WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE
OF HUMILITY
+
Knock. And He’ll open the door.
Vanish. And He’ll make you shine like the
sun.
Fall. And He’ll raise you to the heavens.
Become nothing. And He’ll turn you into
everything.
--
Rumi.
+ There are many great wisdom teachers in all traditions who
offer the same basic message as Rumi did, as Jesus did, as The Buddha did, as
Muhammad did. You become your Real Self
when give up your false self. These
practices are essential. The Real Self
is a given but it is received only by the humble, those who vanish and become
nothing.
I am an advocate of InterSpirituality, particularly as
offered in the pioneering work of Ed Bastian of Spiritual Paths. But Rumi, back in the twelfth century, was
definitely a much earlier pioneer of InterSpirituality. I believe it was his humility which made it
possible for him to be radically open to the teachings and traditions of other
cultures and religions. In the early
twentieth century, in that same Sufi tradition, Hazrat Inayat Khan also
promoted what we are now calling InterSpirituality. You can see it blossoming in his Ten Sufi Thoughts:
There
are ten principal Sufi thoughts which comprise all the important subjects with
which the inner life of man is concerned:
1)
There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save God.
2) There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the light.
3) There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.
4) There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfils the life's purpose of every soul.
5) There is one Law, the law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.
6) There is one human Brotherhood, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Fatherhood of God.
7) There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.
8) There is one Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
9) There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without which is the essence of all wisdom.
10) There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection.
2) There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the light.
3) There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.
4) There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfils the life's purpose of every soul.
5) There is one Law, the law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.
6) There is one human Brotherhood, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Fatherhood of God.
7) There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.
8) There is one Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
9) There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without which is the essence of all wisdom.
10) There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection.
+ Spirituality and Practice offers a wonderful 12s gallery of images and quotes on Humility
> http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/galleries/category/12s/2#/37/12-humility. The image and quote above is found in that gallery.
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