The legend of fire

The fourth retained the story of the making of fire in their legends; some believed them, some did not. (Tales of the Dervishes, p.39)

If you don’t have fire, does it matter if someone else once could make fire?

Here we have indifference. If a topic or ability is not important to us, how much thought or attention do we give it? Chances are, not much. If no one has the skill, I’m not going to be able to learn it. Does it matter then whether fire truly exists or not?

Fables are created and told in order to teach a lesson or moral. Legends are fluff. Take them or leave them. True or fictional. What does it matter if Nour made fire? I can’t do it, and neither can you, so let’s just get on with our lives.

Oh, you can make fire. That changes the relevance of the information. Now I have to decide whether fire is useful or dangerous. What skills are needed to make fire? Who can or should acquire those skills? There’s a whole Pandora’s box of questions that arise once legend becomes reality.

This is the group with the most diverse reaction to the ability to create fire when greeted with it by the teacher and his disciples. The whole spectrum of reactions is opened up to them. How do you react to new information? Are you accepting? Fearful? Doubting? Happy? Excited? What happens when you try to teach me and I fail? Jealousy, rage, and depression can all arrive on the scene. If I succeed and my neighbor fails, perhaps pride and arrogance show up.

Relevance determines my relationship with the topic. If it has no relevance to me, I don’t need to reject it, hide it, or ban it. I also don’t need to celebrate it, control it, or master it. When the relevance changes, though, watch out, because life is going to get interesting!

The Likeness of Nour

The third worshipped a likeness of Nour himself, because it was he who had taught them [to make fire]. (Tales of the Dervishes, p.39)

The cult of personality.

It is unclear to me from The Story of Fire whether anyone in this third tribe retained the ability to use fire. Who do we give power to because of who they are? Perhaps they once did something for us or did something great for humanity even. Do they still deserve that power or prestige? Do we overlook their faults and shortcomings because of what they once did or the position they have?

Nour was a person who offered the people a skill. Great scientists and teachers are respected by us today. We can express our gratitude for what they have provided for us, but I don’t know of anyone who worships Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, or Stephen Hawking. There is the occasional religious zealot that convinces a group of people to follow him or her (Check out Unarius for something really off the wall and not too long ago). What do these leaders do or offer that creates a following?

I was raised in a Christian tradition, so the obvious application for me is Jesus. I have been around enough different Christians to know that at least some of them seem to have fallen into this third tribe. The primary point becomes a relationship with Jesus and not the application of his teachings. I don’t know enough about Islam to comment on Muhammad, but he would seem to be another candidate for study.

Whom have you put on a pedestal? Have you changed someone from a person into an object? How does that (or did that) change your relationship with that person?

Instruments

The second tribe forgot the art and worshipped instead the instruments (Tales of the Dervishes, p.39)

While the priests of the first tribe highlight social differences, here, we turn to objects and procedures. The outcome is neglected.

What if people forgot that matches were for striking or that lighters need fluid to produce fire? If we kept the habit of carrying them around, but they lost their purpose, why keep them? What are you holding on to that no longer has a purpose?

It is really easy to see how people can get trapped in this viewpoint within the realm of religion. Comparing buildings, statues, altars, chairs and chalices can lead away from the real purpose of a gathering. Having a more beautiful (whether simple or ornate) object does not necessarily impact the result of using that object. Moving back into the secular world, let’s consider cars. If the purpose is to get us from point A to point B, there may be some minor advantages to having one car rather than another, but does it really matter if we have heated leather seats and satellite radio? We can ooh and aah over a sleek model car that can do 0-60 in under 5 seconds, but if we are going to follow the speed limit and have 200 miles to go, aren’t there many other suitable choices?

I place following procedures in this tribe as well. Procedures are developed to produce an outcome consistently. When the outcome is forgotten, the procedure can take precedent over the result. This is the tribe that cries out, “We’ve always done it this way.” The production of fire has been forgotten or neglected for following the rules and regulations about rubbing two sticks together. While it can be useful to identify steps and criteria to create consistent results, losing sight of the purpose loses the power of fire. What procedures are you following that have lost or overtaken their purpose?

Priests

The first tribe which had learned about fire reserved the secret for their priests, who remained in affluence and power while the people froze. (Tales of the Dervishes, p.39)

Completely sidestepping for a moment the religious implications of the word ‘priests,’ the dynamics of discrimination and class warfare are packed into this one sentence. People with power prosper. People without it suffer.

