>>>#The Path of Wisdom

My beloved Sarah, 20 years ago when I started my journey, my first exposures were the works of Jalaluddin Rumi and the life of Muhyiddin Al Arabi.  These were the sufis.  Sufi comes from the word sufa which means unfortunate.  I was told it means love.  This is what I gathered:

A Sufi is someone who believes in the kind of Islam known as Sufism. The spiritual goal of a Sufi is to have a direct, personal experience of God. ... The original Sufis wore simple wool cloaks, and in Arabic, the word Sufi means "man of wool."

Sufism appeals to me because the foundation of the teaching is to love all creations.  Only through love of the creations will you experience Greater Love.  Hence my entry point was not through the teaching of mainstream Islam but rather by reciting the poems of Rumi.

I found great comfort in his writing as opposed to reciting the Quran because although I read the Quran in Arabic, I don't understand the meaning.  Only after I read the translation did I realize the Quran is riddled with inaccuracies, inconsistencies and bigotries.

Sufism is related to Islam because it is from Islam. There doesn't have to be any differences, it is all individual. Basically, sufis (from Islam) think more about God and about His creations (the universe), while regular Muslims think about religion. ... A Sufi shares his wealth, a Muslim gives charity.

This is one of Shams Tarbizi's (Rumi's mentor) Forty Rules of Love:

When I became the Wandering Sufi, I was following my heart for the creations fueled by my longing to be with the Creator.  I was pretty much a subservient following the Path to righteousness.  Of the little that I know then, I believed the prophet was on the same page.  Of course this was before internet was widely spread.  We were using dial-ups (remember the odd fuzzy sound every time we wanted to hook up?)

Therefore, information was pretty scarce.  Not until 2002 when I joined MSC Technology Center did I have access to broadband.  I then began to absorb whatever I can get my hands in my quest for truth like a sponge.

Two decades had passed.  I am back to where I started.  With my recent acquaintance with The Forty Rules of Love, I am back on track with Sufism.  What surprises me was how natural is my own thoughts with regards to the Forty Rules.  Turns out I am a natural Sufi!

Even when I was reading Rumi, his thoughts resonate with mine.  It makes me wonder if at any point of my life I was a Sufi mystic.  Although it was not stated in Islam that they believe in reincarnation.  Rumi on the other hand implied such an occurrence:

I died to the mineral state and became a plant,
I died to the vegetal state and reached animality,
I died to the animal state and became a man,
Then what should I fear? I have never become less from dying.
At the next charge (forward) I will die to human nature,
So that I may lift up (my) head and wings (and soar) among the angels,
And I must (also) jump from the river of (the state of) the angel,
Everything perishes except His Face,
Once again I will become sacrificed from (the state of) the angel,
I will become that which cannot come into the imagination,
Then I will become non-existent; non-existence says to me (in tones) like an organ,
Truly, to Him is our return.

- Rumi

Alas, Sufism is not about following the fundamentals.  In the past they were labeled as heretics by the zealots.  I find great comfort in the last sentence:

I do believe that my encounter with the Forty Rules of Love is part of my destiny.

I am aligned to the Force, Path and Flow; the XYZ Equation.

Having said that, as much as I believe in the Infinite Intelligence, I don't align myself to any religion.

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