The Call of the Dervish

I only crossed paths with this guy about four times. I first met him in 1980, a mere twenty seven years ago. We never had a conversation, which makes it even stranger. In retrospect, no single person in my entire life made a deeper impression on me. This may sound like some simple-minded devotee but I'm really not. IT surprises me that this is so. I just find in retrospect this guy was one of the seminal meetings of my life, like having a fleeting encounter with einstein or bach or swedenborg or john the baptist. Anything this person wrote should be taken seriously and read in a relaxed but careful, thoughtful way. At least that's my thought about him (he died two or three years ago). People like this are especially important in this age of the insipid. I'm not sure how much of himself could be contained in a book, though. His beingness was the message. Best of luck in your spiritual lives.

(I have the 1981 publication of this book.) I love anything Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan writes. He communicates in a real and simple way. The truth he speaks just shoots right into me with such familiarity. I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing him in person years ago, and I'd never experienced such a genuine aliveness and brightness as his spirit radiated. Clear, honest, and beautiful! I have gained much from his teachings. A few random lines I have highlighted in this book... "Instead of cutting ourselves away from physical reality, we want to be able to be conscious in our higher consciousness and at the same time function from the physical plane, seeing physical reality in its relativity without letting it draw us down into its limitation." "You bring your world wherever you go. You don't have to get into other people's trips; you can keep on maintaining your attunement." "All these people are rushing here and there and they are all intoxicated on their own trips." "Your ideals must be replaced by insight." "The ultimate illusion is limitation." "Nothing exists except God. "There is no such thing as personal thinking. It is the universe that is thinking."

"There is a neeed to dance the cosmic joy of Shiva. Yet we seem to have cut the possibility of doing it out of our lives and to have fed ourselves with ersatz pleasures. We sacrifice joy for pleasure, and try to entertain ourselves with very puny things indeed - things that are really very soul-killing. The real breakthrough of joy only happens when we are moved to the core of our being - when we are shattered by our encounter with meaningfulness." Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan is head of the Sufi Order in the West founded by his father, Hazrat Inayat Khan. --- from book's back cover

I've read this book twice...underlined and highlighted all that struck me as important to know. As a consequence, the entire book is marked up. Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan describes spiritual truths in understandable, easy to grasp and conversational terms...good for Western minds trying to incorporate different ways of thinking.