Huzur

HUZUR a little book of

everyday “Sufi” practices

Murshid Puran Perez

HUZUR

The practices in this “little book” support the awakening and development of huzur.

Huzur denotes the conscious presence of a person on the inner path. It also means tranquility, serenity, spiritual composure. But, more than just centered, uncluttered awareness, huzur implies a radiance sourced in a greater reality and a natural charisma arising from sincerity.

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EDITION : 1 . 4 - D e c e m b e r , 2 0 1 7

copyright

© 2017 Puran Lucas Perez

CONTENTS

I n t ro d u c t i o n Pure Presence manage this not that • 6 Are You Sure? • 8 The Pearl of Silence • 10

Self-Encounters Sit Down • 13 Zikorish • 15 Who Wants This? • 17

The Movie The Pendragon Paradigm • 20 Mute Thyself • 22

“Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birdwings.”

RUMI

do you see What You See? • 24

About

In t ro d u c t i o n EVERYDAY PRACTICES

HUZUR Among Sufis*, huzur means the conscious presence of an awakened person. This is a state in which intellect, emotions, and physicality meld into a wholeness—a unity of being significantly greater than the sum of its parts. This body-mind-heart synergy amplifies the intelligence, responsiveness and—to use a Sufi codeword—grace of the entire being.

From an esoteric point of view, huzur describes a state of embodied peace, rooted in faith. This faith is an unshakable trust in one’s connectedness, known in classical Sufism as Reliance in God. Among mature Sufis this may be a permanent condition (station). For most of us it comes and goes; often without our doing anything. The purpose of this “little book” is the discovery of pathways to huzur.

As this deepens, a wonderful question arises: Whose presence is this? In a way, it would be arrogant for a person to impose his presence in any situation, although this is obviously a state arising in that individual. So, whose presence? Gradually it dawns on the seeker that what makes presence possible is Presence. Another way of stating this: Gradually we realize that our seemingly individuated consciousness is actually Consciousness.

The singularity of presence in/of Presence shows itself as a natural charisma and as what could be called a “healing atmosphere”.

Because these qualities are sourced in Presence, the seeker has

no attachment to, or claim on them. This intensifies the effect of huzur on the person and on those around her. What is that effect?

“Enlightenment” would not be an inaccurate answer.

Something this precious and life-transforming is unlikely to gain ground without dedicated effort. Practice is necessary, discipline is imperative. But, for many of us, this hyper-connected life is too distracting to accommodate consistent spiritual practice. If we could somehow merge practice with the practicalities of life...

In pursuit of that possibility, this “little book” offers a collection of “Sufi” practices which can be activated during the course of the day, right there in the midst of whatever experience you are in at that moment. These everyday practices are not traditional Sufi practices, most of which involve the names of Allah, or voicings of the Quran, etc. And they do not in any way intend to replace or “modernize” those vital methods. Indeed, zikr, halka, sama, muraqabah, sohbet, etc. have been refined through the centuries and are indispensable to the Sufi’s journey.

It is more accurate to call these Sufic practices, or chilla**. They are sourced in the Malamatiyya school of Sufism, an orientation that was brilliantly embodied and taught as Sufi Psychology by

Fazal Inayat-Khan, the founder of The Sufi Way, and my teacher. Following his guidance, these techniques are based on practical approaches to the deep, clear, empowered self-awareness he exemplified and inspired in us.

Each practice is presented in three parts.

INCEPTION: when the practice may be called up and suggestions on “triggering”—setting an internal reminder in order to bring this practice to mind at opportune times.

TECHNIQUE: simple instructions for performing the practice. This includes suggestions of mudra—hand gestures/positions which can be helpful in channeling attention.

DEVELOPMENT: pathways to deepening huzur. A few external resources are also provided as an encouragement to extend our exploration.

The practices are arranged in three groups: Pure Presence, Self-Encounters and The Movie. The sequencing: presence, self and the “imaginal”, describes an arc of exploration with its apex in Self-Encounters. The suite of tools offered under that heading are the most productive and will yield the highest benefit in proportion to effort and discipline.

In Sufi tradition, spiritual practice, for the most part is tailored to fit the needs/stage of a particular initiate. These practices are obviously not that sort of offering. Rather they are shared here in the spirit of self-discovery. This means that these “chilla” can be regarded as starting points for your own variations. This approach to exploration makes these practices valuable for cultivating our indwelling spirit of guidance, as well.

PROVISO These are simple practices; they might actually be better seen as exercises. However, they are not for beginners. They require that some degree of “mindfulness” already be present. For these practices to be effective one must be aware enough to track the automatic, repetitive patterns of mind and behavior. These lessthan-conscious internal behaviors affect our emotions and determine our moment by moment choices; what’s worse, they tend to dilute presence by pulling us away from the now. The more “mindful” in this way you are, the more valuable these practices will be.

That said, these practices are themselves a path to mindfulness.

Ask anyone how they developed mindfulness and they’ll likely say, “By being mindful!”

*The Mevlevi shaikh, Kabir Helminski, expounds on the meaning of huzur in this online article **A chilla is a task or challenge given by a teacher as an experiential path to the discovery of something not available to discursive thought.

There are contradictions at nearly every step on the spiritual path. In fact the very image of a spiritual path is a contradiction. It implies there is a distance to be traveled, that we are walking on a path that goes from somewhere far from the divine to somewhere closer, from darkness to light or from a state of less awareness to awakening.

And yet enlightenment is nothing other than the experiential recognition of Oneness and the simultaneous recognition of our seamless identity with Oneness, which is the case at this moment and has always been the case.

Pir Elias Amidon,

The Art of Awakening

P u r e Pr e s e n ce A mystic gives to purity its natural meaning. Pure water means that nothing is mixed with the water, that there is no other element in it, and therefore purity is that substance within oneself, which is pure. As soon as this substance is realized one finds that all qualities such as good and bad, right or wrong, exist outside purity, since there is no goodness which is not touched by what may be called evil, nor is there any evil which has no touch of goodness. There is no wrong which has no right side to it, and there is no right which has not got a wrong side to it. Therefore as one comes to realize this purity one becomes reluctant to express an opinion about anything or anybody. If he has to say anything about someone it is only good. Besides, no one who has once realized this purity tries to force his belief or his opinion upon another, because as soon as the purity which is within is realized, he no longer has an opinion, which can be expressed with words.

