Rule 4: the True Lover

You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing exactly where his abode is, there is only one place to look for him: in the heart of a true lover.

Every mystic transcends the differences and possessive claims of the various religions. He also transcends defined concepts of God and traditional ways of devotional prayer and services. His roots are in the shamanic practices of the tribal stage of consciousness and he connects them to the universalistic stage: Everything in nature is holy and divine, and everything is connected with everything. So the presence of the divine cannot be limited to certain places or buildings.

The mystic expands a gigantic arch across all levels of consciousness. So she often was perceived as threat which lead to prosecution. She challenges the fearfulness and narrow mindedness of people so they condemn and fight her.

As long as people primarily look for safety, they are governed by their fears. They need symbols, objects, strict rules and rituals as well as places in which they can be sure to find consolation. So they feel that there is a guarantee for the fulfilment of their hopes and longings.

The mystic challenges the habits of behaviour, of thinking and believing which get entrenched in people’s minds. This makes him unpopular. His difficulty lies in motivating people who are buried in a certain level of consciousness to make a gigantic jump by which they could be liberated from their misery. Often he lacks of knowledge about the intermediate steps which single persons and societies have to pass until they get open and mature for true love. 


The rules are taken from Elif Shafak's novel “The Forty Rules of Love” (Viking 2010). They are inspired by the Sufi tradition and worded by the autor's imagination. http://www.elifshafak.com/