Sufism: Love & Mysticism

In this talk and guided practice, we examine the tradition of Sufism. In general, Sufism can be said to be the heart of all religion, in that it is about finding the essence of love and divine connection within any given tradition. It is a form of mysticism, of finding union with the divine. When we transcend the ego, we find the unity of God that is always already present. This is a 20-minute talk followed by a 20-minute guided meditation.

Transcript

For today's class,

I would like to speak a bit about Sufism.

I'll start with a poem by Hafiz,

An amazing Sufi poet that lived in Persia.

I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a Christian,

A Hindu,

A Muslim,

A Buddhist,

A Jew.

The truth has shared so much of itself with me that I can no longer call myself a man,

A woman,

An angel,

Or even a pure soul.

Love has befriended Hafiz so completely,

It has turned to ash and freed me of every concept and image my mind has ever known.

So I decided to start with this poem because it speaks to the essence of Sufism.

In the sense that Sufism is not about adherence to a specific doctrine or a specific religion.

Rather,

It's about finding the essence within any given religion or doctrine.

In this sense,

The term Sufi can be used in two general ways.

In one aspect,

It is considered that the Sufi is a mystic within the tradition of Islam.

And that's in part because the word Sufi itself is Arabic and came into use during the rise of Islam and the mystics therein.

But in another sense,

Sufi is a term that is much more broad and some Sufis will say that Sufism is the heart of all religions.

And what they mean by that is that a Sufi is not adhering to a specific doctrine,

But that they find their home within any given doctrine.

And within that,

They bring forth the essence that transcends all doctrines and religions.

And that essence is love.

In this sense,

To be a Sufi means more a way of being in the world than being a specific practitioner of a form.

So in Sufism,

The concept of love and the heart is very important.

And so the Sufi is often associated with being a lover of God and they pine after the beloved.

So for those of you that are familiar with the poetry of Rumi,

Who is a mother well-known Sufi poet,

Much of his poetry is love poetry.

And it's poetry for the love of God and for longing to be united with the beloved.

And in this sense,

Sufism is really just a form of mysticism that we're using the word Sufi that is Arabic,

But it refers to the mystics within all different traditions.

Because within all the different traditions,

Whether Christianity,

Judaism,

Daoism,

There's mystics within those traditions.

And the aim of the mystic is to find that immerse,

That ability to immerse in the presence of the divine,

To have a direct experience of God or union with God.

I'll talk about both aspects today.

The general aspect of Sufi or Sufism being the heart of all religions,

As well as Sufism in the more specific context of mysticism within Islam.

So the Arabic word Sufi,

The etymology of it,

Has a couple of different meanings.

One means wool,

And that association came from the fact that the early Sufis were often ascetics and eschewed material things and would often just wear a simple wool covering.

And so they were associated with wool.

Another meaning etymologically of the word Sufi is purity.

And that was because they were striving after this pure connection to the divine.

And so sometimes the word Sufi can be etymologically translated as one who wears wool on top of purity.

And that has a couple of different meanings.

One is in the sense that because they're seeking this pure connection to the divine,

They're focused on the spiritual realm,

And so they're not concerned with the outer material world.

And so how they appear is not necessarily at all reflective of who they are or what they're bringing into the world.

And so they might look like a poor person or a beggar,

Or they might look like a king.

And yet the outer appearance does not matter for what they are and what they're bringing into the world,

Which is that heart of all religions of love.

And so they eschew the outer appearance and are not concerned with it.

A second meaning of that of one who wears wool on top of purity is related to this idea that the Sufi could find a home in any given religion and that they would adapt to their time and place and culture.

So if one were in an Islamic country,

One would practice Sufism within the shell or the covering,

The wool,

So to speak,

Of Islam.

If one was in a Christian community,

One would be a Sufi within that Christian community.

They would find that essence of love as it's expressed through the Christian tradition.

And so I've met people who identify as Christian Sufis and Muslim Sufis and Buddhist Sufis and Jewish Sufis and Taoist Sufis.

