The Highest Passion is Patience - Prose of Ramadhan Part 16

88. Passion 2

Sobriety and Patience

Is better than Passion,

They become wine to those

Who have passed the state of intoxication.

Being a sinner in disguise, I have no experience worth mentioning about the spiritual path. But from my friends, who are worthy in many aspects to comment about 'the path', I have found some interesting lore. And one is that patience and sobriety is higher than any passion. However in that context, I have changed my mind since recording the prose some seven years ago. Because sometimes, it is passion that you need to fuel sobriety and patience. So perhaps it is wrong to equate passion with mind-toppling prose or action. So let me adjust the prose to say that the highest passion is patience. Yes. I like that. The Highest Passion is Patience.

13. Adoration is not love (Ariffin)

O’ wayfarer,

O’ wanderer,

O’ student of the Unseen,

If you have sup enough wine,

Then throw away the wine glass,

And take this lentil soup…

That to adore

Is not to love.

Resist adoration

When it becomes

The End of Love

And not merely

Love’s expression.

I often laugh at the puzzle and hijinks that some people stumble into in their adoration of the Masters. I think it is sweet (if sometimes surprising!). People looking from outside will regularly condemn the Sufis for their 'exaggerated love' for the Masters. But it is merely a question of perception and what you actually mean by religion. For the Sufis religion is life itself, and life itself is religion. So life is not about a quick change, an instant turning of a new leaf like that of a page. Life and religion is more like a book, with a foreword, prologue, epilogue, footnotes, chapters, bibliography and an index. 

So what chapter are you at, sunshine, in the book of your life?

wa min Allah at-taufiq.