MYSTIC TRADITIONS

• Let Us Dig Deeply... 19.02.2004
  Let us dig deeply into the traditions of our fathers and see if we can't strike the same vein that they mined so productively.

 
• The Wine of Christ 14.05.2004
  When I speak of Transcendental Recollection, I am referring, in part, to an attitude of prayer or meditation that gives us an openness to our spiritual origin and destiny. This openness, when rightly cultivated, will lead to an intution of the Divine that has been called the wine of Christ...

 
• The Still Point 17.06.2004
  When I had to read Eliot in high school, the depth of his allusions were over my head, but a few years ago I started reading some of his work again and I was amazed at the depth of spiritual realization in his verses.

 
• Learning to Praise and Love 19.08.2004
  When you are walking alone, or elsewhere, glance at the general will of God, by which He wills all the works of his mercy and justice in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and approve, praise and then love that sovereign will, all holy, all just, all beautiful.

 
• The Judgment of God - A Sufi Tale 12.12.2004
  “Not so long ago, as time is counted, there came to a certain oasis far in the western desert a faqir. He was a Qalandar, a wandering darvish, who had walked the deserts of Africa and Arabia for many years, seeking only solitude wherein he could remember his Creator and contemplate the Divine mysteries.

 
• Cosmic Consciousness 02.01.2005
  I had spent the evening in a great city, with two friends, reading and discussing poetry and philosophy. We parted at midnight. I had a long drive in a hansom to my lodging.

 
• The Beautiful Names of Allâh 06.01.2005
         Call upon Allâh or call upon Rahmân:
  by whatever name ye call upon Him (it is well):
   for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.                                              Qur'ân 17:110, tr Yusuf Ali

 
• The Four Immeasurables 09.01.2005
  How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were to abide in equanimity,
  Free of hatred and attachment!
  May they abide in equanimity!
  I myself will cause them to abide in equanimity!
  Please, guru-Buddha, grant me blessings to be able to do this.

 
• Embrace Your Destiny! 16.02.2005
  Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it in another.

 
• The Prayer of the Optina Elders 20.03.2005
  Grant unto me, O Lord, that with peace of mind I may face all that this new day is to bring. Grant unto me to dedicate myself completely to Thy Holy Will.

 
• The Adoration of God 21.04.2005
  Bhakti is the adoration of the supreme Lord of the universe beyond everything else in the world. This one-pointed adoration makes the devotee keep his mind ever engaged in the remembrance and contemplation of the Lord.

 
• A Riddle Song 22.05.2005
  That which eludes this verse and any verse,
  Unheard by sharpest ear, unform'd in clearest eye or cunningest mind,
  Nor lore nor fame, nor happiness nor wealth,
  And yet the pulse of every heart and life throughout the world incessantly,

 
• The Work of a Farmer 01.06.2005
  The question may be asked: Is any effort required for realizing the truth? The answer is yes. There is a work that one can do, which is as the work of a farmer, it is to cultivate the heart. But where man makes a mistake is that when he cultivates the heart he wishes to sow the seed himself instead of leaving the sowing of the seed to God.

 
• The Wall of Smiles 01.06.2005
  There is a well known Eastern legend giving the idea of a soul who had found truth. There was a wall of laughter and of smiles. This wall existed for ages and many tried to climb it, but few succeeded.

 
• The Freedom of Solitude 12.06.2005
  Most of what I know about the spiritual life I have learned in relationships with other people, but there are some lessons that only aloneness can teach.

 
• Namaste! 14.06.2005
  Albert Einstein was fascinated by Mohandas Gandhi. He watched newsreel after newsreel of Gandhi's doings in India. Having seen Gandhi greet people in the street with his hands placed together, as if in prayer, and with a bow, he wondered what Gandhi was saying (newsreels had no sound in those days).

 
• The Three Fishes 14.07.2005
  There was in a secluded place a lake, which was fed by a running stream. And in this lake were three fishes, one very wise, the second half wise, and the third foolish. One day some fishermen passed by that lake, and having espied the fish, hastened home to fetch their nets.

