Thy Will be Fulfilled

Rumi wrote a very interesting passage in his Masnavi about a conversation between 2 individuals, one of whom was a saintly person. It is presented here in slightly modified form for the purposes of this medium.

The saint had no possessions, in fact he had no friends and no living family either, yet he was very happy. He was asked why.

Now, when I got to this part, I was thinking in my head - I know why! He is happy because he finds satisfaction in his spiritual life. He must have God and the Angels to fill the place of family, friends, and when you have such company why would you need any possessions? I was right to a certain extent, yet I was also very wrong.

The saint in this story spoke of death, life, happiness and resignation. The crux of his message was one of love. If you love God enough, then His will is your only desire. If God wills that your entire family perishes, that must make a true lover happy, because nothing else matters.

It was a very unique and profound way of stating it. Nothing like what I had expected (Rumi's great at finding a path one wouldn't think of treading alone). The thought that one's desires and wishes can be sublimated to such a level that even what others would label a catastrophe brings joy. That, is deep love. Where the only joy one gains is from what happens... That is contentment.

No matter what happens to that individual, they can never be unhappy. The example of a blade of grass that bends with the wind comes to mind. That blade of grass is small, unobtrusive and does not break. At the end it isn't just belief in God that's important. It is belief in the workings of God, in the way the world is. It is joy in the face of the storm.

Here piggy piggy piggy...

I remember grade 5 very well. I was 10 years old, life was good - until we began our unit on pigs... gasp...

"Why do I need to learn about these animals?" was my first thought, this was quickly replaced by horror when I discovered we had to go on a field trip to a pig farm.

I argued with my teacher and told her that it was "against my religion." ... She responded with exasperation and told me that, "I'm not making you eat the pigs!" The field trip was mandatory, and to be honest I learned quite a bit that day.

Looking at it years later, it really brings to the forefront a prejudice that most Muslims and I would presume Jews and some Christian sects as well would hold - that pigs are a taboo animal. This taboo extends quite a ways into our lives, so much so that some predominantly Muslim countries have few or no porcine livestock at all. I've even heard many Muslims refer to pigs as "dirty animals," and other far worse things.

I've begun to think about this and to take exception to it.

I mean sure, eating and consuming pig flesh is forbidden in the holy Qur'an as well as the Old Testament, yet nowhere (to my knowledge and reading of it) does it state that pigs are evil, that they are creatures to be reviled. Rather, God has created this world, this entire universe and everything in it. That to me is a clear indicator that we should love pigs as a part of creation. When you love the Creator truly, you cannot help but love His creation. Every aspect of creation deserves unconditional love, particularly by a being called upon with the high title, "vicegerent of God on the Earth."

If we are to be worthy of this high title the Divine has given us, we must look past cultural taboos and interpretations and love even that which we feel we should not. Our prayers cannot be for our own sakes, or even our spiritual lives alone, I believe Mark Twain put it best when he wrote,

"But who prays for Satan? Who in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most[...]?"
- Mark Twain's Autobiography