I f the soul is vigilant and withdraws from all distraction and abandons its own will, then the spirit of God invades it and it can conceive because it is free to do so (cf. Jn. 3:3-8). quote 3343 | Desert Fathers Abba Cronius: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 115, Cronius 1
H is ego falls like a battered wall. He unites with God, alive, but emptied of Nasuh (i.e. himself). quote 3332 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Essential Rumi, p. 163, Trans. Coleman Barks with John Moyne. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995
W ith God, two I's cannot find room. You say I and He says I. Either you die before Him, or let Him die before you; then duality will not remain. But it is impossible for Him to die, either subjectively or objectively, since He is the Living God, the Undying (Koran 25:58). He possesses such Gentleness that were it possible, He would die for you so that duality might vanish. But since it is impossible for Him to die, you die, so that He may manifest Himself to you and duality may vanish. quote 3327 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, p. 191, Trans. William C. Chittick. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1983
G od calls, … "Come out of your selves quickly, or else every instant will be a shackle, every two paces snares and traps." Come out of ourselves? But to where? To selflessness! Selflessness is meaning, meaning! Self-consciousness is names, names! quote 3326 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, p. 174, Trans. William C. Chittick. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1983
W hat sort of Beloved is He? As long as a single hair of love for yourself remains, He will not show His Face… You must be completely repelled by yourself and the world and be your own self's enemy… So when our religion resides in a person's heart, it stays right there until it takes his heart to God and separates it from everything unworthy. quote 3312 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, p. 215, Trans. William C. Chittick. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1983
S omeone was saying: "I have studied so many branches of knowledge and mastered so many concepts; yet I still do not know which concept in man will abide forever. I have not discovered it yet." If it could be known by means of words, there would be no need for the annihilation of individual existence or for so much suffering. You must strive to rid yourself of your own individuation before you can know that thing which will remain. quote 3298 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi, p. 203, Trans. W.M. Thackston, Jr. Putney, Vermont: Threshold Books, 1994
H is mental questionings form the barrier. His physical eyesight bandages his knowing. Self-consciousness plugs his ears. quote 3296 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Essential Rumi, p. 256, Trans. Coleman Barks with John Moyne. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995
T o give up yourself without regret is the greatest charity. quote 3252 | Bodhidharma The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. Trans. Red Pine. New York: North Point Press, 1987. The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. Trans. Red Pine. New York: North Point Press, 1987, p. 49
B e His servant, surrender yourself to Him, and then pray to Him. quote 3192 | Ramakrishna Mahendranath Gupta. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Trans. Swami Nikhilananda. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1942, 1948, 1958, p. 159 (p. 159)
G od has put you in the world. What can you do about it? Resign everything to Him. Surrender yourself at His feet. Then there will be no more confusion. quote 3191 | Ramakrishna Mahendranath Gupta. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Trans. Swami Nikhilananda. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1942, 1948, 1958, p. 353
G o sweep out the chamber of your heart. Make it ready to be the dwelling place of the Beloved. When you depart out, He will enter it. In you, void of yourself, will He display His beauties. quote 3144 | Shabistari 'Rose Garden of Mystery'
I nside this new love, die.Your way begins on the other side.Become the sky.Take an axe to the prison wall.Escape.Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.Do it now.You're covered with a thick cloud.Slide out the side. Die,and be quiet. Quiteness is the surest signthat you've died.Your old live was a frantic runningfrom silence.The speechless full mooncomes out now. quote 3141 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Essential Rumi - Coleman Barks
B y Allah!I long to escape the prison of my egoand lose myselfin the mountains and the desert. quote 3140 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi The Love Poems of Rumi' - Deepak Chopra & Fereydoun Kia
T asawwuf means that Allah causes you to die to your self and gives you life in Him. quote 3132 | Al-Junayd
T he essence of all spirituality is this: "Complete and utter abandonment to the Will of God!We must offer ourselves to God like a clean, smooth canvas and not worry ourselves about what God may choose to paint on it, but at each moment, feel only the stroke of His brush … It is the same with a piece of stone. Each blow from the sculptor's chisel makes it feel-if it could-as if it were being destroyed. As blow after blow descends, the stone knows nothing of how the sculptor is shaping it. All it feels is a chisel chopping away at it, cutting it, and mutilating it. For example, let's take a piece of stone destined to be carved into a crucifix or a statue. We might ask it: 'What do you think is happening to you?" And it might answer: "Don't ask me. All I know is that I must stay immobile in the hands of the sculptor … I have no idea what he is doing, nor do I know what lie will make of me. But I know his work is the best possible. It is perfect and so I welcome each blow of his chisel as the best thing that could happen to me, although, if I'm to be truthful, I feel that every one of these blows is ruining me, destroying me, and disfiguring me." quote 3094 | Jean Pierre de Caussade Beevers, John, trans. Abandonment to Divine Providence. New York: Doubleday, 1975, pp. 25, 3 7,40, 70, 73, 81-82
C ome now, noble souls, and take a look at the splendor you are carrying within yourselves! But if you do not let go of yourself completely, if you do not drown yourself in this bottomless sea of the Godhead, you cannot get to know this divine light. quote 3082 | Meister Eckhart Pfeiffer, Frantz, and Evans, C de B., trans. Meister Eckhart. London: John M. Watkins, 1924, 193 1, Vol. 1: 118, 157, 221-222, 287, 338, 348, 363, 429, and Vol. 2: 41, 114.
I maintain by God's eternal truth that God must pour Himself, without reservation, with all His powers, into everyone who has sunk completely into himself and has touched bottom. For it is God's very nature to give Himself to all those who are empty. And God will give Himself so fully and completely that nothing will be left of Himself-nothing will be left of His essence, His nature, nor His creation. God must pour everything, His totality, into that person who has completely given himself to Him. quote 3080 | Meister Eckhart Pfeiffer, Frantz, and Evans, C de B., trans. Meister Eckhart. London: John M. Watkins, 1924, 193 1, Vol. 1: 118, 157, 221-222, 287, 338, 348, 363, 429, and Vol. 2: 41, 114.
T he tavern-haunter is a seeker of Unity, a soul freed from the shackles of himself. quote 3068 | Shabistari The Secret Rose Garden
A Sufi began to weep in the middle of the night. He said, "The world is like a closed casket in which we are placed and in which, through our ignorance, we spend our time in folly. When Death opens the lid of the casket, each one who has wings takes his flight to Eternity~ but that one who is without wings remains in the casket. Before the lid is taken away from this casket, become a bird of the Way to God. Develop your wings and your feathers. No, rather burn your wings and your feathers and destroy yourself by fire, and so will you arrive at the Goal before all others.' quote 2955 | Attar Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.247
I n truth, it is the one who has lost all knowledge and trace of his own existence who has, at the same time, found knowledge of the Beloved. So long as you will not ignore your own body and soul, how will you ever know the Object you love? quote 2954 | Attar Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.248
Y ou cannot find God without passing beyond your own being. quote 2952 | Sheikh Muzaffer Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.213
T he Sufi is absent from himself and present with God. quote 2862 | Hujwiri Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.36
T here is no room for God in him who is full of himself. quote 2785 | Martin Buber Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.102
I shall teach you the best way to say Torah. You must cease to be aware of yourselves. You must be nothing but an ear that hears what the universe of the word is constantly saying within you. The moment you start hearing what you yourself are saying, YOU must stop. quote 2764 | Martin Buber Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.66