 
• The Roots of Findhorn 28.07.2005
  The Findhorn garden grew from a rich compost and it is apt that Findhorn spirituality should also sprout from its own steamy mix, a fecund blend of positive thinking, psychism, esotericism, and— less often acknowledged —evangelical Christianity.

 
• The Crossroads of the Heart 04.08.2005
  Then comes the fourth centre, the heart centre, called anahata. The word is beautiful, anahata means unstruck sound. It means exactly what Zen people mean when they say, "Do you hear the sound of one hand clapping?"—unstruck sound. The heart is just in the middle: three centres below it, three centres above it. And the heart is the door from the lower to the higher, or from the higher to the lower. The heart is like a crossroads.

 
• A Living Reality 17.08.2005
  In this evanescent panorama of life all things and objects are subject to transmutation and dissolution. The Lord alone is real with whom we are eternally united.

 
• The Serenity Prayer 21.09.2005
  God grant me the serenity
  to accept the things I cannot change;
  courage to change the things I can;
  and wisdom to know the difference.

 
• Bodhi: The Heart of Love 04.10.2005
  Like the wheel has balance and purpose in actions from the unmoving centre, in the same way when our Heart is centred in stillness, in Bodhi, all our actions are life giving and a blessing.

 
• Meditation in Affliction 06.10.2005
  Assailed by afflictions, we discover Dharma
  And find the way to liberation. Thank you, evil forces!
  When sorrows invade the mind, we discover Dharma
  And find lasting happiness. Thank you, sorrows!

 
• The Liberated Heart 18.12.2005
  The symbol of the [Sufi] Order is a heart with wings. It explains that the heart is between soul and body, a medium between spirit and matter.

 
• Just in the Nick of Time... 03.01.2006
  In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line. You will pardon some obscurities, for there are more secrets in my trade than in most men's, and yet not voluntarily kept, but inseparable from its very nature. I would gladly tell all that I know about it, and never paint "No Admittance" on my gate.

 
• Sweet Mother Divine 15.01.2006
  [This beautiful image may take a few moments to download on slower connections...]

 
• The Legend of Bullah Shah 25.01.2006
  In the life of Bullah Shah, the great saint of Punjab, one reads a most instructive account of his early training when he was sent to school with boys of his own age. The teacher taught him Alif, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. The other boys in his class finished the whole alphabet while he was mastering the same letter. When weeks had passed, and the teacher saw that the child did not advance any further than the first letter Alif, he thought that he must be deficient and sent him home to his parents, saying, 'Your boy is deficient, I cannot teach him.'

 
• Every Moment In His Presence 21.03.2006
  There are many virtues, but there is one principal virtue. Every moment passed outside the presence of God is sin, and every moment in His presence is virtue.

 
• The Bohdi Mind 21.03.2006
  The source of all life, the centre of all things, this wonder we all have in our Heart as a free gift. The act of attaining to this Bodhi Mind, is so refined, the movement is so slight, that very few ever attain this blessed state of purity, re-aligning our attention away from the inner talk, the thoughts, and resting on the space the stillness, we become the witness, the listener.

 
• Practicing the Presence of God 22.03.2006
  You so earnestly desire that I describe the method by which I arrived at that habitual sense of God's presence, which our merciful Lord has been pleased to grant me. I am complying with my request that you show my letter to no one. If I knew that you would let it be seen, all the desire I have for your spiritual progress would not be enough to make me comply.

 
• The Ideal of God 23.04.2006
  That ethical view of God which conceives of Him as a personality is really a conception of the self; the divine love, power, and inspiration are really within oneself. But when someone who has not truly studied and understood the subject of God's personality begins to talk about it, he is apt to destroy the religious beliefs of many besides his own. Not only is he apt to go astray himself, through failing to assimilate the knowledge from the ethical point of view, but he will also confuse others in their faiths and beliefs.

 
• The Three Friends of Man 21.05.2006
  The wisdom of Vedanta says: Never trust a friend who has not been tested. The following story, The Three Friends of Man, beautifully describes who can be trusted as our true friend.

