“In our tradition, God says, „The heavens and the earth cannot contain Me.“ We know there are billions of stars and galaxies. Yet the Divine is saying, „No, all of that cannot contain Me. Only the heart of my faithful servant, the knower, is expansive enough to contain Me.“ It‘s a very high truth. (p. 80)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“A drop that knows itself, knows the Ocean. (p. 80)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“Remembrance in its most elementary, tangible form is to chant the names of God. Remembrance is everything. Our destination as spiritually developing human beings is to live our lives in such a way that we are completely within that continual remembrance. That is the world and universe we live in. It surrounds and informs us. It illuminates our perception and softens our hearts. It should also bring us joy and happiness. That is our reality, because looking at life through the distorting eyes of the ego is, at best, a secondhand reality. The word for „remembrance“ in Arabic literally means „to mention,“ yet we translate it as „remembrance.“ When you mention someone, in a way, you‘re remembering the one you are calling to mind. We are remembering our Origin, remembering that we come from God and to God we will return. People sometimes talk about how children have an open channel to the Divine because they just came from God relatively recently. Remembering our Origin is a fundamental truth that we need to call to mind. This is expressed in the hadith „Whoever belongs to God, God will belong to him or her.“ In that sense, if remembrance is deep enough, complete enough, it is the Divine remembering in you. In the state of belonging to God, what you want is not different than what the Divine wants. And „God“ wants what you want; there is then no separate „you“ wanting. There is no duality or personal will pulling in the opposite direction. Rumi calls that being under „the compulsion of love.“(p. 6)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“Silence is not a lack of words. Silence is presence itself. (p. 26)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“All life is one and everything that lives is holy. Holiness is Reality. (p. 80)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“The messenger of God, peace be upon him, said, „If anyone travels a path in search of knowledge, God will conduct him through one of the paths of paradise. The angels will lower their wings, delighted with the one who seeks knowledge. And the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth, and the fish in the depths of the water will seek forgiveness for him. The higher station of the gnostic over the worshipper is like the position of the full moon among the stars.“ The hadith is not talking about the sect of Gnostics, but rather the knowers of God. The knowers of God are the heirs of the Prophet. (p. 90)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“Corre tan lejos de ti y de tus sentimientos.”
— Correr por Ella”
Source: Poemas del Verano en Paris: Poems of my summer in Paris
“The word for paradise is actually „garden“ or jannah in Arabic. Paradise is not just something that comes after this earthly life. The Qur‘an says, The Garden will be brought near to all those who are in a state of Godconsciousness (Surah ash-Shu‘ara 26:90). To all those who deepen in their remembrance, deepen in presence, The Garden will be brought near. (p. 101)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“There's a transformative power that exists in the nature of Reality. There is something that can almost miraculously transform human beings. We need that. (p. 3)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
“To invite God into a conversation is to open the door of mystery and possibility. It is not about an exchange between two people, with the thought of „I‘ll do this for you, maybe someday you‘ll do it for me.“ It has nothing to do with expectation. It‘s not a quid pro quo. It‘s something entirely of a different order and unpredictable. (p. 3)”
Source: In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching