Excerpt from Finding Oneness in Loving Awareness
By Thomas D. Stanks
By Thomas D. Stanks
Chapter VI
the sufis
A. Kabir Edmund Helminski,: Living Presence
The religious traditions offer ways of getting beyond the ordinary, daily functioning of the mind, and to enjoy various higher states of consciousness, such as I have been pursuing. I turn now to a Sufi, Kabir Edmund Helminski, and his wonderfully instructive book, LIVING PRESENCE. Kaminski is a translator and interpreter of Sufi works. He is a Shaikh (Noble Elder) associated with the Mevlevi Order founded by Rumi; he is also a transpersonal psychologist.
Large portions of his book center on love, including three chapters and much of the last four chapters devoted to the subject.. He elaborates, "Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi has said, 'The religion of Love is like no other.' It has no form, and it is not dependent on laws, but it can be recognized despite outer forms by those who know it. It is the same religion Jesus brought, calling it the NEW COVENANT. The religion of Love was also brought by Mohammad and passed on through Ali and Abu Bakr to become Sufism."
Sufism is not indissolubly linked to Islamism. Again, Helminski makes the point, "Sufism is the attribute of those who love. Lovers are people who are purified by love, free of themselves and their own qualities and fully attentive to the Beloved. This is to say that Sufis are not held in bondage by any quality of their own because they see everything they are and have as belonging to the Source. An early Sufi, Shebli, said: 'The Sufi sees nothing but God in the two worlds.'" His words make me think that love may be the criterion by which to judge any religion. Is my religion an attribute of love?
Helminski relates his view on standard Sufism: "In classical Sufism the continuum from the false self to the essential Self has been described in seven stages. The word for self, NAFI, is also equivalent to 'soul.'" I believe his naming of each stage helps to describe the process of what is transpiring at that particular stage. One needs to consult the book for a full explanation.
The religious traditions offer ways of getting beyond the ordinary, daily functioning of the mind, and to enjoy various higher states of consciousness, such as I have been pursuing. I turn now to a Sufi, Kabir Edmund Helminski, and his wonderfully instructive book, LIVING PRESENCE. Kaminski is a translator and interpreter of Sufi works. He is a Shaikh (Noble Elder) associated with the Mevlevi Order founded by Rumi; he is also a transpersonal psychologist.
Large portions of his book center on love, including three chapters and much of the last four chapters devoted to the subject.. He elaborates, "Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi has said, 'The religion of Love is like no other.' It has no form, and it is not dependent on laws, but it can be recognized despite outer forms by those who know it. It is the same religion Jesus brought, calling it the NEW COVENANT. The religion of Love was also brought by Mohammad and passed on through Ali and Abu Bakr to become Sufism."
Sufism is not indissolubly linked to Islamism. Again, Helminski makes the point, "Sufism is the attribute of those who love. Lovers are people who are purified by love, free of themselves and their own qualities and fully attentive to the Beloved. This is to say that Sufis are not held in bondage by any quality of their own because they see everything they are and have as belonging to the Source. An early Sufi, Shebli, said: 'The Sufi sees nothing but God in the two worlds.'" His words make me think that love may be the criterion by which to judge any religion. Is my religion an attribute of love?
Helminski relates his view on standard Sufism: "In classical Sufism the continuum from the false self to the essential Self has been described in seven stages. The word for self, NAFI, is also equivalent to 'soul.'" I believe his naming of each stage helps to describe the process of what is transpiring at that particular stage. One needs to consult the book for a full explanation.
- The self of compulsion....
- The self of conscience....
- The self of inspiration....
- The soul of tranquility....
- The soul of submission....
- The soul of total submissio....
- The soul of perfection....