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heidi_'s review
4.0
This book offers a comprehensive overview of what Sufism professes and what its goals are. Intended largely for a Western audience unfamiliar with Sufism, Nasr frequently makes comparisons with other faiths to aid in understanding.
Sufis seek to understand the divine through dissolving the boundaries of self, which otherwise inhibit connection with God's fellow creations and deep awareness of our interconnectedness. Similar to Buddhist and Hindu psychology, Sufi psychology is oriented towards "freedom from the self or the ego." Ego death precedes "the obliteration of all that separates us from the transcendent and immanent Reality." Spiritual practice — including meditation — and the acquisition of virtues are the tools used to cleanse the soul of impurities accumulated from the external world.
Nasr writes, "Virtue as understood in Sufism is not simply moral virtue but rather spiritual virtue with a noetic and existential dimension. For example, humility is not simply the sentimental attitude of humbling our egos before God and the neighbor. It is the metaphysical awareness that before the Absolute we are nothing and that the neighbor is not incomplete in the same way as we are and that even in his or her incompleteness possesses existence, which comes from God before which we must have an attitude of humility."
Sufism's three cardinal virtues are one, sincerity and truthfulness, two, charity and nobility, and three, humility. They are grounded in metaphysical truths and are not merely sentimental.
"In order for charity to be spiritually efficacious, it must be based on the metaphysical awareness that the other is in the deepest sense ourselves and that in giving we also overcome the walls of our own ego, which separates us from others, and consequently we also receive."
The adoption of these virtues is a lifelong pursuit, yielding inner peace and a heart which "becomes an illuminated instrument of the intellect, able to discern true knowledge and distinguish between truth and falsehood, substance and accidents, necessity and contingency, levels of existence, and, most of all, the Absolute and the relative."
As with Sikhism and the Baha'i faith, monasticism is forbidden in Islam, and by extension in Sufism. The Qur'an dictates that to invoke God throughout life "does not require formal and organized withdrawal from the world... it does require inner withdrawal and detachment from the world considered in its aspect as veil and not as theophany. Sufis are encouraged "to be in the world but not of the world", as in the Christian tradition.
Sufism encourages all forms of love, which involve sacrifice, giving, and going beyond one's ego. Conjugal and romantic human love is uniquely endowed with spiritual dimensions. "Something of the absoluteness of the love for God becomes reflected in such a human love that requires utter selflessness and unlimited giving... such a love is a gift from God to His creatures, whom He created in pairs."
In essence, this is a great beginner's book for those interested to learn more about Sufism.
Sufis seek to understand the divine through dissolving the boundaries of self, which otherwise inhibit connection with God's fellow creations and deep awareness of our interconnectedness. Similar to Buddhist and Hindu psychology, Sufi psychology is oriented towards "freedom from the self or the ego." Ego death precedes "the obliteration of all that separates us from the transcendent and immanent Reality." Spiritual practice — including meditation — and the acquisition of virtues are the tools used to cleanse the soul of impurities accumulated from the external world.
Nasr writes, "Virtue as understood in Sufism is not simply moral virtue but rather spiritual virtue with a noetic and existential dimension. For example, humility is not simply the sentimental attitude of humbling our egos before God and the neighbor. It is the metaphysical awareness that before the Absolute we are nothing and that the neighbor is not incomplete in the same way as we are and that even in his or her incompleteness possesses existence, which comes from God before which we must have an attitude of humility."
Sufism's three cardinal virtues are one, sincerity and truthfulness, two, charity and nobility, and three, humility. They are grounded in metaphysical truths and are not merely sentimental.
"In order for charity to be spiritually efficacious, it must be based on the metaphysical awareness that the other is in the deepest sense ourselves and that in giving we also overcome the walls of our own ego, which separates us from others, and consequently we also receive."
The adoption of these virtues is a lifelong pursuit, yielding inner peace and a heart which "becomes an illuminated instrument of the intellect, able to discern true knowledge and distinguish between truth and falsehood, substance and accidents, necessity and contingency, levels of existence, and, most of all, the Absolute and the relative."
As with Sikhism and the Baha'i faith, monasticism is forbidden in Islam, and by extension in Sufism. The Qur'an dictates that to invoke God throughout life "does not require formal and organized withdrawal from the world... it does require inner withdrawal and detachment from the world considered in its aspect as veil and not as theophany. Sufis are encouraged "to be in the world but not of the world", as in the Christian tradition.
Sufism encourages all forms of love, which involve sacrifice, giving, and going beyond one's ego. Conjugal and romantic human love is uniquely endowed with spiritual dimensions. "Something of the absoluteness of the love for God becomes reflected in such a human love that requires utter selflessness and unlimited giving... such a love is a gift from God to His creatures, whom He created in pairs."
In essence, this is a great beginner's book for those interested to learn more about Sufism.
msgtdameron's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting yet dry read. Good over view of Sufiism.
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