Are We Really Independent?

Freedom: The First Step is Dependence
Summer 2004


In this discourse, Sheikh Din illuminates one of the great paradoxes of the spiritual path. He provides a twist to our tradition of celebrating Independence Day July 4th, by explaining that the first step to freedom is dependence! In our endless longing for freedom and peace, we learn that human beings are intimately connected to everything around them and, ultimately, dependent upon God/Allah.

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim.
In the Name of Allah, most Merciful, most Compassionate.

I would like to discuss the concept of "freedom." After all, no matter what approach one takes to the spiritual path, inevitably all desire "freedom" as the outcome of the journey. The Sufi Tariqat (Arabic: Sufi Way) is intended to be the road, one's life path, which leads to liberation. The Sufi Community is meant to be the alliance of supportive company for the "travelers" along the way, so that they might make a smooth journey.
For a moment, let us contemplate what life would be like if we were looking at it through the eyes of total freedom. There would no longer be the necessity to adhere to a formalized spiritual path. Why? Because, we would be free! The structuralized approach to the spiritual process only arises to meet the need and address the growing desire of those longing to be free. The longing for freedom intensifies to the degree that one consciously realizes that one is in bondage. Bondage is suffering. The freedom that I am referring to here is also known as "enlightenment, liberation, peace, paradise, heaven, unconditional love or divine servitude" among the various religious texts.
All grapple with attempting to reconcile the boundaries of body and mind as well as desire and attachment. Each person is struck with the internal conflict in which there is a never-ending, endless desire for more and more and more. No matter how many creative techniques or methods one applies to materially accumulate, achieve or control, the endless desire is never satisfied. The longing for freedom continues.
The subject of freedom is not nearly as abstract as it might appear. As a matter of fact, everybody intrinsically understands the meaning of "freedom." It's not necessary for me to define it for you, because we are perfectly adequate to do that together. We all know inherently what we long for. You hear the word "freedom" chimed about; now let's find out what it means to us.
Community Response: It means to:
" not be stuck
" live without fear
" surrender my personal will to the Divine Will
" have no artificial controls
" have an open heart
" be totally conscious
" be real, to be true
" be fully expressed in individuality and creativity
" be completely responsible
" exist without boundaries have neither self-imposed nor socially imposed nor internally imposed nor externally imposed boundaries
" to live without the consequences of one's actions

Listen to all that was said here. Look at the list. It is extraordinary, isn't it? Yet, this list barely begins to describe how our innermost feelings pine for "total freedom." Freedom in its essence. Even further, this list proves that we all understand the subject of which we speak. Ultimately, we all do know what we desire, and we can intuit the idea of living freely. We experience the idea of it in our longing. What would it mean for one to live as an absolutely and completely free person?
The Sufi Path that we follow describes total freedom by the word salaam, from as-Salaam, the name of God that appears in the Holy Qur`an meaning "Peace." The word Islam is derived from the same root. Obviously, it should go without saying that if one possessed all of the attributes of freedom that were mentioned above in the list, he or she would be in a state of complete and total peace. Why are the "salaam" of the Sufis and the concepts of total freedom synonymous? Because the Sufis teach that the true state of salaam (peace) is one in which there is no more resistance to anything. This is the way of Islam (peace), total surrender or submission.
A realized Muslim, therefore, is one whose state of salaam or peace is unfettered, undisturbed and remains constant no matter the time, place, circumstance or condition. The true Muslims are complete in peace, because they are surrendered to the makings, workings and the direction of the Divine Will - Reality As It Is. Here I am drawing a distinction between Reality As It Is and an individual's personal projections. The true Muslim is not stuck being misidentified with his or her individual personality. The liberated ones have transcended the limits even of their own individualities. They are free. Sufism teaches that this freedom or peace is the natural and original state of the human being. The process of coming to, attaining and/or returning to this state of freedom and peace is what we call the practice of "Divine Remembrance."
Among the great Sufis and their literature there is much emphasis on remembrance as both the culmination of life as well as its practice. Jelaluddin Rumi, the great mystic poet of Konya, likens human remembrance to the sound of the reed flute that has been cut from the marsh. When one blows across the reed, it makes a sound of bittersweet wailing as if it were "remembering" the marsh, its true home from which it was cut. It longs to be home.
Likewise, a human being is like a long flute standing on two legs. The breath blows across the reeds of our nose and mouth making the sounds of life. The sighing and moaning sounds of our expressions are the "music of longing" as we strain to remember our own true home. We naturally long to return to the reed bed from which each of us was cut. Freedom and peace are the original and natural state of a person. We are on the path and in the process of remembering.
In order to help understand our process of remembering or returning to freedom, it might be helpful to highlight some of the keys to becoming a "free person." We've developed the idea of remembrance. Let's examine how one becomes free.
The first key to becoming a free person is to fully realize and to fully accept that you are not independent. This might confront your previous ideas and opinions. It may challenge your beliefs and expectations. Yet, no one is unto him or herself. No one individual, no personality is self-subsisting or forever existing.

