Equanimity. How patient you are.
And when people blame you for following the truth,
they criticise you for the sake of criticism.
When you encounter negative criticism
from different cultures, different religions, different societies,
how vulnerable are you?
Whether or not this negative criticism bother you,
you need to make sure that equanimity is spiritual patience.
What is it?
The Quran said,
'Those who love God, they don't care
for the offenders, they do not care for the negative critics,
they continue to practice love.
They are not bothered by any opposition,
by any undue criticism. They're not bothered.
And that is the act of equanimity.
We have to make sure we have plenty of it
because in the path of love, in the eyes of God,
only the courageous ones will succeed.
If you are not the courageous one the chances are, you will run away from the middle of the journey.
In the process of self-actualisation, you need to remove this vulnerability to different scenarios, to negative criticism
to undue opposition.
You have to be very, very strong.
Not affected by any negativity, either it is from within yourself or it is from outside of yourself.
Become foolproof.
Unshakable trust, unshakeable determination.
Some people are so vulnerable to negative criticism,
their peace is ruffled easily.
You can stir them up
by saying a negative word, and their entire Sufi course will be destroyed.
Bulleh shah said, 'When people call you a disbeliever, a disbeliever, disbeliever,
tell them, yes I am, yes I am, and don't give a damn about it.
Believe in the one that you love. Do not listen to those who are jealous of your spiritual progression in the path of love.
So, believe in yourself will lead you to believe in God.
If you do not believe in yourself completely, you will never be able to believe in God completely.
And when you believe in yourself, and you know who you are and what you're doing,
you turn a deaf ear on any vulnerability, on any opposition, on any negative criticism.
However, as a true believer in God, you will obviously be open to positive criticism because positive criticism will,
will show you of your flaws which you personally, are not capable of noticing.
So a Sufi is always open to positive criticism in order to correct himself. Right?
But negative criticism cannot shake his foundations.
And that is the path of forbearance, and this equanimity is very important.
Acceptance, equanimity, all these things.
Now, these are the exoteric characters of self-actualisation.
These are the hidden, these are the mental, physical, and rational points of self-actualisation.