Surrenderworks.com / Community / Salaam Aleikum ~

Willingness and Willfulness
Spring/Summer 2001


What does the expression "Let go and let God" mean? What is the 'good news"? What is the proper use of free will? Sheikh Din answers those questions and plumbs the depths of willingness, willfulness and making choices.

Once again, I would like to explore the difference between willfulness and willingness. Previously, I have characterized "willfulness" as a mental-emotional tendency that is self-absorbed, self-serving and centered on the individual. The "individuated self' is that aberrant expression of Divine Consciousness in the human being that holds itself apart from the Divine Self. That Self exists as the essence of all created things. Willful, therefore, means being preoccupied by one's individuality. Within willfulness, one's only reference is one's own mind, a mind that is apart from the workings of others. Willfulness employs the use of the "free will" and its individuality to hold itself distinct and separate from the whole of creation.
Indeed, free will is a gift of Consciousness, and yet, we know that this gift is a double-edged sword. The free will allows us the choice to enjoin ourselves with the Divinely Intended Purpose, the natural destiny for creation, as that purpose has been extended to each one of us personally. Or, through its capacity for individual self-reflection, the free will may have us think that we exist unto ourselves, and that our individual wills are actually apart from the Divine Destiny. Paradoxically, the very gift that allows for the personal experience of love through choosing love is the same thing that allows for the experience of the opposite by choosing to hold one's self apart.
Conversely, I have described "willingness" as letting go, giving ... a release into the Divine Design as reflected in one's own personal flow. The mental-emotional ideation of willingness is centered on the Divine Self, that which we call Allah. Within willingness we offer ourselves willingly; we are self-effacing. We step forward and give openly of ourselves in recognition that we are only a part of a whole.
In willfulness we find ourselves centered on the individual "I" that we call the ego. Willingness departs from the "I" and struggles to be ego-free. Ironically, it is the ego that can choose to be released, but its ability to choose gets in the way. Those things that the ego desires such as security, pleasure, freedom from pain, assurance, love, joy, etc. continually escape it, because the individual self seeks to own and control them. The ego cannot have what it wants, because it is sorely attached to the desire of what it wants. However, by relinquishing the personal attachments to what we attempt to hold in the form of ownership and control, we miraculously discover that all of those things we were seeking literally come to US.
As I have taught . . . for those who run after the riches of this world (accomplishments, money, control, prestige, power and recognition), the world is always running away from them. But for those who give up the chase of this world by letting go of attachments, control and self-interest, this world comes running to them to bow at their feet.
Let us turn to the Holy Qur`an to learn more about this subject of willfulness, willingness and the issue of making choices. The level to which we are able to consciously make choices is the degree to which we are truly present. How aware are we, and what is Remembrance? Remembrance, as exemplified by spiritual presence and living awareness, allows us to realize the necessary choices to be made between the apparent contradictions of life. These are the opposite forces within the nature of duality that exist between willfulness and willingness, between "right-guided" thoughts, words and actions that move us forward into Grace or "misguided" thoughts, words and actions that distract us backwardly into ignorance, stubbornness and suffering.
From Surah az-Zumar 39:17-18:

Those who eschew evil and fall not into its worship and turn to Allah in repentance, for them is good news, so announce the good news to My servants. Those who listen to the Word and follow the best meaning in it, those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding.