 
• Nirvana 21.05.2006
  THEN SAID MAHAMATI to the Blessed One: Pray tell Us about Nirvana? The Blessed One replied: The term, Nirvana, is used with many different meanings, by different people, but these people may be divided into four groups: There are people who are suffering, or who are afraid of suffering, and who think of Nirvana; there are the philosophers who try to discriminate Nirvana; there are the class of disciples who think of Nirvana in relation to themselves; and, finally there is the Nirvana of the Buddhas.

 
• A Wonderful Friend... 22.05.2006
  What if? ... What if you became best-friends with someone who is always a delight to be with; one who suffers from none your own problems or limitations; one who brings loving-kindness and calm to every situation; one who understands every situation and flawlessly responds to the needs of the moment?

 
• The Prayer of Recollection 24.05.2006
  THE effects of divine consolations are very numerous: before describing them, I will speak of another kind of prayer which usually precedes them.

 
• The Purpose of Life 23.07.2006
  The first step on the spiritual path is when a soul realizes its outer purpose in life. For it is not every soul in the world which even realizes its outer mission in life. And the soul who does not realize it, may go on, perhaps, for its whole life and may not realize it even to the end of its life, but the one who cares to realize it, must sooner or later realize it. For the answer to his question is continually being heard in his own heart.

 
• The Tao of Nobody 26.07.2006
  Reduce everything, reduce thinking, reduce effort and struggle, reduce possessions, reduce debt, reduce shelter, reduce eating, reduce consuming, reduce participation in unnecessary concerns of daily life, reduce the seriousness and importance we give to this self… drop something every single day, become smaller, become nothing, no-self.

 
• Homogeneity 26.07.2006
  Veiled from God’s love by the fog of modernity. Unable to hear God’s voice above the hubbub of Unceasing technological clamour. The usurer’s dollar is now our supreme God. Stay this madness but a while, And let us contemplate the Divine!

 
• Good Luck? Bad Luck? Who Can Tell? 27.07.2006
  In medieval China there once lived an old farmer who had a weak, ailing horse for ploughing his field. One day, the sickly horse ran away to the hills.

 
• The Blessing of Soul Friendship 30.08.2006
  In Corrogue I am All One. In writing this weekly ezine I am blessed to have others from all around this beautiful world correspond with me. This week I was asked in a rather beautiful email, “How do I know if I have found my Anam Cara – Soul Friend?" Let me attempt to answer this question as best I may.

 
• Purity Of Life 30.08.2006
  Purity is the process through which the life-rhythm manifests; the rhythm of that indwelling spirit which has worked through the ages in mineral and plant, in animal and man. For its effort, through all these experiences, is to arrive at that realization where it finds itself pure, pure in essence and pure from all that could affect its original condition.

 
• The Meaning of Initiation 21.09.2006
  The meaning of the word 'initiation' can be understood from its association with 'initiative.' It is a fact that every child who is born on earth is born with initiative. However, as it grows, that spirit more or less dies away because the knowledge it gathers in its lifetime makes it doubt.

 
• Like Two Birds... 21.09.2006
  1. Two birds, inseparable friends, cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating.

 
• The Weight of Love 25.10.2006
  Give Thyself unto me, O my God, restore Thyself unto me: behold I love, and if it be too little, I would love more strongly...

 
• The Mystery of the Tao 26.10.2006
  The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.

 
• The LORD is My Shepherd 26.10.2006
  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 
• The Higher Planes of Consciousness 29.11.2006
  According to the ideas of the mystics there are five stages of consciousness which make one asleep to one stage and awake to another... [The first] three stages of consciousness, physical, dream and deep sleep, are each nothing but an experience of the soul in an awakened state. [More]

 
• Prayer of St. Francis 29.11.2006
  Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

 
• Following Hard After God 24.01.2007
  My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. -Psalms 63:8 Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man.

 
• Journey of the Heart 25.01.2007
  The ideal of religious experience is to discover the true peace and wonder of who we really are. But unfortunately, we often miss the point of religion, in which case, as Carl Jung once said, “religion becomes a defense against the religious experience”. That is, we are all too often so filled with our own petty opinions and preferences, our thoughts of ‘I’ and ‘me’ and ‘mine’ that we are unable to experience the true glory and wonder of Life.

