Heaven On Earth: Transmuting Darkness Into Light in the Way of the Sufi- With Love and Unity Consciousness
© Kersten Rabia Dryden Cohen
Heaven is here. We no longer have the need to wait for the day of judgement to reap the rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven. Human consciousness has evolved, in my optimistic opinion, beyond the need for rigid dogma. My goal is to reunite sensuality and spirituality in the way of the Sufi.
I have a dream: To help seekers to know God by transmuting darkness into light by becoming the embodiment of light through love. This can be done by passionately embracing the essence of any or all religious teachings.
Sufism is universal in its teachings, though it was traditionally an esoteric branch of Islam. Contemporary Sufism draws its teachings from many faiths, integrating all religions by embracing the core of all faiths: love.
The main goal of the Sufi is to move beyond the barriers of self and the material world, into the Unity that exists within the Divine heart of us all. What does that mean? Many religions describe the world in terms of good and evil. However, these terms are black and white, leaving no room for the so-called gray area.
When speaking in terms of darkness and light, one must leave room for gradual shading. We all have shadows- negative thought forms that are spun out of an ego that is dependent upon the illusion of separateness for its survival. The way out of negative patterning is not through abandoning or fighting these feelings or thoughts, but by embracing them with compassion. In this way we love the ego self as an innocent child, neither primping nor ostracizing it- both which fuel the ego. We must always remember that the negative ego is still ego! When one feels less worthy than another, that too is ego! When one boasts his humility, he is not truly humble. To have true humility, it is brought upon by true spiritual vision, al-Ihsan. The ego is the fear aspect of separateness, of duality. In Sufism, there is only Unity: al-ahadiyah.
Fear is darkness. The only fear that exists in human consciousness is the fear of being alone, forever separated from an-Nafs al wahidah, from Source- abandoned by Allah. However, the Sufi knows the Supreme Truth- all souls are derived from this Source, and all souls return to this same Source.
Love, in spiritual terms, is light, and in the presence of light, no darkness can survive. In fact, darkness can only exist in the absence of light. Love is the key to all of life's mysteries, including the eradication of negative thought forms which lead to greed, resentment, nationalism, egoism, war. To be able to look a stranger or an adversary in the eye and bow, knowing in the heart that they too are the embodiment of God (whether they realize it or not!)- This is the goal of the Sufi.
I have a dream: To help seekers to know God by transmuting darkness into light by becoming the embodiment of light through love. This can be done by passionately embracing the essence of any or all religious teachings.
Sufism is universal in its teachings, though it was traditionally an esoteric branch of Islam. Contemporary Sufism draws its teachings from many faiths, integrating all religions by embracing the core of all faiths: love.
The main goal of the Sufi is to move beyond the barriers of self and the material world, into the Unity that exists within the Divine heart of us all. What does that mean? Many religions describe the world in terms of good and evil. However, these terms are black and white, leaving no room for the so-called gray area.
When speaking in terms of darkness and light, one must leave room for gradual shading. We all have shadows- negative thought forms that are spun out of an ego that is dependent upon the illusion of separateness for its survival. The way out of negative patterning is not through abandoning or fighting these feelings or thoughts, but by embracing them with compassion. In this way we love the ego self as an innocent child, neither primping nor ostracizing it- both which fuel the ego. We must always remember that the negative ego is still ego! When one feels less worthy than another, that too is ego! When one boasts his humility, he is not truly humble. To have true humility, it is brought upon by true spiritual vision, al-Ihsan. The ego is the fear aspect of separateness, of duality. In Sufism, there is only Unity: al-ahadiyah.
Fear is darkness. The only fear that exists in human consciousness is the fear of being alone, forever separated from an-Nafs al wahidah, from Source- abandoned by Allah. However, the Sufi knows the Supreme Truth- all souls are derived from this Source, and all souls return to this same Source.
Love, in spiritual terms, is light, and in the presence of light, no darkness can survive. In fact, darkness can only exist in the absence of light. Love is the key to all of life's mysteries, including the eradication of negative thought forms which lead to greed, resentment, nationalism, egoism, war. To be able to look a stranger or an adversary in the eye and bow, knowing in the heart that they too are the embodiment of God (whether they realize it or not!)- This is the goal of the Sufi.
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