Allah instructs humanity through the revelation of Prophethood and in the most universal of principles: In the realization of Allah, the Divine Self, exists guidance. Those who follow that guidance come into understanding. Al-Bashir means "the Good News." This is how Allah's name appears in the verse. What is the Good News? The Good News is the availability of guidance to the Truth. In the case of the scriptural text, the message is the news that comes from an "outside" source, the Qur`an as spoken to the Prophet Muhammad (saws). In Reality, the message of Truth is already internally encoded within us as the deepest part of our nature. In this way, the Word is not really "news" at all. It is very old.
The news of the Qur`an refers us to understanding, the understanding between right and wrong that is the struggle of the free will. Islam, as defined by submission or surrender, calls us to follow the course of willingness - turn to Allah. Willfulness, which might be thought of as the "opposite" of Islam, holds us separate and apart from Allah. This spiritual separation is called "shaitan" in Qur`anic language and exemplifies constriction, retraction and rigidity.
Eschewing evil means that we make a conscious choice to confront the force of separation (shaitan). We choose to move away from the state of willfulness toward the state of willingness. In other words: turn. The choice to turn away from evil and to turn towards Allah is recounted by the Muslim during prayer on a daily basis by uttering the phrase, A`udhu billahi min-ash shaitani-r rajim. I take refuge in Allah from shaitan the rejected one.
Eschew evil and fall not into its worship. Fall not into the worship of separateness, fall not into the worship of your separated self. Turn to Allah in repentance. Repentance is one form, one of the approaches in relationship to Allah for forgiveness. In the past we've defined forgiveness as a total release. Turn to Allah in repentance, and for those who turn (come willingly), they will experience the release of forgiveness. The release of forgiveness (repentance) is part of the "Good News."
Announce the good news to my servants. Hasn't this Good News been the Message from all of the Prophets over time? Those exalted men and women who are the Friends of God, who knew and know the way to God, try to communicate to the rest of humanity: Let go and let God. Come along the way that is intended for you. Do not hold yourselves back in the illusion of self-worship and separation.
The blissful realization of Unity is the direct experience that brings about the understanding of Truth (al-Haqq). The experience reinforces the spiritual intelligence required to discriminate in the decision between right and wrong, and good and evil.
Surah al-Qalam (The Pen) 68:34-38 gives us a message in this case. These few ayats (signs or verses) are very deep and can give us profound intuitional understanding.

Verily, for the righteous are gardens of delight in the presence of their Lord. Shall we then treat the people of faith like the people of sin? What is the matter with you? How judge you? Have you a book through which you learn that you shall have through it whatever you choose?

Gardens of delight in the presence of their Lord is an oft-repeated image in the Holy Qur`an as well as in the poetry of so many Middle-Eastern poets. Of course, the garden of delight represents the condition or state that would fulfill the deepest, heartfelt longing for happiness. A celestial garden of delight is one so all-encompassing that it provides for everyone, each in their own way, according to their personal idiosyncrasies, propensities and preferences as to how they relate to the presence of their Lord.
In this case, human beings might be compared to snowflakes. Although everyone is essentially the same, each person is unique and each person carries a different set of physio-psycho propensities. How we experience delight and what calls us into the presence of our Lord might be very different, yet the celestial garden of delight would be so all-embracing that it could call everyone, each in their own way, into the presence of their Lord.
By nature, everyone is spiritually called. The calling pre-exists within humanity as the Divine Self. Yet there appears to be a marked difference in quality between those that come forward willingly and those that lag behind willfully. Every person will one day respond to the nature of this spiritual call. The evidence is that everyone and everything will "taste death." Thus, there is an "appointed time of death" for each living being. It's not a question of whether or not we will eventually respond to the call of Allah.
The question is more or less one of process. Are we resisting our call, our mandate, willfully or are we answering our Lord willingly? The human heart bears witness, and measures in feeling, the difference in the qualities between willful and willing. Therefore, the people of faith are different from the people of sin. In this passage, I am likening the people of faith, those that believe, as the ones that come willingly. As well, the people of sin, those that reject faith and are doubtful, are willful.
The Qur`an confronts us, What is the matter with you? How judge you? Do you have your own book (criteria and discrimination) on which to decide, the Qur`an asks, or have you a hook through which you learn, that you shall have through it whatever you choose? Here our attention is deliberately brought back to our choices.
Against what reference (book) are our choices made? Is it against the willful book of our individual, selfish, self-centered, frightened personalities? Is that the "book" that we check ourselves with? Or, shall we check ourselves to the Divinely revealed book that we see reflected in the Qur`anic teachings as well as so many of the other Holy Scriptures? We must also realize that the Qur`an, as a materialized book, is only a reflection of a primordial book, the Qur`an of Reality that has been and is always being written.
From Surat al-Tauba, the 9th Surah of the Qur`an al-Karim, in the 38th ayah,

Oh you who believe, what is the matter with you that when you are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life as compared with the hereafter.