And so this term Sufi is really not referring to a specific religion or a doctrine,

But more of this way of being in the world and adapting to circumstances while bringing forth that essence of love.

And this is an important concept because often being human and having minds,

It can be easy to get caught up in the outer appearances and to get caught up in the outer doctrine.

And with that,

The doctrine itself can become limiting and it can actually end up being counterproductive to what the original intention of the doctrine was.

And it's pretty easy to see this across organized religions,

Whether Christianity or Islam or anything else.

It can be easy to lose the essence of that religion,

Which in its heart is love and brotherhood and connection to everyone and everything,

Connection to God and the love of God for all of creation,

Because it's not just part of creation that belongs to God.

Everything within creation is God.

And so we have to sometimes let go of attachment to the outer shell of the dogma or the doctrine of a given religious system in order to return to the essence of it.

And that's really the heart of Sufism.

And so that's why they're very comfortable moving between religions and languages and just bringing forth that essence of humanity,

Of love.

Because too often we get caught up in the words and that outer appearance.

As I said,

They not only cross religions,

But Sufis are also known for crossing languages.

Many well-known Sufis were amazing linguists and translators.

And it's for the same reason,

Because so much of the strife and conflict that we have often arises from miscommunication,

Differences in languages and perspectives,

And how language frames our perspective of reality and our experiences.

And so the Sufis would often learn multiple languages so that they could communicate across boundaries and across cultures and bring forth this essence.

You know,

If we get too attached to the outer doctrine or the language,

It can actually go against our ultimate goal.

And this speaks to some of what I've shared with all of you before in previous classes about not getting attached to the words and finding the flexibility to adapt.

Because if we go to,

Say,

An Islamic country and we are devout Christians and we are attached to perceiving the world from that way,

Then we might go around judging and saying,

Oh,

This is wrong,

This is wrong,

This is wrong,

And people need to learn that this is the one right way.

Whereas the Sufi,

If,

Say,

They were a Christian and they went to an Islamic country,

They would assimilate and find the essence within Islam that is also within Christianity.

In other words,

That there's one God and that God is love.

And so when we let go of this attachment to the words,

It actually frees us to become more malleable and to experience the beauty that is always here and that is just simply manifesting in many different forms.

Because all of the religions,

All of the spiritual traditions have their own beauty.

They have their own essence that they're bringing forth,

Their own aspect and perspective on the divine and creation and humanity on life.

And if we allow ourselves,

We can start to see how each individual perspective or religion is contributing to the overall understanding of God,

Of the all,

Of the universe,

Of the all-pervading oneness that we are all a part of.

So to move from the general to the more specific iteration or understanding of Sufism as mysticism within Islam.

Within Islam,

Sufis will often use sound and actually they'll use this across traditions.

They'll use sound as a way to open the heart and find that connection to the divine.

Within Islam,

They'll often use the name of God in Arabic,

Which is Allah.

So it's funny,

I sometimes hear people,

You know,

Ask why Muslims or Sufis will use the word Allah even when speaking in English.

But this creates a lot of some sometimes conflict between God and Allah and the idea that it's somehow different.

But there actually is a lot of reasons why Arabic speakers will continue to use the name Allah,

Even when speaking in English.

In part,

It's from the etymological definition of Allah,

Which means essence without likeness.

And so it's this idea that it's this indescribable oneness.

In Daoism,

They would call it the Dao,

You know,

It's this essence without likeness.

It's this unity and uniqueness that is indescribable.

They cannot be put into words.

Another reason that they will use the name Allah is because of the belief of the impact of the syllables and the sound.

Allah has a very strong resonance with the heart chakra because any a sound resonates in the heart.

And so Allah,

The first Allah goes into the heart and the second Allah opens the heart.

And so it's said that using this name actually has an energetic and physiological impact on our spiritual wiring,

So to speak.

