Search Results for Sufism
Sufism
Sufi Festival: Haseeb ANSAR
Sufism
The term sufi (Arabic: mystic) is likely based on the root suf (wool), recalling the simple woolen garments worn by ascetics.
Sufism is often regarded as an unorthodox type of Islamic mysticism.
While Westerners might think Sufis are itinerant holy men wandering through remote deserts, Sufism became an organized movement around the 7th and 8th centuries, mostly in reaction to the worldly Middle-Eastern Umayyad dynasty.
The well-known Dervish orders arose in India around the 12th and 13th centuries. These emphasized ecstatic states and remained influential until quite recently.
The Sufi Al-Hallaj (CE 858-922 ) advocated the mystical union of the individual soul with God, was branded a heretic, imprisoned and later executed.
The essence of Sufism might best be expressed by the 13th-century and increasingly popular poet Jala ud-Din Rumi. Rumi’s verse can be found in New Age bookstores and his message prefigures Joseph Campbell‘s dictum of follow your bliss.
» Islam, Prayer, Sikhism
At Earthpages.org:
- “Surfin’ with Sufis” (expands on this entry)
On the Web:
- Excellent entry at Wikipedia
- Try http://ias.org too. Good information there and they are non-sectarian and non-denominational Muslims (Buzz Kill)
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Bauls
Baul playing “air guitar” in W. Bengal by earthpages via Flickr
The Bauls are the wandering devotional minstrels of West Bengal, India. They belong to a longstanding bardic tradition that poetically glorifies God while rebuking worldly hypocrisy. Many practice left hand tantra. And living off alms, they are the peace, love and freedom “hippies” of West Bengal.
Today their timeless songs may be heard on trains and at public fairs called melas. The Bauls’ poetry had a tremendous influence on the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, the outstanding Bengali figure who founded the open air, asram-style Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan.
But perhaps most important about the Bauls, they manage to accept people from both Islam (Sufism) and Hinduism (Vaishnavas) in a country where the tension between these two religious groups is usually so thick you could cut with a knife.
- Review: Two books on Bauls (enfolding.org)
- Tagore-Ocampo memorabilia reveals enigmatic relationship (vancouverdesi.com)
- Where a poet’s vision lives on (ndtv.com)
- Mamata Banerjee paints with artists (vancouverdesi.com)
- Tagore-Ocampo memorabilia reveals enigmatic relationship (indiavision.com)
Cirlot, Juan Eduardo
A Dictionary of Symbols – and more images via Tumblr
Juan Eduardo Cirlot (1916-73) was a Spanish poet, painter and student of symbology.
He studied in a Jesuit school but cites his main interests as Dadaism, Sufism, Kabbala and Asian studies. His Dictionary of Symbols is a classic in its field, employing many of the ideas forwarded by the Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung.
Related articles
- DADAism (andreaabagnale.wordpress.com)
Islam
Image via Wikipedia
Islam [Arabic: surrender] is the religion of Muslims, based on the text of the Koran (or Qur’an).
The Koran was written in Arabic, and for orthodox believers it’s the uncreated word of God, dictated to the prophet Mohammed (ca. 570-632 CE) by the angel Jibra’il (Gabriel).
Islam contains 5 pillars of fundamental belief and practice:
- Ash-Shahada – the belief in only one God.
- Salat – daily prayer, with body facing Mecca, taking place at sunrise, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and nighttime.
- Sawm – fasting that is obligatory at puberty and also during the 9th month of the Islamic year (Ramadan), believed to be the period when the Koran was written. Eating and drinking is prohibited from dawn to sunset during Ramadan.
- Zakat - giving alms to the less fortunate, the amount being 2.5% of one’s total income.
- Hajj – the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Moslems are obliged to take at least once in a lifetime. Hajj ideally is taken on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the Islamic year.
The Sunni branch of Islam is comprised of about 85% of contemporary Muslims and is often regarded as orthodox form of this religion.
The Shi’ite branch, mostly in Iran, Persia and partly in Iraq, represent about 10% of today’s Muslims.
Historically speaking, the Shi’ites and Sunnis split over a disagreement about the legitimacy of Mohammad’s successors (Caliphs)—not entirely unlike the Protestant refusal to recognize the authority of the Catholic Papacy.
The mystically based, unorthodox branch of Sufism arose partly as a reaction to the beliefs and standardized practices of orthodox Islam. In response, aspects of orthodox Islam have been critical of Sufism, especially in regard to the Sufi belief that a person can be “one” with God.
