40 Rules of Love - Rule 1

The Turkish writer Elif Shafak enfolds the basics of Sufi teaching in her novel “The Forty Rules of Love” (Viking 2010). These rules are inspired by the Sufi tradition and come from the autor's imagination. http://www.elifshafak.com/

These rules will be commented one by one and I appreciate any comment. 

I refer to a model of the evolution of consciousness in my comments which is described in my new German book "Vom Mut zu wachsen. Sieben Stufen der integralen Heilung" - 2011 Kamphausen Verlag ("On the Courage to Grow. Seven Steps of Integral Healing.")  

Rule 1:

How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is mostly fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.

Many traditional teachings in religion depict the image of a ruthlessly stern and punishing god. God knows what is good and what is bad, and reigns as judge over everyone measuring how far people come up to these standards. In these traditions, someone who is afraid of god is seen as especially virtuous. He does not dare to act against the regulations of god resp. of what the particular church or sect declares as will of god. And he will meet his fellow people with fear and guilt feeling and he hopes to be rewarded for his discipline one day.

Here we meet the model of education which is part of the hierarchical level of consciousness (cf.„Vom Mut zu wachsen“). The hierarchical image of god serves to subdue the people under the regulations of society. Those who act agaist the rules, does not only have to count on worldly but also with transcendental punishment. Thus people are held in constant fear and tend to influende their fellows by means of guilt and intimidation. 

Many persons who have reflected these connections by freeing themselves of hierachical dependencies have also dismissed such a god. And not all of them went on searching for a god of love and compassion. For this, a courage to grow is required: Towards the inner world by connecting with the divinity in ourselves and by more and more accepting it (all the shadows and incompletions included), and towards the outer world by connecting to the divinity in other people and in the whole of the existence (all their shadows and incompletions included).

When we succeed in addressing the divinity inside of ourselves with love and compassion, we overcome our fearfulness and guilt burdens and start to see our friends and neighbours in the clear light of love and compassion

When we succeed in addressing the devine spirit in love and compassion in ourselves, we grow beyond  fearfulness and guilt feelings and are able to also see our brothers and sisters in the clear light of love and compassion.