‘The Islanders,’ as part of the tradition of Sufi wisdom teachings, is designed as a tool of contemplation for students of self-realisation. Though the story reads like an amusing satire on the state of modern society, its complete meaning belies the scope of intellectual comprehension. It points to a truth beyond that which can be conveyed in linear terms.
As allegory, Shah’s parable has explicit and direct interpretative meanings based on the teachings of Sufism that work simultaneously on a few different levels. He has described this story as a ‘fable about the human condition;’ within this is embedded a well-plotted map for the journey of self-realisation, and a cautionary tale about the limits of intellectual dogmatism.
In the strand of Shah’s narration that deals with self-realisation, the story describes the root cause of suffering, the productive means by which we may escape it, and the various perils that may be encountered by seekers of truth in a society intoxicated with the spoils of moral corruption.
The distortion of truth by those seeking social advantage is presented as a counterpoint to the patient and dedicated efforts of ship-builders and swimmers to reach the destination intended for the whole population of the Island.
In this, Shah positions the psychology of Statehood through the cultural practices and beliefs of the isolated population of his mythic island, patently illustrating the processes by which logical principles are abstracted to the point of collective psychosis.
The rule of synecdoche applies to the psychological framework of this story: the condition of the collective of islanders directly relates to the state of the individual; a part is seen in terms of the whole, and vice-versa. The evolution intended for the society as a whole applies also to the individual seeker of truth: the Islanders' collective psychosis also refers to the individual state of mind conditioned by social values.
The madness of the Islanders is precisely the ‘cabbage’ that each and every one of us must contend with before we even set forth on the journey of awakening consciousness.
***This “secret,” the method of effecting the transition, was nothing more or less than the knowledge of maritime skills and their application. The escape needed an instructor, raw materials, people, effort and understanding. Given these, people could learn to swim, and also to build ships.***
Direct allegory is the simplest way to unpack the meaning of this story. Swimming and ship-building present the two complementary yet distinct skill-sets needed to pursue the pathway of self-realisation. The building of ships designates a collective or group effort to transcend levels of consciousness. Swimming refers to the specific disciplines required in order to exist in the world as a self-realised being. Both pathways pose unique advantages and risks in the quest to reach the other shore.
Ship-building, or the collective effort towards liberation from suffering, involves a high initial cost: constructing and equipping a suitable vessel (a place or project) so that the purpose of self-realisation may be pursued with minimal recourse to outside input for the duration of its mission. Once established, ships are maintained easily by the strength of group effort; however, a good captain and a fit crew are essential to the function of a safe ship.
Whatever insight I have drawn from the analogy of shipbuilding has arisen from the experience of nearly a decade's involvement in community-building as the form of spiritual discipline to which I am best suited. In partnership with my best beloved, it is no exaggeration to say that the endeavour of ship-building has become our life's work and the myriad requirements of our home community (both material and immaterial) are the objects of our constant attention and focus.
The inherent risk of ship-building is that everyone on board has different abilities and diverse levels of attainment in the relevant disciplines: that is, there is no equality, but an acceptance that everyone on-board has something unique to offer as well as their own special needs. Maintaining harmony within the collective is as important as maintaining the vessel itself: it brings about a climate of interdependence, where bonds of deep trust are by necessity formed.
Everybody on-board must be a capable swimmer. But mastery over swimming is a different thing entirely; and if you have met a few mystics, and recognise them as such, then you perhaps have already learned that there are no common characteristics by which such persons may be identified. Mystics are not easy to come across unless you know for yourself what you are seeking: they are hidden in plain view, in the world but not of it, quietly following a line of truth that is visible only to them.
***“If there is any reality in ships and swimming, show us ships which have made the journey, and swimmers who have come back!”***
Asking for proof is the central characteristic of the mind impeded by its desire to know; that is, the mind refuses to question beyond the limits of the knowable, remaining obstinate in its belief that all aspects of human experience are quantifiable and measurable. This position delights in the ‘debunking’ of facets of experience that are qualitative and immeasurable: it is logic taken to its most perverse extreme.
