Biomiast
Jedi Master
Hi to all,
This small project has been on my mind for some time. As I sensed on the recent thread on Islam, there is a confusion between Sufism and Islam and how these two ways of life different from each other and where do they converge. For this reason, I would like to point out the source of ideas in Sufism, coming from great Sufi Masters. The list may be longer than I planned in actuality, however, I will write about those I think that made the most significant contributions. It may also be interesting to observe how these people are received by their community at their time, then you will have an idea how Sufism is perceived before it was co-opted among orthodox Muslims.
Junayd al Baghdadi:
Junayd is an interesting figure, and I think his ideas may resonate with us well. He is considered as the master of masters by every single Sufi school either they are real or not. Every school tries to associate itself with Junayd to show that it is legit. I think that tells something about the man and power of his knowledge that needs to be taken over by disinformation artists. I have taken much of this material from Wikipedia, adding some additional sources and my knowledge on the concepts.
Born in 830 A.D., died on 910 A.D. A Persian Mystic that taught and lived in Baghdad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junayd_of_Baghdad
The above is pretty much what we are trying to achieve and Junayd tells this eloquently, writing about different stages before one reaches God. I will try to relate them to you in common terminology of this forum.
First of all, Junayd emphasizes a struggle, a hardship(bala) is essential for a journey to start and continue afterwards. It is the fuel that guides the seeker to reach God. He draws a basic outline for annihilating ego-self. At the beginning, one puts some distance between him/her and worldly possessions and desires, he/she no longer becomes attached to the world. Then, they put some distance between them and the people around them. Even though this may be literally practiced at the time, this was because there were schools of sufism where it was essential to submit yourself to the will of your master. Today, for us, this means cleaning your environment from pathological influences and desires, creating a psychological hygiene.
Then, the process continues to devotion and rememberance of God which is equivalent to EE for us. This way, one always feel connected with “God” and permits Its influence into his/her life. Then, what is required for the seeker is sincerity and comtemplation. This makes a person consider his/her life, false personality, selfish desires and narcissistic woundings. As the contemplation continues, it produces a State where a person feels one with God. It is my thinking that those Sufis that described such processes do not refer to reaching 7th density, but finding one’s true self. Now this is the most interesting part, Junayd says there are also three stages that one must pass to go beyond fana. This means fana is also something that needs to be passed so it is not reaching 7th density.
To pass fana three things must be accomplished:
1) the passing away from one’s attributes through the effort of constantly opposing one’s ego-self : This means you fight with your false personality, your ego to extend beyond your childhood programming.
2) passing away from one’s sense of accomplishment, that is, passing away from ‘one’s share of the sweet deserts and pleasures of obedience’: This bit describes beating your false personality again. This time ego holds on tight to its accomplishments, its successes and its desires and a sincere seeker must know that these desires are stemming from false personality, not from true self. And the accomplishments, even though they are attributed to ego, they actually belong to the real self.
3) passing away from the vision of the reality ‘of your ecstasies as the sign of the real overpowers you’: This part is very interesting. I think he describes that as people progress and go beyond first two obstacles, they began to enjoy the ecstasies that God gives to them. But if one dwells on these experiences, one can not find the real self, he/she would just be a junkie that we commonly see in New Age tradition.
Sufis commonly talk about their ecstasies and drunkenness as they become one with the God similar to shamans, however, Junayd says there is a state beyond that ecstasy which is called baqa or remaining with God. Junayd thinks when one reaches baqa, he/she is no longer ecstatic, but Sober. Gurdjieff might say he/she woke up which has similar meaning. He/she interacts with world with the senses given to him/her by God.
However there is another school of thought that also uses the word baqa for a different meaning. In those schools, fana is reaching the God and baqa is “forgetting” that you reached the God because you become one with the God in a place where there is no you and me. I think Junayd’s school is mainly associated with everyday life experiences to transcend the self, and remain in the world, similar to us.
As an example to illustrate how Sufis talked in metaphors, I would like to mention a sentence from Junayd and its interpretation. The sentence is “The water takes on the color of the cup. “ and it is interpreted by scholars as:
Other interesting things about Junayd is, he didn’t believe that Sufi knowledge is for everyone, he thought this knowledge belongs to a specific group of people and not to the masses. This is probably the reason he talked in methapors and probably the reason he had a head on his shoulders as we will see in the life of Mansur al-Hallaj.
It seems amazing to me that an ordinary Muslim would sit down and think about reaching to God when all he/she needs to do is follow God's commands. The fact that someone is working on these philosophical problems shows me that those people are not taken in by the lies in Quran about heaven and hell. To finish this post with a verse from Yunus Emre telling to God:
The thing they called heaven
Has some houses and some women
If somebody wants them, give it to them
You are the one I need, you are the one I crave
This small project has been on my mind for some time. As I sensed on the recent thread on Islam, there is a confusion between Sufism and Islam and how these two ways of life different from each other and where do they converge. For this reason, I would like to point out the source of ideas in Sufism, coming from great Sufi Masters. The list may be longer than I planned in actuality, however, I will write about those I think that made the most significant contributions. It may also be interesting to observe how these people are received by their community at their time, then you will have an idea how Sufism is perceived before it was co-opted among orthodox Muslims.
