However far back through the mists of human history we gaze, religious guidance is always visible. From more recent millennia we have written records of prayers and sacred scriptures, scribed on parchment, penned on papyrus or pressed into clay tablets, and looking further back we can see the ruins of temples and megalithic structures where people gathered for thousands of years. To the wise it is clear that humanity has always heard a call from Above, and the call has consistently been expressed in a form of the age. Sometimes the vast, intricate harmony of creation was emphasised by stones aligned with astronomical events, sometimes solemn rituals pointed toward spiritual states, sometimes divine laws were given (‘thou shalt not kill’) to bring order to society. In the fractious world of today, when “things fall apart,” as the poet W.B. Yeats said, the message we have been given is unity. That is why the Sufi Invocation opens with the words, “Toward the One…”

For many, the unity that is promised is that of our human family. The prayer Salat emphasises the single Spirit of Guidance that inspires all traditions, and it concludes with the heartfelt wish that the Message of God may make humanity a single family, under the Fatherhood of God. It is a longing that appeals to every thinking person; imagine how we would rejoice if tensions faded away like the mists at sunrise, and groups and nations could smile at each other. Then all the world would grieve together for the errors of the past, and work hand in hand to make a heavenly future for each other and for the generations to come. But yearning for this unity does not bring it into being. To be ‘one’ with all our sisters and brothers, we have to learn to get along with them; we have to make a reality of the teaching of Jesus: Love one another.

In conversations with seekers around the world, the most common difficulty expressed is ‘how to love the unlovable.’ It may focus on the acts of a murderous regime, or the wickedness of some group or other, but most often it is in connection with difficult acquaintances, colleagues, or members of the family. ‘I can love,’ people say, ‘but I draw the line when I see…’ and then comes the list of complaints. And the further we go on the spiritual journey, the more painful do we feel our inability to love everyone, unconditionally. We hear the Divine instruction, not only from Jesus but from all the wise, and we earnestly wish to fulfil it – but to our regret, we find ourselves unable to do so.

When we climb a mountain, scrambling over boulders, fighting past fallen trees, aspiring toward the peak that we glimpse against the blue sky, if we come to an impassible stone wall, it may be time to step back and look at the larger picture in the hope of finding a way upward. Yes, the prayer Salat gives the example of one single family joining hands around the globe, but unity is bigger than our human world. The Invocation tells us that the One, ‘the perfection of love, harmony and beauty,’ is the Only Being. Therefore ‘unity’ is the unity of all: the oneness of the single Divine Being in which all entities, from birds and beasts and humans to the uncountable ranks of unseen beings, move and dream and live.

Although the unseen, formless, all pervading God is present with us and conscious of all of Creation, we focus on the limited world we see, and particularly on ourselves and, facing off against us, those we consider ‘unlovable.’ But so long as we remain in our world of separation, there will always be light and shadow; there will be those we hold in our hearts and those we hold at a distance. It is only by letting go of our bubble-like self and dissolving into the infinite sea that we truly awaken our love for the Divine and are able to experience the divine perfection of love that cherishes all, even the apparently ‘unlovable’. The ones we do not care for are certainly cared for by God, and when we love God, we can discover His love for all. This is the realisation of the saying from Gayan Boulas: Man learns his first lesson of love by loving a human being; but in reality love is due to God alone.