Sufis teach that we first must battle and destroy the evil within ourselves by shining upon it the good within, and then we learn to battle the evil in others by helping their higher selves gain control of their lower selves.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes inner transformation as a prerequisite to addressing external conflicts.
Feisal Abdul Rauf reflects on the Sufi perspective that personal growth and the overcoming of internal struggles are essential steps before one can effectively engage with and assist others. By cultivating the goodness within ourselves and confronting our own evils, we become better equipped to encourage and elevate the higher selves of those around us, promoting a cycle of positive change in the world.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about personal growth and self-awareness at a community workshop.
The ascent to the divine Life is the human journey, the Work of works, the acceptable Sacrifice. This alone is man's real business in the world and the justification of his existence, without which he would only be an insect crawling among the ephemeral insects on a speck of surface mud and water which has managed to form itself amid the appalling immensities of the physical universe.
White consciousness is deeply anti-black, and that's for progressives and conservatives.
We shall not weary, we shall not rest, as we stand guard at the entrance gates and the exit gates of life, and at every step along way of life, bearing witness in word and deed to the dignity of the human person-of every human person.
God will judge my heart, Man will judge my actions.
It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve.
Pythagoras, when he was asked what time was, answered that it was the soul of this world.
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