Page 38 - Perceptions papers

called “the Heart) needed to perceive these higher worlds have not been fully developed in us,

and we are very distracted by this world, by each other, and by our ego attachments.

In the Sufi tradition we seek to overcome the tyranny of lower self impulses and disidentify

from the obsessions of our mental ego. We seek to find those idols that we have built our lives

around. It may be money, or fame, or just having our way, but whatever is at the core pattern of

our lives is an idol that we give our attention and time and energy to. These are our

enslavements. In the first Sura of the Holy Koran, it says Iyaka na abudu meaning “Only you do

we make ourselves a slave to”. The Sufi path is a process of progressively identifying these

enslavements, and letting them go, allowing our attachment to these things to die, making a place

in us that is sacred and capable of realizing the Divine within.

The Sufi path is a way, a methodology for polishing the mirror of our Heart, our

consciousness and for establishing a level of balance that makes it possible to realize and

participate in the interplay of the worlds, to integrate the higher and the lower within us as

complete human beings. In the Sufi view, we don’t have to wait for death to enter into the

higher worlds, and become one with the Divine Being. We seek it now, in the present moment.

The only moment there is.

Mevlevi Order of America Mevlana Our transmission and tradition comes to us in an

unbroken chain from the Sufi mystic and poet Mevlânâ Jelaluddin Rumi. Rumi lived in 13th

century Konya, Turkey, which was part of the Seljuk Empire. He was recognized as a scholar

and a major religious, and spiritual leader. His students and followers have maintained his

teachings and practices from that time to the present day. The Mevlevi Order of America is part

of that living tradition. Now, over seven hundred years later, he is America’s best-selling poet,

inspiring many with his devotion, love, and instruction toward human maturity. We are sincere

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