Way of The Seekers — Page 101
101 THE and bravery. Soldiers are trained along these lines. They have to practice marching with their chests pushed out and their chins aloft. This develops their courage. The first remedy, therefore, is that he who suffers from a default should artificially induce the corresponding quality; this would equip him with that quality. To develop love, he should make manifest an attitude of love. For instance, his handshake should be firm and fervent. When a visitor wants to leave, he should insist on his staying on, even though he should desire his departure. When his behavior begins to exhibit the external signs of love, he would gradually develop the faculty of love. He would then begin to love God also, which he could not do before, because, he had lacked the faculty of love altogether. He should also intensify his love for his parents and children. This is the love which the Sufis have described as majazi or reflective love, true love being the love of God. It is in this sense that mystics called it reflective love. They meant to emphasize and intensify this kind of love as it was legitimate love. Later the meaning of this term became corrupted. Majazi or reflective love does not mean to fall a prey to love that is not permissible and lawful. It means loving intensely those relatives whom one may love legitimately. This will augment the faculty of love and foster the love of God. The second factor in spiritual reform is improvement in the quality of action. In this context it should be remembered that action is directed by the will. One determines to do. One determines to do something and does it. The helplessness of a person who wishes to do something but finds himself unable to do it may derive from one of three causes. 1. He may have lost control over his will. His ego may have become too weak to effectively rule over his will. The ego is the master and the will is its agent. The master has become too weak to direct the agent to have something carried out and fights shy of the agent. The agent thus