A story about a young man and his experience with reading about Wars in History books.
There was a guy interested in reading History books. His study in college had nothing to do with History. However, he was required to take few courses out of his major. So, he took classes in modern History and Politics.
In one course, and as a term paper, he selected to write about the diplomatic efforts in the thirties in Europe in order to avoid going to war. One of the main references was Shirer's book about the third Reich. Especially the several chapters about diplomatic efforts preceding the war.
All went normal, except that he couldn't leave the book. Before that book, all he had known about the second war was based on small books or war movies or documentaries concentrating on specific personalities or specific events or about a general brief description of the events of the war. This was his first comprehensive reading. He was excited and interested to know more. He read the whole book.
He had been interested in Sufism and always was intrigued to read about the Majestic Beauty beyond/underlying Existence. The idea was naturally loveable and enchanting.
However, facts on the ground appeared to be way different. It was pretty shocking for him to read the lengthy details about the second world war. He recalled the experience of reading volumes about Arab and Islamic history. There were many wars. The history of Europe was not different. Asia was not different. Everywhere he cared to look in man's history, there were wars. Cruelty was so often, so prevalent. At one point he was very annoyed, he removed a whole bunch of history books from his book collection. He thought that was far history. And maybe modern history is different. But, the second world war, historically very close (at the time of the story: late 1970s or early eighties), was essentially not different, and at a scale that cannot be ignored.
After he finished reading the book, he was mostly silent for few days. He did not feel comfortable. Then he fell sick. He had fever for several days with intermittent dreams about wars.
Why terrible events happen was beyond his comprehension. He had so many questions without answers. Until one night, several months later, after he had somewhat calmed down. He saw a dream.
In that dream, at a certain moment, and without any preparations, thoughts and images that would constantly occupy one's mind (at different levels of intensity and fluctuation), were simply, no more. There was a sort of a void or an empty blank vacuum, with absolute silence and overwhelming serenity. Then, suddenly, it was like an unseen hand sweeping smoothly and steadily across the void applying with luminous shades what appeared like shades of spectrums, with different levels of intensity, some appear sort of more prominent or obvious, and some otherwise, bringing things into existence. The dream was brief and relieving.
He did not quite understand then what was all that about. Years later, when he read about some Kalam and Sufi concepts, some aspects of what he had seen then, started to make some sense.
Notes:
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From what I have understood about Sufism, I think the part about the dream needs to be considered with care. What appears to me is that the paragraph seems like a weak description of something that is not straightforward to explain in regular expressions, or an attempt to give a rough idea about something, but it is probably not much than what the tip of an iceberg can tell. Pretty the norm with such stories I guess.
The following is an attempt to talk about some meanings the story might hold.
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In the Quran(2:30) "Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: 'I will create a vicegerent on earth.' They said: 'Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood? whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?' He said: 'I know what ye know not.' "
The angels knew about Man before his appearance on Earth, that there is a negative aspect that can appear when there are men on earth. But the Full picture was not clear to them. (For more details, please see the verse and the following few verses and their comments in Yusuf Ali's Translation).
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A phrase like "Why terrible events happen was beyond his comprehension" appears to be a widely used expression. And of course it does not mean that there are never "good events". There are.
There are two things to consider: the natural full breadth of options and normalcy.
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Law enforcement is an important part of any community. Working in law enforcement is obviously not for everyone. Some people might prefer to avoid such jobs. For others it might even be sickening and they simply don't have the requirements or the stomach for such a job.
So, what's the point?
I think, trying to understand a community by concentrating on law enforcement records is bound to be misleading. Because such records are usually about extreme or dangerous events that might take place in a society. There is definitely a much broader and more comprehensive view of a community than what can be inferred from law enforcement records.
Classical History books are basically about recording extraordinary events, like wars and succession of rulers, etc. Their main focus is usually not the ordinary lives of simple people. They are not about a comprehensive view of a society, let alone Existence.
Modern News Papers and News Channels are usually doing the same thing. Even if there are attempts to cover more than just political news or what might be considered "newsworthy" events, the main focus remains on such news. In a sense, such a focus might not be different from focusing on the job of a Police station, or on fictional stories in movies, or on sports events, to understand a community. It is not that any such sources do not provide any useful information, they do, but what kind of information and how can it help in gaining, improving and maintaining a broad and a balanced view, that is the point here.
There is no community without people with fine thoughts expressed in so many different ways. There is no community without arts and literature, or without some kind of a deep commonly shared view of the nature of Existence, or without Mystics. To understand a community better one might need to look closer and show some patience, sincerity and seriousness.
Trying to understand a certain community (including one's own) by concentrating mainly on History books and News Channels might not give a broad and balanced view of what's out there. Now, if it is accepted that such a concentration can only give us a restricted view of what's going on in a community, and it is not the best way to understand or to reasonably infer about a community, can such a view be sufficient to infer about Existence? I think a negative answer might be the right answer.
It seems that a sweeping expression about Existence, like the one quoted above, is pretty common. As he figured it out: "Everywhere he cared to look in man's history, there were wars." Also, it appears that eventually, it did not suit him to concentrate on one certain aspect of human communities (politics and wars) for a continuous period of time. At a certain point, it was too much for him to handle. Some might be careful not to reach such a point. Others might seek or offer help in/for such cases. However, as I understand, one of the strange things about Sufis is how they might sound regarding reaching such a point. It appears that for some people (maybe very rare cases), reaching such a point can be the beginning of, or the key for a new stage of awareness.
Ok, so not having prejudgments and being open-minded and widening one's view and sincerity etc., can lead to a better and a more realistic view of a community. But, what about Existence? How to get a better view of Existence?
The Scientific view is one way to look at Existence. But, let's check for a change a different angle to look at the same Existence we all share.
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The mere widening of one's view might mean the ability to see stressing and troubling aspects, as well as finer and relaxing aspects, in some cases, maybe at the same time (Maybe that's the "poise" Sufis call attention to, like in Hekam #37, here). In stressing aspects tension is strong and in relaxing aspects there is little or no tension. There are probably infinite shades of tension between the two extremes covering every single event at every moment in a society.
Is not being limited in sight to specific shades, and being able to note the spectrum, a "relieving" experience? Is sensing the fullness of the spectrum only the beginning of a higher stage of awareness?
In a sense, a spectrum is only pure light, after it is transformed through some kind of a prism.
Shades, to appear, need a Prism. Before (logically not chronologically) the prism, there is Light: pure, pristine and undifferentiated. After the prism, there is no trace of pure light, only shades are there. The Prism is not the Light, and nothing in the shades would resemble the original Light. The Light is there, but the shades are just some sort of possible reflections that can disappear any moment, they cannot sustain their own existence on their own.
It appears that every conscious being senses the shades, but it seems that everyone has a unique view reflecting different levels of awareness, scope, depth and clarity of what is being viewed.
* The Invisible Hand
Might not be related, but the expression Adam Smith used may come to mind.
When one sees something but cannot describe it well, one might use what can appear as strange looking expressions. Maybe similarly, when one tries to build a theoretical structure but cannot fill all the gaps, an assumption is all one has. It seems to be a sign of the limits of human knowledge and limits in the ability to express about things as they are.
Breaking the confinement of natural attention to physical surroundings, familiar thoughts, and emotions, and being able to sense (or even see) what's beyond, might not be a simple task. Yet, that is what Sufis consistently talk about and encourage everyone to try to see. How is that level of awareness is somehow linked to inner peace is something that remains to be understood.
