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In fact our ordinary, worldly self can be helpful on the path. In the ninth century the Sufis of Nishapur realized the danger inherent in becoming identified as a wayfarer, for this very identity strengthens the ego. Many Sufis of that time could be recognized by the special patch-frock garments that they wore, and so the Nishapur Sufis only wore ordinary clothes. This attitude became integrated into the Naqshbandi tradition, which stressed the idea of “solitude in the crowd”—”outwardly to be with the people, inwardly to be with God.”
For the Sufi, spiritual life is a love affair, and from this love affair a child is conceived and then born. This child is the path and also the goal. The eyes of the child are His eyes. The heart of the child beats in harmony with His heart. For so long He has been waiting. Slowly we come to Him. He awakens the memory of when we were together with Him, and then, through the hard work of aspiration, we prepare a place for our reunion. Through discipline and devotion we learn to meditate, to still the mind and tune into the heart. The practice of meditation energizes the psyche, bringing our shadow to the surface, forcing us to confront our own darkness. Slowly we work upon ourself, clearing away our conditioning, freeing ourself from the desires of the ego.
Spiritual life begins with getting down into the muck and mud of the unconscious and working there to integrate and clear it up. So often we cramp ourself into corners, limit our creativity with clutter. We need to make space for ourself to discover the deeper and more dynamic dimension of our inner being. As we slowly empty ourself of rubbish so sunlight begins to stream in. We see and feel the inner landscape of the soul and we become alive there. This is often experienced in dreams in which we find ourself in beautiful gardens, or see radiant cities in luminous landscapes. Frequently these dreams have the quality of being “more real than real life,” because the dreamer has touched the eternal dimension of himself.
This purification is also a process of rooting ourself in the depths of our own being. Inner work takes us deeper and deeper until we reach the bedrock of our own psyche. It is only when we are standing on the eternally solid ground of the Self that we can come into His presence without being made totally unbalanced by this dynamic experience.
We say “no” to the ego in order to say “yes” to the Self. Surrender is a highly dynamic state. The “no” contains within it the “yes.” It creates a space in which the seed of affirmation can germinate. Through the “no” the “yes” is born. Surrender is thus essentially an act of affirmation. This affirmation, this consent to the Self, attracts the grace of the Beloved: “It is the consent that draws down the grace.”
The dreamer knows how rare this act is, because “birds usually mate with birds.” This means that certain spiritual energies rarely directly interact with human beings, for, as T. S. Eliot wisely remarked, “human kind cannot bear very much reality.”5 There must be an inner purity, an emptiness of surrender, for the higher energies to be able to manifest without destroying the human being. One has to have a central core of trust, a bond with the Beloved, in order to contain the insecurity of a life of the spirit. The ego needs the Higher Self in order to drown itself in safety.
“dwells in God, and yet he goes out towards created things in the spirit of love towards all things.”2 It is this manifestation of the hidden link of love between the Beloved and His creation that fully transforms the lover. The energy of the Beloved flows from the innermost depths of the psyche out into the world. The whole of the lover, including the physical body, is involved in this process of manifestation, enabling the whole of the lover to be transformed.
That we may merge into the deep and dazzling darkness, vanish into it, dissolve in it forever in an unbelievable bliss beyond imagination, for absolute nothingness represents absolute bliss. Gregory of Nyssa
Plotinus says: We are like a choir who stand round the conductor, but we do not always sing in tune, because our attention is diverted by looking at external things. So we always move around the One—if we did not we would dissolve and cease to exist—but we do not always look towards the One. Hence, instead of that free and conscious cooperation in the great life of All which alone can make personal life worth living, we move like slaves or marionettes, and oblivious to the whole to which our little steps contribute, fail to observe the measure whereto the worlds keep time.
A breath that does not repeat the name of God is a wasted breath. Kabir
AI Summary
The Bond With the Beloved by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee presents key insights from the Sufism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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