Chase away evil with something good - Part 1 of 2
January 10, 2014
The Prophet Iisaa (Jesus, a.s.) was asked, “What is the most difficult thing in this world and the next?” He said, “The wrath of Allaah.” They asked, “And what can save us from that?” He answered, “Master your own wrath and anger towards others.”
Our Master, Shams, said, “To complain of creation is to complain of the Creator.” He also said, “Hatred and rage lay hidden in your unconscious. If you see a spark leap from that fire, extinguish it, so that it will return to non-existence from where it came. If you insist on matching anger with anger and promoting the flame of rage, it will spring faster and faster from your unconscious, and become more and more difficult to put out.”
Chase away evil with something good, and you triumph over your enemy in two ways. One way is this—your enemy is not another person’s flesh and skin, it is the contagiousness of their hatred. When that is cast out of you by an abundance of thanks, it will inevitably be cast out of your enemy as well, because everyone instinctively responds to kindness, and you have left your opponent with nothing to fight against.
It is just like with children, when they shout names at someone and that person yells bad names back, they are all the more encouraged, thinking, “Our words have had an effect.” But if the enemy sees their words bring about no change they lose interest.
(adapted from A.J. Arberry’s translation of Fihi Ma Fihi
by Jalaal ud-Diin Rumi, p. 424 - 425)
***
The opening of the above excerpt presents a very powerful lesson. The major Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) speak of the terror of the Beloved’s anger, a fury often withheld due to the Beloved’s mercy and patience. Yet when it is unleashed, it is always justified and unrelenting in its corrective purpose. There is a place for anger in creation, but often not what the ego deems appropriate. And with so much ego-based anger in the world, Iisaa’s words offer a means of protection from all anger: Master your own wrath and anger towards others.
Jalaal ud-Diin Rumi follows Iisaa’s advice with words from his master, Shams al-Tabriz. The connection between the quotes is not coincidental since the seed of wrath often begins with the dust of complaint. Most of us use our ego, and its limited understanding, to create standards of expectations that we (often unconsciously) seek to impose upon life. When these expectations are not fulfilled, a spark of anger ignites.
Many ancient cultures had a more expansive context to what they called anger than modern understandings. For them, anger wasn’t reserved to just harmful outbursts that rage as consuming flames. Instead, they regarded anger as that very little agitation that arises when the ego doesn’t get want it wants, even if we refrain from acting out this agitation. This is why Shams warns: If you see a spark leap from that fire, extinguish it. This one little spark, this one little taste of dissatisfaction is enough to grow into an expansive fire that covers the entire world. Note that all great horrific acts of anger, including world wars, start from a little spark that grows. Once that spark begins to grow, particularly if we insist on matching anger with anger and promoting the flame of rage, it will spring faster and faster from your unconscious, and become more and more difficult to put out. Ask yourself this question: which is easier to extinguish, a little spark of discomfort or a raging fire of fury expanding with great speed?
This is not a call forbidding us to be angry. For most of us, there are things that are disturbing to our ego. These should not be ignored or suppressed into our unconscious mind, especially since most of us already have storehouses of anger in our subconscious. Once a spark arises, instead of adding fuel to it, we can use it like a stop sign. Slow down as we approach an intersection where danger (discomforts to the ego) may be present. Look around (awareness) and then proceed across the intersection with caution lest we end up in an fiery accident of uncontrollable flames. And if we see danger in our path, steer clear to safety or apply the brakes instead of barreling ahead into an accident. Do not forget that we may be carrying powerful explosives in our trunk (unconscious mind) which, if lit, will explode. Using the spark of anger in this way aligns with wisdom, not the foolishness of avoidable destruction.
This guidance is nothing new, even to angry people. The issue becomes how to apply this. That is where Jalaal ud-Diin Rumi goes next in presenting a practical means we all can apply, if we are willing to bear the challenge of such application.
Chase away evil with something good, and you triumph over your enemy in two ways. This line provides a means of application and indicates a very important point of clarity. With anger, the person or situation we are angry with is not our true enemy. The person or situation are only reflections our true enemy projects upon. Often this projection is shaped by the conditions we face. For example, if someone we adore immensely does something that disturbs our ego, we may quickly shift from having great affection for that person to having great wrath. And if the conditions change so that this same person is now within our ego’s favor, we can go from great wrath back to great affection. So what is the true enemy: your enemy is not another person’s flesh and skin, it is the contagiousness of their hatred. What is it within us that is contagious to the hatred of another? The ego.
For the exceeding majority of humans, anger is an activity of the ego. Often we respond to the aggressions of another’s ego with aggression from our own ego, which only begets the dominance of the ego. Even with disturbing situations not involving other people, we often seek to exert our ego to find some way of dominance over the situation. In its quest to attain or sustain dominance, the ego will utilize things it cannot control, like the flames of anger. If we continue to operate in this manner of exerting the ego, we will eventually find ourselves immersed in a barrage of flames burning faster than we realize. This is why mystics of various spiritual paths regard the dominance of the ego as among the greatest dangers to a human being.
To avert this danger, Jalaal ud-Diin warns us to cast out that which is contagious to the anger (dissatisfaction) of others or situations we encounter. He gives a specific approach to do this: When that is cast out of you by an abundance of thanks, it will inevitably be cast out of your enemy as well, because everyone instinctively responds to kindness, and you have left your opponent with nothing to fight against. The affirmative application of virtues such as gratitude to challenging persons and situations is equivalent to putting water on sparks of anger. Even if we’ve allowed the spark to expand into a fire, the same virtues can be applied although great patience may be needed with flames that have become immense.
Remember what is the true enemy: our own ego. Just as a fist swung with great force into empty space causes no damage, when we don’t give our ego anything to swing against, no harm is done. Being actively grateful prevents us from placing something within the reach of the ego’s fist that it can hit. To even be grateful for being disturbed -- an indication that we’re still alive -- gives the ego space. This is important, because once the ego hits something -- even a mental object, it often goes blindly into fight mode, swinging at anything without discretion. The ego in this state will even attack one’s own mind, which houses the ego.
Rarely will the ego be dissuaded from fighting by external means, the approach of internal surrender is a wiser course. So when we encounter an incident in which the spark of dissatisfaction arises, if we can, in that moment, surrender to uphold a virtue such as gratitude, the tendency of the ego to fight can start wane. Hold to that virtue of gratitude even as the ego is swinging wildly in discontent. It is possible to bear the suggestions of the ego without acting on them. If you find it difficult to be grateful for the challenging situation you face, turn your attention to something else you can be grateful for -– such as the air you are breathing or something in your life you appreciate. Bear the struggle of this internal tension. Persevere and give the ego space to punch itself into exhaustion. Then, it will eventually stop swinging because it is obvious this is a wasted effort. If the enemy sees their words bring about no change they lose interest. Not even the ego, in its foolishness, wishes to exert its efforts to no avail.
For most of us, particularly those who have allowed anger to have a regular place in our lives, the ego will rarely punch itself out in one incident. It may take a number of challenging incidents before the ego starts to tire of its swinging. Despite what the surface of a situation may present, if we don’t place anything within our mind before the ego to hit, it will only be swinging at empty space. Let us treat ourselves with the greater kindness of preventing the spark of ego-based anger from burning into a flame. Then we may realize why Jalaal ud-Diin encourages us to be abundantly grateful in the midst of these purifying challenges. Even if on the surface we seem to “lose,” the real victory is being free from the dominance of the ego.
This is only the first way to triumph over your true enemy. Part two of this post will explore the second way Jalaal ud-Diin offers.
