Sufi Wisdom: Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan


....from Awakening, A Sufi Experience; Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan; Tarcher/Putnam 2000.

p.8.....Sufis do not see individuals as victims of an inexorably preordained fate, nor as autocratic masters of their individual destiny. Rather, they take into account the existence of a higher intelligence that through an innovative, trial-and-error, evolutionary process, is embedded within humanity to creatively shape and reshape life in an endless array of new images, patterns, and paradigms.

p.8.....Indeed, the impetus to span the cleft from the past to the future is part of an ongoing, billions-of-years-old process by which the Universe has been fashioning its stardust into human beings.

p.9....."Participators in the evolution of the Universe": it is a phrase that resonates with possibility and potential.

p.15....Indeed, awakening triggers off illumination; it is always connected to light.

p.16....The Universe is evolving toward an even greater destiny -- and we are the means of this global transformation!

p.38.......,in stark contrast to the ancient world, where humans were but a fragile presence against the backdrop of a vast expanse of wilderness,...

p.40....Meditation, in fact, could be defined as the art of modulating consciousness.

p.69.......attunement instead of imaging.

p.77....This is what Buddha meant when he illustrated consciousness with a flame -- if there is no log to burn, the flames eventually die down. In the same way, our ego-consciousness depends upon an object to sustain its attachments.

p.78....Shrouded in the mists of history is Zoroastrianism, the Mazdaic tradition, an ancient path where illumination is attained through being inspired by the light that can be found in nature, such as the light of the stars.

p.83....Jesus was a rebel...he had his novitiate in the Essene Order.

p.105...Awakening to the fact that there is no inanimate matter,...

p.111......,or the ability of the body itself to produce light. This is the metaphysical skill by which we learn to transmute infrared light into visible light and even ultraviolet light.

p.114......Sufis make a clear distinction between the light that can be seen and the light that sees.

p.119......the light of the hierarchies of pure, luminous intelligences, manifesting what the Sufis call the "Nur-al-anwar", the light of lights. Linking your glance with this light is the secret of looking into the souls of people.

p.122......St. Francis, who, rather than merely observing the leaves and trunks of the trees when walking through the forest, entered into the very consciousness of the trees.

p.123...If you are visiting patients in a hospital, simply commiserating with their suffering does not really alleviate their pain. Likewise, neither does an attitude of casual flippancy. Yet you can help bring healing to someone who is ill or depressed simply by the light that flashes through your glance when you smile.

p.150...Not being able to forgive, however, makes us more deeply entrenched in our suffering -- we carry the wound in our hearts, and that stands in the way of our progress.

p.156...In the Jewish Bible translated by Churaki, the voice of Yahweh speaking from the Burning Bush doesn't say, "I am who I am", but "I am that I become".

p.166.......the essence of music is rhythm, harmony, and attunement,...

p.179......the cells of your body both absorb and transmit light which is radiated as your aura into the environment. Indeed, in its purely physical aspect, your aura is made up of the radiation of this sparkling light. The brain is lit up from within.

p.181...As the light from the heavens descends, it meets the light emerging from the inside, and the two congregate on the altar in your heart in the center of this temple.

p.196......the illumination of consciousness leads inevitably to the awakening of conscience.

p.204...For if we excessively deny ourselves our personal wishes, then we will feel sorry for ourselves -- and then we will not have the joy we need in order to pursue our higher ideals.

p.214...It requires a commitment that the Zoroastrian Magi used to make: to fight for the victory of light over darkness.

p.217...The secret to entering the consciousness of the child within is to remember the state we were in before our birth;...

p.218......,the great skill of life is to be able to maintain the innocence of a child in one's heart while at the same time possessing mastery and control.

p.219......,it is our suffering, our broken heart, that gives us insight into the suffering of others....The extraordinary thing is that the insight of the heart is the magic that unleashes talents and potentialities within people that have been blocked as a result of their suffering.