Be a Seeker of Real Contentment
The heart is always seeking contentment. Discontent arises from the attractions and distractions of the world, many of which are just bait in a trap we may not see. If you are a seeker of the rose, do not be content with just its fragrance, let alone heresay about the rose. The fragrance is perceptible as long as the rose is somewhere near. Real Contentment is to become the rose, and so become a source of the fragrance in this world. We should not be content with just a shadow of God's grace.
Everything you do with regard to people, and every mention you make of them, good or evil, will all return to you
Threshold Society Theme for February 1998 Consider these words of Mevlanas from Signs of the Unseen: If you speak well of another, the good will return to you. The good and praise you speak of [...]
Breathe Ya Shakur the One Who responds to Gratitude
The month of Ramadan began on December 31 and will continue through most of January. Ramadan is much more than a time of fasting; this is a time of spiritual intensification...
Breathe Allahu Akbar again and again
It is said, "Allah is greater than anything." We can remember that the greatest power is Love. As we say Allahu Akbar we set all our circumstances, challenges, questions, and difficulties in the greater perspective of Allah's Sovereignty, which is ultimately the Sovereignty of Love.
Go Through the Door of Humility
We separate ourselves from God. Our subtle (or not so subtle) habits of pride, arrogance, and of pretending to knowledge cloud our awareness of the Divine Presence. In this state we ignore how beautifully and subtly Allah has arranged our education, how perfectly events and circumstances are designed and measured to reveal to us our illusions.
Faith requires courageous action
All our work prepares us for moments in our lives when we can choose to act, to give, to love. Consider these words from the Mathnawi [IV, 2917-19]: In battle, the cowardly have chosen the means of retreat out of fear for their lives, while the courageous, also from fear for their lives, have charged towards the ranks of the enemy. Heroes are borne onward by their fear and pain; from fear, too, the human being of weak spirit dies within.
Affirm the witness, the being-awareness, that lies beyond the demands of the ego-self
This path is not only friendship, love, and ecstasy, but a long and sometimes painful struggle. What is the nature of the discipline needed on the spiritual path? The discipline or struggle of this path is one in which we find our right relationship with the nafs, the ego-self. This relationship must come from a higher level than that of the battle of like and dislike, desire and aversion.
Learn to see as many people as possible as friends and to approach all our relationships with consciousness and sensitivity
Sufis are not called "the friends" by accident. If we can remember the principle of Friendship it will help to keep us aligned with the purpose of our lives. It is always a good idea to consider in our relationships both within this Order and with the wider spiritual community, whether we are conducting ourselves as friends. What does it matter if we experience high spiritual states or acquire esoteric knowledge, if we neglect friendship? If we wish to have Allah as the Friend, we would do well to befriend His friends.
To Create and Sustain a Loving Unity at a High Level of our Souls Is The Responsibility of All Those Who Travel on the Way of Love
Threshold Society Theme for July 1997 We who aspire to Sufism, who have chosen to travel on the Way of Love, need each other to make the journey. We are connected beyond space and time [...]
Take a Pause of Heart Several Times A Day
Threshold Society Theme for June 1997 Sufism is, more than anything else, the education and purification of the heart. The heart is that which truly knows. The heart is not some vague metaphor, but an [...]
When the heart is empty, Spirit can express its joy
Threshold Society Theme for April 1997 The real and essential needs of the human being have not changed very much over the centuries. Who would disagree, for instance, with Al-Ghazzali's assessment eight centuries ago that: [...]
Activate the Zhikr of the Breath of Compassion
Make an intention that between the hours of 11 AM and 1 PM you will breathe in conscious awareness of the All-Compassionate (Ar-Rahman) Presence which unifies all of life. As we move from 11 to 1, we move from the world of multiplicity to the world of unity. 11 is Hu. 1 is Alif, Al-Ahad (the One), Allah. The Breath of Compassion is within us. We are being breathed. As we chose consciously to be in remembrance of this, we are better able to be reflectors of the Divine Qualities of our Source. How will this manifest in our work and relationships? How will this affect our Salah, our worship?