To live in not-knowing, and to trust in the wisdom of spiritual practitioners of greater aptitude than oneself, is a characteristic of the mind with a willingness to forego the privilege of being right. This willingness (which might also be spoken of as humility) is an essential component of a mind directed towards the pursuit of truth.
Such a mind never asks for quantitative proof on matters of an qualitative order. If you ask a plate of cheese to prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that it will taste like cheese is not going to get you very far. It is up to you to taste the cheese to satisfy the need for proof.
***“Shipbuilding,” said the escapers, in an attempt to reason with the revolt, “is an art and a craft. The learning and the exercise of this lore depends upon special techniques. These together make up a total activity, which cannot be examined piecemeal, as you demand. This activity has an impalpable element, called ‘baraka,’ from which the work ‘barque’ — a ship — is derived. This word means ‘the Subtlety,’ and cannot be shown to you.”
“Art, craft, total, baraka, nonsense!” shouted the revolutionaries.
And so they hanged as many shipbuilding craftsmen as they could find.***
Shah’s allegory was published in 1962, but this moment of the story resonates critically with the culture wars of the present day. Subtlety -- ever a tenuous ideal in public discourse -- has been wholly obliterated from the scheme of current media; the vast majority of media outlets privilege fragments of biased opinion and clickbait gushed forth in the depthless and panic-driven hellscape of a newsroom.
The shouts of these revolutionaries read like viral tweets, propelling droves of followers to denounce the subtle crafts of truth-seeking. They lack subtlety, lack the essence of refinement that is augured by the total unmediated effort to examine oneself; any inward position, left unchecked, becomes a violent threat to conscious development.
The Sufi understanding of baraka is essential to uncovering the intended allegorical meaning of ‘The Islanders.’ The Subtlety -- that is, the absolute refinement of consciousness -- is understood in this tradition as the essence of God. The evolutionary journey throughout the series of islands intended by the leader of the original ideal community is a process of inner refinement, potentiated by baraka -- the power of the Divine presence awakening inside a spiritual aspirant.
The existence of truth poses an existential challenge to proponents of non-truth, effectively obliterating all the tenuous assumptions of the revolutionaries. In relation to the ideological mudslinging that comprises the so-called culture wars, we observe that the immediate gratification gained through generating pithy, tweet-sized attacks on conceptual wrongdoers prevents any meaningful synthesis of ideals between opposing factions.
When truth is understood as a viable destination that may be arrived at through focused and intentional dialogue (which requires time, effort, and humility on both sides) it threatens the position of 'being right' that underlies the cant and rhetoric of those invested in a fixed position. Thus, the very existence of truth-seeking is opposed violently by the mob; truth that cannot be proven does not belong to anybody, thus depriving anyone of the privilege of 'being right.'
***Since the skills of boatbuilding had no obvious application within this society, the effort could easily be considered absurd. Boats were not needed—there was nowhere to go. The consequences of certain assumptions can be made to “prove” those assumptions. This is what is called a pseudocertainty, the substitute for real certainty.***
Pseudocertainty is another striking hallmark of contemporary discourse. It is a function, I believe, of the branding and relentless self-identification necessitated through the act of online marketing. To exist as a social media presence, for instance, requires the ongoing calibration of one's own relevance to others; and to remain relevant, such a person must structure their online identity around the perceived desires of their audience.
A creator's power to assert what is relevant or not as a quality of branding or marketability is a good example of pseudocertainty in action. It is a self-fulfilling psychological mechanism driven around the invention of a niche and the drama of fulfilling it in real time, carefully calibrated through quantifiable metrics (likes, shares, product partnerships).
The pseudocertainty of an influencer is so meticulously managed that it will pass as authenticity to anyone with the merest shred of self-doubt active within their cognitive faculties (ie., everyone); the appearance of authenticity is more desirable than authenticity itself. In the online realm, authenticity is construed as a drive to more effective brand management, rather than the effort to perfect the totality of one's presence through inner evaluation.
