Netti-Netti
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I apologize for the delay in commemorating Pir Vilayat. He left the planet on July 17, 2004.
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan was instrumental in bringing the Sufi religion to the West and was a major proponent of the unification of world religions.
This is from an interview with Pir Vilayat:
Note in the interview that he talks to you like your friend when the two of you are out for a walk. Which is also typical of his writings. Pir Vilayat is very accessible, practical, and enjoyable and also very attuned to the needs of our present era. I see him as a modernizer of sorts.
A recurring theme in Pir Vilayat's writings is the concept of seeing "through the eyes of G-d." It appears in Toward the One and Awakening.
Our sense of G-d is often associated with our personal sense of imperfection and guilt. There can be sorrow and sometimes a debilitating sense of being flawed. A slightly different way is to see the imperfections as latencies in development. The imperfections may even be signs.
Even now we are taking new steps to grow toward G-d's image of our essential self. Seeing oneself through the eyes of G-d makes it possible to take a good look at the crusty old character armor without identification and attachment.
While the Eastern influences are obvious, Pir Vilayat personified an interfaith approach.
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan was instrumental in bringing the Sufi religion to the West and was a major proponent of the unification of world religions.
This is from an interview with Pir Vilayat:
The Universe can only know itself through those fragments of itself that are us, just as the tree knows itself through the branches of the tree...G-d knows Himself through our knowledge of G-d.
It's OK to say, `you carry the divinity of your being in your being,' but how real is it for people who are in the nitty-gritty of their lives? How do you translate the spirituality into life is, of course, the big problem.
Complete interview here: http//www.beliefnet.com/story/148/story_14813_2.html
Note in the interview that he talks to you like your friend when the two of you are out for a walk. Which is also typical of his writings. Pir Vilayat is very accessible, practical, and enjoyable and also very attuned to the needs of our present era. I see him as a modernizer of sorts.
A recurring theme in Pir Vilayat's writings is the concept of seeing "through the eyes of G-d." It appears in Toward the One and Awakening.
Our sense of G-d is often associated with our personal sense of imperfection and guilt. There can be sorrow and sometimes a debilitating sense of being flawed. A slightly different way is to see the imperfections as latencies in development. The imperfections may even be signs.
Even now we are taking new steps to grow toward G-d's image of our essential self. Seeing oneself through the eyes of G-d makes it possible to take a good look at the crusty old character armor without identification and attachment.
While the Eastern influences are obvious, Pir Vilayat personified an interfaith approach.
Open our hearts toward Thy Beauty
Illuminate our souls with Divine Light.
Allow us to recognize Thee
in all Thy Holy names and forms
as Rama, as Krishna, as Buddha.
Let us know Thee as Abraham,
as Solomon, as Zarathustra, as Moses,
as Jesus, as Mohammad,
and in many other names and forms
known and unknown to the world.