The hereafter in this verse doesn't just mean some sort of physical or metaphysical, geographical location, as in a piece of spiritual real estate that one relocates to after the mortal body dies. The reference to the hereafter has deep and far reaching mystical and spiritual meaning. The hereafter is a reference to infinite future perpetuity, and the verse asks us to place our comfort in that which is eternal. Exactly how long is the hereafter, and when does it begin? From this very present moment, within this lifetime comes the hereafter. And from this moment, when does the future end? The future is the future endlessly, until the end of time. So, in essence, the hereafter is eternity.
We are always asked and instructed to choose eternity over temporal matter, the short-term and the earthly engagements that we cling to so heavily. Yet, because of our doubt, suspicion, fear, and willful ego attachments, we get stuck and lose our perspective. We cling heavily to the earth. Over and over again, we slam head-first, like a head-on collision, into the earth (materialism). We mistakenly thought that the earthly things that we cling to would give us comfort. Indeed they don't! There is never enough money for us here. There is never enough beauty for us here. There's never enough food, pleasure, partners, power or years to be alive.
In spite of feeling grateful, truly thankful, for life, family, beauty and for our time on earth, our limitless longing is never completely satisfied by things. Our limitless longing, infinite desire, always has us wanting more. As our Baba Anandamurti has perfectly stated, "There exists in the living being a thirst for limitlessness." That thirst is unlimited; therefore, limited things cannot quench it. So why do we cling so heavily to the earth? What is wrong with us? If we truly believe ... then what is wrong with us? Do we still prefer the life of this world to the hereafter, even after it has been proven within the scope of our own lives that the attachments that we have formed, and our willful nature, do not provide us comfort? Our willful nature does not satisfy human longing, but our willing nature will, both for ourselves as well as for those to whom we willingly give.

How can you reject the faith in Allah? Seeing that you were without life and Allah gave you life, then will Allah cause you to die and will again bring you to life. And again to Allah will you return. It is Allah who has created for you all things that are on the earth. Moreover Allah's design comprehended the heavens for Allah gave the order and perfection to the seven firmaments. And of all things Allah has perfect knowledge.
SURAH AL-BAQARA, 2:28-29

Often we have trouble making the "willingness choice." We have trouble being willing to surrender the heavy clinging attachments of our egos to this earth because of great fear. It is hard for us to believe; it is difficult for us to trust, to let go. "Let go into what?" we ask so often. Our lack of Remembrance tests our faith in the presence of the Lord and the gardens of delight, even though they are right before us. Thus, the Holy Qur`an inspires us to turn to signs (ayats), in order that we might remember the Ultimate Reality.
Why and how did we get here? What is the rational, explainable cause that one can offer for the existence of creation, life and the appearance of our own individual self? The answer is an unexplainable Cause that the mystics have often described as a "Causeless Cause," a Mercy that provides no intellectual or mental understanding as to why It is Present. Yet, It is. The Lord God speaks to the Prophet Moses, "I am that I am."
Philosophers and scientists might be able to offer theories and ideas on the creative process. Metaphysical explanations might describe with great finesse the idiosyncrasies of the creative expression, the clash and cohesion of its expansion and contractions, the fundamental elements that comprise mind and matter, as well as the processes that the mind goes through in order to unleash itself from limitations so that it might realize Unity. Human beings debate the descriptions of the creative process, but no one has ever been able to simply answer why. We will have to turn to faith for that answer.
Faith is a matter of the heart. Within our faith we must come to terms with life's deep existential questions. With the eye of the heart we must "see" the signs. Herein lies the answers. The Qur`an reminds us, seeing that you were without life. In other words, you were not; you didn't exist. Now you are; and Allah gave you life. Everything that you know yourself to be, and all of the things that you cling to will eventually die. Even the things that you cling to were at one time without life as well. You were without life, and all things were without life, until both you and their creation were caused to come into being by something that is other than you.
Let's face it. Obviously you and I are not in control of the Universal Workings. We originated from a great, mysterious, unidentifiable "nowhere," and so did the things that we are so attached to. As we arrive into manifestation, and with the miraculous technology of free will, we become attached to our own self and "our" things in the short-term, only to find out that all things are in the process of dying. Nothing lasts, neither things nor our own limited selves.
To where do all things return? Our return is also to some unexplainable place, an unspeakable realm and a destination that cannot be identified with instruments or senses. We can only intuit our life after-death and speak about it through faithful revelation and sometimes in inspired poetry.

