“Art is dear to my heart, but nature is near to my soul.” In the human being, the soul comes first. Before the mind crystallizes, there is simply a channel of life flowing from the Unseen into the visible world. The subtle template of the mind precedes birth, but it is only with incarnation that […]
“My friends lull me to sleep, but my enemies keep me awake.” The presence of a friend is pure ease. Friends think alike, and when they differ, differ amicably. With a friend one feels little need to watch one’s step; the friend is always ready to overlook or forgive missteps. The friend knows one’s heart. […]
“Nothing new I say when I speak, I only renew the memory of things which may not be forgotten.” Imagine falling asleep and waking up devoid of memory. This is a description of the human condition. We are travelers from beyond time and space. We are extraterrestrials—in fact, extracelestials. My place is the Placeless, […]
“I neither defend the wrongdoer nor do I condemn him.” Wrongdoing is unbeautiful action, action that mars the world rather than adorning it. Wrongdoing goes against the grain of the universe and yet is intrinsic to its unfolding story. It is against the background of the unbeautiful that the beautiful is distinguished. By defending wrongdoing […]
“None need I remove to place another in my heart; My heart is large enough to accommodate each and all.” The heart is the container in the mind in which others find a place within the self. The more malleable the heart, the more numerous the presences it can contain. A rigid heart can hold […]
“My presence stimulates in your heart that feeling that must always be kept alive.” The Murshid may teach the murid the ways of prayer, fasting, and vigils in the night. The Murshid may tell stories of the prophets and saints of long ago. The Murshid may speak of the invisible world. None of this, however, […]
“I have not come to teach you what you know not, I have come to deepen in you that wisdom which is already yours.” The sun, the moon, and the stars inhabit you. A worshipful angel stands hidden within your frame, and a visionary djinn. Animals and plants are entwined in your limbs. Earth is […]
“I am resigned to the past, attentive to the present, and hopeful for the future.” What is done is done. The universal chain of causation has done its work, steered by destiny. To lament fate is to reject the unfolding disclosure of the Perfect Being implicit in the story of the universe in all of […]
“The scriptures have called Him the Creator, the Masons have termed Him the Architect, but I know Him as the Actor on this stage of life.” God is the Maker, Molder, and Builder of the universe. How is God the Maker? All effects have their causes, all causes have prior causes, and the entire chain […]
“When I open my eyes to the outer world, I feel myself as a drop in the sea; But when I close my eyes and look within, I see the whole universe as a bubble raised in the ocean of my heart.” When we look out on the wide world, we feel small in comparison […]
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