Sufi Inayat Khan THE SUFI MESSAGE , VOLUME XII -- PART I: THE VISION OF GOD AND MAN -- THE SUFI IDEAL

manage this not that BACKGROUND Manage This Not That is a centering practice based in the realization that only the present moment actually exists. It involves remembering that we can only apply our intelligence in this moment, only express our creativity through this moment, only steer ourselves along the road we are actually on right now, only effectively engage with This—the right-now experience.

If the past and the future have any reality at all it is as concepts not as embodied actualities. Lacking substance, they cannot be managed. Their lack of material substance, however, does not prevent the past and the future from hijacking the present. It’s not unusual for us to be swept away into reliving an experience, or caught up in the anticipation of something. To make this more identifiable let’s call it “self-sublimation” because when we project our minds and emotions away from the here-and-now all that is left in the present is the body and its automatic functions. For all intents and purposes, the self is gone, voiding whatever agency one had in a present one no longer occupies.

When we self-sublimate we can become so removed from moment by moment aliveness that we are, in a way, disabled. And, because self-sublimation is often triggered by fear, anger, anxiety, lust, grief, regret, etc., it’s not surprising that these head trips away from the present also create needless internal agitation.

Of course, reflecting on and learning from past experiences and planning for the future are vital aspects of our lives, especially if we seek self-knowledge and awareness. The problem arises when we become emotionally entangled in mental loops, trying to reach into the past or future and “fix” (in both senses: repair, freeze) them.

manage this not that

THE PRACTICE Inception

Technique

Development

Notice that you are projecting your thoughts and, as if you

Silently (or out-loud if possible) repeat, “Manage this, not

At first, Manage This Not That serves as a reminder to be-

are being dragged after them, slipping away from the pres-

that.” And as you say these words, pat your heart briefly.

come aware of self-sublimation patterns. In this stage it is

ent moment. This is more than a passing memory or glimpse

The touch of your hand on your body is the physical location

a memory device, helping you to come back to where the

of a yet-to-come situation, it is a significant shift of presence

of “this” and key to the development of the practice. The

action is. Literally. The point of this phase is mainly to shed

and attention away from NOW. The physical tip off that this

place where your hand touches your heart is the interface

light on the frequency and extent of self-sublimation.

is happening is a often a kind of restlessness in the lower

between your material reality, as symbolized by your hand

half of your body, as if the root chakra has been displaced.

and your personal source of NOW—your beating heart. This

There is also a deadening of vision; your eyes may remain

touching of the heart is a characteristic of Sufi gatherings.

open but you are not really seeing anything.

If we only see externals we see a traditional greeting; if we

Chances are that “self-sublimation” will be repetitive and

look more closely we see a call to Presence.

kick up familiar emotions, and habitual tensions. In some of

It can be helpful to repeat this once or twice, but the most

us these recurring states of internal turmoil are so familiar

helpful next step would be to shift your attention to some-

that it takes some effort to notice them and to understand

thing in your immediate environment. Direct your energy to

that this not just “the way I am”. Detecting a shift of atten-

something you can “put your hands on” right now. In other

tion carrying you away—as difficult as it might be at first, is

words step directly into present centered activity.

the entry point for Manage This Not That.

As this practice becomes more natural and easier to “fire up”, the focus becomes the action (or thought) to which you turn in order to re-ground the present. In this phase the emphasis is not so much on remembering to be present as it is on the clarity of intention and energy you direct to the next present act or thought.

After sufficient consistent practice, the touch of your hand on your heart becomes a “talisman”: eliciting an increasingly natural tendency to keep thoughts and actions flowing in the channel of the present: huzur.

Are You Sure?

BACKGROUND There is a mechanism operating subliminally in human experience when something happens to us or when there is a sudden revelation which changes our perspective. Almost without realizing it, we quickly decide whether this is a good thing or a bad thing or neither. That instant categorizing generates a “reality” which usually determines what we think, feel and do next. It’s as though the initial reaction sets up a scenario which we then automatically inhabit. To make things worse, this mechanism makes snap judgements which in some cases are simply wrong.

Events in our lives are significant in terms of their effects—the tracks they create, and where they lead us. But where does the chain of cause and effects set in motion by a particular event end?

It is only in some sort of conclusion that we can gauge whether something that happened was beneficial, detrimental, or unimportant. As we have heard many times, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

So, when is it actually over?

Is there ever a conclusion to any event? The practice, Are You Sure? short circuits the assumptions we make and the conclusions we jump to. In suspending judgement this practice allows a wider range of possibilities to come into view.

We trust that when an immediate response is necessary our instincts will kick in. Otherwise it is helpful to open this space of inquiry in which to better understand and track events as they unfold. In this way Are You Sure? serves both our material and higher purposes.

Are You Sure?

THE PRACTICE Inception The trigger for this practice is the somatic “blow” delivered by an event. When something new, sudden and important comes into consciousness the physical body and the emotional field are likely to immediately register either delight (or some variant of excitement, like triumph) or alarm (or some variant of fear, like anger). That “gut” reaction—noticeable changes in heart rate and breathing, stomach pangs, etc— is the signal to call up Are you Sure?.

It needn’t be a dramatic event that triggers this practice.

In fact it is easier to work Are You Sure? on the many little “bumps” we encounter every day. For example, a rejection of an article submission to a magazine.

Technique As soon as the somatic response to the event takes hold, address it. As if you were speaking to that response itself say, “Are you sure?”. Outloud is always preferable, since sound and especially speech are the progenitors of reality. Say it calmly and sincerely, not as a challenge, but as an earnest question.

