The Ninth Valley
Tolerance is built when a force begins at a low level and gradually increases.
This message is for those who have entered the new world and are aware of their true self. It is compulsory that you move from the state of words to the state of action and pay attention to earth and sky. With your profound intellect have strong faith in the blessing of the heavens and know that your reward will assist you further. Hence, plant a precious seed or a valuable crop so as to gain enough food and also the comfort of a shade. Therefore, do as the command says. What does the command say: when human being was created and left the heavens and became a castaway on earth, he was a creature who had the highest intellect, more than any other animal and had the potential of all the virtues and vices in him. He was given free will so as to test him; therefore, he came to a crossroads in which he had to choose one of them, the way of the virtues or the path of vices. To make this crucial decision the supreme power provided man with two guides or two prophets, one internal guide which we can name intellect or wisdom and the other one, an external guide who are the messengers or prophets of the supreme power that came one after the other to demonstrate the way to salvation and freedom, to show where all the paths lead to and the characteristics of these two ways and where they could take us in the long run. So, what are the commands of the supreme power that are taught by his prophets? The command says: do not lie, do not steal, do not give or take a bribe, do not backbite, do not interfere in personal matters of other people, do not practice usury, do not rape, do not taunt others, do not break a promise, do not oppress others, stay away from corruption, help those in need, do not look for flaws and weaknesses of others, do not take others’ inheritance, help the orphans, donate money to charities and know that money is to provide comfort in life rather than stockpiling it for safekeeping and finally stay away from all kinds of intoxicants like alcohol, opium, hashish, heroin and psychedelic pills. An intoxicant is a substance that puts a veil on the personality, thought and consciousness and be aware that this is a great vice even though it is accompanied by a great sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. Generally, the path of vices seems very attractive and attainable and it feels as though we can achieve our goals much faster. It is like a poison that has a sweet taste and is placed in a golden jar and as soon as a person drinks it, it can cause disease or eve death. Whereas the right or virtues path is like a clay pot that has a life giving water in it and when someone drinks from it, it quenches the thirst immediately. Maybe, it is difficult for some of us to quit all the vices that we are involved in immediately, but we can gradually build up tolerance and overcome the temptations. Of course, we do not mean that all of us are corrupted, but some of us do lie, backbite, take or give bribes, etc. Therefore, to abstain from vices we must increase our resistance towards them and note that it takes time to build tolerance. An important point to pay attention to is that all the branches of vices are inter connected and they must be tackled together and it is impossible to solve one issue alone without resolving the others. For example, I can’t stop lying if I continue to gossip or backbite and the path of vices must change all together, because vices is like a tree that has bitter and poisonous fruits and we are not able to amend the fruits of one branch and the tree itself from the root must be revitalized. Tolerance is built when a force begins at a low level and gradually increases. Everything in creation has a certain tolerance level and if it passes that level it becomes altered and its system changes and this alteration or change usually causes damage or chaos. For example, if you put pressure on a glass and this pressure is more than the endurance point of the glass, it will break. Metals like gold, silver or copper have different melting point and if they are heated more than their endurance point they melt and their state is altered from solid to liquid. Plants and animals have different tolerances as well. Human being is a creation who benefits from free will, therefore with practice he can change his tolerance point. However, human beings have various tolerance levels and each individual has a different capacity to endure certain circumstances and if mental or physical pressures are beyond one’s endurance point that person can lose his temper or control. This can be seen in arguments and verbal or physical confrontations when two or more people are shouting at each other or using vulgarities. For instance, as a father, brother, partner, friend or an employer, we can tolerate people’s behavior or criticism until a certain a level or vice versa. However, we have to be careful not to cross that boundary or limit or else that person can lose his or her temper and get out of control. At that moment, the person’s facial expression changes, the heart beats faster and mutual respect or social manners mean very little as all the lines are crossed in a surge of anger and anything can happen. This is because the endurance point of that person or his tolerance limit has been breached and that person is on the verge of fury. We can conclude that most of the outrages, violations, fights, murders and other forms of vice take place on the verge of fury and we should seriously avoid it. Sometimes our words are worthless for ourselves but these words can do reclamation or destruction. It has happened for many times that a speech transformed a person or persuaded a person to commit suicide! Therefore, we should be careful with choosing our words. In other situations, the tolerance level of humans can vary, for example an individual can hold his breath for 10 seconds and another person can sleep in a grave for 10 days without breathing. A person can only run 50 meters whereas another can run 5000 meters and in other conditions such as cold, heat, unpleasant circumstances and calamities, this point can be different. But the issue that we are concerned with is that building up tolerance in an individual in most situations is attainable and it is done through continuous efforts and repetitions along with the needed time period and it can be expanded in both negative and positive direction. Increasing tolerance in negative matters (vices) such as lying, backbiting… or substance abuse is very easy and convenient and the individual doesn’t suffer any hardships. In fact, increasing tolerance in negative issues is mostly accompanied with joy and satisfaction and this is the illusion and trick designed by the great architect. Imagine a person consumes 5 psychedelic pills daily, thus he can easily increase his intake up to 50 pills in a short period of time (six months), or stealing later will become the thin edge of the wedge. To increase tolerance in vices, we do not need education and contemplation; we just do the deed to enjoy ourselves. Whereas to increase the tolerance in beneficial and positives like exercise, learning literature, learning new languages, not smoking or other issues we definitely need education, contemplation and experience (triangle of knowledge). We can reduce vices if and only if our knowledge and wisdom grows. Without practical knowledge even if we attempt to solve an issue a thousand times, still we would fail to achieve the optimum result and each unsuccessful attempt becomes a mean to crash further down into the dark world of vices. Imagine a person who has done many vices deeds and he has achieved a high level of tolerance in ignorance and negative matters along with lots of experience. However, with his ignorant and dark worldview he interprets his life and current living condition in a victim-like manner, he swears at the heavens and earth for his misfortunes and blames everyone else for his problems and never realizes that he is the cause of all these miseries that are happening to him, the fact is that he is the main culprit. Similarly, individuals who are exploding due to immense hatred, anger and jealousy have achieved a great negative endurance point and are constantly restless and in pain. These people blame everyone and they believe they are the victims! In order to attain bliss and peace, these people must change direction so that, with education, contemplation and experience, they can gradually refrain from misdeeds and destructive behaviors. Let us discus increasing tolerance in a positive act: Someone who has no background in exercising starts running, it is completely normal that after 50 or 100 meters of running his heart rate increases, he gets tired and he can no longer continue running. Therefore, the running tolerance of the above-mentioned person is 50 or 100 meters. We know that this person can improve his tolerance point from 50 meters to 5000 meters definitely. In order to do so he must keep running every day and each day he must increase the distance step by step until his ability in running a longer distance grows up to 5000 meters. Thus to increase tolerance point we must consider:
a) Continuous repetition of the issue at hand
b) The element of time.
