The aim of the mystic is to keep near to the idea of Unity, and to find out where we unite.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
When people say that they distinguish between right and wrong by their results, even then they cannot be sure if in the punishment there was not a reward, or in the reward a punishment. What does this show us? It shows us that Life is a puzzle of duality. The pairs of opposites keep us in an illusion and make us think, ‘This is this, and that is that’. At the same time by throwing a greater Light upon things we shall find in the end that they are quite different from what we had thought.
Seeing the nature and character of Life the Sufis say that it is not very important to distinguish between two opposites. What is most important is to recognize that One which is hiding behind it all. Naturally after realizing Life the Sufis climb the ladder which leads them to Unity, to the idea of Unity which comes through the synthesis of Life, by seeing One in all things, in all beings.
Whatever one desires, that desire informs us of the state of mind that person is in, and those who understand the mind well, know the mind of another simply by studying the desires and tendencies of that person’s life. Love of a rose, a lily, a jasmine, of sweet, sour, salt, or savory things, expresses the particular tendency of our mind, the mood we are in. Modern education omits the study of the truth which teaches us that Unity comes from nature’s variety, whereas the sole aim of the mystic is to keep near to the idea of Unity and to find out where we unite.
There is an Arabic saying, ‘If you wish to know God, you must know yourself.’ How little we know while we are in the intoxication of individualism! We think, ‘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 we but know it, our 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. … Who then can say, ‘I am an individual, independent and free, I can think as I wish, and I can do what I wish?’ … We are connected with one another. Our lives are tied together, and there is a link in which we can see One current running through all. There are many globes and lamps, and yet One current is running through all. The mystics seek to realize this constantly and to impress it on their mind in whatever they may see. What, for them, are the waves of the sea? Are they not the sea itself?
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: Mind, Humand and Divine )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
In fact the aim of the mystic is to keep always near to the idea of Unity, and this is possible by concentrating always on “Toward the One,” which practice when carried on the breath is called Darood. This is the very gate to Love and Unity. By continuing in this state one finally feels the thoughts harmonizing with the self in an indescribable manner. Then the intuitions take one into Life more, and trust in these intuitions takes one even further. Every time the breath appears out of harmony, there is weakness, and when it flows harmoniously, there is strength. This is the sign of Life itself.
And where is this Union? It is in the heart stream. It is the Love-Life which is beyond the mental sphere. The more the Heart-Life, the more the Love-Life, the more the acquisition of Unity.