Indifference by Haniyya and Farhan

Indifference

a Universal Worship sermon given by Haniyya and Farhan

Beloved Ones of God,

Today we heard various scriptures from the World which identified and gave us insights into the concept of indifference.

The nature of the human condition and the consequence of living in the World is that we will face storms on the sea of life that we can either sail through with skill or face a less positive outcome. Often either outcome is of our making. Many of the storms we face are made worse by our condition at the time and perhaps the secret to dealing with them may be what Murshid calls: indifference through understanding.

In order to develop our humanity, however, one has to develop sensitivity, and, the more sensitive we become, the more thorns we will find on our way. Every move we make, at every step, there is something that could hurt us, or indeed, us harm another!

As the Gayan tells us: “My bare feet! Step gently on life’s path, lest the thorns lying on the way should murmur at being trampled upon by you”. We may hurt others but also the thorns may hurt us. How do we become sensitive for the trampled thorns but at the same time insensitive to the pain they cause should we tread on them?

This poses the paradox of being indifferent without being insensitive!

Murshid tells us:

“Very often conditions in life give the effect of captivity; sometimes it seems as if one has to walk between a river and a precipice …indifference is against one's nature of love and sympathy; it is as if one has to cut one's heart in two before one can practice indifference throughout life… But the one whom nothing can touch is in the world and yet above the world. He is the one who walks on the water; life is under his feet, both its joy and sorrow…”.

In the Gayan Alankaras we heard ‘Indifference! My most intimate friend, I am sorry I always have to act against thee as thy opponent’. There can be no doubt that indifference is indeed our most intimate and essential friend but the more sensitive we become the more difficult it is to achieve and therefore we act against.

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The questions we may ask, therefore, are:

• How do we gain the ability to be indifferent to life’s challenges?

• How do we maintain our sensitivity and compassion for others whilst being indifferent? and

• How does understanding answer the above questions?

These points will be discussed, however, those who walk the path of indifference every day have the real answers. A few remarkable exemplars are included in the concluding comments to this talk, although, they would not see themselves as such. The real substance of indifference is seen in the reality of those that really walk this path.

Perhaps an insight into these questions, particularly the last concerning understanding, which is the keystone to answering the earlier two, is provided in the Hindu Scripture where we heard: ‘When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard’; and also the Buddhist Scripture explains: “The world is afflicted by death and decay. But the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world.”

The Buddhist scripture points us towards the realisation of the ‘nature of the world’, which for the Sufi may point towards the elements, which assist our understanding of ALL types of nature as identified by Murshid: particularly, those set out in his Nature Meditations, which are:

• The trees and mountains and the physical aspects of the Universe;

• The creatures that inhabit the World;

• Human Nature; and

• Divine Nature.

For this discussion focus will be upon four elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air. These elements represent many qualities and attributes that perhaps will form discussion at another time, however, today we will examine them in terms of the following qualities:-

• Earth encourages us to understand humility: the Earth provides us with everything but asks for nothing and allows us to walk upon it and is humble before all in spite of its greatness. If we can be humble then our false ego may be lessened in effect; and therefore, we may not be susceptible to our egos being falsely ‘injured’ by intentional or unintentional events.

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• Water informs us of willingness to accept what is or has happened to us, whatever the consequences to us or our loved ones.

• Fire informs us that we should be wholehearted in what we do: if we are to be indifferent we must be fully committed and not just in part.

• Air reminds us of our gratitude for what we receive and perhaps we may not understand God’s purpose in what is dealt us at that time - as it says in the

Gayan Boulas: “All things are good; but all things are not good for every person, nor right at all times”.

When faced with the storms of life we will need these understandings demonstrated in the elements. These lessons from the elements (and indeed many more that they represent) we should embrace in our study as a method for gaining indifference. We are these elements and use these elements, therefore, they are the keystone to our understanding and eventually indifference.

