Spiritual conversation (sohbet) with Shaikh Kabir and Camille Helminski from 2008.
“To add some knowledge of the tradition that might help us—the ability to choose, especially for instance between right and wrong, good and evil, is considered a gift, a great Divine gift that we are left with that choice. And we could follow the implications of that choice into very deep and profound reflections. Because to choose, for instance, to be who we are in the image of God, or to choose as Thomas Merton said, ‘your greatest possibility is to be who God created you to be.’ This is an incredible, possible choice as opposed to choosing something quite banal for instance. Also, what characterizes a human being, an awakened human being, is a human being with will, which is defined by some people in this tradition as the power of conscious choice. Will is the ability in the moment to make a choice. Even if that choice is giving up yourself or what yourself wants; that is a very high choice. So, the development of will on the spiritual path is always emphasized to be one of the lines of development for us. Something is called an attainment in Sufism if we can do it at will. Jesus said ‘love.’ Well, somebody might argue, ‘Can you choose love?’ Well, would Jesus have said ‘love’ if you couldn’t choose it? Can you trust the words of Jesus? So something becomes an attainment when we can do it at will. So spiritual development is also viewed this way. There are certain things we learn to do at will. Right now, forgiveness may not be possible for many of us at will. Have you ever experienced somebody you would like to forgive but you can’t? And then suddenly forgiveness comes without our will? Then it may be possible to develop that capacity for forgiveness or the capacity for love or the capacity to be present. In the beginning, in just opening up to the spiritual path, everyone experiences that—everybody has no control over being present. I can, maybe, extend it a moment longer, a few seconds longer, but it kind of comes upon me little by little—we value it, we choose to do the things that develop it. And over time it becomes more a choice, more of an attainment whereby presence becomes almost something like exercising.”
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