The combined medium of image-and-caption has been exploited for hundreds of years to convey the pseudocertainty of a political agenda (the earliest examples I can think of date back to 1789). In the present day, it is understood as the prevailing method of communication, a most effective way to convey a slice of partial meaning as an incontrovertible truth.
***The variations of ideas and differences of opinion gave the impression of freedom of thought. Thought was encouraged, providing that it was not “absurd.”
Freedom of speech was allowed. It was of little use without the development of understanding, which was not pursued.***
***Bizarre versions of swimming or shipbuilding often crowded out possibilities of real progress. Very much to blame were the advocates of pseudoswimming or allegorical ships, mere hucksters, who offered lessons to those as yet too weak to swim, or passages on ships which they could not build.***
I don’t think I need to directly name the social media platform that hosts the pseudoswimming advocates of the present day.
**“Suppose, as an allegory, we say not ‘cabbage’ but ‘assumptions,’ or ‘destructive ideas’?”
“I am going to take my cabbage to some instructor who understands my needs.”***
I love this slice of dialogue for so many different reasons. I love how it exposes the transactional approach that we bring to our quest for spiritual attainment: that enlightenment is a product that might be bargained for, with our deluded selves dictating the terms of that bargain.
I love this notion of cabbage, too. We all have our ton of cabbage. For some, it's a puritanical food doctrine. For others, it's a sense of being right. At a point, even one's creative practice (as holy as it may seem) poses a hindrance to the pursuit of truth and must be abandoned in order to swim.
The story ends with the candidate poised in the moment of refusal of the swimmer's guidance: unable to surrender their cabbage, they insist on taking it somewhere else; perhaps to a pseudoswimmer who will humour them in their folly for a nice price. What is your cabbage?
‘The Islanders,’ as part of the tradition of Sufi wisdom teachings, is designed as a tool of contemplation for students of self-realisation. Though the story reads like an amusing satire on the state of modern society, its complete meaning belies the scope of intellectual comprehension. It points to a truth beyond that which can be conveyed in linear terms.
As allegory, Shah’s parable has explicit and direct interpretative meanings based on the teachings of Sufism that work simultaneously on a few different levels. He has described this story as a ‘fable about the human condition;’ within this is embedded a well-plotted map for the journey of self-realisation, and a cautionary tale about the limits of intellectual dogmatism.
In the strand of Shah’s narration that deals with self-realisation, the story describes the root cause of suffering, the productive means by which we may escape it, and the various perils that may be encountered by seekers of truth in a society intoxicated with the spoils of moral corruption.
The distortion of truth by those seeking social advantage is presented as a counterpoint to the patient and dedicated efforts of ship-builders and swimmers to reach the destination intended for the whole population of the Island.
In this, Shah positions the psychology of Statehood through the cultural practices and beliefs of the isolated population of his mythic island, patently illustrating the processes by which logical principles are abstracted to the point of collective psychosis.
The rule of synecdoche applies to the psychological framework of this story: the condition of the collective of islanders directly relates to the state of the individual; a part is seen in terms of the whole, and vice-versa. The evolution intended for the society as a whole applies also to the individual seeker of truth: the Islanders' collective psychosis also refers to the individual state of mind conditioned by social values.
The madness of the Islanders is precisely the ‘cabbage’ that each and every one of us must contend with before we even set forth on the journey of awakening consciousness.
***This “secret,” the method of effecting the transition, was nothing more or less than the knowledge of maritime skills and their application. The escape needed an instructor, raw materials, people, effort and understanding. Given these, people could learn to swim, and also to build ships.***
Direct allegory is the simplest way to unpack the meaning of this story. Swimming and ship-building present the two complementary yet distinct skill-sets needed to pursue the pathway of self-realisation. The building of ships designates a collective or group effort to transcend levels of consciousness. Swimming refers to the specific disciplines required in order to exist in the world as a self-realised being. Both pathways pose unique advantages and risks in the quest to reach the other shore.