When posed with the questions of what is indifference and how it may be achieved, a murshid pointed some mureeds towards the quote from Jesus (Luke 6:29): “To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also…”. The murshid offered an explanation of this gospel quote by use of a Western boxing concept: to ‘roll with the punches’. He explained that an expert boxer cannot always stop the punch coming but can, if trained, see it coming (or anticipate it) and become sensitive to the initial contact and then gently turn the body to one side to avoid the damage of the full blow. In this manoeuvre, of course, the other side of the body (or face) moves also as in the quote from Jesus to potentially be offered. This ‘other’ cheek now offered of course, as in life, gives new opportunities for actions, events and the further practice of indifference or ‘rolling with the punches’ if so required.

The boxer, therefore, becomes aware and sensitive and uses this ‘understanding’ to avoid pain and not encourage it for all parties involved. Chinese arts such as Tai Chi have codified this to make the process more accessible to understand.

The terms used are:

• Listening Power to be sensitive to what is happening;

• Understanding Power to interpret what we are feeling, seeing and hearing and make sense of the cause and potential effect; and

• Following Power - once interpreted take action to enable the force not to harm.

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If we understand what is happening we avoid injury and therefore become indifferent to the consequence of the ‘attack’. This example helps us to see that indifference is not easily achieved but by developing our sensitivity and therefore understanding of others and indeed nature in its widest context we can, with much effort, become or achieve indifference by turning the other cheek. As it says in the prayer Khatum:

“..open our hearts…that we may know and understand life better…raise us above the distinctions and differences that divide…”

In the boxing environment the pugilist will often use this momentum of ‘rolling with the punch’ to deliver a further blow, to the person who initiated the original punch that had been avoided. Perhaps we should see this counter attack as being our positive reaction to a blow made to us: give something good in return - Like the beauty and fragrance of the lotus flower which is given to us from the depths of the most decayed and noxious swamps: It takes the bad and gives goodness. It does not care about where it comes from or what it has encountered it just gives love harmony and beauty to the swamp. As we see in the Gospel of Luke (6:27-31): “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them”.

In Conclusion, as mentioned in the introduction to this talk, we recount parts of two conversations on the subject of Indifference and understanding with friends who not only explain the real meaning of indifference but live it: a nursery nurse and a hospice palliative care nurse.

The nursery nurse described how she had been hit and shouted at by one of the children at the nursery where she worked. We asked how she felt about this. Her reply was: “Oh I don’t care, he was only 4 years old and tired and waiting for his mum to come and fetch him. How can you get annoyed at a lovely little kid when they just want to go home? Bless him: love them all to bits!!! In this job you have to love kids and understand what’s going on with them: they don’t mean it”.

And

The hospice palliative care nursing sister when asked how she coped with dealing every day with patients who were at the end of their life: how did she give love and care without being hurt every time a patient died?

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Her response was: “…well that is why they are here (the patients). My job is to give them the best care we can while they’re here. I know how it will end and we all know what we have to do. We love our jobs and our patients and we give them everything we can, while we can, and their relatives too…Do I get hurt: yes!!!! But I understand how it always has to end and take comfort in the fact that we are blessed to be able to help in our small way. We do this every day and I would work nowhere else. With this job you have to be completely in or not at all! Once you accept what is happening and understand the needs and what will happen… you just have to understand the job. If we ever get upset there is always another nurse here for help and support and make you understand again…”.

Often, in spite of our best efforts we may not be sensitive or agile enough to turn the other side of the face to cope with the onslaught of life and we may be damaged. In such cases we can do nothing but be humble, accepting and whole heartedly grateful (the lessons from the elements) for the ‘training’ provided in indifference and understanding. As we see in the Gayan Boulas: “All things are good; but all things are not good for every person, nor right at all times”.

May our love, compassion and understanding lead to indifference and therefore the growth of goodness and the Message of God.

And our sincere thanks to those amongst us who show by example every day this lesson of indifference.

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