This practice is not about attempting to convert a nasty experience into a happy one. It is not a maneuver for purging bad feelings, or calming yourself down, although this often

happens. If anything, it is about being exactly where and what you are, in the light that shines when you release certainty.* Let the answer to the question be neither yes or no but a spaciousness into which you invite things to reveal themselves. To do this, relax your breathing. (Simple method: 2 or 3 deep breaths through both mouth and nostrils at once, then exhaling evenly, smoothly through the nostrils.) It is also very helpful to open your hands, so that they are completely relaxed as well. The hands, opened, relaxed and welcoming create—symbolically and materially—the physical instance of that spaciousness.

Development Huzur could be described as the softening of the “small self”, a kind of melting. And nothing freezes the small self in place as quickly as the initial “gut reaction” to unexpected events.. The stronger the somatic response to the event the more intensely we will clamp down on the certainty that is either a good thing or a bad thing. Are You Sure? interrupts that reaction and opens a space in which the more subtle levels of the event can offer themselves. More importantly, this practice restores a sense of agency, reminding us that it “ain’t over ‘til it’s over”, and that it is up to us to manage the unfolding of events rather than be managed by them.

Are You Sure? is not magic. It cannot turn an unfortunate experience into a fortunate one or vice versa. As we develop this practice, what it can do is help us suspend judgement, keeping alternatives available as we gain a fuller understanding of what has actually been set in motion by the event.

Then we might be better able to “make lemonade from lemons” or insure that we are wise and grounded in response to good fortune. These alternatives will be more available if we do not commit to the validity of the immediate somatic response.

As Are You Sure? is further integrated, becoming a natural response to the stuff of life, there is a gift of understanding which becomes available. Strong reactions to events (positive or negative) can trap or derail us. The stronger the somatic response in the moment, the more likely we are to collapse into a knot of dread (anger, sorrow, etc.) or run perilously off with excitement. Are You Sure? is not just about keeping options open but about keeping the movement of life flowing in rhythm and harmony.

*I’m indebted to Murshida Suzanne Inayat-Khan for the term, “releasing certainty” — the title of her 2017 Living Sufism talk.

You can listen to that here.

The Pearl of Silence BACKGROUND In the early days of my Sufi life I was silent for a month.

Silence is a long-established discipline of spiritual life and among Sufis particularly valued. In that time I was living in a Sufi community led by Fazal Inayat-Khan, where a prolonged silence was possible.

By far the hardest part of this “fast” was returning to the world of speech because a sweet, luminous pearl had formed on my tongue. Speaking again would mean losing that pearl, re-entering the social realm where misunderstandings are often spawned by careless speech. The whirling carousel of words and feelings that we sometimes get caught on by our interactions with others can diminish huzur; destroy it altogether if we get pulled into a pointless argument.

The Pearl of Silence is a practice for developing one of the most important abilities in human affairs: mastering one’s tongue. As I discovered all those years ago, the Pearl attunes us more fully to the moment; it illuminates and clarifies what is before us so that our thoughts and actions can more faithfully deliver what they intend.

The Pearl of Silence THE PRACTICE Inception

Technique

The Pearl is best practiced in situations with friends or as-

Relax your face, with particular attention to freeing of the

sociates, where the conversation could become emotionally

jaw. Now feel the hollow inside your mouth as the relaxation

charged or is in some way difficult. In these exchanges “hold-

arrives in your tongue. Imagine a perfectly smooth, luminous

ing one’s tongue” can be frustratingly hard. And especially

pearl sitting gently in the cup of your tongue.

rewarding! So many relationship problems come from simple misunderstanding, often because we’re so busy talking that we forget to listen. After a while the understanding deficit can get “baked into” a relationship, making problem resolution ever more difficult.

A good trigger for The Pearl is the very first indication of frustration in communicating with someone. Unless we learn to recognize the early signs that conflict or misunderstanding are about to take hold it will be difficult to “place the pearl”. Early warnings can be a contraction of the stomach area, a ping in the solar plexus, a sudden frown or a tighten-

Development

it might provide an excuse for not speaking up or taking a stand. But for the rest of us, even when ineptly applied, this practice brings us more conscious awareness of our communication skills. Relationships can only benefit from this effort.

we think of the mind as a body of water, silence becalms those waters more readily than anything other than a blow to the head. Ripples, waves and tsunamis are kicked up

Convince yourself that before you can speak you will have

primarily through talk (whether in relationship or with one-

to “swallow the Pearl”. (Just to shift it like a gum ball to your

self). By silence is meant not just the absence of speech

cheek would be disrespectful to a sacred object.) But the

but the delicate inner poise that arises when we feel we

Pearl is such a sweet radiance in your mouth, that you would

do not have to say anything.

prefer not to speak. Of course, when you have something useful to say, you will “swallow the pearl” and say it.

The higher development of The Pearl of Silence comes through continual dedicated practice. This commitment

You know this practice is working as intended when your

invites huzur in our relationships—an attentive, authentic

silence increases huzur and you find yourself feeling more

presence with others possible only when we control our

able, present and real in relationship, especially when you’re

speech.

listening.

In this practice the hands can be especially useful. Gently touching thumbs and forefingers as in a meditation mudra

ing of the upper torso.

The Pearl of Silence is not very useful for an introvert in whom

The mechanics of this practice are useful to understand. If

That space of silence is the mother of all rest, mother of all creativity and the source of intuition. It is in silence that great scientific discoveries were made, path-breaking inventions created, wonderful poems and melodies emerged. Silence is the goal of all answers. If an answer does not silence the mind, it is no answer.

~Sri Ravi Shankar

can help keep silence flowing. In time this mudra becomes a “talisman” naturally invoking the Pearl.

“Swallow the Pearl” frequently enough and it will take up residence in the heart.

Se l f - E n coun t e r s There is no reason for anyone to feel discouraged by his weaknesses or deficiencies, or by his actions that have dissatisfied him, or by anything in life that has failed.