And this is also why in different practices,

They'll use beads and they'll count and they'll just say Allah,

Allah,

Allah.

For one,

It's consciously directing the mind towards God and keeping our intention rooted in that desire to connect with the divine.

But secondly,

The sound itself is helping to open the heart so we can find that universal love that we have within.

Similarly,

The Sufis will often use a phrase from the Quran,

La ilaha illallah,

As what they call zikr or remembrance of God.

And they'll say it over and over,

La ilaha illallah,

La ilaha illallah.

And that too,

As you can hear,

Has a lot of the a sound that open the heart.

But this phrase,

It's translated sometimes as there is no God,

Only Allah,

Or there is no deity but God.

And the first God is actually referring to a multiplicity of gods.

In other words,

There is no multiplicity of deities.

There's only one God.

There's only one unity.

So this is also in a more esoteric way,

Sometimes translated as there is no duality,

Only oneness.

Part of the reason this phrase was written in the Quran was because at the time when Muhammad was alive and Islam was coming about,

There were a lot of the Arabs were pagan and they were polytheistic.

And so Muhammad was trying to convey this idea that all of those different forms of the polytheistic deities were still just emanations of the one underlying God of Allah.

And so that ultimately,

All is still one.

And they also convey this through the names of God.

They'll often say that there's 99 names of God.

And what the 99 names are,

Are they are 99 divine attributes or qualities of God that manifest in the world.

So,

For example,

Yasalam or Salam Allah.

Salam is peace.

And so Salam is the peaceful aspect of the divine that manifests throughout the world.

Or Sabur means patience or the patient one.

And that is another divine attribute.

Or Wali,

Which means protector or friend.

And so there's this idea that there is one God that takes myriad forms and manifestations throughout the world and within the expression of humanity.

And so for the Sufis,

They will use these phrases as a way of opening the heart,

But also continually coming back to this understanding that everything is one.

And that while it might take different forms of patience or peace or that of a friend,

That ultimately they are all emanations of divine love in the world as it manifests.

And similarly,

That while there's only one God,

There are many different religions that are merely manifestations and expressions of this underlying energy of the oneness of the divine.

To this end,

One of the aims of Sufism and Sufi practices is to transcend the ego.

Because in the Sufi view,

It is our individual egos which create this veil of separation that make us believe that we are separate from the rest of the world and separate from God.

And that the more we can transcend the ego,

We'll be able to experience that divine unity that is the goal of mysticism and mystic practices.

To realize experientially the presence of God and that we are never separate from it.

And that any perception of separation is an illusion.

It's an illusion of the mind.

And so they have a lot of different practices in Sufism.

As I said,

They will use sound.

So they'll do chanting and zikr.

They will use sound internally saying Allah or la ilaha illa Allah or other phrases such as one of the names of God internally as a way to remember God and bring out specific qualities.

Some of you are probably familiar also with the whirling dervishes where they would twirl around.

And that twirling also is a way to transcend the ego to disorient oneself and to they would hold one hand up and one hand down towards earth.

And it's to create this channel through the self to connect heaven and earth within oneself and thereby transcend the ego and experience that oneness of connection.

To elaborate a little bit on this concept of overcoming the ego through the view of Sufism,

I'm going to read a little bit of about a paragraph and a half of quote from Hazrat Anayat Khan,

Who many of you have heard me quote before.

He's a very well known Sufi practitioner who was born in India and trained with a number of Sufi masters and master musicians.

He was said to be an amazing musician.

And he traveled to the West,

Eventually to the United States in the early 1900s,

And brought Sufism to the West.

And he was very well educated and well traveled.

And so he would often incorporate different philosophies and religions in his teachings.

Again,

Seeking to convey the message in many different forms,

Regardless of the outer shell.

So about the ego,

He writes that Plato wrote that we live in a shadow world,

Where we confuse the shadow of ourselves with reality.

This is the nafs,

The false ego,

Which stand in the light before God,

Causing,

So to speak,

A spiritual eclipse.

