Gathekas

The way of attaining spiritual knowledge is quite opposite to the way that a person attains worldly knowledge. As the sky is in the opposite direction from the earth, so the source of knowledge of spiritual things is opposite to the knowledge of the world. As a person becomes intellectual, they know … [Read more...] about 29. Innocence

My subject for this evening is the Inner Life. The Inner Life, which is represented by our Inner School, is one of the three activities of the Sufi Movement. Really speaking, this activity is the most important of all three. When speaking about the inner life, in the first place I wish to say that … [Read more...] about 28. The Inner Life

The meaning of the word initiation is in the word itself. Initiation is initiative. In the first place every child that is born on earth is born with initiative. Then, as the child grows, more or less that spirit dies away, because the knowledge the child gathers in their life, together with … [Read more...] about 27. Initiation (3)

If this question were asked of several people each would perhaps make out a list of not less than one thousand things that they want in life. At the same time, perhaps, after writing one thousand things they want in life a person rarely knows what they really want. What a person apparently wants in … [Read more...] about 26. What is Wanted in Life?

Very often the word initiation is misunderstood. Many think it is initiation in a secret society, or that it is an experimental trial, or some phenomena. As there is no other expression, I have for the sake of convenience, used the word initiation. Initiation in Sufism is called Bayat. No doubt the … [Read more...] about 25. Initiation (2)

What is our sacred task, not only as the members of the Order, but also as the servers of the Divine Cause? Our sacred task is to awaken among those around us and among those whom we can reach, the spirit of tolerance for religion, scripture and the ideal of devotion of one another. Our next task is … [Read more...] about 24. Our Sacred Task

The difference between God and humanity is that God is omniscient and people only know of their own affairs. As God is omniscient, God loves all and God’s interest is in all; so, it is with the godly soul. The divine personality expressed through the godly soul shows itself in its interest for all, … [Read more...] about 23. Divine Manner (2)

In Sufi terms, the divine manner is called Akhlak Allah. A human being feels, thinks, speaks and acts according to the pitch to which their soul is tuned. The highest note a person could be tuned to is the divine note, and once a person has arrived at that pitch, they begin to express the manner of … [Read more...] about 22. Divine Manner (1)