Posted on by ikram0408@gmail.com

People of the Secret

A Look into Sufism – The Path Of The Heart

First, let’s start by defining ” Sufism “, this mystical tradition considered as the spiritual path within Islam.

What is Sufism

Sufism is a way of “Being” with God! and unveiling the secret that is within us, for the sake of the love we carry in our heart! its the path where we experience our first heartache, the heartache of an illusive separation from creation, it is our longing to live the truth of our divine nature, it is the cry of our soul to be in union with God, to uncover the secret of our existence, that we are divine beings, that he is with us, in us, in every step we walk, every breath we take…

This secret we are looking for, lives within the heart!.

Sufism is known to be the path of awakening true love, our heart consciousness which bridges us with God consciousness. Sufism holds the secret how we can awaken through this primal feeling called love, and the journey is taking place in our own being, in our heart! A HEART WITHIN A HEARTH.

The first transmission of sufism

The first transmission of sufism, was done by prophet Mohamed(PBUH) to his companion Abu Bakr Al Siddiq at the cave of Thawr, when the Prophet was being surrounded by soldiers from all directions, he took refuge in the Cave. The two managed to stay hidden , but on the third day of their refuge, it so happened that the Quraish troops closed in on the Prophet and reached the cave. the prophet’s companion Abu Bakr panicked, but he was comforted by the enlightening words of the Prophet, who said

” Do Not Be Sad, He is with US” and a versus of Koran was channeled to document this incident 

"As one of the two in the cave, and he said to his companion  , do not grieve, Allah is with us, and we supported him with soldiers who are not seen"   Sorat Althawbah

The Meeting of the two seas

The Journey within

When asked about his Journey, Rumi Said:

I Burnt, and I Burnt and I Burnt

Rumi

One of my favourite definitions of Sufism is : “the place where the two seas meet, and where the dead fish becomes alive”, these two seas are the HEART and the MIND, our feminine and masculine energies, the Yin and Yang, the darkness and light.

The dead fish is the taught knowledge, what we read in books, what we were conditioned to believe, this dead fish comes to life by becoming an experienced knowledge, you can read all the books in the world, but if you can’t integrate that knowledge in your heart and experience it, it is useless! just words!

It is the place where heaven and earth meet, where our physical and spiritual nature merge! that’s where the revelation happens, the divine being reveals itself to the human being! it is where we go through a process of burning of everything we were made to believe WE ARE , all the programmes that distanced us from your spiritual nature, in order to come close to the divine residing in our heart, and listen to his secrets, find our way back home!

“Why listen to the news reports if you can get the news from the source itself”

The Story of Khidr

“Khidr” or the “Green Man” was an archetypal figure that was depicted in the Quran as ” the one who has mercy of our mercy, and knowledge from our knowledge!”, this archetype is part of each one of us, and available within each of us, whenever we are ready to seek and unveil our truth! Moses Journey with Khidr ,described in the Quran is not nothing but his path towards seeking the wisdom , knowledge and mercy within, from the part of him that carried the mercy and knowledge of the divine, from “and his encounter with Khidr, was a metaphor to Moses own Journey of awakening to the divine secrets!

Sufism is the path of surrender, faith, and of trust in the unknown and unseen. the knowingness that there is a higher power guiding and protecting us, yet maintaining an active role in our lives, and taking responsibility of our choices. It is the path of the Fana’a (the end), the void, the zero state, the realm where we surrender our ego-self, all things we identify with, what we know as normal, what we think make us who we are! and renounce the Ego “Al Nafs” to find God. Thus the interest shown by sufism in the science of psychology, and their curiosity to understand the human behavior in an effort to dissolve what we know, the taught self and remake a new one with true love.

In God’s presence, there is no room for two egos. You say “ego,” and he says “ego”? Either you die in his presence, or he will in your presence, so that no duality may remain.

Jalal Eldin Rumi

A Personal Note

My interest in Sufism, came from my dual nature, being a seeker and intuitive who is so much in touch with the emotional realm, and the skeptic-intellect, who has a scientifically trained mind. The duality I carried created so much internal conflict for me, which I used to perceive as a curse, yet, lately I started grasping the beauty of this gift, this blessing in disguise that was bestowed upon me from heaven, created such a discomfort, that pushed me outside of my comfort zone, it triggered the seeker within me, the student of life, to start looking for every book I can find, to try different courses & modalities, to investigate different religions, sects, old scriptures and beliefs, to look at different perspectives, to find the truth!…and I still AM!

The solid side I was very comfortable with, was my mind, my practical side, my mental abilities, the way I process information, and pace it together to get the full picture effortlessly (the Air element).

On the other side, the spectrum of emotions I have access to is limitless , however, I lacked the emotional regulation skills. Every-time I was faced with an emotional incident, it took me down the rabbit hole, and caused me so much suffering, until I learnt how to let go of the resistance to feel, to be with my feelings, to acknowledge them, and not fall into self-shaming, I started allowing them to show themselves, I was getting used to be gentler and kinder with the soft and sensitive part of me, to be in total acceptance of my vulnerability, instead of faking strength and in return cultivating anger and resentment because I did not have the courage to face my emotions and voice them out.