The Holy Qur`an, in the Ayat al-Kursi (Verse of the Throne) of Surah al-Baqara (Chapter of the Cow/Heifer), beautifully depicts Allah, the Supreme Divinity, as the only Existence that is Self-Subsisting and requires of nothing, nor has need of anything other than Its own Self to exist.

Allah! There is no God but Allah, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, Supporter of all. No slumber or sleep can seize Him. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is it that can intercede in His Presence except as Allah permits? Allah knows what is (appears to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they encompass aught of Allah's knowledge except at He wills. His "throne" extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. For Allah is Most High and the Supreme in Glory and Power.- SURAH AL-BAQARA, 2:255

The created, including humanity, is not like that! Only the Creator, God is That. Although it is said that the true Self, lying quiescent within the human heart is part and parcel to the Supreme Divinity, the individuality of personhood is limited and dependent. An individual human being is not limitless. The reason why I say that individuality is not limitless is because individuality will die. I understand that it can be argued, "The true Self, the Soul never dies. It is eternal."
However, I am not talking about that! The fact is, regardless of all the grandiose "spiritual truths," created individuals will expire and come to an end. Time will go on, places will change, people will be born, live and die, and history will continue to be made long after the existence of our individuality. We are not independent. We are dependent.
The reason why this concept of dependency challenges our many notions is because of the emergence of "rugged individualism" through the Protestant work ethic that has culminated in unbridled capitalist egotism. The last four to five hundred years of industrialization have wreaked havoc on this planet, its environment and its social systems, not to speak of the health, mentality and emotional conditions of its people. Albeit we have acquired many modern conveniences, but have we really progressed? Listen to the slogans, "Move west young man. There's gold in them thar hills. Seek fame and fortune. Bigger is better. If you've got it, flaunt it. Anyone can grow up and become the President of the United States. Are you kidding? I certainly don't need anybody. Doesn't affect me, what do I care? Congratulations, we've raised your credit limit."
We have developed a driving, obsessive-compulsive, social ego behavior of personalized self-worship. These behaviors are egged-on and coached by the latest psychological and "New Age" approaches which have us chant more and more individualistic affirmations like, "I am somebody. I am woman; I am strong. I'm O.K. You're O.K. Feel good about yourself! Go on. Pat yourself on the back. I am successful. I am thin, and I am sexy."
Although it seems like these ideas encourage a person to find one's "inner strength" and that they are harmless enough, in reality these affirmations drive a person to constantly seek approval, avoid conflict and discomfort and to become increasingly more self-obsessed. Rampant self-obsession and consumerism have us addicted to wanting to have what we want, when we want, how we want and whenever we want, regardless of anything other than what we want.
Worse yet, we have carried this obsessive behavior into our spiritual teachings and spiritual lives. We talk a good game of "surrender and submission," but when the "other shoe drops" and "push comes to shove," we refuse to let go of the neurotic attachments that we have to wanting everything to be how we want it . . . except . . . now we're "spiritual." The great modern day Tantric Buddhist Master, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, called this trap "spiritual materialism" and insisted that this ego obsession had to be cut in order to perform real spiritual work, let alone have any spiritual realization.
Consider all of the wacky definitions that people have created for the "heaven or paradise" of the afterlife. They are full of wishful projections that include no loss to our materialist conceptions, even after we die! We recreate our attachments with fantasies of spiritual real estate that include all of our dead relatives, dead friends and even our dead pets. In heaven, all of your favorite foods are there endlessly, and you don't have to worry about getting fat, because you're in heaven. Do anything you want! There are no consequences. You don't have to work, and there's no need for money. It is a continuous Rainbow Gathering. You're in heaven.
Sounds like "freedom," . . . don't it?
We stake our claim on some place other than taking the responsibility for being here in order to be free. Freedom is for later, and when we get to there, we can have everything the way we want it. We don't have to depend on anybody or anything, other than being "saved" of course, and then we can go back to behaving however we want, even in heaven. We want to move there (away from here) as fast as possible. We want instant gratification, and we want what we want now, without any work and without relying on anyone else. We want peace and freedom for ourselves, so that we can own it, take it home and enjoy it as we please without any interference or threat that somebody might get some of ours.
We fool ourselves. We fool ourselves, because we have made ourselves believe that the acquisition of things, personal control, power, name, fame, prestige, money, influence and the exercise of personal choice are all taking place. In reality, I am always depending upon somebody or something else to keep up the illusion. I am not unto myself; I cannot do anything by myself.
One needs to eat, so one depends upon food in order to provide for nutrition and sustenance. Where does the food come from? Commercialism has trained you to depend on some golden corporation to make you hot food and have it available and waiting as quickly as you drive your late model, bank-financed luxury car around the building to pick it up at the delivery window. Of course, this is only after shouting the order of your desire into a microphone that looks like a clown.
Where does food come from? Somebody had to grow it, harvest it, prepare it, store it, ship it, manufacture it, prepare it again, cook it, serve it and then clean it up. Oh my God! I almost forgot about how and why food even grows to begin with. What gives it life? The Qur`an likens the growing of food to a divine miracle. Fertile fields and growing food are among the ayats, signs of God, showing Allah's existence to those who see.