Ship-building, or the collective effort towards liberation from suffering, involves a high initial cost: constructing and equipping a suitable vessel (a place or project) so that the purpose of self-realisation may be pursued with minimal recourse to outside input for the duration of its mission. Once established, ships are maintained easily by the strength of group effort; however, a good captain and a fit crew are essential to the function of a safe ship.
Whatever insight I have drawn from the analogy of shipbuilding has arisen from the experience of nearly a decade's involvement in community-building as the form of spiritual discipline to which I am best suited. In partnership with my best beloved, it is no exaggeration to say that the endeavour of ship-building has become our life's work and the myriad requirements of our home community (both material and immaterial) are the objects of our constant attention and focus.
The inherent risk of ship-building is that everyone on board has different abilities and diverse levels of attainment in the relevant disciplines: that is, there is no equality, but an acceptance that everyone on-board has something unique to offer as well as their own special needs. Maintaining harmony within the collective is as important as maintaining the vessel itself: it brings about a climate of interdependence, where bonds of deep trust are by necessity formed.
Everybody on-board must be a capable swimmer. But mastery over swimming is a different thing entirely; and if you have met a few mystics, and recognise them as such, then you perhaps have already learned that there are no common characteristics by which such persons may be identified. Mystics are not easy to come across unless you know for yourself what you are seeking: they are hidden in plain view, in the world but not of it, quietly following a line of truth that is visible only to them.
***“If there is any reality in ships and swimming, show us ships which have made the journey, and swimmers who have come back!”***
Asking for proof is the central characteristic of the mind impeded by its desire to know; that is, the mind refuses to question beyond the limits of the knowable, remaining obstinate in its belief that all aspects of human experience are quantifiable and measurable. This position delights in the ‘debunking’ of facets of experience that are qualitative and immeasurable: it is logic taken to its most perverse extreme.
To live in not-knowing, and to trust in the wisdom of spiritual practitioners of greater aptitude than oneself, is a characteristic of the mind with a willingness to forego the privilege of being right. This willingness (which might also be spoken of as humility) is an essential component of a mind directed towards the pursuit of truth.
Such a mind never asks for quantitative proof on matters of an qualitative order. If you ask a plate of cheese to prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that it will taste like cheese is not going to get you very far. It is up to you to taste the cheese to satisfy the need for proof.
***“Shipbuilding,” said the escapers, in an attempt to reason with the revolt, “is an art and a craft. The learning and the exercise of this lore depends upon special techniques. These together make up a total activity, which cannot be examined piecemeal, as you demand. This activity has an impalpable element, called ‘baraka,’ from which the work ‘barque’ — a ship — is derived. This word means ‘the Subtlety,’ and cannot be shown to you.”
“Art, craft, total, baraka, nonsense!” shouted the revolutionaries.
And so they hanged as many shipbuilding craftsmen as they could find.***
Shah’s allegory was published in 1962, but this moment of the story resonates critically with the culture wars of the present day. Subtlety -- ever a tenuous ideal in public discourse -- has been wholly obliterated from the scheme of current media; the vast majority of media outlets privilege fragments of biased opinion and clickbait gushed forth in the depthless and panic-driven hellscape of a newsroom.
The shouts of these revolutionaries read like viral tweets, propelling droves of followers to denounce the subtle crafts of truth-seeking. They lack subtlety, lack the essence of refinement that is augured by the total unmediated effort to examine oneself; any inward position, left unchecked, becomes a violent threat to conscious development.
The Sufi understanding of baraka is essential to uncovering the intended allegorical meaning of ‘The Islanders.’ The Subtlety -- that is, the absolute refinement of consciousness -- is understood in this tradition as the essence of God. The evolutionary journey throughout the series of islands intended by the leader of the original ideal community is a process of inner refinement, potentiated by baraka -- the power of the Divine presence awakening inside a spiritual aspirant.