Magic started happening, my creative energy started flowing , I was able to channel my feelings into arts, music, poetry and many other creative outlets. Life started becoming easier. I started witnessing movement in my life, while it was stagnant for years, there was a certain flow of energies, that was new to me!, My wisdom grew more and more, and I cultivated the habit of seeking wisdom in every situation life threw my way, I started sharing what I know with my community, I shifted from the victim mentality I was sitting in for years (the distorted masculine energy) to a curious mentality, driven by a sacred feminine energy that is not afraid to dive into emotions, and break through the darkness to the light, my approach in life shifted from why Me? to What’s in there for me? what can I learn from this?

I remember when I first did my numerology reading I learnt that my true nature or higher potential in this life, is the state of zero, the path of the neutral mind, in other words, the path of that who is able to sit in the place where the two seas meet, that realm where God or the source speaks through you, there is such a surrender and absence of the ego or judgement in that space, that one is able to see things as they are, with the eye of the unconditional love, without schemas (projections or judgements), a space where the divine bliss flow through you and you are asked to speak it.

To end this article, I would like to flag that we all hold both energies, both seas exist within us, and our responsibility is to do the inner-work in order to find a healthy balance. We have been governed for years by a Toxic Patriarchy! where both feminines and masculines are manipulated to feel shame and guilt, we are transiting from a time where the world is led by the three downfalls : Money, Power and Sex, and both masculines and feminines potentials are demeaned, controlled and trapped. We are now officially in the age of Aquarius, which is the age of innovation, of choosing a different way of being, the age where there is no guru, no mediation between you and the source, and there is a call for all of us, to be responsible to save our inner-world by allowing the seas to meet, by allowing yourself to experience and generate your own soul wisdom, not what you learn from others, by surrendering to our love nature. and to support our outer world, by leading by example, embracing compassion and mercy towards the other! because the OTHER is YOU.

Posted on by ikram0408@gmail.com

THE POWER OF SURRENDER

If you grew up like me, with a disciplined and strict up-bringing, challenged to be self-sufficient from a very young age, to plan for everything in your life, with very little left to fate, this is definitely a very relevant topic for you.

So with such background, I figured out in my childhood, that in order to make it in a competitive and challenging world, I had to develop a central ego, to make sure that I am protected, resulting in a lonely wolf, a warrior, type of personality, the notion of asking for help rarely occurred to me. Of course this doesn’t come without a price, the pressure I put on myself was overbearing, and it led to intense level of anxiety. The irony is until very recently, I had a strong believe that this is who I am, this is my identity, until the illusion was unveiled, and I realised that this was a defence mechanism I have that worked for me, and it kept me safe throughout my challenging days, and my subconscious was holding on to it desperately, that I was in total denial of its shadow element.

In a nutshell, the most frightening situation for me, was anything that involves uncertainty, not knowing what the future holds for me, with such mindset, the most difficult thing to do is to loosen your grip, to let go of the need to control every situation, to SURRENDER!

What is the meaning of Surrender ?

There is a Sufi tale of a man on a quest who finds himself trapped in a huge public bath. The man is alone and knows that if he does not escape he will die. A parrot suddenly appears and tells him that if he can shoot it with his bow and arrow, he will be free. The man has three arrows and quickly fires the first. The parrot flutters into the air, and the man misses. The man turns to stone from the feet to the waist. He fires a second arrow, misses, and turns to stone up to the shoulders. He has one arrow left. What should he do? If he misses a third time he is dead.

This riddle beautifully illustrates the challenge of those times when our conventional ego strategies fall apart and will actually lead to our demise if we go on. The story ends when the man closes his eyes, says, “God is great,” and fires the arrow. This time he hits the parrot and is freed. When faced with no other options, he has to give up to something greater than himself to find a different source of resolution.

What do we surrender?

We surrender the “I”, “the Ego”, the conditioned separate self which operates from a set of beliefs, thoughts…etc together with all attachments to the attachments to the established identity, to our surroundings… in another words, we surrender our need to be individuals.

To understand the psychological meaning of this, it is worth mentioning Carl Jung’ theory on individuation. Jung used the term individuation “to denote a process of becoming a psychological ‘individual,’ that is, a separate, indivisible unity .” To individuate is to gradually actualize our innate capacity to live as a unique individual.

Jung recognized that there would be times on this journey when we are challenged to surrender the central dominance of ego to the deeper significance of what he called the “Self.” For Jung, “Self ” refers to the center of our totality—a deeper seat of wisdom that holds a sense of our innate potential as we unfold in our lives. He was not implying that the Self had some kind of ultimate existence, but that it is nevertheless experienced as a center of wholeness, just as the ego is experienced as a center of consciousness. The Self individuates us—that is to say, its “intention” is that we evolve in such a way that the relationship between the ego and the Self matures. At certain times on our journey, the ego begins to realize that it is not the prime mover, that there are forces at work that have far greater influence. The Self asserts a kind of psychological pressure on us to change and become whole, a pressure that can be extremely disquieting as the ego loses its safe, familiar ground. A major aspect of this undercurrent of change is the need to shift our understanding of what is really at the center of our lives. The shift of emphasis from the ego to the Self has been described as the shift from “I will” to “Thy will be done.”

