of patriotism, which today is the substitute of religion in the modern world. It is no doubt a virtue in this way that one begins to consider one's whole nation as one family. It is not for one's own children only that one cares but also for the children of the nation. Man gives his life when occasion arises to defend his nation; the dignity, the honor, the freedom of his people.

The conservative spirit is the individualizing spirit, which is the central theme of the whole creation. It is this spirit which has functioned as the sun, but for this it was the all pervading light and it is the power of this spirit working in nature which keeps many branches together on one stem and several leaves together on one branch. It is again this spirit working man's body which keeps man's hands and feet together, thus keeping him an individual entity.

But there is always a danger of this spirit, if increased, producing congestion. When there is too much family pride man lives only in his pride, forgetting his duty toward mankind and not recognizing anything which unites him with others beyond the limited circle of his family. When this congestion is produced in a nation it results in all kinds of disasters, such as wars and revolutions with violence and destruction. The nightmare that humanity has recently experienced has been the outcome of world congestion produced by the extremes of the same spirit.

This shows that it is not true that virtue is one thing and sin another. It is the same thing which was once virtue that becomes sin. Virtue or sin is not any action, it is the condition, it is the attitude which prompts one to a certain action and it is the outcome of an action which makes it a sin or a virtue.

Life is movement, death is the stopping of the movement; congestion stops it, circulation moves it. The conservative spirit is useful so far as it is moving, in other words as it is broadening itself. If a person who once was proud of his family, after doing his duty to his people, he takes his next step to help his fellow-citizens, and the third step of defending his nation, he is progressing onward. His family pride, his patriotism, is no doubt a virtue, for it leads him from one thing to another which is better than the former.

Congestion comes when a person is set in his interest. If one's family makes anyone so absorbed in its pride and interest that nobody else exists in the world to him except his own, or when a person thinks of his people alone and nothing else interests him – others do not exist for him – in that case his patriotism becomes a veil over his eyes, making him blind so as not to be able to serve others not yet his own. In selfishness there is an illusion of profit, but in the end the profit attained by selfishness proves to be worthless. Life is the principal thing to consider, and true life is the inner life, the realization of God, the consciousness of one's spirit. When the human heart becomes conscious of God it turns in the sea and it spreads – extends the waves of its love to friend and foe – spreading further and further, it attains perfection.

The Sufi Message is not necessarily the message of Passivism, it does not teach making peace at any cost and at every cost, it does not condemn family pride or patriotism, it does not even preach against war. The Message is to make man conscious of the words in the Bible, where it is said 'We live and move and have out being in God', to realize this and recognize the brotherhood of humanity in the realization of God. And the natural consequences of this will bring about the spirit of brotherhood and equality and will result in preparing the outer democracy and inner aristocracy which is in the nobility of the soul, where perfection is hidden under the supremacy of God.