He should forget the past that has failed him, and begin to construct and mold his future as he would wish it to be. Considering that as a branch is not separate from the bough, and the bough is not separate from the stem, so with all our limitations we are not separate from the will of the Unlimited One.

Sufi Inayat Khan

VOLUME VII - IN AN EASTERN ROSE GARDEN

Sit Down BACKGROUND Socrates is believed to have urged his students to “know thyself” if they wished to lead happy, successful lives. That instruction has been echoed through the centuries by teachers and sages who have seen this as essential to spiritual/ personal realization. Self-knowledge, in the deepest sense, is the central purpose of all spiritual practice.

One of the keys to reliable knowledge about anything is steady, unbiased observation. If we are fortunate enough to possess an awareness that is capable of steady self-observation, chances are that we do this in the midst of activity.

This creates, to some extent, biased observation because the context of that activity shapes our awareness. So let’s say that I become aware of myself during a tense discussion.

I’ll likely observe myself in terms of situational criteria. For example, I might observe my ability to listen without being emotionally triggered.

As valuable as that is, true self-knowledge begins with a much more basic observation. We need to know ourselves as we are in essence, at the root of our temporal existence.

Sit Down is a practice that invites a very raw kind of self-encounter—showing us who we are essentially, not just as we show up in a particular context.

Sit Down THE PRACTICE Inception

Technique

Development

Sit Down can be practiced at any time that a seat of some

The instructions for this practice are brief and precise: Sit

Sit Down benefits from entrainment. This means that, to be-

kind is available and you have 5 minutes. Any environment

down for 5 minutes.

gin with, you should perform this practice once a day for 9

The first question that comes back when I offer this practice

consecutive days. This is so valuable that I would suggest

to someone is, “You mean sit down and meditate or get in

restarting your “novena” if you miss a day.

touch with myself, or...?” To which I repeat the instructions:

After that you may simply find yourself doing this at oppor-

will do, although in the early stages of this practice it is best to seek out a quiet spot with minimum distractions. A good bet as you begin to work this practice is a chair in a quiet space in your home. If you use a chair that you sit in often the habitual body shape you have imprinted on that chair

Sit down for 5 minutes.

tune occasions several times a week, perhaps. In time this

will, even if slightly, predispose your self-observation; a place

That’s it; that’s all. To sit and do something—even the most

can become so useful as a psychosomatic reset that you find

you don’t often sit will serve better.

sublime meditation—is once again creating a context with

yourself calling on this practice whenever you need it.

The trigger for Sit Down could be a feeling of tension or restlessness in your body, as if you were moving too fast or trying to avoid something. Another good trigger is a minor

criteria which will filter your observation. The same applies if you think the instructions mean “sit and do nothing”; observation would be subtly distorted by that intention.

A hindrance to this development is the feeling of boredom.

The human organism is rarely happy doing nothing (unless it is deliberately “doing nothing” in which case it is doing that).

mishap that signals you are out of rhythm; for example, stub-

Often there is a second questioning, ”I don’t get it, what am

Sit Down is challenging in this way because apparently it

bing your toe on something. When you use that as a cue to

I supposed to do while I’m sitting there?” To which I simply

Sit Down you not only remember to do the practice, you also

repeat: Sit down for 5 minutes.

invites boredom. But this is the case only if you think this

have the opportunity to restore your rhythm.

If you still “don’t get it”, It might be helpful to remember that

actually “do” during this practice is sit down (!); whatever

the purpose of this practice is a steady, clear, unbiased en-

happens beyond that is up to you; just remember, the es-

counter with yourself as you are in place, not with yourself

sence of the practice is self-encounter, self-knowledge

in the midst of doing (or not doing) something. But please don’t turn “steady, clear encounter with yourself as you are in place” into a context.

practice instructs us to sit down and do nothing. What you

Zikorish BACKGROUND The central spiritual practice of the Sufis is zikr. Often performed as a group, chanting “la ilaha illallah!” (there is no god, but God!), there are countless variations of this practice among the diverse Sufi orders. Among many today the essence of zikr outside of a religious context is, “There is no reality, but The Real (or, “There is no truth, but Truth).

However, the inner light of all zikr is the same everywhere— remembrance. This is not just the recollection of something forgotten or obscured, it is re-membering, (as in restoring wholeness) the all-inclusive reality of one’s being.

At the risk of seeming to take this sacred practice lightly, Zikorish invites “remembrance” in the course of one’s ordinary day. The inner light of zikr, when awakened in the midst of “worldly” activity, can help us to both forget what is not useful and remember what is actually unfolding. In most situations. What is not useful is one’s small agenda (the “I wants”, the “gotta haves” the “can’t stands”); and what is actually unfolding in the moment is a reality available only to open, clear awareness. Zikorish can help us shift attention and energy towards the clarified presence of huzur—the seat and soul of this moment by moment emergent reality.

The name, Zikorish, echoes the word licorice intentionally to convey the sweet stimulating quality of this practice. In the same way that a stick of licorice or a peppermint drop “wakes up” the senses, Zikorish can create a moment of coming back to who you really are.

Zikorish THE PRACTICE Inception

Technique

Development

A simple way to establish the practice of Zikorish is by in-

Zikorish is essentially an invocation. The words of that in-

A valuable aid in making this practice consistently available

voking it “upon arrival”. For example, as you get out of the

vocation are, “I am here, I’m always here, I can be nowhere

is what Gurdjieff called “setting alarms”. A simple way to do

car (off the bus, train, boat, etc) or as you step into the next

else”. These words are spoken (out loud, or sotto voce if pos-

this is to address the Zikorish invocation to a physical ob-

place or activity you come to. Zikorish can be seen as simply

sible) as we enter into the next space our activities have led

ject or location. For example, as you open the door to your

summoning huzur, helping you enter the next situation in a

us to. If vocalization is not feasible then silently to yourself

office, or get out of your car. When your hand touches the

state of open, alert awareness.

is quite effective too.

door handle, let that be the “here” you are proclaiming in

The challenge of Zikorish is that with so many comings and

The simplicity of these phrases is their power. There is noth-

goings in the course of the day, you need to remember to re-

ing obscure or refutable in these simple statements. Noth-

member. You can encourage this with a simple morning med-

ing weird or spiritual for the rational faculty to reject out of

itation. Sit quietly for a few minutes, envision and internally

hand. There is hardly any more simple, self-explanatory , and

Frequently repeating, “I am here, I am always here, I can be

“tag” the moments you might invoke Zikorish in the coming

true statement than, I am here.

nowhere else”, helps to dispel the obviation of the obvious.

day.