To whom we surrender?

Surrendering can not be achieved if we do not have faith and trust in a bigger powers, it requires listening to the voice of truth and wisdom residing in our heart, instead of the voice of fear and doubt caused by our Ego, it is basically letting go to some deeper sense of purpose.

Surrender and Spiritual Awakening

Photo by Rodolfo Clix on Pexels.com

The process of surrender begins with fear, our ego feels threatened by the truth, so the anxiety kicks in, as a defence mechanism to stop us from listening to our intuition, to our instincts, to the voice of our own truth, creating a paralysing fear of the unknown, which can vary from the fear of the future, fear of death, fear of taking a certain decision or following a certain path.

The key to surrender is letting go of control and resistance to what is, and instead accepting and working with the energy of the universe instead of working against it. However, surrendering does not mean sitting back and waiting, but having an active role in your life, but once you put on the work, planted the seeds, and made clear intentions, you can relax, trust and wait for your harvest.\

To wrap up this, I have learnt to differentiate between the energy of surrender and the energy of resistance, when I am in flow, peaceful, breathing easily, my awareness level is pretty high, and I am able to see the bigger picture, I know for a fact that I am in surrender mode. however, I can detect the resistance or forcing mode, when I tend to narrow my mind and go into the nitty gritty details, trying to control the How, when and who? , when the fear and resistance take over, I immediately become anxious, doubtful of self and others, with a very clouded vision, with time I have learnt to bring myself back to the present moment, by grounding, meditation, spending time in nature… I still do that mechanically, practising surrender, like they say fake it until you make it!!

LET GO AND LET GOD IN!!

Be the light!

Posted on by ikram0408@gmail.com

The Dark Night of The Soul

Who Are we when we are navigating through darkness?

Many of you have certainly heard about the dark night of the soul, or the period when are forced to go inward and acknowledge our feelings, process our traumas, and make peace with it, forgive ourselves and move on.

I have been going through a pretty extended and intense dark night of the soul, which I am pretty used to by now, given the fact that I have been on this journey of self – discovery & healing for few years now, but this time, it was different. I had been pushed to clear, purify and cleanse my heart after a powerful heart activation, which triggers the rise of my deeply suppressed emotions, so I had to dive thru very rough waters in total darkness, blindfolded, and unable to see what’s in front of me…

THE FEAR OF THE UNKOWN

The Foggy or clouded sight refers to not being able to perceive or see what’s coming towards me, which is so crippling for someone who has navigated her life using her strong intuition, someone who is very much in tune with sensing her environment, sensing and detecting people’s intentions.. I felt like a warrior who was sent to a battle field with no protection, no swords,…It is the most frustrating, frightening and vulnerable space I had ever been…

In fact after a couple of difficult months, I was finally able to grasp the wisdom laying behind this experience, I am finally able to see the opportunity I was given to understand my patterns, and receive the messages my higher self was trying to convey to me.

Throughout my life journey, I have been faced with so many setbacks, betrayals, dishonesty …etc, having to go thru a betrayal after another, a heart break after another, I lost trust in everyone, I was not able to forgive myself for being so naive and trusting towards everyone. As a coping mechanism I rose up my walls, and made an intention not to let anyone in my heart space, people can exist in my surroundings, because I am able to sense their energy, but nobody is allowed further because of the history of betrayals and dishonesty, and all the pain I vowed to myself not to go through again.

The main blind spot in my vision was my inability to get this : ” you don’t have to do this alone” because “you are protected and looked after”, those were the messages I kept on hearing in my prayers and meditation, in another words, believe and have “Faith”, faith in God, in my journey, “Trust” that everything is perfect the way it is, and “surrender” to the divine plan, and timing.

In the midst of my fear and mistrust, I dismissed the divine existence , I doubted his ability to protect me, and questioned his plan. This urged me to have full control of my life, an urge to know what’s next, where AM I heading?, so any environment which has an unknown aspect of it, was considered not safe, hence, my choice of distancing myself from people, and ceasing of having any relationships, given that was a foreign territory that I am not familiar with.

This revelation allowed me to find many answers to many of my inexplicable behaviours, and provide me with a road map to my patterns, and a compass to use while journeying in the depth of my fears.

ITS ALL ABOUT FAITH!

“Faith” is the answer, the knowingness that we carry in our heart that there is a bigger presence, directing our lives, and that everything we experience in this physical realm is divinely guided, to allow our souls to grow, evolve and live in total happiness and Joy, the blissful life we are meant to have.

Once we start trusting, we are able to shift the narrative of our life, and it is easy for us to be in a space of “Love over Fear”, tune in to compassion, and activate our ability to forgive ourself and everyone involved in the old narrative of our story. We will look at people, situations and relationships differently, because our heart is open to offer empathy, to ourselves and to humanity, having a deep knowing that everything happens for us and for the higher good of all involved parties.

Be the Light!