The existence of truth poses an existential challenge to proponents of non-truth, effectively obliterating all the tenuous assumptions of the revolutionaries. In relation to the ideological mudslinging that comprises the so-called culture wars, we observe that the immediate gratification gained through generating pithy, tweet-sized attacks on conceptual wrongdoers prevents any meaningful synthesis of ideals between opposing factions.
When truth is understood as a viable destination that may be arrived at through focused and intentional dialogue (which requires time, effort, and humility on both sides) it threatens the position of 'being right' that underlies the cant and rhetoric of those invested in a fixed position. Thus, the very existence of truth-seeking is opposed violently by the mob; truth that cannot be proven does not belong to anybody, thus depriving anyone of the privilege of 'being right.'
***Since the skills of boatbuilding had no obvious application within this society, the effort could easily be considered absurd. Boats were not needed—there was nowhere to go. The consequences of certain assumptions can be made to “prove” those assumptions. This is what is called a pseudocertainty, the substitute for real certainty.***
Pseudocertainty is another striking hallmark of contemporary discourse. It is a function, I believe, of the branding and relentless self-identification necessitated through the act of online marketing. To exist as a social media presence, for instance, requires the ongoing calibration of one's own relevance to others; and to remain relevant, such a person must structure their online identity around the perceived desires of their audience.
A creator's power to assert what is relevant or not as a quality of branding or marketability is a good example of pseudocertainty in action. It is a self-fulfilling psychological mechanism driven around the invention of a niche and the drama of fulfilling it in real time, carefully calibrated through quantifiable metrics (likes, shares, product partnerships).
The pseudocertainty of an influencer is so meticulously managed that it will pass as authenticity to anyone with the merest shred of self-doubt active within their cognitive faculties (ie., everyone); the appearance of authenticity is more desirable than authenticity itself. In the online realm, authenticity is construed as a drive to more effective brand management, rather than the effort to perfect the totality of one's presence through inner evaluation.
The combined medium of image-and-caption has been exploited for hundreds of years to convey the pseudocertainty of a political agenda (the earliest examples I can think of date back to 1789). In the present day, it is understood as the prevailing method of communication, a most effective way to convey a slice of partial meaning as an incontrovertible truth.
***The island was not a prison. But it was a cage with invisible bars, more effective than obvious ones ever could be.***
Replace 'island' with 'intellect.'
***The variations of ideas and differences of opinion gave the impression of freedom of thought. Thought was encouraged, providing that it was not “absurd.”
Freedom of speech was allowed. It was of little use without the development of understanding, which was not pursued.***
💯
***Bizarre versions of swimming or shipbuilding often crowded out possibilities of real progress. Very much to blame were the advocates of pseudoswimming or allegorical ships, mere hucksters, who offered lessons to those as yet too weak to swim, or passages on ships which they could not build.***
I don’t think I need to directly name the social media platform that hosts the pseudoswimming advocates of the present day.
**“Suppose, as an allegory, we say not ‘cabbage’ but ‘assumptions,’ or ‘destructive ideas’?”
“I am going to take my cabbage to some instructor who understands my needs.”***
I love this slice of dialogue for so many different reasons. I love how it exposes the transactional approach that we bring to our quest for spiritual attainment: that enlightenment is a product that might be bargained for, with our deluded selves dictating the terms of that bargain.
I love this notion of cabbage, too. We all have our ton of cabbage. For some, it's a puritanical food doctrine. For others, it's a sense of being right. At a point, even one's creative practice (as holy as it may seem) poses a hindrance to the pursuit of truth and must be abandoned in order to swim.
The story ends with the candidate poised in the moment of refusal of the swimmer's guidance: unable to surrender their cabbage, they insist on taking it somewhere else; perhaps to a pseudoswimmer who will humour them in their folly for a nice price. What is your cabbage?