THE INNER JOURNEY

Dearly beloved!

I have called you so often…

—Ibn ‘Arabi

The INNER JOURNEY embraces everything, our whole being and our non-being. It is the answer to our longing, the unseen mystical path that leads us along the steps towards unity and service.

There are footsteps of the great masters, of great souls, women and men, who went before us – the grace of the teachers. And at the same time we need to walk alone and always for the first time.

There are many paths that lead us home, and we honour the multiplicity of soul’s journeys and spiritual traditions which belong to oneness. The foundation of our work here is the path of Love unfolding in the heart.

In following the Sufi path we include the ancient wisdom of the Feminine that has never been written down and can only be accessed through the heart and the mirror of consciousness.

You may try a hundred things, but love alone will release you from yourself. So never flee from love—not even from love in an earthly guise—for it is a preparation for the supreme Truth.

 — Jami

“The mystical journey is the greatest undertaking we can ever make, a journey inward into the heart of hearts, the mysterious core of our own being. On this journey we will encounter the depths of the darkness within us, of our fears and failures, and then a light and a love beyond imagining. We are taken by love to love, into the pain, the tenderness and then the unbelievable bliss of oneness with the divine. This is humanity’s greatest secret, hidden within each of us.“

-Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
from “Within the Heart of Hearts”

“Strive to discover the mystery before life is taken from you.”

—Farid ud-Din ‘Altar, from Conference of the Birds

“We are loved, all of us. Love is the divine energy within us; love is the fuel for the journey, the beginning of the journey, the end of the journey. Love is the energy of the path, the fabric of the universe, the way God lets him(her)self be known in the world. Our longing to go home, our longing for God, our longing to be ourselves completely will guide love to us, will increase the love within us, and will allow love to transform us. But we know the tendency to turn away from love; there is always the danger that we don’t trust it.”

—Angela Fischer

Listen, O dearly beloved!
I am the reality of the world,
the centre of the circumference,
I am the parts and the whole.
…

Dearly beloved!
I have called you so often
and you have not heard me
I have shown myself to you so often
and you have not
seen me.
I have made myself fragrance so often,
and you have not smelled me.
Savorous food,
and you have not tasted me.
Why can you not reach me
through the object you touch
Or breathe me through sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see me?
Why do you not hear me?
Why? Why? Why?

—Ibn ‘Arabi

Whether drifting through life on a boat
or  climbing toward old age leading a horse,
each day is a journey and the journey itself is home.”

—Basho