We have no information on how people became priests in this tribe. Were you born a priest? If not, at what age did you become a priest? Could you choose to become a priest or where you selected? Does gender matter? What other criteria might disqualify you from becoming a priest? What rites of passage or trials did you have to overcome in order to become one of the elite?

To live in affluence while the people froze implies separation and segregation within the society. Fire represents the power that enabled this segregation to persist. If too many people learned about fire in this tribe, the priests would lose their affluence and power. Fear drives the priests to hold onto their skills, but fear also must be present in those without fire. Otherwise, I have to presume that those without the fire would rise up and grab the power from the priests.

As unhealthy a system as this tribe seems to us today, for it to persist, it has to be a balanced system. What fascinates me most are the beliefs and views of the people in this tribe. What are the benefits for those without fire? What fears keep them from upsetting the balance of power? What keeps those with power from looking compassionately on those without fire? What beliefs do the priests hold that prevent them from sharing?

Fire may be the symbol of power in this story, but the power dynamic between those who have and those who have not still exists today. What powers do you hold that you are unwilling to share?

Nour

This man was called Nour. He decided to travel from one community to another, showing the people his discovery.

Nour passed the secret to many groups of people. Some took advantage of the knowledge. Others drove him away, thinking that he must be dangerous, before they had time to understand how valuable this discovery could be to them. Finally, a tribe before which he demonstrated became so panic-stricken that they set about him and killed him, being convinced that he was a demon. (Tales of the Dervishes, p.39)

When we have mastered a new skill, what is the first thing we usually want to do? Show it to someone else.

According to the story, Nour developed a skill that no one else had at the time: creating fire. He set out to show others. How do you react when someone else demonstrates a skill for you? Do you become jealous? Does it inspire you to learn the skill? Are you in awe of the person or do you brush them off?

Parents are usually excited to share and rejoice when their baby learns to roll over, crawl, walk, or say a new word. When do we lose the excitement over learning a new skill? Do we ever become like the groups in the story who are afraid of someone’s skill? What sorts of skills make us afraid? What sort of value do we need to see in a skill in order to consider it useful? Is there a way to present a new skill that encourages us to accept it? Is there a way to present it that would make us fearful? How important is the person demonstrating the skill in our perception of the skill?

 

What is fire?

Once upon a time a man was contemplating the ways in which Nature operates, and he discovered, because of his concentration and application, how fire could be made. (Tales of the Dervishes, p.39)

Can you imagine not knowing how to start a fire?

Today, we have matches, lighters, and electrical switches which will start fires for us instantly. Perhaps you have even used a magnifying glass to light a fire. If you’ve had any wilderness survival training, maybe you can even start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Fire is so common today, that it is hard for us to imagine a time when people might not have had it.

It must have seemed like magic.

Looking at today’s technology, what is magical now? Science-fiction has been filled with examples of ray guns, star ships, transporters, medical scanners and treatments that all seemed impossible or at least very futuristic when first imagined. We now have 3d printers capable of creating bones and organs. We can send people and objects into space. Self-driving cars and robots that cook exist today.

How do we view technological innovations? Are we afraid? Do those with it wield power over the rest of us? Do we worship those who have it? Do we worship the technology itself? Do we try and ignore or hide it from ourselves or others? What attitudes are necessary in order for new technology to become useful for us? How do we teach or persuade others that this new technology is good for us?

Groups in The Story of Fire answered these questions differently. Considering technology and innovation is only one potential application we can explore here.

The Story of Fire

The Sufi tradition offers many teaching stories. Passed on orally from teacher to disciple for hundreds if not thousands of years, these stories present points to ponder and offer insights on how people function. Idries Shah collected and published some of these stories in Tales of the Dervishes. This is the collection where I first read The Story of Fire.

To summarize the story, Nour discovers how to make fire. He travels around and teaches many groups the skill, but eventually is killed by a group that is scared by his ability. Several centuries later, a teacher and his disciples visit with the same groups and notice how each has retained portions of what Nour taught.

By looking at the different groups and their relationship with fire, I believe this short four-page story can provide hours of commentary and discussion on our views of learning, community, and personal relationships. These are the topics I plan to explore here. What lessons can we learn today from The Story of Fire? How does this tale from several hundred years ago apply to our lives today?