Seeing that you were without life and Allah gave you life and then will Allah cause you to die and will Allah again bring you to life and to Allah will you return. It is Allah who has created for you all things that are on earth. Moreover Allah's design comprehended the heavens for Allah gave the order and perfection of the seven firmaments. And of all things Allah has perfect knowledge. - SURAH AL-BAQARA, 2:28-29

There is nowhere that you can be or nowhere that you can go that Allah is not. So when you are asked to "let go," come forward willingly, even though you may have a hard time comprehending. The Comprehender has already designed the heavens for Allah gave the order of perfection of the seven firmaments. And of all things Allah has perfect knowledge. In eternity, the garden of delight is already present before us. We simply need to let go and be willing.

The material things that you are given are but the convenience of this life and the glitter thereof. But that which is with Allah is better and more enduring. So then will you not be wise? Are these two things alike, one to whom we have made a goodly promise and who is going to reach its fulfillment and one to whom we have given the good things of this life but who on the day of judgment is to be among those brought up for punishment.
SURAH AL-QASAS, 28:60-61

By now we know that the experience of punishment is non-different than the continuing experience of pain and suffering that comes about by separation from God. We have already tasted the consequence of the separations that we have caused to ourselves in this life. Unity, by its nature, is the release and reconciling of separations. Unity is the fulfillment of the goodly promise. The pain of the punishment on the proverbial day of judgment is constant heartache, the suffering that has one held apart from Divine Communion, Divine Union - Unity.
There is nothing made of material elements worthy of worship in this worldly life. There is nothing here in matter that is eternal enough for us to unify with. There is nothing within relativity that is fixed enough for us to center upon. This includes the worship or preoccupation of our own created selves. The more fixated and centered we become on material elements and objects, including our own projections of self, the more willful we become. This type of willfulness increases the likelihood of falling out of God's worship and falling into self-worship. Worshipping anything other than Allah, Lord God, is called shirk in Islam (associating worshipped partners with Allah). Shirk is the greatest degree of separation from God, and therefore, is classified by the Saints as the highest form of sin.
In the Ten Commandments, the first introduction of shariah (Divine Law), that was revealed to Hazrati Musa (Moses) from the Mount of Sinai, it says, "I am the Lord, thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before thee." Let us not fall into idolatry, the false worship of thinking that the created of God is the same as God. This discrimination needs to apply even to how we view our own individual selves. La ilaha illa Llah. There is no god, but God. God is God alone, and although God may imbue God's own Self into the creation as the Self, still God remains both one with but uniquely different from God's own creation.
We exist among the many parts of creation in its infinite variety, and all of those parts have the One common God. All the parts of the creation have their specifically intended purpose. Each part is appointed to its position, and each part of the creation, including humanity, is revolving around the Divine Nucleus that we call Allah. Allah is not revolving around our individuality nor is Allah dependent on our individual personalities or our temporal, ego driven forms.
To be willing means to participate fully, consciously and in the Remembrance of the Divine Flow while joining in the course of action of all creation in its circumambulation of Allah. This is included in Allah's intended purpose for human beings. To be willful means to resist, as if we want Allah's creation to stop and revolve around us. Willfulness is contraction. Willingness is expansion. Willfulness leads to self-worship. Willingness leads to the worship of the Divine.
Let us pray that through our Company and our Remembrance, through the guided examples of the Prophets and through the Baraka (Transmission Blessing) of our lineage that we make more willing choices. Let us follow the guidance of the Holy Qur`an that we can trustfully use the intelligence and free will that has been passed on to humanity by Allah Most High. Let us not continue to suffer over and over again by the stubbornness of our own separation. Let us be willing to stand before the presence of our Lord naked and without fear. May we taste of that which is called the garden of delight.