No Sin Exists But This

"The basis of Sufism is consideration of the hearts and feelings of others. If you haven't the will to gladden someone's heart, then at least beware lest you hurt someone's heart, for on our path, no sin exists but this." Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Master of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order. 

What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? Those are age-old questions. Questions that are still being asked because people expect there to be a mysterious complicated answer behind them. 

Do not ask those questions anymore. It is too much thinking in the head. Always looking for details. Our brains are so busy trying to find a reason for this and a justification for that. The mind is trifling, forget about it, and just gladden someone's heart. 

If you want to think, then think with your heart, for that is where you will get all the answers. Answers that come from the heart are fulfilling and satisfying without the need for words. We should all communicate with our hearts, as it is no different from communicating with our spirit. It is an open path of communication called love. 

Keep in touch with love. The Yoruba of Nigeria have an expression that says, "One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts." Keep in touch with feelings. Feelings not just of yourself, but others as well. Beware of using a pointed stick, as bodies are delicate and easily hurt. Beware of pointing a finger, as feelings are delicate and easily hurt. Beware that pointing a finger at someone else means your other three fingers are pointing at you. 

People are diverse as is all of creation and should be accepted as perfect the way they are. This was demonstrated in a humorous way by a sacred clown (Heyoka) called "the Straighten-Outer." As described by John Fire Lame Deer in his book Seeker of Visions, "He was always running around with a hammer trying to flatten round and curvy things (soup bowls, eggs, wagon wheels, etc.), thus making them straight." 

At a heart level, and this is according to Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) of the Native American Sioux (Oglala Lakota), "All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One." So, can you see the benefit in gladdening hearts, and how that may be all we are really here for? And if that is what we are here for, then the one sin we could commit would be to hurt someone's heart. It correlates with what The Prophet Mohammed reportedly said, "Do not harm yourselves or others." 

It is the Golden Rule. It is at the heart of all religion and philosophical ethics. It accurately measures whether a person is using their religion, or abusing it. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12, King James Version.