Dear friend, your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe it clean of the veil of dust that has gathered upon it, because it is destined to reflect the light of divine secrets.

— al-Ghazzal

Everyone sees the Unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more — more Unseen forms become manifest to him.

— Rumi

The above quotes by two great Sufi masters describe the concept of "polishing the heart," which can provide valuable information on working on both personal and spiritual growth. Sufism uses the analogy of the human heart being like a polished mirror that reflects the light of the divine. The more polished one's heart is, the more the divine can be reflected.

Unfortunately, our hearts are usually covered with dust and rust, so not as much of the divine can be reflected through us. This dust and rust is our lower unconscious, our shadow side, all those parts of ourselves that we'd rather pretend do not exist. Our job is to polish our hearts, so more divine attributes can shine through us.

There are two ways of polishing the heart discussed in Sufism: remembrance of God and recognizing and gaining control over the lower self.

Remembrance of the Divine

Sufism stresses the importance of remembering and experiencing the divine throughout the day. Muhammad said, "There is a polish for everything that takes away rust; and the polish of the heart is Zhiker [also spelled Zikr — ed.], the invocation of God."

Zhiker consists basically of the repetition of certain aspects of God over and over again. This is done either in groups or individually throughout the day. A common Zhiker is "la illa ha il allah," which is translated in different ways to mean "there is no God but God," "there is nothing but God," or "there is nothing but the divine."

This, or a similar phrase, is repeated over and over throughout the day, always bringing one's attention back to the divine. You might find something similar that helps to bring you back in touch with the divine inside of you throughout your day

Quoting Arabic might not fit into your path, but perhaps prayer of some sort (following the advice in the Bible to "pray without ceasing") would suit you, or the Buddhist concept of mindfulness, staying aware throughout the day no matter what you are doing.

Other ways to remember the divine could be noticing the beauty in your life or constantly expressing gratitude throughout your day. Whatever method you choose, remembrance of the divine allows more light to shine through and be reflected in your life.

Working with the Lower Self In addition to remembrance of God, the Sufis also stress the importance of recognizing and gaining control over the lower self. The lower self is the dust and rust on the mirror that blocks the divine.

It's all those parts of us we'd rather pretend we don't have. It's our selfishness, judgmentalism, pride, jealousy, envy, laziness, dishonesty, etc. Our lower self consists of all those parts of us that don't fit into our concept of who we are as a loving person.

When we push these parts out of our awareness, they become what Jung referred to as our shadow side, so it is essential we look at these parts rather than ignore them. If we ignore the shadow, it will pop up in our lives when we don't expect it.

Also, when we suppress a part of ourselves, we put a lot of energy into blocking that part off, and it can cause fatigue and various physical or emotional problems.

<--Back Next-->