Volume
Social Gathekas
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30. Sufi Initiation
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Two Things Are Necessary
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Social Gathekas
30. Sufi Initiation
Two Things Are Necessary
On the path of initiation two things are necessary: contemplation and living the life the Sufi ought to live. Both depend upon each other.
Contemplation helps to live the life of a Sufi, and the life of a Sufi helps contemplation. The question, especially in the West where life is so busy and where there is no end to responsibilities, is if contemplation (even only for ten minutes in the evening) is not too much when we are tired. The answer is that for that very reason, in the West contemplation is required more than in the East where everything, even the surroundings, is helpful to contemplation.
Besides, a beginning must be made on the path. But if contemplation does not develop in such a form that everything one does in life becomes a contemplation, then contemplation does not do a person any good. It would be like going to church once a week, forgetting all about religion the other days. A person who gives ten or twenty minutes to contemplation every evening and forgets it all day will not derive any benefit. We take our food at certain times every day, yet all the time, even when we are sleeping, the food nourishes our body.
It is not the Sufi's idea to retire in seclusion or to sit silent all day: the idea is that by contemplation one must be so inspired in study and in aspiration that progress is attained in every aspect of life. In that way one proves one's contemplation to be a force helping one to withstand all difficulties that come to one.
The life the Sufi ought to live may be explained in a few words. There are many things in the life of a Sufi, but the greatest is to have a tendency to friendship which is expressed in the form of tolerance and forgiveness, and in the form of service and trust. In whatever form he may express that central theme, the constant desire is to prove one's love to humanity and to be the friend of all.
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