My Caravan of Dream

“The secret that nobody is saying is that the ecological crisis is founded upon a very deep spiritual crisis in creation. It comes from a very foundational attitude that we have in our culture towards creation.” Excerpted from the talk Spiritual Ecology given at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA on December 3, 2011. DVD … Continue reading »

We are not in pursuit of formalities or fake religious laws. For through the stairway of existence we have come to God’s door. – Hafiz  originally taken from here

We are unripe fruits in the radiance of Your sunlight, but what a dance we are throwing as You do the ripening.” ~Rumi This is one of my favorite lines from Rumi. It brings me back to the conversation we have been having the last few days. Every action no matter how small makes a … Continue reading »

A sufi was wandering the world. One night he came as a guest to a community of sufis. He tied up his donkey in the stable and then was welcomed to the head of the dais. They went into deep meditation and mystical communion, he and these friends. For such people a person’s presence is … Continue reading »

Hola Friends, Lately I have felt the onus of the blog shifting greatly and I wanted to reiterating something that came to me a few weeks ago when I was sitting on the train going to work. Concerning this blog, I am only the care taker of this space on the Internet. I don’t own … Continue reading »

Lately I have managed to have some time off and a significant amount of that time has been spent in reflection about my life, and the usual where I want to be, what things I have to do for the upcoming year. Nestled somewhere amongst all these reflections were some thoughts and inspiration I had … Continue reading »

The Significance of this Moment in Time: 3 min video clip from the Science and Nonduality event, 2011. _________ Introduction We live in a culture caught in the illusion of time, rushing towards an unsustainable future. And yet the mystic knows that only the moment is real, only in the moment can we have a … Continue reading »

If anyone should come to his house, whether known or unknown to him, he used to come and meet him with a smiling face and to the utmost of his power he worked to make him welcome. He used to wait on guests with his own hands [...] Sometimes he used to be occupied with … Continue reading »

I was reading this and started thinking about how we often times get what we deserve and the role our inner attitude plays in the shaping of things. ____________________ Self-deception in spiritual practices is most often attributed to an inappropriate inner attitude on the part of the seeker. This includes those who in Hz Mevlana … Continue reading »

Though  the title of this is about Discovering the essence of Sufism or Islam, I think this applies to any particular tradition. I write a post about mostly sufism here on the blog, but I always try to post  things which can be useful in approach  other sacred traditions in part because I feel it … Continue reading »

Humanity must grow up from Sacred Resonance on Vimeo. _________ I met Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee during his spiritual ecology seminar in San Francisco. I’ve been following his teachings for a while, in particular around the Divine Feminine. I didn’t miss this chance to ask him my questions and here’s what he said. For more … Continue reading »

This follow selection was taken from Dr Michaela Ozelsel Book 40 days. It is very poignant for a few reasons. The reason why I have liked this essay and the many other essays in her book is that Dr Ozelsel combines traditional spiritual education and experiences with contemporary research. A lot of studies have been … Continue reading »

One of the best posts I read in a while written by a dear friend over at the Chronicle of a  Lone Sheep Blog. In my early days when I got introduced to sufism. I spent a lot of time reading Sufi stories. They seem simplistic at first but if you spent time with them … Continue reading »

Obviously the title is a misnomer. Who can dare to speak and say with a definitive gesture that this is what a mystical tradition is for. That would be a terrible case of misappropriation. However hopefully as I get into the title you will see why I chose it. The Science of States It is … Continue reading »

Reader Comments Elemental changes in our being seem to reveal a person we must yet come to know, while discarding an old self that now seems absurd and incongruous. Whether the changes are triggered by sustained and deep spiritual inquiry or a traumatic experience, the result is the same – the old self becomes almost … Continue reading »

I had the great opportunity today to talk to an old friend who first met me when I was a bit lost and rough around the edges. The aphorism still holds true about a decade later, that the more things change the more they stay the same. I was a relentless jokester back then, a … Continue reading »

I have had the chance to talk to Dr Toussulis and very rarely have I met someone as knowledgeable  about Sufism   His book has so much to offer please if you haven’t read it yet please pick it up. Yannis Toussulis, Quest Books, Wheaton, USA, 2010. ISBN 978-0-8356-0864-0 Yannis Toussulis writes, “Over the last several decades, scores of … Continue reading »

I was standing at the checkout counter in the supermarket packing my bags while keeping one eye on my Thanksgiving food items getting rung up on the register. The numbers crept dangerously close to $200, then like water hugging the rim of a glass, the numbers exploded over – $205, $211, $218. I sucked it … Continue reading »