Stating the obvious is a potent spiritual practice since it is

the statement, I am here. Then when you touch that door again there is a hightened likelihood the you will remember to remember

With enough practice the words begin to move in the bloodstream, as it were. Present-centeredness become a natural

In its most sincere form Zikorish establishes an ongoing con-

the mind’s inability to grasp the obvious unity of all existence

nectivity with something more substantial than the personal

that keeps us endarkened. Through repetition (which is how

movies constantly unspooling in the mind. In time this inner

the notion of separation got conditioned in us to begin with)

By the way, “here” as we use it in this practice is one of those

communion arouses Remembrance of itself. It reminds you to

the mind is gradually helped to “see” the obvious. Could it be

magnificent words---both explicit and ambiguous. This be-

remember. How wise it would be to cultivate communication

that enlightenment is tied to the realization of the obvious ?

comes apparent if you try to answer the question, “Where is

with that level of being!

inclination, the way you are, not something you do.

here?”. This word, bless it, is a marvel, a spiritual teaching all by itself.

I am here... and so is everything else!

Who Wants This?

BACKGROUND The annihilation of the nafs (false ego) is one of the central ideas in classical Sufi teachings. In Universal Sufism, this concept has evolved significantly, incorporating perspectives from contemporary psychology and social sciences. We can look at this question now from another angle.

The ego that classical Sufis cautioned us about does not actually exist. It is not an entity with a body; it is not the sum of all your needs, wants and fears; it is not a mask worn by the “true self”; it is not your “selfish self”. Nafs is not the nastiness you try to keep hidden, nor a little devil perched on your shoulder. Apart from the concept, there is no individual nafs.

What does exist and, I believe, what the Sufis are actually pointing to is a cabal of mostly misguided “voices” within each of us.

This is a powerful, shadowy ruling clique made up of—let’s call them—“captains” whose prime mandate since youth has been the avoidance of pain and the pursuit of pleasure. Above all, this cadre of controllers enforces the protection and continuity of the separate self I call “me”. In fact, that’s pretty much the only thing on which this “officer corps” agrees.

For some of us there is not just disagreement but ongoing warfare among some of these captains in our “body politic”. For example: One of my captains is all about “looking good” by evading criticism, denying weaknesses, obscuring faults. But another is about being good—obeying the moral rules inculcated in my

strict Catholic childhood—and is always uncomfortable with my evasiveness. Those captains are in constant—even if low-level— conflict. (These kinds of internal conflicts can be a source of disease/dysfunction, but that’s another story.)

Captains can also collude with each other. For example, the one who prides herself on keeping everything neat and orderly sometimes colludes with the captain in charge of Righteousness. When they do, they levy judgments on the morally inferior messy people around her. Some captains are so well disguised that they are the psychological equivalent of back-room bosses “pulling the strings” while remaining out of view.

The objective of Who Wants This? is to become more aware of your “captains” so that you can see more clearly how these internal voices have shaped and continue to determine your life path.

The practice invites us to do this in a non-judgmental way—in the spirit of genuine curiosity rather than as a pursuit of villains. We set out with the premise that, whether we see them as helpful or harmful, captains are there for some reason. Bringing them into the light of conscious awareness will help us to understand what they’re up to and see ourselves more clearly through that understanding. Who Wants This? brings wisdom and gentle integration more than annihilation to the emergence of the true being who should rightfully be “in charge”

Who Wants This?

Technique

Development

There are two simple elements in this practice. The first is

This practice is usually more difficult to call up if we are ex-

the silent, straightforward question addressed to your inner

periencing a positive glow when things are going just the

convocation of voices. The question is, “Who is it that wants

way we want them to. In these instances, the sweetness of

(or rejects) this? Or, “Who want this?” You could also say,

gratification can cloud the clarity of awareness. This feeling

“What is the underlying desire (being thwarted or realized)

of effectiveness intimates that “good” captains are in charge

in this situation? It’s helpful to state the question in your own

and making the right things happen.

The trigger for Who Wants This? is the arousal of a strong

words so that, to your heart’s ear, it is sincere and relevant.

emotional reaction in the midst of a goal seeking or prob-

But captains are neither good nor bad, although they may

The purpose of this practice is self-knowledge and inner

see themselves as aligned with either “virtue” or “sin”. We

harmony so the question is posed not to necessarily get an

would miss the point of Who Wants This?—clarified aware-

answer but to generate an openness in which to allow and

ness of our inner motivations, and constraints—if it led us

absorb the responses. This reflective space is the second

to categorizing these as good or bad guys. So a positive

aspect of Who Wants This?

emotional can lull us into assumptions about what is actually

In that reflection a specific answer may not arise; you may

happening.

even get a sense that “someone” is too shy or frightened to

Of course this does not argue against rejoicing when things

come forward. Or you may hear yourself saying something

are unfolding as we hoped or feeling dejected when they’re

like, “That’s the part of me that feels inadequate around

not. This is not about suppressing emotions. The Sufi’s hu-

men”. In some cases an actual name might pop up: “That’s

manity embraces the feelings of these ups and downs with

Harvey, the well-meaning fellow who insists on correctness

compassion and humble acceptance. “Who Wants This?” is

and sometimes points out inadequacies in others. Whatever

a path to integration—bringing our disparate desires and

the response (or lack thereof) what is important is entering

fears into a colloquy of understanding. It aims at emotional

peacefully into the inner congress with the light of curiosity

harmony among our inner voices. As that deepens, the clam-

and the intent of harmony

or subsides.

