The Sufi Way
Fishes, asking what water was, went to a wise fish. He told them that it was all around them, yet they still thought that they were thirsty. NASAFI
One went to the door of the Beloved and knocked. A voice asked, ”Who is there?” He answered, “It is I.” The voice said, “There is no room for Me and Thee.” The door was shut. After a year of solitude and deprivation he returned and knocked. A voice from within asked, “Who is there?” The man said, “It is Thee.” The door was opened for him. JALAL ad-DIN RUMI
I asked a child, walking with a candle, “From where comes that light?” Instantly he blew it out. “Tell me where it is gone-then I will tell you where it came from.” HASAN of BASRA
In an instant, rise from time and space. Set the world aside and become a world within yourself. SHABISTARI, Secret Garden
WHAT IS IDENTITY? When someone knocked on the door, Bayazid called out: “Whom do you seek?” The caller answered: “Bayazid.” Bayazid replied: “I, too, have been seeking “Bayazid” for three decades, and I have not yet found him.”
“I” – Knowledge proceeds from: “What am I?” To: ” I do not know what I am.” To between “Perhaps I am not” and “I will find myself”; to between “I will find myself” and “I am”, to “I am what I know myself to be”, to “I am”. ABU-HASAN EL-SHADHILI
THE WORLD – The world has no being except as an appearance; From end to end it’s state is a sport and a play. SHABISTARI, Gulshan-i-Raz
He who does not know about service knows even less about Mastership. TIRMIZI
SYMBOLS – Man is a symbol. So is an object, or a drawing. Penetrate beneath the outward message of the symbol, or you will put yourself to sleep. Within the symbol there is a design which moves. Get to know this design. In order to do this, you need a Guide. But before he can help you, you must be prepared by exercising honesty towards the object of your search. If you seek truth and knowledge, you will gain it. If you seek something for yourself alone, you may gain it, and lose all higher possibilities for yourself. KHWAJA PULAD of ERIVAN
SUFISM – Sufism is truth without form. IBN EL-JALALI