 
• Vocation 26.01.2007
  Every being has a definite vocation, and his vocation is the light which illuminates his life. The man who disregards his vocation is a lamp unlit. He who sincerely seeks his real purpose in life is himself sought by that purpose. As he concentrates on that search a light begins to clear his confusion, call it revelation, call it inspiration, call it what you will. It is mistrust that misleads. Sincerity leads straight to the goal.

 
• Temptaton 18.02.2007
  Temptation is a momentary illusion. The beauty of some object covers the eyes of reason and man is drawn back or pushed aside from the track, which he follows in order to arrive at his desired destination, whatever it be. Therefore, what is a temptation to one person is not necessarily a temptation to another.

 
• The Restless Mind 28.02.2007
  Everybody complains of the restlessness of the mind. Let the mind be found and then they will know. True, when a man sits down to meditate thoughts rush up by dozens. The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The attempt to push through the barrage of thoughts is unsuccessful.

 
• Suitable Employment 28.02.2007
  The ways by which you may get money almost without exception lead downward. To have done anything by which you earned money merely is to have been truly idle or worse.

 
• Mind, Human and Divine 27.03.2007
  There is an Arabic saying, 'If you wish to know God, you must know yourself.' How little man knows while he is in the intoxication of individualism! He thinks, 'I am a separate being; you are another; there is no connection between you and me, and we all have our own joys and free will.' Did man but know it, his life is dependent not only on the objects and things that keep the body alive, but also on the activity of a thousand minds in a day.

 
• Resurrection 27.03.2007
  What is the Resurrection? It is a returning to Life.

 
• Strive After Freedom 27.03.2007
  I BOW before Govinda, the objectless object of final success in the highest wisdom, who is supreme bliss and the true teacher.

 
• The Four Perfections 25.04.2007
  He is ripe to seek the Self who is full of knowledge and wisdom, reason and discernment, and who bears the well-known marks.

 
• The Eternal Mirror 24.05.2007
  All you have been, and seen, and done, and thought Not You but I, have seen and been and wrought. . . .

 
• Friendship 25.05.2007
  Friendship as the average person understands it is perhaps little more than acquaintance; but in reality it is more sacred than any other connection in the world. To a sincere person, entering into friendship is like entering the gates of heaven; and a visit to his friend is a pilgrimage to a true loving friend.

 
• First Steps on the Path 25.05.2007
  THE BEGINNING OF THE TEACHING To him, making this appeal and seeking help, scorched by the flame of the world's fire, the Great Soul beholding him with eyes most pitiful brings speedy comfort.

 
• Fulfilling Our Purpose 03.06.2007
  In the Gulistan, Sadi expresses a wonderful thought. He says, 'Every soul is meant for a certain purpose, and the light of that purpose has been kindled in that soul.'

 
• Divine Love 27.06.2007
  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 
• Spirituality 26.07.2007
  It is amusing how many different meanings people attach to the word spiritual. Some call spirituality great goodness, some mean by it melancholy, some by it mean a miserable life, some think spirituality lies in communion with spirits, some consider wonder-working and the art of the conjuror a kind of spirituality, every good or bad power, so long as it is a power, people often imagine to be a spiritual power, many connect the idea of spirituality with a religious authority. Whereas it is the simplest idea, if one cares to understand it by rising above complexity.

 
• The Jesus Prayer + 29.07.2007
  When I was approaching the midpoint of a long period of desert wandering, I was introduced to the Jesus Prayer and found it very helpful.

 
• God Has A Postive Answer 29.08.2007
  Don't Panic! No matter what you may say or think...

 
• Self, Potencies, Vestures 30.08.2007
  THE first cause of Freedom is declared to be an utter turning back from lust after unenduring things. Thereafter Restfulness, Control, Endurance; a perfect Renouncing of all acts that cling and stain.

 
• The Light of Revelation 27.09.2007
  There is a light within every soul. It only needs the clouds, which hide it, to dissolve for it to beam forth. This is the light of revelation. It is like a lantern to us, it lights up every dark corner we wish to examine, and gives an answer to every question we would ask. This light can only shine where the heart is pure, and in order to purify the heart, the Sufi has a contemplative process suited to the evolution of each individual.