THE PRACTICE

Inception lem solving activity. Negative reactions include, fear, disappointment, revulsion, anger, frustration, defeatedness. Or we might be having a positive response such as delight, triumph, sympathy, affection, pride, vindication, an “aha” moment. The “flavor” of the emotional reaction is not as important as the way it impacts you, immediately affecting your psycho-somatic state. Whether positive or negative the unmistakable state change arising directly from your immediate pursuit is the signal to call up Who Wants This?.

Using these experiences as a trigger may be difficult at first because strong emotions can take over and determine what happens next. With practice and patience it becomes easier to remember to ask, “Who wants this?” at these moments of intensity,

Th e Movie There is a story of a dervish, who was standing in the middle of the street when the procession of the king came along. First the pages who ran before the procession pushed him and said, ‘Don’t you see the king is coming? Away!’ The dervish smiled and said, ‘That is why.’ Then he went forward again and stood in the same place. When the horsemen, the bodyguard, arrived they said, ‘Get out of the way, the procession is coming!’ The dervish smiled and said, ‘That is why.’ Then the courtiers came and saw the dervish standing there. And instead of telling the dervish to get out of the way they moved their horses a little to one side. And again the dervish said, ‘That is why.’ Finally came the king. When the king saw the dervish he greeted him first and the dervish in answer said, ‘That is why.’ An intelligent young man who had seen and heard this asked, ‘What do you mean by saying this? And the dervish said, ‘You can see, that is why they are what they are!

Sufi Inayat Khan

Volume XII - The Divinity of the Human Soul Part I: The Vision of God and Man

Mute Thyself BACKGROUND We have probably all experienced getting a tune stuck in our heads. And, in a similar way, we are probably all familiar with the ongoing internal “conversation” we call, self-talk. Many of us carry on mental streams of chatter through much, if not all of the day.

This flow of word-thoughts sometimes seems to arise on its own, stimulated by passing observations, or recollections; at other times the inner prattling seems random, even nonsensical. Sometimes the mind-talk seems purposeful. However, a careful inquiry into that experience may reveal that this is merely the mechanical working of the brain imitating genuine thinking.

One of the most important abilities for a person on the path of knowledge is discernment, especially the ability to differentiate between coherent, meaningful thought and the automatic activity of the mind. This means connecting thinking and feeling, bridging the head and the heart. When this capacity develops, a clear thought arising in the mind also has important feeling components, without which the thought is not fully comprehensible.

Refined emotional receptivity will inform us about the qualities of the thought. The intellect by itself is concerned only with the elements of the thought—their validity, logic, relevance, etc.

The self-talk which Mute Thyself addresses has no true feeling dimension; it is devoid of any authentic qualities other than its own mechanical nature. Of course, a random thought may trigger a somatic response, generating emotions. But this is not the same as the feeling awareness in which a “true” thought arises.

And yes, some self talk carries emotional baggage, mimicking real feelings, but often these are not clear emotions but the residue of pent-up fears or desires.

For example, if I hear myself saying “Dammit! If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself”, I will likely also detect a familiar crunching of my stomach and furrowing of my brow.

These somatic reactions give us a semblance of feeling but they are no more real than the painting of an apple is edible. The only thing these pseudo feelings do is enhance the seeming importance of self-talk, fooling us into believing its viability, and ignoring its negative consequences: the deadening of discernment.

Living a life in which we do not recognize the difference between actual thinking and pointless nattering is potentially worse than living in a world awash in “fake news”. Mute Thyself is a remedy for that condition

Self-talk is one of the highest impacting forces on your life. The kingdom you believe you have within you will be the kingdom you reproduce around you. Therefore, what you believe about yourself will determine how you behave. I believe that our inner thoughts, the things we’re silently speaking over ourselves day in and day out, manifest themselves in our relationships, careers and destinies. This may not be new news to some of you, but sometimes negative self-talk can sneak in if we aren’t consciously aware of how we’re relating to our very own souls. So what name do you speak over yourself every day?

Kris Vallotton

Mute Thyself

THE PRACTICE Inception Mute Thyself is an ambulatory practice and, initially, should be attempted on brief walks of a few minutes or less. Getting up from your desk to get a coffee is a good example of the length of walk in which to start working Mute Thyself. As you develop this practice you will be able to sustain it for longer and longer periods, but at first, to attempt more than a minute or two might prove difficult.

I believe that self-talk, as describe it here, is a disability; one we have learned to live with. (The disability is not so much in the chatter itself but in how it dulls our discernment as described above.) Having adapted our lives to this disability we come to believe that it’s a necessary part of being, so correcting this requires patience, subtlety and cleverness. Absent that we will quickly lapse into self-talking about our self-talk!

Imagine a person who has always lived with a TV on. If you step into his room and turn it off, he will probably be incensed, terrified, bewildered, while you might just feel the blessed quiet rolling in.

Technique As stated above the first number of times that you apply this practice should be on a brief walk— from your desk to the coffee pot, for example. You can see this practice as a game, like the game of avoiding sidewalk cracks. The one and only rule of the Mute Thyself game is to silence self-talk while you are walking.

This sounds easier than it is. Even during a short walk to the kitchen we have to be alert to the possibility that we will start talking to ourselves about this practice while we are attempting to do it.

Little phrases will pop up: “Is this what he meant?”; “This is interesting”; “I can’t do this”, etc. Just like the child’s occasional misstep on a sidewalk crack, this is actually an essential part of the game. Mute Thyself is not about stifling those thought bubbles but about displacing them with silence.

There are several simple techniques that can help here. As with most practices breath is the best means of initiation. A simple starting point for Mute Thyself is a sharp intake of breath through both mouth and nostrils as if you were breathing up into that part of your head where self-talk happens; feel the force of that breath emptying that area out, like a good gust of wind.

To anchor this experience on the physical plane touch your forehead lightly with the middle finger of your right hand as you walk. It might also be helpful as self-talk bubbles pop up to divert your attention by tapping the thumb and tips of the fingers of your right hand together one after the other, drawing your attention away from the internal monologue.