Water falls from an open sky onto seemingly barren ground, and by nothing we can ascertain through the naked eye, living plants grow. On what, who and where are we depending for rain to fall? On what, who and where are we depending for the earth to be fertile? What causes a seed to sprout? I don't know how successful and powerful you are, but I have never been able to make a seed spontaneously sprout simply upon my command.
We've done a lot of gardening in this Community, and we always had to break the ground, till the soil, hoe the weeds, add nutrients, mulch, raise the beds, pick our timing and work the fields. We do all of this work hoping, praying and depending on some mysterious force that will make seeds sprout. Have you ever been able to command a seed to sprout by your personal willpower?
How did we come by our clothes? How did we develop our ideas for social acceptance? How have we tracked intelligence and passed down knowledge? Where does our education come from, and from whom have we learned? Why, among every indigenous culture, are there prayers venerating the ancestors, sages, scientists and enlightened ones that have come before? Why do human beings make such a big deal over funerals and the rites of death? Everything that we have experienced, that we are experiencing and that we will experience, is the consequence of a previous cause. We are completely dependent on everything that has come before us and that currently exists to allow us to be. Might we be thankful?
Food, clothing, shelter, health care, education and luxury all come from something that was cut out of something that existed before. What was before that? And, before that? And, before that? What is the primal cause? What, ultimately, do we depend on to keep our hearts beating and that allows us to breath? Can you depend on the fact that you will remember to take your next breath? Will you be so distracted by the world or lost in emotions that you will forget to breathe? I doubt it.
What is it that we depend on to awaken us each morning after laying down to sleep at night? Such a great dependency isn't it, when you can become completely devoid of your self-awareness for hours on end, and trust you will return to your senses. How much more vulnerable can you get? In the Jewish tradition there is a prayer upon rising in the morning that thanks God for restoring our souls. No wonder!
I don't really care what you call that thing you depend on for life, other than to get you to recognize that you are utterly dependent. If you would like to call what you rely on "God," fine. If the word God disturbs you, and you would like to call it a "scientific system," ten-four good buddy. If a system seems too impersonal, and you'd like to call it "Krishna," well then okay. If Krishna seems too anthropomorphic arid personal, and you would like to call it "Allah, the All Pervading Reality," akbar (great)! If the word Allah seems too foreign and scary, just too Islamic, because you've just watched the terrorist segment on the nightly news and would now like to call the universe your own "Divine Mother," well then Jai Ma!
The point is that no one, and I mean no one, is unto him or herself and independent. Just as we have depended upon others for the provision of our basic necessities, everyone is more so depending upon the existence of an eternal, unnamable, unseen, immeasurable and intangible force. All created things are relying upon it. That ineffable, eternal force that we have called "Spiritual Divinity" is accessible to us in the form of our lives through time, place, person and circumstances. We are comprised of body, mind and spirit. We rely upon all of these things so that we can simply do our trip, whatever our trip is, even if our trip is to deny God's existence or our dependence. The Divine Reality still allows us to be.
The favorite subject of an atheist is God, because an atheist is depending upon the concept of God in order to offer a point of view. If there isn't a God, there can't be an atheist, because there would be no more subject. Hardcore atheists build their whole life around arguing against the existence of God. Obviously they are still depending upon God in order to even have an argument.
As you realize that you're not independently standing alone, you will begin to see that all things, crossing time, place, person and circumstance as well as everything that is physical, mental/emotional or spiritual, are connected and interrelated. Not only are we not independent, we are entirely interdependent on everything that is. We comprise part of a whole of creation and exist as interlocking strands of fabric. In each part of creation, including human beings, is a "particle" of pure reflection of the whole of Reality that is the Divine Unity. Although the Divine Unity is One, it expresses Itself diversely as different pieces and parts; however, it is the sum total of all of the parts together that forms the whole of creation.
Rivers, lakes and streams depend upon the ocean for their own existence, and unto the ocean do they return, only through rain to recycle again. Although water is indeed water and is of the same essence as all water, it would be foolishly arrogant for a single raindrop to declare that it didn't need the ocean, or even worse yet, was the ocean, as it was falling from the sky. Eventually the drop will find out that the rain, rivers, lakes and streams come and go, but the ocean remains. In the end, the single raindrop is recalled back to the ocean from whence it came.
Here is my basic problem with the commonplace, New Age mentality of pop and pseudo-spirituality. People are walking around professing the belief that they are independent in a co-created universe by simply affirming: "I am light. I am love," and even "I am God." Not that they aren't imbued with the essence of light and love and God within, but the statements coming from their mouths are ones of egotism irrespective of their dependence on the One God, Allah.
It is egotistical for the raindrop to proclaim, "I am the ocean" until that drop literally falls into the ocean and discovers how vast the ocean really is. It would be better to witness, "I'm in the process of remembering my `oceaness.'" It is more humble and more sensitive to approach the ocean with respect realizing that it has provided the drop of water with the same essence as itself, time and time again.
In realizing our dependence, we let loose the grip of the illusion of our self importance. Placing yourself within the context of the whole of creation, and that you are merely one miniscule part therein, flies in the face of self-importance. What a notion it is that you are making yourself successful, self-reliant, self-subsistent and independent. No individual personality is the center of all, yet we behave in such a manner. It seems as if each person is emotionally addicted and endlessly fixated on their small self.
The Holy Qur`an beautifully illustrates this reminder:

