No. Life consists of the light and dark, the things we like and don’t like. It’s impossible to live a life in which every person or every event creates happiness or joy within you. In my own experience, people who have walked deeply in a spiritual path understand that within their being is the Source, the One, the Divine, God, or Allah. This source of being can be present and sustain us in EVERY life experience. This divine presence can lead us to deep peace and joy even in the midst of life’s challenges.
The Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) said, “He who knows himself knows his Lord.” As we come to understand ourselves in the deepest way as the divine, this knowing that can lead to a life of contentment, joy, and love that is not dependent on circumstances. This is REAL happiness.
The problem is that we can’t easily connect to this divine reality within because our cultural belief systems, attachments, and desires prevent us from knowing the Truth inside. Sufism has developed over many centuries an unparalleled technology in removing the veils and uncovering the peace within ourselves. This Sufi way can help a person unfold the understanding of that divinity within a person which is the unending source of joy and love and contentment. The key is learning to connect to the source of divine love in your heart and knowing how to re-connect when the challenges of life happen.
The journey to know the divine within is infinite and unending with beauty and holiness. Once we know how to connect to this divine reality the inner worlds of joy and beauty continue to unfold and open.
Discover how you can achieve divine happiness and divine knowledge for solutions to everyday challenges in our 8 week telecourse: Create Lasting Happiness: A Sufi Way of Living
Pat Abdullah Aylward is a master teacher and healer in the Shadhiliyya Sufi Order. Pat is a graduate of the University of Sufism and is a community leader in Minnesota. Having studied with teachers and masters of Vedanta, Buddhism, Christianity and other wisdom traditions before embracing Sufism and Islam, he approaches the teaching of Sufism as an invitation to experience from the heart the qualities of love and compassion and explore what connects us all as human beings. www.SufiCenterMN.org