There is a point past where approaching a certain way becomes outdated. As time goes on  societies change people change, means of expression change as well. More importantly the science of the day changes. As as a scientist (junior scientist as I only have a masters) I feel that the science of the day should … Continue reading »

We’re prisoners in the shackles of an immense passion Afflicted and tormented with manacles on our ankles we are the miserable ones in the deserts o love skilled in the field of riot and revolution. Sometimes were thunder sometimes a bolt of lightening sometimes were clouds sometimes the sea. Sometimes were intellectuals sometimes were crazy were bewildered…just bewildered headless, footless, nothing in our pockets, worthless drunkards… though sometimes were revealed sometimes concealed sometimes earth-like were abased and debased sometimes sky like were exalted and transcendent in the tavern of ruin like Sayeed we’ve fallen down beyond all religion or infidelity after draining cup after cup after cup of wine. – Shah Nimatullah Continue reading »

Often enough, people look for a spiritual “final solution” to all of life’s ills. This results in numerous forms of fundamentalism: Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist in flavoring. Secular ideologues have also promised utopian solutions to all of our problems. All of these approaches tend to one or another form of absolutism, and all … Continue reading »

I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Chers Amis, In an effort to help promote Sufism for Western Seekers: Path of the Spiritual Traveler in Everyday Life by Dr Stewart Bitkoff, a fellow contributor on the blog and a personal friend I am giving away 3 brand new copies of the paperback edition to three lucky readers who are willing to write … Continue reading »

(taken from the Seven PIllars of Wisdom article resource) This introduction was originally published in Steps of Meditation by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, O.W. Barth Verlag Weilheim, 1962. Translated from the German by Zumurrud Butta. By Henry Corbin My dear Friend! If you had written a large opus about Sufism, its teachings, practices and history, and asked … Continue reading »

Locked Out of Life by Rumi   Again it happens in my sleep. A core of wakefulness opens. But I have ways of ignoring that. You say, How long will you beg from others, When there are things born of you that emperors want? Why waste time in meanness? Who else can say what you … Continue reading »

So far as the United States seems to be concerned, it is only a slight overstatement to say that Moslems and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists. Very little of the detail, the human density, the passion of Arab-Moslem life has entered the awareness of even those people whose profession … Continue reading »

We speak of the ecological oneness of nature, but there is a deeper oneness that nature embodies. The oneness of nature is a reflection of His oneness. Nature instinctively knows this inner, unmanifest wholeness just as a child instinctively knows its mother. But in nature this knowledge is not conscious. Consciousness is born with the … Continue reading »

Our investigations seem to have led us to a schema of spiritual experience in which, far from excluding one another, the one is interpreted through the other. Let us recapitulate the stages in this development : each being is an epiphanic form ( mazhar, majla ) of the Divine Being, who in it is manifested … Continue reading »

An Hour with Divine Mother Audrey Kitagawa “The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.” – from the book Illusions, by Richard Bach. In this program Carole Hallundbaek … Continue reading »

I have said in a few posts now that in the West that we  have sanitized love and fixated alot the personal fulfillment aspects of love. I felt this has been occurring since medieval times when the Troubadours brought back from the middle east many the beautiful ideals of dying for the beloved, but not so much that the earthly beloved was a … Continue reading »

I opened my late night reading Ibn Arabi Heir to the Prophet by Wiliam Chittick and came to the following which in many ways supports my previous posting The unknown face of Rumi – Sufism and Spiritual Consumerism in the West 3 . Without further ado: ____________ It is perhaps needless to say that Ibn ‘Arabi did not … Continue reading »

The “creed of love” is not a free-floating, universalistic form of mysticism. Sufism is a complex phenomenon that includes a number of irreducible cultural, political and psychological elements as well as spiritual ones. Sufism is multiplex phenomenon and the essence of Sufi spirituality can not be fully examined outside of its varying interpretations and socio … Continue reading »

Hello  Everyone I wanted to let you all know about Tuck Magazine. It is a dream come true, for many people most of all for my dear friend and fellow blogger from Canada Val. She is a Best of the Net and twice Pushcart nominated poet, novelist and satirist. She keeps a beautiful blog called … Continue reading »

The “creed of love” is not a free-floating, universalistic form of mysticism. Sufism is a complex phenomenon that includes a number of irreducible cultural, political and psychological elements as well as spiritual ones. Sufism is multiplex phenomenon and the essence of Sufi spirituality can not be fully examined outside of its varying interpretations and socio … Continue reading »

