God, Allah, Ahura Mazda, Brahma, Yahweh, The Great Spirit, Tao, whatever you want to call divinity, is not something separate from us but rather is actually a part of us. Therefore by discovering our true selves we discover God. In fact this perspective becomes even more dynamic when we contemplate the following phrase of Pir Vilayat (current head of the Sufi Order International): God reveals himself by manifesting himself as you; God discovers himself by the knowledge you have of him. The great Sufi, Enarbi , said the same thing a little differently: I confer upon God a mode of knowledge by discovering his consciousness as the ground of my consciousness.

When seen from this perspective, one's notion of one'self and one's relationship to God can be radically altered! Imagine that you are that divinity which you seek and that your seeking and your realizations are in fact the Divine awakening. You think you are awakening but actually it is the universe that is awakening as you (Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan).

Now, this does not mean that things are 'predetermined'; quite the contrary for this is in fact a dynamically creative act of evolution-Divine potentialities that could not have manifested themselves become actualized through you! There is a beautiful rendering of a Hadith of the Prophet Mohammad which is the center of all Sufism: I was an unknown treasure and I loved to be known. And in order to do this I became, in the consciousness of all beings, the subject of my self-discovery; and, in the nature of all beings, the object of my self-discovery. (Pir Vilayat)

This perspective is important to me as a seeker because now I really know where to look to find what I am seeking and even better, I know my success is assured because that which I seek is also seeking to awaken as me!

Sufism is Experiential.

Although Sufism values metaphysics, it is only to set a frame of reference for one's own experience and realization of Truth. Consider the difference between me describing to you a beautiful sunrise over the ocean and you being with me in the silent pre-dawn, watching breathless in communion as the glorious sun rises above the horizon-no matter how well I describe the experience it will never be the same as your direct experience of its reality.

The heart of Sufism is in its spiritual practices and the realizations they bring. These practices provide a linage of authentic and tested methods for systematically expanding consciousness.

In Sufism the place where we practice is the Heart Center. Sufism recognizes the heart center as the pivotal center for the mystical experience. It is the Alchemical caldron wherein occurs the Spiritualization of Matter and the Materialization of Spirit. It is the center that brings the soul in touch with the earth. In fact the Sufis call the heart by two names: Dil, which means soul; and Qalbi, which means 'in the depth' or 'organ of the inner perception'. What is so important about the heart center is that it makes the Divine human and the human Divine! This is one of the most remarkable things about modern Sufism - its emphasis upon bringing spirituality into everyday life. Sufism does not seek to escape from the world nor annihilate the individual but rather to see them for what they are-unique, creative expressions of the Divine Being.

There are thousands of meditation techniques used in Sufism but they all revolve around one primary practice-the practice of remembrance, called Dhikr (Zikr). In the practice of Dhikr, whether through prayer, scripture, meditation, mantra, what we are doing is striving to remember who and what we really are-Divine.

Ironically, part of process of remembrance is also a process forgetting or unlearning! Unfortunately becoming self-realized does not happen in a flash. The elimination of self-illusion or the process of un-learning our limitation takes considerable practice, perseverance and patience. Our progress unfolds gradually, partially through our own spiritual practice and partially through Grace, which is Gods response to our remembrance. It is this constant remembrance, focusing and refocusing the mirror of our consciousness upon the unlimited part of our being, which whittles away the limited perspective, replacing it with a sense of Divine reality.

Therefore we need to unlearn what we think we are while simultaneously remembering or re-learning what we really are. There is a specific and powerful technique of Sufism in which this entire process is embodied-it is also called Zikr. Using the technique of Zikr we actually build a temple of light out of the fabric of our being. This practice involves repeating and attuning to the phrase: La ilaha illa 'llah. The first half of the practice, La ilaha, is a negation of all we think we know, literally meaning, "There is no other Divinity"; the second half of the practice, illa 'llah, is the remembrance of what we truly are, literally meaning "except God."

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