Junayd al Baghdadi:
Junayd is an interesting figure, and I think his ideas may resonate with us well. He is considered as the master of masters by every single Sufi school either they are real or not. Every school tries to associate itself with Junayd to show that it is legit. I think that tells something about the man and power of his knowledge that needs to be taken over by disinformation artists. I have taken much of this material from Wikipedia, adding some additional sources and my knowledge on the concepts.
Born in 830 A.D., died on 910 A.D. A Persian Mystic that taught and lived in Baghdad.
His basic ideas deal with a progression that leads one to “annihilate” oneself (fana) so as to be in a closer union with the Divine. People need to “relinquish natural desires, to wipe out human attributes, to discard selfish motives, to cultivate spiritual qualities, to devote oneself to true knowledge, to do what is best in the context of eternity, to wish good for the entire community, to be truly faithful to God, and to follow the Prophet in the matters of the Shari’a”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junayd_of_Baghdad
The above is pretty much what we are trying to achieve and Junayd tells this eloquently, writing about different stages before one reaches God. I will try to relate them to you in common terminology of this forum.
First of all, Junayd emphasizes a struggle, a hardship(bala) is essential for a journey to start and continue afterwards. It is the fuel that guides the seeker to reach God. He draws a basic outline for annihilating ego-self. At the beginning, one puts some distance between him/her and worldly possessions and desires, he/she no longer becomes attached to the world. Then, they put some distance between them and the people around them. Even though this may be literally practiced at the time, this was because there were schools of sufism where it was essential to submit yourself to the will of your master. Today, for us, this means cleaning your environment from pathological influences and desires, creating a psychological hygiene.
Then, the process continues to devotion and rememberance of God which is equivalent to EE for us. This way, one always feel connected with “God” and permits Its influence into his/her life. Then, what is required for the seeker is sincerity and comtemplation. This makes a person consider his/her life, false personality, selfish desires and narcissistic woundings. As the contemplation continues, it produces a State where a person feels one with God. It is my thinking that those Sufis that described such processes do not refer to reaching 7th density, but finding one’s true self. Now this is the most interesting part, Junayd says there are also three stages that one must pass to go beyond fana. This means fana is also something that needs to be passed so it is not reaching 7th density.
To pass fana three things must be accomplished:
1) the passing away from one’s attributes through the effort of constantly opposing one’s ego-self : This means you fight with your false personality, your ego to extend beyond your childhood programming.
2) passing away from one’s sense of accomplishment, that is, passing away from ‘one’s share of the sweet deserts and pleasures of obedience’: This bit describes beating your false personality again. This time ego holds on tight to its accomplishments, its successes and its desires and a sincere seeker must know that these desires are stemming from false personality, not from true self. And the accomplishments, even though they are attributed to ego, they actually belong to the real self.
3) passing away from the vision of the reality ‘of your ecstasies as the sign of the real overpowers you’: This part is very interesting. I think he describes that as people progress and go beyond first two obstacles, they began to enjoy the ecstasies that God gives to them. But if one dwells on these experiences, one can not find the real self, he/she would just be a junkie that we commonly see in New Age tradition.
Sufis commonly talk about their ecstasies and drunkenness as they become one with the God similar to shamans, however, Junayd says there is a state beyond that ecstasy which is called baqa or remaining with God. Junayd thinks when one reaches baqa, he/she is no longer ecstatic, but Sober. Gurdjieff might say he/she woke up which has similar meaning. He/she interacts with world with the senses given to him/her by God.
However there is another school of thought that also uses the word baqa for a different meaning. In those schools, fana is reaching the God and baqa is “forgetting” that you reached the God because you become one with the God in a place where there is no you and me. I think Junayd’s school is mainly associated with everyday life experiences to transcend the self, and remain in the world, similar to us.
As an example to illustrate how Sufis talked in metaphors, I would like to mention a sentence from Junayd and its interpretation. The sentence is “The water takes on the color of the cup. “ and it is interpreted by scholars as:
“When the water is understood here to refer to the Light of Divine self-disclosure, we are led to the important concept of ‘capacity,’ whereby the Divine epiphany is received by the heart of any person according to that person’s particular receptive capacity and will be ‘colored’ by that person’s nature”
Other interesting things about Junayd is, he didn’t believe that Sufi knowledge is for everyone, he thought this knowledge belongs to a specific group of people and not to the masses. This is probably the reason he talked in methapors and probably the reason he had a head on his shoulders as we will see in the life of Mansur al-Hallaj.
It seems amazing to me that an ordinary Muslim would sit down and think about reaching to God when all he/she needs to do is follow God's commands. The fact that someone is working on these philosophical problems shows me that those people are not taken in by the lies in Quran about heaven and hell. To finish this post with a verse from Yunus Emre telling to God:
The thing they called heaven
Has some houses and some women
If somebody wants them, give it to them
You are the one I need, you are the one I crave