Development Mute Thyself is, in essence, a practice of opening attention to a deeper level of being. In doing this, self-talk is seen as a device, not as something we need to crush. It may be that self-talk nev-

er actually ceases; in any case, brain activity does not. We may not be able to ever completely silence self-talk, but we can shift, or better said, open awareness in such a way that our center of attention moves toward a more expansive depth and enveloping clarity.

Becoming aware of our patterns of self-talk, and learning to shift attention to a more substantial level of thought is slippery business. Self-talk can imitate common sense: “I can only do what I can do”, sounds sensible yet, in some situations, may only be tactic for avoiding responsibility. And sometimes thoughts arising from inner wisdom can sound foolish: “Stop wanting and you’ll stop being confused”, sounds absurd to someone who believes that wanting is essential to happiness. To complicate things further, self-talk is sometimes how we make deeper thoughts intelligible to ourselves. In these cases it is important to not mistake the self talk for the thought, but to “follow” the words, to their source.

Another tactic is “eviction”. Rather than embroiling oneself in sorting the valuable from the worthless chatter, one simple evicts those considerations. How? The simplest way is to instantly switch your attention outward into the physical dimension by becoming keenly aware of your hands. Touching the tips of your fingers to your thumbs on both hands is one way. Another is to make yourself aware of the texture of a surface you touch; or deliberately keeping your hands as relaxed as possible even when they’re occupied, like on your steering wheel.

do you see What You See? BACKGROUND We could say that the opposite of huzur is habit. In the poised clarity of huzur the world is always fresh, and we are optimally responsive. Habit, on the other hand, keeps us sleepwalking through experiences. Being able to function on auto-pilot like this is a godsend before that first cup in the morning, but as a modality of being, it thickens the sleep of unconsciousness. Habit disables imagination, thwarts creativity, and diminishes aliveness.

Habit is particularly numbing to our perceptions. In time, our surroundings become so familiar that we no longer see them; not in any real way. Our mental snapshots of people often stand in place of truly looking at them or understanding something new about them. Our perceptions might be momentarily awakened from their slumber if there is something unusual or out of place in our environment. Yet even then we might be be more pleased, annoyed or indifferent than observant and genuinely curious.

This deadening of perception has at least two especially problematic effects on consciousness: • Perceptual habits filter out new Information—the inspiration, insight and revelation which can only arrive through the light of awareness. When there is no perceptual awareness there is little access to fresh perspectives and, in a sense, decay takes hold.

• Perceptual habits generate and maintain the illusion of permanency—a static “reality”. Because I am not really seeing, the world looks exactly the same as it did yesterday. This is a calcification of experience, curtailing our connection to the vitality of the ever-emergent reality around us. This underlying assumption of predictability is at the core of self-delusion.

Do You See What You See? THE PRACTICE Inception This practice is best exercised in “idle” moments. For example, those little pools of time we steep in while we wait (on line, in traffic, for the show to start, etc.)

A little caveat here: Do You See What You See? is not an escape from the tedium of waiting; if anything it is an invitation to be more vibrantly present right there in that waiting. The trigger could be the feeling of impatience or becoming aware that your mind is a jumble of thoughts or wandering aimlessly.

Technique Lower your eyelids as you take a long slow inbreath.

Open your eyes as you exhale slowly and take in the totality of the space you are in. Avoid focusing on any particular object, instead hold the entire view as a single visual experience. This is a “wide angle” perspective including everything from edge to edge of your visual field.

Then select something in your immediate environment and direct yourself to observe it. This observation should be both clearly focused and comfortably

relaxed—a way of looking which is welcoming and pervasive. To begin with we are interested in the kind of observation which sees beyond labeling by simply holding something in awareness without comment or judgement.

with no purchase in your immediate reality if you do not keep the sturdiness you see tied to this particular bench at this very moment; as if this is the only place in the entire cosmos where sturdiness were on display.

Then Ask yourself. “What am I seeing?”. In answering this question go beyond naming the object to identifying its essential qualities or attributes. Let’s say you have focused on the wooden bench by a bus stop. If you just see a generic bench you are looking at a concept more than an object of perception. To open your perceptions consider this particular bench’s characteristics. You might see that it is sturdy, old and worn, purely functional with no aesthetic qualities, and so on. Once you feel you’ve “gotten it”, move on to another object.

Development

The key to Do You See What You See? is keeping the actual object in clear, attentive focus as the living instance of the attributes you perceive. This requires subtle concentration otherwise one floats away from the material realm of physical manifestation to the world of labeled ideas. So in our bench example, the perception of its sturdiness will become an idea

While Do You See What You See? is an exercise of perceptual ability, its main purpose is the development of huzur. By learning to see inherent qualities as clearly as we see the object itself we touch the reality within manifest form—the “soul” of the object, we might say.

Understanding this is vital to the realization this practice offers. In our example the bench is both a material object in space and time and a set of enduring, universal attributes which constitute its essence, and without which it could not manifest.

In the same way, huzur is both presence and Presence.

It is presence in so far as it is the individual herself who “wakes up” and whose awareness becomes a sphere of harmonious singularity. As this radiant integration of body-mind-spirit in its surroundings deepens, Presence takes hold. Then my individual presence flows out of Presence—the invisible Life of all, manifesting now (and always) in my particular space-time location.

The Pendragon Paradigm BACKGROUND This practice is presented last in this “little book” because it is different from the others in an important respect. All of the other practices are about shifting and expanding attention. They explore the hypothesis that huzur emerges from subtle attention, just as that indescribable fragrance radiates from a rose.

The Pendragon Paradigm draws our focus from the life of inter and intrapersonal transactions to what Ibn Arabi called the Imaginal Realm. Simply stated, that dimension of human experience is the inter-world between our spiritual source and the material plane on/through which it is embodied. It’s what makes that possible, in fact. Because the Imaginal is the location of this practice it marks a transition between Sufi psychology and Sufi mysticism.

