Cardiff Sufi Group

Weekly Readings

Unity

We suggest this four step approach to working with this selection: Read this selection, out loud if possible, seven times. Dwell upon the phrase or sentence that touches you. Ask yourself what relevance or application this has to yourself. inally, sit in the afterglow of these reflections and open yourself to whatever new insight or message the Divine might have for you.

!e"t #ne $f ten lamps are present in one place, each differs in form from another% yet you can&t distinguish whose radiance is whose when you focus on the light. $n the field of spirit there is no division% no individuals e"ist. 'weet is the oneness of the riend with (is friends. )atch hold of spirit. (elp this headstrong self disintegrate% that beneath it you may discover unity, like a buried treasure. *+.,-./.01 !e"t !wo 2od has scattered (is light over all souls% happy are they who have held up their skirts to receive it. !hose lucky ones don3t look to anything but 2od% without that skirt of love, we miss our share *+.-,4/-,51

Cardiff Sufi Group

Unity from a 'ufi perspective:

A personal account by 6hadim )hishti

In the name of God, the infinitely compassionate and infinitely merciful $n 'ufism, the word for Unity is 7tawhid8 which means 7to make one8 or 7to declare or acknowledge oneness8. !his is to acknowledge that 2od is indivisible, the Absolute, the sole Real which has no e9ual or partner. :verything is held within this Unity. Rumi tells us that 7there is no place that 2od cannot be found.8 !o know this Unity is to e"perience nearness to the ;eloved. #ut of Unity the Divine <resence reveals (is=(er 9ualities% they are known through (is= (er >ames and through the contrasting 9ualities revealed through the created world. 'ome of these >ames are ?ercy, @ove, )ompassion, !ruth, <ower, @ight and orgiveness. We can know 2od by these names and call upon (im=(er. #ur tendency is to be caught in the duality. !he ego insists on seeing the world through its preferences, opinions, and assertions% it insists it is the creator of that reality. !his condition of the ego cultivates divisions, alienation and separation. We make gods of our professions, our possessions, our children, or our self image. Attar, the +5th/+0th century <ersian poet, invented a story of the s9uint/eyed person who saw two moons and could not imagine that there was Aust one. We may be s9uint/eyed, seeing only duality, if we do not seek the way to see that there is one Reality. What is the way to seeB $t is Remembrance. 7. . . for truly, in the remembrance of 2od hearts find rest.8 CDur3an, +085.E !he practice of dhikr, 7La illaha illa Allah,8 means 7there is no god but 2od.8 !his affirms the #neness and Divine Unity. )alling upon our 'ustainer by doing dhikr and repetition of the >ames draws us into our own uni9ue relationship with our 'ustainer. $t polishes the mirror of our hearts. $t acknowledges that there is a 'ingle 'ource of ;eing% within the multiplicity is hidden the Divine :ssence *Unity1. #ur deepest longing is to know this Unity. (ere we are utterly unfolded, and no words are needed, no action is re9uired. $n Unity, all possibilities are united. $t is impossible for language to e"press this nearness, for in the end every thought is an act of distance. :ven words like 7intimacy, nearness, closeness or love8 indicate separation. #nly the language of parado", poetry and sacred scripture can suggest this awesome nearness. !his language speaks to our knowing hearts. or instance, we may, when touched by beauty and love, perceive a <resence beyond our separate selves. #ur knowing hearts are the bridge between ego and 'pirit, between the seen and unseen. $t is through the heart that we sense Unity. Rumi tells us 7$f ten lamps are present in one place, each differs in form from another% yet you can3t distinguish whose radiance is who3s when you focus on the light.8 *?asnavi +.,-./.01