Related Posts » Allah, Angels, Brahman, Evil, Fallen Angels, God, Heaven, Hell, Holy Rosary, Id, Imam, Jihad, Jin, Jinn, Just War, Malcolm X, Mythic Dissociation, Saint, Shi’ism, Sikhism, Sin
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- Why are Pakistan’s ‘moderate’ clerics defending Salman Taseer’s murderer? | Hamad Ali (guardian.co.uk)
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Mysticism
Image via Wikipedia
The term mysticism has a wide variety of meanings.
In ancient Greece an initiate (mystes) was lead into a mystery, a highly esoteric process where initiates swore to secrecy.
Today mysticism generally refers to surpassing worldly sensations, thoughts and desires, which are temporarily replaced or infused with otherworldly experiences, knowledge or graces.
However, this kind of definition falls short because we also have romantic or nature mysticism.
Perhaps at its highest level mysticism refers to an intimate spiritual relationship – others say union – with God or the divine.
Although not appearing in the Bible or in the writings of the Church Fathers, the related terms “mystical,” “mystagogy” and “mystagogue” explain one’s initiation into the essentially mysterious sacraments of the Christian Church.
It’s often said that Christian mysticism differs from Eastern mysticism in that Christianity emphasizes a relationship between the individual and God, rather than a loss of individuality and absorption into, or total identification with, the divine.
But this difference, in practice, is likely one of degree, character, or perhaps a developmental difference.
There seem to be exceptions, at least on the conceptual level, to a general distinction between the ideas of Christian relationship and Eastern absorption. For example, some Christian saints request in their prayers to be entirely immersed in Jesus’ divine glory. This idea of immersion sounds very Eastern.
And the Hindu school of Visistadvaita (founded by Ramanuja) maintains that a sense of individuality rests within the ultimate and eternal, and idea which sounds very Christian.
To further complicate matters, , even within a given tradition mystics talk of a diversity of realms and numinous experiences. So it seems unlikely that the experiences accessed by mystics within different traditions are identical.
Some writers and pop gurus try to condense different kinds of mysticism into a simple formula, such as “union with the divine.”
In fact, most spiritual seekers usually try to fit very different ideas about mysticism into their own particular belief system.
Filipmoroz adds:
In my opinion mystics, who always need the adjective of religion they came from while described, did achieved such level of union with divine that does not need religion anymore. Religion needs words meanwhile their level of union does not. » Source
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Mystic
St. John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church via Wikipedia
The word ‘mystic’ refers to one who engages in mysticism, and is often used pejoratively or as a caricature (e.g. wooly-headed mystic). This usage arguably arises, in part, from the worldly bias of contemporary consumer-oriented culture.
Many individuals, religious and secular, seem to value only that which they can buy, sell, and most of all, see. Subtle religious feelings may not be accessible to them, so naturally they’d think the whole idea of mysticism is hogwash.
Fortunately, this almost animalistic perspective of reality is not all pervasive–although it does seem to be dominant in the scientific, legal and political aspects of 21C culture.
There always have been and continues to be mystics who suggest there’s more, much more to life than meets the eye.
By the same token, some mystics seem to make grandiose claims and have allowed their sense of reason to be eclipsed by personal biases.
The respected writer on mysticism, Evelyn Underhill, makes a distinction between the sincere and the insincere mystic, and other important related distinctions (e.g. meditation vs. contemplation).
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The New Age
Search For Infinity: Christian Halderman
Some contend that the idea of the ‘New Age’ originated as a marketing category in the 1980s, with New Age style ideas going back, of course, to the 70s and 60s.
Others note, more comprehensively, that the media also uses the term, as do many individuals and organizations. Whatever its origins, the ‘New Age’ refers to almost anything relating to contemporary spiritual discourse and practice.
New Age books, music, lectures, workshops, videos and websites deal with humanity’s development, usually with the goal of self-actualization and sometimes global transformation.
At the outset of the 20th-century, the American psychologist and philosopher William James outlined his The Varieties of Religious Experience several innovative spiritual trends remarkably similar to today’s concept of the New Age:
…for the sake of having a brief designation, I will give [it] the title of the ‘Mind-Cure movement.’ There are various sects of this ‘New Thought,’ to use another of the names by which it calls itself.¹
From the 1980s to around the new millennium religious fundamentalists, especially of the North American Christian variety, targeted the New Age as the workings of Satan. Important figures like C. G. Jung, Rudolf Steiner and Fritjof Capra were caricatured as Satanic hostiles to apparently ‘true’ fundamentalist versions of the Christian faith.
However, the emphasis of fundamentalist reactionary attacks has arguably shifted from perceived psychological and spiritual threats to scientific ones. Believers in evolution sans God are the new devils in the flesh to be countered and corrected by those single-minded Fundamentalists who believe they have a privileged interpretation of Christian scripture.