To reach a higher tolerance point in the case of running:
1. He must continuously run each day
2. He must increase the distance daily
Most of times we are running away from our problems and we consider these problems a curse from God, sometimes these problems are blessing. In other words, human beings must obtain a higher tolerance point with combining the two forces (positive and negative). According to the ancient philosophers, the universe is based on opposites and the four elements of wind, earth, water and fire are the essence of this creation and the components of these elements can be found in the table of Mendeleev. In another word, we know and recognize everything by its opposite, light against darkness, white against black, joy against sadness and divine forces against evil forces. Therefore, looking from a higher perspective, dark or satanic forces play a complementary role in the creation and perhaps without them it is not possible for creation to continue its journey of evolution. For example, a microbe might be considered a negative thing, but its very existence has made humans to conduct extensive research and in the science of medicine, great knowledge has been achieved. Another example is the existence of tigers, lions, wolves and other predators and if they didn’t exist what would happen? Or some might say why weren’t they created vegetarian? Why must a lion eat a beautiful deer? If we think deeply about this matter, we realize that without these predators all these beautiful giraffes and zebras would eat so much grass and sleep all the time until they couldn’t even walk and out of laziness they would no longer migrate and were unable to cross through difficult passages. Have you observed how fast they run when being chased by a predator? Where does this agility come from? Isn’t it true that the fear of a lion’s jaw and sharp teeth make them run so fast? Therefore, the very existence of predators has brought about the existence of healthy, strong and agile herds of grass eaters who are constantly ready to escape from any form of danger. Those who are not strong enough will become the prey of the predators and this is absolute fairness. In the same manner, if an addict can’t protect himself and the welfare of his family and ends up as a junkie is absolutely fair. In other words, to increase our level of endurance we must overcome the calamities of life and challenge the negative forces that block our progress. In order to reach bravery, we must pass through fear, to achieve light we must overcome darkness, to be able to love we must defeat hatred, and to gain knowledge we must pass through ignorance. To raise the level of endurance we must pass through many barriers and treat them as blessings in disguise and this is easy and difficult at the same time! Some of our today’s problems will be seen as blessing at future if and only if we could solve them. Just like the role of lion to the deer.
Therefore, do as the command is: Command says: human being will receive nothing unless he strives for it. Sorrows that you are facing with were provided by your own hands at the past. It says: a human is different from a predator, because he benefits from intellect and wisdom. Some traits distinct human beings different from animals, traits like: sympathy, sacrifice, honor, wisdom, love, chivalry and etc. Chivalry is a valuable and brilliant attribute indeed which is like a tenacious stronghold and it keeps human away from vices. To righteous people, chivalry is pleasurable. An important point: if the human senses become strong but he is not able to tolerate them, he experiences an implosion and we know very well that an implosion may cause certain damages. What would happen if our olfaction sense becomes hundred times stronger suddenly? It is very good, one might say. But the truth is that life will become impossible if such thing happens. Or consider this: some people desire to enhance their senses in order to realize or discover secrets of universe or to walk on water! Or to do soul travel, to cure others or etc. in a short period by attending different courses. With enhancing their senses, they would change their point of perception unknowingly, and because of lack of knowledge about these matters and because they do not have the proper tolerance point soon they will fall into wander, different physiological and psychological illnesses, madness and etc. and eventually they will end up taking psychoactive pills at hospitals or madhouses. Therefore, if an individual desires to be in any position (dignitary, wealthy, respect, fame, knowledge, love and etc.) initially he must gain the proper tolerance point of that very position, otherwise he will create problems for himself and others. Any kind of responsibility or luxury given to someone who doesn’t have the capacity or tolerance for it can create difficulties for that person. Even in lowest kinds of responsibilities a proper tolerance point is needed to avoid creating problems. First deserve then desire or: On the (sitting-) place of the great, boastingly it is impossible to lean, Unless, the chattels of greatness, all prepared by thou.
Adopted from the book " Love, 14 Valleys to Know Thyself"
Translated by: Ehsan Ranjbar