Assuredly the creation of the heavens and the earth is a greater (matter) than the creation of men. Yet most men understand not. Not equal are the blind and those who (clearly) see: nor are (equal) those who believe and work deeds of righteousness and those who do evil. Little do you learn by admonition! - SURAH MU'MIN, 40:57-58

To realize dependence makes one vulnerable. Vulnerable to what? We are vulnerable to all and most vulnerable to the Creator of All. To travel the Sufi path means to participate in the collective process of humanity's enlightenment as much as it means to strive for one's own God realization. It is the saying of the great Bengali Saint Sri Ramakrishna's monastic order, "Realization of the Self and Selfless Service." It is also the protocol of the Sufi. "Serve Allah by serving Allah's creation." We do not exist alone. We exist in an environment that's a delicate eco-balance of people and nature.
When we forget where all of our resources came from and who they ultimately belong to, when we think that we are independent and that all of our resources are endless, when we behave as if we can do whatever we want whenever we want, we have cut ourselves off from the Reality of the Great Unity. From this perspective it would be impossible to attain any spiritual realization whatsoever. God's great principle of cause and effect will inevitable shut down all who stray from the course of nature.
So we're not alone. We are utterly dependent. We are dependent upon potable water, breathable air, arable soil and the protective ozone. We are dependent upon the five fundamental elements that are the building blocks of created life: earth, water, fire, air and ether. We are dependent upon the balance betweens all species living together in one eco-system, as well as between the individuals living and sharing in the social collective. We are dependent on the principle of homeostasis, between the centripetal and centrifugals forces of life, for equilibrium.
Otherwise, our hearts would blow up in our chests, and our eyeballs would pop out of our heads. Without being able to depend upon the physics of creation and its inherent, primordial properties, we wouldn't be able to stand up against gravity, and the earth wouldn't spin on its axis. We are utterly dependent. We are dependent on and vulnerable to each other, whether we want to be or not, whether we think we are or not, or even whether we like other people or not. Dependence is not matter of our choice.
It is only a matter of time before one's misery causes one to cry out for help. It's only a matter of time wherein one's separation from the "true home" causes such longing to return that we must actually turn to someone for help. Babies cannot stay alive without that help, without that embrace. They must be held and nurtured or they will die. Help comes to the dependent one in the form of love. The touch of love causes us to remember the reed bed and the longing to return home. Home is freedom and peace. "This is it. This is what I want. I want to be free!"
To return to the complete remembrance of our original state of spiritual peace and freedom, we have to first acknowledge and then accept our dependence. Ironically, human perfection as was demonstrated by the Prophets of God is the state of complete dependence on God. It is said when one empties one's self of one's self, Allah fills what remains. Fana wa baqa (Arabic: annihilation and fulfillment).
Quit fighting and resisting the fact that you are dependent in this world. Rather than fighting for your ego-driven individual rights, why not fight for the beneficence of cooperative dependence, so that the realization of the greatest potential is made available to all? Develop unconditional love, and become the servant of all. Discard the futility of attempting to make all others, and even the creation itself, serve you without end or consequence. Without your service through unconditional love, freedom and peace is impossible.