In that evolution the conviction that each of us is an individual, separate being becomes the realization that there is only One Being. The direction, if not the destination, of the Sufi path is the realization of this ultimate truth—living into that Reality by transmuting the metaphysical idea into the uncontestable experience of Unity.

This is among the most of difficult human undertakings; the spiritual equivalent, we might say, of climbing Everest naked, without sherpa assistance. Education and socialization—almost everything about our lives in the world—reinforces the “obvious fact” of separation. This categorical estrangement from one another is

so much a part of human experience that for most people the notion that there is only One Being actually, physically present here must be viewed as a mental aberration.

The Pendragon Paradigm is a practice which helps prepare the ground for the realization of Unity by creating a “lab” in which this radical transformation of consciousness can be “previewed”. Recognizing that the conditioning of the “separated self” is engraved in the human mind, we bypass that faculty (at least the reasoning aspect of that faculty) and enlist a much more potent faculty, the Creative Imagination Creative (or Active) Imagination here refers to the remarkable work of Ibn Arabi, the 12-13th century Andalusian Islamic scholar, Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher. Ibn Arabi continues to be highly regarded by Sufis everywhere as a brilliant interpreter of the Koran and as an evolutionary mystic, opening fields of perception and being hitherto unavailable in Sufi orders.

In his seminal teachings, he proposes the existence of the Imaginal Realm. This is “imagination” as a transformative dimension of consciousness, not filled with fantasy or wild imaginings but with symbolic imagery. The quotation marks around the word, imagination emphasize that active imagination is far more than the “make-believe” we normally associate with this word.

The Imaginal exists in the liminality between objective reality and the consciousness in which it arises. It is the “threshold” between inner and outer experience. Ibn Arabi suggests it is here that spiritual illumination leads to realization as our ideals are embodied—made flesh and blood—through the generative capacities of Active Imagination.

Understanding how this works is tricky since this is a twilight realm—an inter-space having both material and spiritual properties. Partaking of both, the Imaginal is not strictly subject to laws of either. It incorporates those potentialities in a creative space where that which is formed is both a physical and metaphysical manifestation.

We could think about the Imaginal Realm as a darkroom in which images are developed and printed. But this would be an oversimplification. A darkroom, for all it’s magic, is a “mechanical” process, while the Active Imagination is a living phenomenon. That said, we can use the metaphor of film being developed and a print being struck for the process whereby our personal and spiritual aspirations are embodied, i.e., are made real in the physical dimension. In the darkroom it is the action of chemical solutions which generates the changes in the physical properties of film and paper. In the Imaginal Realm it is dynamic contemplation, like the Pendragon Paradigm, that enables transformation.

The Pendragon paradigm THE PRACTICE Inception Unlike the other practices offered here, the Pendragon Paradigm requires a particular setting. While any time of day will do, you will need a comfortable location where you can sit undisturbed and look out at the world. This could be a favorite outdoor spot or a seat by a window in your home.

It’s important, especially at first, to choose a spot where you will not be interrupted.

The practice is a sort of non-dual reverie which will be hampered by anything pulling you back to your delimited self.

Someone walking into the room and asking you a question, for example, would likely dissolve the creative muse at the heart of the Pendragon Paradigm.

And unlike the other practices in this “little book” there is no triggering event or experience. I like to think that this is a self-seeding practice. At first you have to “schedule an appointment” with yourself; in time it starts to show up on its own. More about that below.

The practice begins with the simple understanding that what you see when you look out is “the world”, not a world, or my world, but the world. There is no other world but this. Obviously, abstractly speaking, there are countless “worlds” but, existentially there is only, ever and only, this world. Given the conditioning mentioned above, at first this is just an idea for most of us, no matter how clearly understood or elegantly expressed.

The Pendragon Paradigm offers the possibility of gradually alchemizing this idea. In time, understanding invokes existence and the idea takes living form right before our eyes.

Contrary to what most psychologists would say, this is not madness but the fruit of sacred intent within that vast capacity Ibn Arabi calls Creative Imagination.

No, this is not The Secret redux. The one sure way to misfire the Pendragon Paradigm is to want something from it.

Technique By deliberately entering into The Imaginal Realm with a sacred intent—Union—we are inviting a “conversation” with that which lies beyond the screen of rationality. This would not be a real exchange if we entered this space in a predetermined manner. Trust the flow as you enter, value an open sense of discovery. The method is simple: As you look out, touching the diversity of entities in the world with your eyes ask yourself to imaginatively explore the implications of the Unity of Being.

It might help to think of this exploration as progenerative daydreaming. If daydreaming, is the idle working of imagination, this practice is the purposeful application of this central human capacity. (To glimpse the power of this capacity look around you—see that everything other than the natural world was born in imagination.) Typical daydreaming is like

the movements of a toddler in space. The Pendragon Paradigm is like a studio in which one learns to dance beautifully and meaningfully in space. That space is the Imaginal Realm.

The contemplation at the center of this Imaginal work is of the world (as it emerges from the center of your perceptions) as One continuous existence. A simple entry point to this contemplation: “If this is One, then this is me. If all I see is me… what does that mean, practically?” Other questions and approaches may follow as you give yourself over to the imaginative “movie” describing what life would be like if this were actually so.

The spiritually aligned Creative Imagination offers a pathway to knowing beyond the intellect: What would life be like, how I would behave, what would “other” mean if there were only One Being here? The Imaginal Realm invites us to “taste” the answer; and to develop that taste into feeling and those feelings into insights and actualities.

About

Puran Perez has been learning, teaching, deepening, guiding on the path of the Sufi Way in Europe and North America for almost 50 years. His focus in this continues to be the development of transformational awareness through creativity and the refinement of consciousness in everyday life. Honored by the title of Murshid in the evolutionary Chisti lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Puran is a direct initiate of Fazal Inayat-Khan, the founder of The Sufi Way and Inayat’s grandson.

More about Puran at www.puranperez.com contact: puranlp@gmail.com