The nafs,

False ego,

Turns us from the one to the many,

Enticing us with all the things of this world.

Then one attaches themselves to one thing after another,

Which brings,

At best,

Momentary satisfaction.

Through their spiritual practices,

The Sufi learns to chain the nafs,

To perceive that it is only a shadow of reality.

And finding the sun of truth within their being and looking upon it,

One is no longer aware of the shadow.

Then the nafs,

The ego,

Is not destroyed,

But harnessed.

The whole of one's being is attuned to God,

And everything within them serves God.

This is the work of all on the path of illumination,

Of whatever school they may be.

There is no obstacle other than this false self,

And there is no better means of controlling it than by meditation and by practicing the presence of God.

And so that's Sufism in a nutshell.

Sounds kind of similar to some other traditions we've talked about.

And that's the thing,

Is it's easy to get caught up in the words and different perspectives or slight differences in how the perspective is conveyed.

But ultimately,

All of these different perspectives are simply different ways of saying the same thing.

That we are all one,

And that we are love,

And that we all have this ability to access a state of love,

Compassion,

And wisdom within.

And the way to do that is to transcend the ego,

To get beyond this false sense of dualism,

Of self and other,

And to experientially realize the stillness of that divine presence of the all-pervading oneness that we all have within,

Because it is what we are.

So,

Let us practice.

If you will,

Please find a comfortable posture for meditation.

You can be seated or lying down.

The most important thing is that your body is well supported and able to release any unnecessary tension.

If you're seated,

Make sure that your knees are below your hips,

You've got a stable base,

And that your spine and torso are rising up towards heaven with the natural curves.

Your shoulders are relaxed back and down.

Once you're settled into your posture,

Begin attuning to the breath,

Simply observing the natural movement of the inhalation and exhalation.

As you breathe,

Allow your awareness to become more present,

Present to the sensations within the body,

The felt sense of the body as a whole,

Present to the movement of the breath,

The air around you,

And the stability beneath you.

As you breathe,

Allow your awareness to become more present,

Bask in this sense of presence,

Softening and relaxing into it.

As you breathe,

Allow your awareness to become more present,

Softening and relaxing into it.

Now,

As you breathe on the exhalation,

Think the words,

There is no duality.

And as you inhale,

Think the words,

Only oneness.

On the exhalation,

There is no duality.

On the inhalation,

Only oneness.

On the exhalation,

Only oneness.

If other thoughts come in,

Simply let them go,

And try to experience and feel what occurs in your body as you think these words on the breath.

On the exhalation,

Only oneness.

As you continue thinking these words on the breath,

Simultaneously try to tune into your heartbeat.

On the exhalation,

Only oneness.

On the exhalation,

Only oneness.

On the exhalation,

Only oneness.

On the exhalation,

Only oneness.

Now,

Let go of the words.

And as you continue breathing,

Focus all of your awareness in the heart center.

Notice any sensations that might arise as you focus your awareness within this space of the physical body.

As you focus your awareness within the heart center,

Ask yourself internally,

What is this that is being experienced?

Not looking to describe it in words,

But to guide you into simply being present with it,

With any experience that's arising,

As it is.

What is this that's being experienced?

The sensations may change or shift.

New sensations may arise.

And keep using the question to guide your awareness into a greater state of presence.

Now,

Add a second question.

As you allow yourself to sink into the pure experience of what is occurring in the felt sense of the heart center,

Ask yourself the question,

Who is doing the experiencing?

Realizing that the mind that is asking the question is not that which is experiencing that which is experienced.

When you think you know who is experiencing,

If you think to yourself it is me,

Look deeper.

Who is this me?

Allow the question to take you beyond yourself.

As you do,

You may become aware of a stillness within.

Now,

We want to enrich your knowledge so that you may be recognizes,

Become aware of the felt sense of the body as a whole.

Feel the stability beneath you,

Supporting you and holding you up.