This shift is probably due to recent advances in mapping and sequencing genomes. The possibilities of this technology are staggering, and the new is always scary to those deeply entrenched and invested in longstanding cultural biases.
—
¹ William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Penguin, 1985 [1902], p. 94.
Search Think Free » Akashic Records, Chakra, Channeling, Da Free John, Darwin (Charles Robert), Druids, Eno (Brian), Heart Sutra, Kali, Magnetizers, Maslow (Abraham), Medicine Wheel, Moses and Monotheism, Neo-Paganism, Pantheism, Peebles (Dr. James Martin), Platonism, Prime Directive, Reincarnation, Remote Viewing, Roberts (Jane), Rock and Roll, Spirit, Sufism, Third Eye, Transubstantiation
At Earthpages.org
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Prayer
The lone prayer: Autumnsonata
Prayer is a way of petitioning or communicating with a deity, spiritual being or power, to include deceased ancestors (as in ancestor worship).
Prayers are usually offered in a state of humility. They are highly structured or, alternately, unscripted and spontaneous.
Many pray within the liturgy of a faith assembly or in private. Moreover, devotees pray through spoken word, thought, writing and song. Prayer is also expressed in the arts, broadcast media or merely involves an act of the will.
Bodily posture may or may not be important to prayer. Some pray, for instance, kneeling while others dance (e.g. the whirling dervishes of Sufism). And others pray while lying down.
Christians believe that the Our Father prayer is unique because it is the prayer that Jesus, God’s only Son, gave to the world (Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4).
» AUM, Brown (Michael), Contemplation, Faith and Action, Fasting, Hail Mary Prayer, Holy Rosary, Intercession, Meditation, Mental Prayer, Michael (St.), Mysticism, Rosary, Serenity Prayer, Vocal Prayer
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Sikhism
Sikhism
A religious and cultural movement based on the teachings of the Indian Guru Nanak (1469-1539 CE).
The teachings of the Muslim Kabir and the spread of mystical Sufism in Northern India laid the groundwork for this new religion, which originally hoped to synthesize Islam and Hinduism.
Sikhism currently emphasizes the oneness of God and unity of all faiths.
It is believed that a succession of 10 gurus (Nanak and his nine successors) has spread the word of the true guru–namely, God.
The 10 Sikh Gurus by Larry Miller
The last Sikh guru died in 1708.
The sacred scripture of the Sikhs is called The Adi Granth, itself often referred to as a “guru.”
Sikh culture is highly distinctive; most choose to wear a turban within and beyond the borders of their Punjab homeland.
As with other world religions, the noble ideals of Sikhism are at times undermined by extremists, as evidenced by clashes at the holiest site of sacred pilgrimage, the Golden Temple.
On the Web:
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Brahman
Brahman For Hindus this is eternal and entirely impersonal Ultimate Reality.
In Sanksrit Brahman is the neuter form of Brahma and represents the Hindu term which many believe is the same as the Jewish, Islamic and Christian conception of an absolute, single God.
The many gods and goddesses of Hinduism are said to be different manifestations of the one, all-pervading ground of Brahman.
But in some schools of Hinduism the idea of the Brahman seems to differ from the idea of God as found in other religions.
Sankara, for instance, believed it is possible for the individual to merge and become one with the Brahman.
Ramanuja, on the other hand, believed in the permanence of individual souls.
Somewhat like Ramanuja’s interpretation, within orthodox Middle-Eastern religions one doesn’t merge with but engages in a reverential “I-thou” relationship with God.
But the line between these two ways of understanding the individual and God often seems blurred.
Unorthodox Middle Eastern religions, for instance, exhibit beliefs similar to Sankara’s idea of the Brahman. And the language used by Catholic saints such as St. Faustina Kowalska often approaches the idea of absolute unity, where a saint hopes to be totally “immersed” in the Godhead.
At the same time, however, Catholic saints reflect and participate in the Divine glory without claiming to be the same as God’s all-pervading power and wisdom, as do some of the Hindu figures like Sri Ramakrishna who said he was an avatar.
Even the highest Christian saint in Orthodox and Catholic circles, the Virgin Mary, is said to have been born without taint of original sin and, as such, reflects the Holy Trinity but is not identical with it.
Of course, many say that Jesus Christ was a man who believed he was equal to God. But what makes this different from other paths is that Christian followers do not believe this is possible for themselves.
Having been born with the taint of original sin, Christians generally see themselves as “works in progress” instead of “liberated” “enlightened” or “incarnated” souls.
That is, the Christian loves God but doesn’t believe him or herself to be God. » Atman, Brahmin, Buber (Martin), Gnosticism, Kabbala, Sufism
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