Transparency of Preference: Witnessing Without Judgment

Rabia's spiritual practice emphasized radical honesty before God—speaking her deepest desires, fears, and contradictions without pretense. This honesty extended to acknowledging her own human tendencies, including preferences and attachments. Modern favoritism often hides in unconsciousness: we genuinely don't see that we favor certain employees, children, or friends. Or we see it but rationalize it, calling it merit or chemistry. Rabia's approach suggests a different path: transparent witnessing without judgment. Notice who you turn to first. Who gets your benefit of the doubt? Who do you assume the best of, and who the worst? These observations are not moral failures to hide but data illuminating our fragmented hearts. The practice involves observing these patterns with the same loving, non-judgmental awareness Rabia brought to her own soul. This transparency serves a purpose: we cannot address favoritism we don't acknowledge. Many institutional favoritism problems persist not from malice but from blindness. By cultivating Rabia's kind of honest witnessing, we create the conditions for genuine change. The cost of avoiding this transparency is remaining trapped in unconscious patterns that damage both the favored and the excluded.