 
• Just For Today 21.10.2007
  Just for today, I shall pray to God. My prayer is my inner, climbing cry. I know this cry will reach God's Palace. My snow-white prayer will knock at God's Door. God will open His Door and ask me what I need. I shall tell God that I need His infinite Compassion to awaken me from my slumbering life. God will grant my prayer.

 
• The Message and the Messenger 26.10.2007
  It is sometimes asked why, if God is all-pervading, there is need of the special manifestation of a messenger such as Krishna, Buddha, or Jesus. The answer is given in the words of the Bhagavad-Gita where Shri Krishna says, 'When Dharma is hindered, then I am born.' This means that a manifestation, which the people recognize as a savior or messenger, always comes when the necessity arises. In other words, it is necessity, it is the need of the world which causes the Spirit to arise in its true form.

 
• Be the Manger 30.11.2007
  The virgin mother and her dutiful husband
  trudged through the night,
  following a star.

 
• The Solution to All Problems 30.11.2007
  We all have problems. Our problems are of three kinds: created by natural law, created by other living entities, and created by ourselves. Although the problems of life are innumerable, nevertheless they have a simple, natural solution.

 
• Either / Or 30.11.2007
  Someone went to a Sufi with a question. He said, 'I have been puzzling for many, many years and reading books, and I have not been able to find a definite answer. Tell me what happens after death?'

 
• Be Ye Perfect... 30.11.2007
  You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
  
  

 
• Raising the Consciousness 27.12.2007
  The whole striving of the mystic is to raise his consciousness as high as possible. What this raising of the consciousness means, and how it is raised, can be better understood by the one who has begun to practice it. The best means of raising the consciousness is by the God-ideal. Therefore, however much one has studied metaphysics or philosophy intellectually and found some truth about one's being, it does not suffice for the purpose of life; for the culmination of life lies in the raising of the consciousness.

 
• Aphorisms on Aspiration 27.12.2007
  "Two concepts govern the length and breadth of the world: desire and aspiration. Desire binds us; aspiration liberates us. Desire makes us feel that we are of the finite and we are compelled to be for the finite. Aspiration tells us that we are of the Eternal and for the Infinite." ~ Sri Chinmoy

 
• Where Thou Livest... 28.12.2007
  But, how, O life, dost thou persevere, Since thou livest not               where thou livest, And since the arrows make thee to die which thou receivest               From the conceptions of the Beloved which thou formest         within thee?

 
• The Witness 28.12.2007
  THE MANIFEST AND THE HIDDEN SELF BEGINNINGLESS is unwisdom, and all its works are too; but when wisdom is arisen, what belongs to unwisdom, although beginningless-- Like a dream on waking, perishes, root and all; though beginningless, it is not endless; it is as something that was not before, and now is, this is manifest.

 
• The Depth of Silence 30.01.2008
  A person might wonder about the old custom of Brahmins and Buddhists, who went into the temple of Buddha or Krishna, and sat before an idol which neither spoke to them nor took notice of them. He might think, 'What could they gain? It has a mouth and speaks not, it has hands yet cannot move.' And so people mocked at them. Scoffed at them, and called them heathen and pagan. But they did not know of this silence that was impressed upon the worshipper. This human form sitting before them, silent and quiet and not speaking, or hearing, or thinking, absolutely quiet; just think what it means.

 
• The Power of Concentration 30.01.2008
  Concentration means inner vigilance and alertness. There are thieves all around us and within us. Fear, doubt, worry and anxiety are inner thieves that are trying to steal our inner poise and peace of mind. When we learn how to concentrate, it is very difficult for these forces to enter into us. If doubt enters into our mind, the power of concentration will tear doubt to pieces. If fear enters into our mind, the power of concentration will chase away our fear. Right now we are victims to unlit, obscure, destructive thoughts, but a day will come when, on the strength of our concentration, disturbing thoughts will lie afraid of us.

 
• The Fruit of the Spirit 30.01.2008
  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self‑control. Against such things there is no law.