In my posting Just Some thoughts, I thought to give a voice to another aspect of the path that is not discussed much if at all out in the open outside the circle of friends. There is a great pain, great longing difficulties every step of the way, but there is a great “Love” that … Continue reading »

Sometimes I wonder if its possible to talk to someone nowadays. It is quite the feat if it happens. Every statement or not is intended to be a political statement. Each sentence  you say is used to further place one in some category. So much is happening and taking place that no one is heard, … Continue reading »

One of the most painful part of being a dervish is watching all your ideas and expectations get ripped to shreds. One cannot as Shah Nimatullah has said hold an opinion to sit in the circle of the Friend. Please don’t think it means  that I can’t believe that the Knicks wont do well  the … Continue reading »

The “creed of love” is not a free-floating, universalistic form of mysticism. Sufism is a complex phenomenon that includes a number of irreducible cultural, political and psychological elements as well as spiritual ones. Sufism is multiplex phenomenon and the essence of Sufi spirituality can not be fully examined outside of its varying interpretations and socio … Continue reading »

Most travelers make religion and spirituality too complicated of a thing.  The following is the Path of the Spiritual Traveler in Every Day Life. Follow these 5 steps and you will travel beyond religion and spiritual Paths; embracing your own higher potential.              Love God/Light with all your heart and soul. … Continue reading »

But spiritual affection is for God‘s sake, which is why this kind this kind of affection is called love of God’s sake. Those whose affection is for God, Exalted is He, must be ready and prepared for every kind of misfortune. In reality, what appeared, what appears as a misfortune is a very great blessing. … Continue reading »

I came across this passage from the Upanishads on The Alone with the Alone page adn I thought to add another germane quote. Enjoy Dave The world is the wheel of God, turning round And round with all living creatures upon its rim. The world is the river of God, Flowing from him and flowing … Continue reading »

Hello Friends, from time to time I like to share some thing with you all. Personal anecdotes from my life. Lessons from the path and other things. In part to keep myself honest and also secondly to present  some aspects of the path that is not talked about much. I think there is a lot … Continue reading »

Even from the scientific point of view, various approaches to investigating the connection between spirituality and erotic experience are increasingly being explored. Arya points out that physiological conenctions with the nasal breathing cycle: According to the classic Yoga literature, both durign orgasm and in the deepest meditative state of samadhi, both nostril are open. The … Continue reading »

Nasruddin had an ox with horns shaped like a bow. He had always wanted to sit between the horns and ride the ox but he was too afraid. One day he saw the ox sleeping, he approached it quietly and managed to sit between the horns but the animal was startled, it shook itself and … Continue reading »

I have been fortunate in that I have not received too many negative comments on the blog. But today I received the following comment from someone called simply ‘no important’ to my posting Another excerpt from Dogs from a Sufi point of View by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh Subhana Allah! What kind of religion do you follow? … Continue reading »

Now to those who lay claim to love I address these questions: How often have you wiped away the tears of a lover weeping for love of God Have you yourself  ever shed a single tear for love of God? What sacrifices have you made for the love of God? One could add many more … Continue reading »

The goblet of love is the lover’s heart, not his reason or his sense perception. For the heart fluctuates from state to state, just as God—who is the Beloved—is each day upon some task (Qur’ân 55:29). So the lover undergoes constant variation of the Beloved in His acts…. Love has many diverse and mutually opposed … Continue reading »

Affection makes a person forget about hunger and thirst and keeps him on the road of love. All creatures have taken their alloted share of affection. Even animals when they are in love will go for days without eating and drinking. That poor beast the camel, when love goes to his head, will eat no … Continue reading »

A friend of God must have affection like the Sun. Because when it rises, it is beneficial to all irrespective of whether they are Muslim, Christian, or Hindu. A friend of God must be generous like a river. We all get water from the river to quench our thirst. It does not discriminate whether we … Continue reading »

Walking out of the Subway station at St. Mark’s Place, I was excited.  I had been anticipating this Saturday morning meeting with Amoun all week. When I entered the bookstore and asked the young woman behind the counter if I could seem Amoun, she replied, “He’s not here.”  For a moment I was disappointed, then, … Continue reading »

Someone may be clairvoyant, able to see the future, and yet have very little wisdom. Like the man who saw water in his dream, and began leading everyone toward the mirage. I am the one with Heart-vision. I have torn open the veil. So they set out with him inside the dream, While he is … Continue reading »