Not too infrequently, when one seeks a new path, a new philosophy, a new religion, one fails to divest of the old path, philosophy, religion.
For a time, one must fully divest of one's beliefs. If your heart is full of the views from before, there will not be room for the new views. One must divest.
Divestment is and important process because one must not simply decorate the old belief in new clothes. This is a great error, and most seekers do exactly this. It is as if an alcoholic were to give up drink, but take up smoking hashish. While they are technically no longer an alcoholic, they are still following the same behavior, only the details are different. Even if the alcoholic is no longer taking chemicals or drink, if they supplant the place of the drink with god or with religion, they have only changed the details. The overall view remains the same.
In another example, an individual has decided to no longer be a christian. They expose themselves to a series of different beliefs, perhaps in UFOs, in shamanism, in crystal magic, in haṭha yoga. Over time they take on a collection of beliefs that populate a world view. Even if they tacitly accept the implications of monotheism -all is one, when you question them, you see the clear structure of christianism. You recognize a separation between god (however that is expressed) and creation. You see an agentative god, a subject-object dichotomy. You see sin, cloaked in different terms, in opposition to right behavior. You see theories like karma expressed in terms that are more akin to the determinism of one's lot in life. Not infrequently, you also see cultural accretions, such as the ideas of humanism, hedonism and hellenism tossed in to the mix.
Such an approach is not without merit, however, without reason, without deep intuitive exploration, without disciplined contemplation, the seeker does not grow into the significance of monotheism.
The views that we must divest ourselves of are not only religious views. Views about gender, social behavior, roles, meaning, sexuality, emotionality, justice and so on are all to be brought under the lens of reason, intuition and contemplation.
The purpose of divestment is to examine the view and to put it into a dormant state. The process of divestment is an essential practice, not only in the early stages, but throughout your path.
Adopting a Lens
Were we simply to examine our beliefs, we would have to use our current understanding to examine the belief. It would be like attempting to determine how others see us without speaking to anyone. Our own beliefs and concerns would give us little perspective on ourselves. Instead of greater clarity about how we are perceived, we would likely have greater delusion. If, on the other hand we were to ask a trusted but non-involved person to comment on their perceptions of us, we would begin to have a better understanding of how we are perceived.
Since these writings are specifically about the zensufi path, there is a single lens to begin with and to use to aid in the act of divestment.
That lens is radical monotheism.
