Knowing The Devil We Don't Know
- smcculley
- Nov 27, 2024
- 2 min read
Knowing The Devil We Don't Know
The opportunities to remember ourselves are almost limitless. This is because for the most part, our lives are mostly made up of small quiet moments which can be filled with conscious wordless presence. However, because mechanically, we are subject to imagination and identification, these seemingly unimportant moments slip by one-by-one-by-one-by-one-by-one, unobserved and well-greased as it were, in habitual thoughts, feelings and sensations. And just like the almost limitless unobtrusive moments that are available for self-remembering, they are instead spent in seemingly innocent unconscious activity.
The image Saint Debating a Devil portrays one aspect of this state of affairs. The saint in the image is engaged in what looks like a reasonable conversation with a devil. The devil is offering an opinion in what appears to be a calm logical manner, agreeing to disagree, explaining the finer points of his point of view to the saint, with a degree of logic and detail worthy of an Oxford or Harvard professor, all the while eliciting more thoughts opinions and responses, thereby preventing the saint - the steward - from the effort of introducing and prolonging presence. The lower self actively produces I's, opinions and attitudes that are nothing more than distractions from self-remembering.
From a verse in the Quran: “The devil sees you from where you can’t see him.” The lower self sees the weakness of the steward from where an undeveloped or immature steward fails to observe it in himself. Without a school, a teacher, other students and three lines of work, this is our unconscious fate.
How to observe imagination and identification? We will address this in our upcoming presentation on December 7th, so reserve your place. In the meantime, divide your attention. Use the small - and sometimes not so small - contradictions and irritations for self-remembering.
Curiously, as if by some cosmic coincidence, just now a thought from the Teacher appeared in an email, “The knowledge we share is very good, but the state is the answer”.
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