Heart of a Sufi

Robin Shohet 4.0 out of 5 stars The Heart of a Sufi. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 April 2013 Format: Kindle Edition The Heart of a Sufi. ed Milburn, Venema and Sharp. 2010 Arch Ventures Press. This book is largely a collection of people's personal experiences of the Sufi teacher Fazal Inayat-Khan who lived from 1942-1990 and who inspired so many people in so many different ways. The foreword by Ruth Paris describes it as, "a prism of reflections.....to create a conduit for his thinking and affect to reach further and more deeply into the world. " My personal connection to him was not primarily as a Sufi but as a psychotherapy client . I visited the Khankah in Surrey, where he conducted much of his work in the UK, several times and experienced first hand some of his radical methods. Like the contributors of this book, I feel a huge gratitude to this remarkable man. In the introduction Ashen Venema one of the editors says Heart of a Sufi is neither a biography of Fazal nor an analysis of his work. it is a spontaneous response by his friends to a scent of truth that lingers wherever they turn, and the seed of longing for the ontowards he placed in the hearts of all he met - Fazal was a mystic whose very presence shocked one awake. And from the very first story/recollection we are given a glimpse of this where the writer describes as a young seven year old boy being taught by Fazal how to throw petrol onto a fire, how not to step back but face the fire, a metaphor he has carried forward for the rest of his life. The approximately fifty stories in this book are divided into eleven headings Fearlessness, experience, humour Synchronicity, change Threshold, transformation Chillas, focus, metaphor, mirroring Mystery, creativity, alchemy passion Symbology, leadership, genius Potential, Initiation, presence Love, worshipper, warrior, release Influence Past, integration Future, imagination I include all the headings because this gives a flavour of the book. Most of the recollections are from the 70's, and we are offered a snapshot of the times when experimentation was in the air, not just at the Khankah, his centre in Hampshire. How would a man like Fazal have coped with an increasingly risk adverse society, a man who took risks himself and encouraged others to do so? One of the ways he did this was by suggesting chillas, tasks given to stretch people past their fears. Or as Ashen defines chilla when she writes of having to tune the strings of a tampura in front of forty people, a chill is not something one would normally dream of doing. Stories include listening spellbound to his lectures, receiving a mantra - I especially liked the one nothing matters, everything matters , music, celebration all contributing the the great sense of community he was able to create with people of all ages and walks of life. And the thread running through them all was wake up, come home to God. Although I enjoyed the book, I have some criticisms, namely that I would have liked more biography of the man directly rather than picking up bits and pieces through the recollections. There is a short piece later in the book by Peter Hawkins, but I think this could have come earlier and been fleshed out more. As it stands the book seems more relevant for those that had contact with him and not so much for those who never met him. I think the editors could have reached out more if they wanted a bigger audience. However, the book is a reminder to all of us to wake up to our potential, and I for one am glad to have re-read it.

Ashen Venema 5.0 out of 5 stars A truly refreshing book (review placed on behalf of Malcolm Steward) Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2013 Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase Heart of a Sufi - Review by Malcolm Stewart, M.A.Cantab, author of 'Patterns of Eternity' It is truly refreshing to read a book that is actually about something. Heart of a Sufi contains the reflections - by some of his "heart Family" - on the work of Pir-o-Murshid Fazal Inayat Khan, who died in 1990 having been for over twenty years a teacher of the Sufi way of transcendence within the Chisti lineage. While that lineage is ancient and revered, there was, as one learns from this book, nothing old fashioned or portentous about Fazal's approach to his task. In the early twentieth century his grandfather Hazrat Inayat Khan had brought the Sufi tradition to the West in a form accessible to non-Muslims. Fazal, as is clear from the fascinating, and often moving, accounts of the book's twenty-one contributors, did not simply repeat his grandfather's task; he carried it right into mundane Western culture piercing its egoic cultural armouring with shocks and shifts and practises that left his friends and followers deeply changed. Sometimes it was a simple action, word or phrase that worked inside a person for years, sometimes it was the communal environment of the Khankah (the Murshid's household), very often it was through tasks given to someone to reveal what would help them grow - usually, as these writers illustrate, it was all these things - and the magic could operate over many years and at a distance. The book opens refreshingly with three accounts from people who were children when they met Fazal. From them one immediately senses the fiery, adventurous and uncompromising spirit of the man, and also an attentive inner caution and care for others that keeps showing through throughout the book, despite the many tales of interactions marked by a rare spiritual gusto, quite unlike the mawkishness of lush rainbows that so often characterizes the sentimentality and weirdness, now taken for spirituality in much of the "new age". From one account after another the reader learns how Fazal engaged his followers with remarkable courage, setting them tasks (chillas) that challenged their inner resources, not knowing what the outcome might be but trusting that their souls would work the thing through and grow from it. One cannot really review a book like this for its content except to say that it is filled with personal experiences that ring true. It is a credit to Murshid Fazal's teaching that while the book is filled with deeply personal impressions it is only rarely that a contributor introduces some subtle and current ego agenda, and when it does happen, the authenticity of the rest of the content makes it stand out very clearly. This was a tremendous read for this reviewer. I never knew Fazal, though some of his intimates are close friends, and this book reveals what it was that helped form the resilient soul-centredness that is a noticeable quality in them. By his fruits you know him. The book is beautifully produced, has an informative glossary of Sufi terms and includes short (single paragraph) biographies of its contributors. Congratulations to the editing team that brought it together and to the Arch Ventures project that published it. Its great value is that it provides all the clues necessary for the reader to enter, even now, twenty years after Fazal's death, the transformative aura of his "heart Family". Malcolm Stewart - October 2010 Read less Philippa Rees 5.0 out of 5 stars Reflections in the Faceted Mirrors of Friendship Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2013 Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase This beautiful tribute to Fazal Inayat-Khan sets out a deceptively simple stall, capturing the fragmentary memories of those who knew and were influenced by him, whose lives he enriched or transformed. What the composite meal offers is a portrait of someone who could never have been defined by one writer, but who emerges as evanescent, humourous, free, penetrating, courageous and compelling and underneath all those words an emissary of something recognisable and wordless, but carried without pretension, or the trappings of what so often impairs the magnetism of the great soul. I would have loved to have met the man in life, but felt I have come close though those who loved him. A jewel of a book. Helpful Report • ZM 5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable insights Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 July 2013 Format: Kindle Edition A friend sent the hardcover edition of this book as a gift to me some time ago. I read it cover to cover, eagerly but slowly as I knew little about Sufism and didn't want to miss a word/thought/idea by reading too greedily. I found it full of treasures. The fact that so many people would dedicate time and resources to create such a collection of reminiscences of a mortal being is testament to his great influence in the personal and spiritual arenas. What I found particularly appealing was his concept of transpersonal psychology and seeing psychology as moving towards the integration of spiritual traditions. Religion seems too often to be about blind faith and beliefs; I think true spirituality on the other hand should be about taming and training the mind to live peacefully and in unity with all, serving those who need help. Psychology obviously can play a crucial role in aiding the development of true spirituality - a thing the world desperately needs. This book is thus an interesting introduction to Sufism -- one I think I shall read again to gain further, deeper insights. • Helpful Report •