And the air around you,

In which you are immersed like a fish in water.

Become aware of the movement of the breath,

Connecting inside and outside.

When you are ready,

Maintain a connection to the stillness within.

As you gently and slowly begin to open your eyes,

Taking in the world around you,

Letting it flow through you.

Across time and geography,

Across all the different cultures and religions of the world.

There have always been those who found this universal truth of underlying oneness.

That we are all connected,

That our essence is love.

And that that love takes form in myriad complex and changing ways and shapes.

And that the beauty of the divine,

Of God,

Of the all manifests in complexity.

All the different perspectives,

Beliefs and religions are merely limited manifestations of the complexity of the underlying oneness.

As we soften into ourselves and our true nature,

We realize that we all have everything inside of us.

We are microcosmic reflections of the all.

And because of that,

We carry an entire universe within.

As we soften into that,

It becomes easier to accept others as they are and the world as it is.

And to allow ourselves and our words and our actions to adapt to any given situation,

Time period or culture,

Understanding that what's most important is conveying that essence of love and unity in a way that can be understood by those to whom we speak.

Thank you all for joining me today.

Reviews

As always , the message of live, traditional and worldly beliefs are explored with great patience and depth. I appreciate your knowledge to assist my growth☆

Thank you Thomas
I have never really read anything about Sufism. I have heard of Rumi of course, but I did not take the time to learn about Sufism. Thank you for the summary.
As a young teenager I considered myself a devote Christian, but as I got older I became dissolutioned with organized religion and turned more to what I would call a spiritual/metaphysical belief. But I always have felt that all religions at their core were saying the same thing. That's why I enjoy your talks so much. You are so good at explaining multiple perspectives and how in the end its really the same message. We are one with everything..
Peace and joy to you and everyone.

I enjoy all of your talks and meditations, so grateful for them! Each of them is a piece of wisdom and points toward a better understanding of the human and the whole. You have a remarkable ability to explain complex concepts. Many thanks Thomas! 🙏🙂💛

I am so grateful for your teaching Thomas as I practice “Sufism”, experiencing the Oneness, opening to the Divine within and radiating Love. Doing this with you my brother. I love you.

Hello dear Thomas and thanks for this long jearney.. On the first sight I was a Lil annoyed by your long talk and I thought that the mediation guidance would start earlier, maybe after 5 or ten minutes of talking.. But at least I think I get the essence of your lecture and message, so thanks for your nice words and I wish you and everyone else a wonderful rest of the day.
Greetings from Germany by Michael

Sufism is a new angle of spirituality for me... but its truth is irrefutable... as it is oneness that connects all regardless of faith.

Thank you for a beautiful offering.
Blessings
🙏🏽🤍🦋

Thank you. Very beautiful talk - so needed in our time

Yes! Truth and Freedom in the One perfector of LOVE ,harmony and beauty. The spirit of guidance.

Wonderful talk and meditation. Thank you! One God, one love ❤️

This is so clearly explained what life is all about, followed by one of the most powerful meditation. Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Great information and meditation. I love your style, Thomas. Thank you. ❤️❤️❤️

So lovely, thank you 🙏 ❤️❤️

A church, a temple or a Kaba stone,
Quran or Bible or a martyr's bone,
All these and more my heart can tolerate, Since my religion now is Love alone.
Abul Ala al-Maari

Its the Message not the Messenger

Love and Light always
Sue

Just beautiful, Thomas. Waves in an ocean of Oneness. So appreciate your teaching.🙏

one of the most enriching lectures/meditations i’ve listened to on insight timer 🙏🏾. beautifully presented! thank you for sharing your gift and knowledge ✨🤍

Profound lecture and meditation!

A beautiful introduction to Sufism.

Much love thanks 🙏

Thankyou Thomas for sharing your knowledge especially🙏And insight. You’ve opened another door for me..💙🙌😌Perfect!...Love the learning..😊

Excellent Thomas!!! **********im giving ten stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️